Link
Link
Link, I can't get the thought out of my head. This is Breath of the wild, and I'm in a game. The main hero is right next to me. Why is he so short? And I'm in a game. And of all games, one where everyone died a hundred years ago.
It's an apocalypse when you think of it like that. All of the ruins and remains of villages, carts, Everything you see in the game essentially. And now I have to deal with that or just go back into that little cave we just came out of.
Yeah we
I glance over to my right again to see Link with a stick swinging it around. He did this a few more times before he looked back at me and gave me a thumbs up with a grin on his face. Well, at least I know that he can swing around a stick, maybe even a pointy one.
"Alright, lucky, let's go down the only path we have," I say, walking over to him, trying to smile and match his energy. "Oh yeah, real quick, where'd you find that?." I blurted out at the last minute.
He blinked, Looked around the top of the forest we're in. Then looked at me again.
Oooh boy
"Okay, in my defense!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands into the air. "I wasn't looking around! I was… uh… admiring the view from up here." I finish saying. Kinda lamely even to me.
He chuckles and walks over to the other set of trees and grabs one of the two there. Making his way over to me again, he tosses the stick at me. Not expecting to have something the length of my arm thrown at me, I barely catch it.
With a huff, I look at the stick in my hand and examine it. It has a long base with a branch sticking out around the top of it. It's pretty weighty for a stick, but I'll take what I can.
As he passes me by, he pats me on the arm and motions to follow him. With a sigh more than a confirmation, I walk right behind him, towards the slope of the hill we're on, and make my way down the cracked and covered stairway that was once here.
Walking forward down the hill, we see a campfire? Under what looks like a giant stone slab with an apple tree, and beyond that in the distance? Is an ax still cut into the stomp of a tree? The campfire, still going, seems to have what looks to be an apple that's been cooked from the outside with it.
And Link noticing the same thing that I do reaches out to grab the Apple before I even get a chance to stop him.
"Wait, hold o-!"
"I BEG YOUR PARDON?!" Shouted a voice from behind the fire. It looks like an old man in a cloak. He was at least four inches taller than me with dark tanned skin, brown eyes, and A white beard. "I do believe that is my baked apple! You can't just go about taking as you please!"
Grabbing him by the shoulder, I pull him back and try to apologize.
I hear the faintest of chuckles. That Old man is laughing, hand over his mouth and everything.
Are you kidding me?
"Oho ho! forgive me- I could not resist pulling your leg." This old geezer said. "Please help yourself. An apple and an open flame make quite the succulent treat." He said as he gestured to the flames.
"Oh, you were just joking? I thought you were actually mad for a second." I say as I walk over to the tree and pick an apple -a glance from Link made it two- and sat at the fire. Tired of the mental gymnastics, I know I'm going to do it when I get the chance too.
Later thoughts.
Tossing an apple to Link, he sits next to me. Putting an apple directly in the fire.
I raise an eyebrow "Lucky? You know you're not supposed to put it in the fire, right?"
A stare and a confused noise are all I get from that.
"Well, you know, you don't put your food literally on top of a fire? Because it burns." Pointing at the burnt body of an apple, I continue. "Like it's doing right now."
Panic ensued right after. With him reaching into the fire and bringing it back out, four times. All of this while yelling out some kind of… battle cry? I think that's what "HyAAH!" is. Right as the old man is over there, laughing his ass off dying.
Good day.
After pulling Link from the fire and the Old man calming down soon after. I look at Link, Sigh a little, and give him my apple. He tried to give it back, but I wasn't having that today.
"Listen, I'm good. Pretty sure I ate before I woke up in that cave. But you? You looked like you've been dead to the world for a while. So take the apple." I push it into his hands.
"...huun"
As we sit in silence, I drift off and look into the trees. I don't even think I've seen trees shaped like this or be that big before. Not nearly as thick either. I brought it up earlier, but it's just so… green and lively here. I have been to woods before but never one as peaceful seeming as this. And to think this is just the top of it.
Shifting to just above the forest, I see it. Hyrule Castle. The place where Ganon and Zelda are having a one hundred year-long tug of war contest. And if we don't hurry, then she'll lose, and that'll be the end of all of it.
Free the Divine beast, reclaim the Master sword, get back Link's memories, Save as many lives as possible. It's all a lot to do for one person. And I don't even know what we're going to do abo-
Hold on again, We? What do I have to do with any of this? I'm just some guy from St. Louis. This isn't my fight. Before that, I don't even know how to fight like they do here. So why should I help? I can go back to that cave right now and just not leave until it's over.
