Sunlight trickled onto your nose and caused you to sneeze, which quickly woke you up enough to form coherent thoughts again. Blinking, you slowly sat up from within the sleeping bag your family and friends were nice enough to send you within all the pretty much useless stuff. Looking around you saw that it was still pretty early. Briefly you wondered why you had woken up so early, but then you figured with a shrug that that time travel must have messed with your sleeping schedule.
Figuring that there was no chance for you to catch another shut eye as long as the light was out, you instead opted to get up and start your daily routine. Quickly you rolled up your sleeping bag and let the air out of your inflatable camping mattress before stashing both of them away in your magic bag, for which you never had been more grateful for.
Then you fished out a set of fresh clothes for the day, grabbed water, soap and other toiletries and sneaked away, but not before waving good morning to the wolf on guard, who greeted you with a tail waggle. Well, Twilight would probably tell the others where you went, so you figured if you took your time and someone woke up before you came back it would be fine.
A few minutes into the nearby forest you found a small and clean stream and used it to wash away sweat and grime from the last day, before slipping into fresh clothes for the day. Then you started brushing your teeth, relishing in the familiar taste of your toothpaste.
But suddenly you heard steps behind you and so you quickly whirled around, holding your toothbrush like one would a rapier into your maybe attacker's face.
Turns out, there had been no need to be worried, it been just a simple old man. He gasped and stumbled back in fright, before loosing his footing and falling down.
Great, now you felt like an *ss.
Quickly you put the toothbrush back into your mouth and rushed to help the old man back to his feet, while grinning apologetic like an idiot and wracking your brain for the Hylian word for "sorry".
But as it turned out, there was no need. The man was looking at you wide eyed, until his eyes found the toothbrush still in your mouth and he stated dumbfolded: "Is that a toothbrush?"
You blinked like an idiot a few times before your brain started to catch up.
English, he spoke English.
You could do English.
"Yes" you mumbled out, quickly spitting out the mouth of toothpaste to the side, your toothbrush now within your hand again. "Sorry for that."
"It's quite alright, child" he chuckled, humor within his eyes. Then his gaze hardened: "I wouldn't have pegged you as someone who carries their toothbrush everywhere with them, though. Must be good for you now, to have had it with you on that bus with you. Did you come from a sleep over?"
What?
Okay, gimme a minute.
Oh.
OH.
"You're that old man with the prothesis!" you gave out, your memory finally working properly again as you recalled who had been near you in that bus, before you all had been swallowed by that first fateful portal. "You sat next to that woman with her little screaming brat! What are you doing here?!"
"Well, probably the same with you, child, being dimensionally misplaced" the old man answered, shrugging.
"You landed here?" you questioned. He nodded: "Yes, I found one of the last locals who gave me shelter for now. You should come with me, I can explain more there." He turned to walk away, but you paused.
"Is it direly?" "No?"
"Good, then let me please finish brushing my teeth first and then gimme a hot minute to get the travelling companions, I gained while travelling through time and space. Otherwise they might get worried and raze this land down trying to find me."
You shrugged helplessly at his horrified expression: "I'll hopefully be able to explain later?"
Just as you had predicted, when you came back from your morning routine, the Links had woken up and started to get worried. And Twilight, apparently having felt mischievous, had conveniently forgotten to mention why you had left camp, your bag of toiletries apparently not sign enough for him to understand what you were going to do. That screamed for later payback, but for now you had higher priorities.
"I found someone from my dimension" you rushed out, once the Links had stopped fretting over you enough so that they would listen, apparently being a civilian qualified you for extra worrying sessions.
Well, that got them quiet and quickly ready, questions very much burning on their faces.
And so you led them back to where you had met the old man, finding him calmly waiting while playing with the golden ring on his right hand. He looked up when he heard your approach and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw you, followed by the Links.
His mouth flopped open a few times uselessly, before he closed it with an audible click. Then he turned to you wide-eyed: "Are these who I think they are?" "I am not sure who you think they are" you admitted, wondering if an old man like him would know videogames like Zelda.
He winked at you, before giving a big grin and then speaking the brabbled language you by now knew as Hylian. Simultaneously you had the pleasure to watch nine faces of shock before they all had different reactions. Three of them even pulling their weapons at the old man.
Quickly you went in between them: "I might have no idea what he just said, but I'm ninety-nine percent sure it's not a reason to kill him."
"It's not" Four quickly assured, posture tense. Legend added, sliding his sword back in its sheath: "But he knew instantly we are heroes."
"What?" escaped you and you turned to the old man, a huge question mark in your face. He chuckled at that and stood up, only wobbling mildly on the loose ground that was the earth of the forest floor, before waving you all to follow him: "Come now, I'll explain when I've got a proper place to sit down."
The proper place to sit down apparently was within a wooden building which wrote in huge letters: "Post Office". Which sadly was also apparently the only building still standing anywhere in the twenty kilometer range.
But beggars couldn't be choosers and so once everyone was seated, the elder postman working behind his counter pointedly ignoring you all, Time firmly ordered the old man – which you luckily by now managed to somewhat understand – to talk.
The old man talked and then he turned to you, repeating himself so you may also understand: "I introduced myself to them. The closest translation to my name in English would be Heyne."
"Why would your name need translating?" you questioned, confused. "Aren't you from Earth, too?"
The old man, Heyne, sighed: "Well, one can phrase it that way. But born was I here and thus I am only allowed by the goddesses to use the name I was given here. Let me prove you." And then he spat a bubble out.
Silence, your brain going into overload.
The old man smiled kindly and then turned to tell the Links who were watching you wide eyed, before turning back to you: "See? The goddesses do not like my other dimension name and so stop me from using it in their own way."
"But…but I spat out a bubble, too, every time I tried to say my name!" you sputtered out. Heyne paused and mustered you for a moment, his eyes staying on your now pointy ears for a moment longer than probably necessary. He then closed his eyes and sighed, while massaging his temples: "Then that means that you've been born here and thus bear in these lands another name."
Then he turned to one of the Links, who had asked him another question.
You were meanwhile left reeling, thoughts racing. Could what he said be true? Could you have another name, which was given you here which some weird higher force wanted you to use?
Were you really born here? All these years ago, before the postman said the survivors left Hyrule?
Was that dream you had real? Was it a memory? Had your mom really sung in Hylian?
Why had everything gone down the drain so badly that the people had to leave Hyrule behind, when now there weren't any monsters in sight?
And why had no one ever mentioned anything regarding coming from a whole other dimension?
"What happened all these years ago?" you finally asked out loud, gaining the attention of Heyne, the Links and the postman.
Heyne sighed and then, with the help of the postman on the spaces he could not know, told the story of the dimensional refugees.