.
.
.
I wouldn't do that. Even if I absolutely want to do so, though. Completely out of my league here? Absolutely. Not at all ready or prepared? Yep. About to do it anyway? More than likely.
Now it's not even a question of if I'm going to. It's more complicated and straightforward at the same time because there are cons and pros to the only idea I can come up with.
Follow Link
Sounds cool in theory, but it's probably won't be nearly as simple. If we are just looking at things objectively. Take away all bravado I could muster and just tell the truth?
I'd hold him back.
And that's not even low self-esteem talking. I would just hold Link back.
I can't fight in a way that he can. I am not used to the Wild. I can already tell he's just naturally stronger than me in more ways than one, and what would I even do? Follow him along like a poodle? The only pro I can think of is.
He'd have a friend. Or at least someone to talk to.
People have always said that breath of the wild Link was the loneliest one of them all, And I agree.
Link's from one hundred years in the past. All of his friends are dead. The world he knew is now destroyed and in ruin. He lost his memories, deals with the literal ghost of his past, knowing Links and how this Link was a knight. He will always feel as if he failed princess Zelda, and he had to figure this all out alone.
So… I guess that means that maybe I'll ju-
Poke poke
"Umblarg?" comes out of my mouth before I can stop it as I feel a poke to my temple. Looking over, I can see Link giving me a stare from where he's standing. "Oh, what'd I miss?"
"Heh ha Hah! The boy here was giving me a bit of a tale, is all." oh right. They were talking about something. "And in turn, I gave him just a bit of history." yeah, that's great history is helpful.
Hold on, wait, did he said a tale.
I whipped my head. "Wait a second! You can talk!?" Staring in the direction he's in, "And you didn't tell me? Wow, betrayed by the only person I know."
All he does to this is make another one of his sounds and thumbs up. The old man is still laughing back there. I hate these people. Why'd I considered staying?
"Ho ho ho, so I can assume that you haven't heard our exchange. Have you?"
I'm sure the fact that my eyes widen was enough for him. Fucker is about ready to laugh again, stupid grin on his face.
"You must forgive me. It's simply been too long since I've had the chance to get quality entertainment." He explains, trying to placate me.
I blink. "Fine, you ready to go yet, Lucky?"
Another noise and a thumbs up. Well, at least Link's happy. Picking up the stick we found, I begin to step down the tiny slope when I notice something in Link's hand.
"Is that a torch?" I say with concern.
So far from the thirty minutes of me knowing him, the noises I'm getting right now seem to be the happiest. That's… concerning.
Sharing my thoughts, the old man whispered down to me. "Please be sure to keep him in check. I don't want to know what he'd do with something as dangerous as fire."
"You got it, sir."
Smiling down, he nods. "Good good, now boy, do me a favor, open your hand."
Confused, I look up at him and do what he says, not knowing what's going on. Not breaking eye contact, he drops something in my hand and nods his head. It's warm and about the size of my palm. Looking down and it's about what I expected.
A baked apple.
"What you did for your friend there was an admirable thing to do, but you have to remember to take care of yourself as well." .An easy, if not a melancholy smile was on his face as he said those words to me.
From the way he talked, it seemed like he had experience in this topic. He seemed to have lived a long time in a world like this. So I would assume he knows what he's talking about. You don't live old in this world in the wild without finding out how it works.
Glancing back down at the apple for a moment. I look up and give the Old man the most genuine smile I can.
"Thanks, sir."
"It's no matter. Now that you are both rested, it's time for you to leave. I've already told your friend about a path he could take. If he'd like to pursue that path, that is."
Link already back on the path just nods. Taking that as my queue, I walk down towards him and prepare to go. I have a baked apple and a stick in hand. So I'd say I'm doing alright. Finally done with our break, we begin forward.
I've noticed so far that this place has to be upsized by at least five. It took around three seconds max to get to the ax in the tree. Now? It took about five minutes of walking. Some will just take it as 'Just walk, it's not hard' or 'Okay? And your point?'. My point is that the map is bigger. There's more space.
If it took me five seconds to get to an ax right next to us. Then I want you to imagine, oh I don't know, Kakariko village. If we even get there, we have to get past those ruins and the staple first. That is going to take a while.
Hold on, how long would the bridge be? It's already a little long in-game, so how…?
You know what? I think it's best not to think about it. Get to it when I get there. I have to get back on track.
"So lucky, you want an upgrade from stick to ax? I think you'll like it." Thinking for a moment, he turns, shakes his head, and points at me. When I don't make a move, he points at the ax and then back to me.
"Okay, hold on a minute. I don't know if it's obvious or not, but I can't exactly fight. I mean, if it's a straight fistfight? Yeah, I got your back, but this? Most I've done is play swordfight with sticks as a kid."
For the first time, staring at me still, I see something that can be considered a frown on his face appear. It's not an angry one, but it's still a frown. Turning around, he walks over and grabs the ax, and brings it to me.
Just from the look in his eyes, I can tell that he's not taking no for an answer here. Looking down at the ax, I reach down for it, and when my hand wraps around it fully, he lets go. Surprisingly, it doesn't droop down when he lets go, and I can hold its weight just fine.
Bringing my other hand up to grab it, I can say that it's not the worst thing I've held. It is about half of my height, maybe a little more than that. Also, it fulls… sturdy in a weird way. The blade is chipped from use and the wraps? Bandages? The tape thing on the ax feels like it's slightly peeling. All in all, it's just an ax that had seen better days.
Poke
Looking up from the ax to the finger poking me in the chest. Link is, once again, staring at me. This time, even more expectedly. Seeing that I don't know what he wants, he points to the small stone clearing.
"Swing." Link said to me.
Swing. Swing the ax. Move the metal stick on a stick around with a purpose. Link just told me to do that. I mean, I see why he wou-
Link said that to me.
He did that
Talked, I mean
Eyes widening, "Woah Woah Woah hold on for a second, you can talk for real?" my mind blanked out for a moment, "I mean, I know the old man said that. But I didn't expect that out of nowhere."
All I got in response to that was another one of his 'hmms' and a reminder of what he told me a second ago when he pointed at the clearing. And began walking to the edge of it under the giant tree. Waiting for me to go.
Reluctantly, I walk towards the center of the clearing. Mixed with all of the dirt and stone, partly shaded by the tree. I move my hands across the ax, one hand on top of the handle with the other at the bottom on the other side. Parts of me want to drop the thing in my hands now.
Because I know that I know what this is right now, even if nothing else is said. It's the turning point. It doesn't matter how now much moral support you can give if you can't keep up. You'd be nothing but a liability to keep around.
And the thought of that scares me. What would I even do if I wasn't even allowed to go with LInk? That's… not a thought I want to dwell on right now. Now is the time to prove your worth.
I tighten my hold on the ax with a breath as I look up and try to see some invisible opponent standing in front of me. Just like I've always been told to do. It takes a while, but I manage to get something from it. Controlling my breathing, I harden my gaze as much as I could.
Without thinking, I lash out, twisting my hip and leg with the ax as I swing from my right in an entire arc. Not stopping, I use the force and swing back around with an arc going go with my other leg.
Stopping there, I almost couldn't keep myself from stumbling forward, but I manage. Still, on my feet and ax raised, I slowly lower it back to the side of my leg. Feeling more than seeing, look over towards the tree to Link.
He's still looking, but it feels different this time. Like he's watching my entire body move. Ax still in hand, I meet his gaze waiting for what to do next. Coming to his answer, he looks up face serious.
"Take off your… coat. Go again"
Not willing to contest that I take off my outer… Bomber? Blazer? I still don't know. Set it to the side and pick up the ax one more time. Getting back to the center, I refocus myself and swing my ax. Forcing myself to stop as I make an entire arc around.
Felling that he wants more, I quickly switch hands on my ax and swing from my left at an upwards angle. Letting the momentum carry me, I come full circle and bend my knees. As hard as I can, I swing out my ax through the center of an imaginary opponent. All of the force sent me full circle into a lean, and I could only barely keep the ax from touching the ground.
This time I do stumble a little, but I keep to my feet. Panting, I look over at Link who's face has gone from Concentrated to neutral. As if he is making some kind of conclusion in his mind, he sits there. During that, I finally get the time to stand up straight and lean slightly on it.
I'm not tired, or at least not majorly. I've done track and cross country, so I'm fine. I'm only a little out of practice. And it's not that heavy either since I've been taking weights as well. So I'm not as tired from just that, at least.
In my musing, Link had come up to me and was waiting patiently for my attention. Seeing he got it, he began.
"Your stance is off. Any skilled opponent would take advantage of that. The way you swing that ax makes it to where you put every part of your body into that swing. As you can see, that leaves you unbalanced and tired in any battle longer than a minute." Oh, he's going in. "The grip on our ax when swung was too tight. I could see it from there. And the arcs of your swings were predictable at best and see-through at the worst case."
Yeah… yeah, this is about what I expected to hear. But damn. Knowing you're going to listen to it is one thing. Actually, hearing it is another.
"I… you know, yeah, that's fair. Don't really know what I thought when I thought I could just… wing it." I manage to mumble out. "Sorry for wasting your time with that."
Link's gaze changes ever so slightly "... No, you'll need work, but you're not a lost cause. I don't know how I know this, but. I feel as if I've seen worse."
Lifting my head to look up at him, I feel a spark of hope for a moment. I don't want to believe it, but if this means what I think it does, then.
"Are you saying… saying I can come with you still?" I manage to say still, looking at the ground. "I'm going to be brutally honest here. I am kinda a liability."
Link didn't respond to that. All he did was turn around and pick up his branch from the ground. Then he started walking down the hill again. He only took a few more steps before he stopped and looked back at me.
Lifting an eyebrow, Link only said one word to me. "Coming?" Craking the biggest smile I've had since I got here. I make to move after him, catching up in just a second. Slowing down at his side, I keep stride and continue forward.
Not knowing what to say know I realize something important.
"What's your name? I don't think we ever said that."
Looking over at me, I can feel his confusion like I should already know his name. Sure we walked, but whenever we did, it was mostly in silence. I don't remember any other time that he could have told me his name.
The cave, then the cliff, walk down a hill, then there was the Old Man and the campfi-.
Oh, oh yeah that explains that.
Not looking Link in the eye, "To be fair, I wasn't really paying attention back at that campfire.". Still not looking at him, I asked, "So, can I get your name?"
Raising a hand to his face, he just kind of… shakes his head around. Like he expected me to know or something like that. Now he's making shoulders jump in place, and he's trying to stop some sound from-
This bitch is laughing at me, isn't he?
"You're laughing at me, aren't you?"
He couldn't take it, and the dam cracked, and all he did was just laugh as loud as he could. Head back, hands on the stomach and everything. It's really not that funny. Walking faster, I just try to speed walk past him.
"Wait, wait." he gets out through his laughter. "I'm sorry for laughing." finally, seeming to calm down, he looks up at me.
"Link, my name is… Link."
Getting over it, I slow down again and look down. Finally, getting a name -officially, at least- is something that I'll take over nothing right now. Feeling as if it's only fair, I speak up.
"Well then Link, guess it's only fair you get my name. It's… Jay. yeah, you can call me Jay."
Link tilts his head as if he knows that's not the whole truth. Which it's not, but I have reasons.
"It's an… old nickname of mine, just one of the things everyone used to call me." I- Jay says simply. "Doesn't mean that I don't trust you. I'll just tell you my full name when I'm about to die. Or something like that."
Link, more satisfied with this answer, just nods his head and outstretches a fist. Yeah, right, Nintendo thing. Moving my fist to meet his. I tap on it.
"And now, through the code of law by Nintendo, we're friends for life.". Jay says with a smile as they finish. "Now it's time to go down more hills."
The both of them look forward and walk. Seeing a ruined church come over from the side of a giant hill. Beginning to get immersed into the scenery, they almost don't hear the screech coming towards them.
Faster than any… creature as awkwardly built as that. A red-skinned goblin? Freak of nature? Comes charging at them. Link, as if acting on instinct, already pulled out his make-shift weapon in preparation. Crouching down, getting ready to spring into action, he bolts.
And just as suddenly, he stops.
Instead, he comes back and looks Jay in the eyes once again. Pointing at the ax in his hand and telling him one thing.
"Fight."
You've got to be kidding me? This was supposed to get two weeks ago.
Yeah, I'm just going to apologize for that right now. I already planned this chapter out, and 90% if it was written. But then graduation came up, and it was just a mess. But even still, here it is, Chapter two of Counselor for a War Hero.
A little bit of rehashing from the first AN but, I don't write. And fight scenes are a world beyond me. That being said, the next Chapter is a fight scene. With some more, you guessed it, walking.
Yeah, you really don't realize how much you do something until you write it.
And I think around now is the point where I need to talk MC. the first Chapter was more of a demo, and so was the first half of this one. But I think it's going to go from SI to SI-OC. Just for more flexibility in what I can do.
That's all from me, so I guess I'll be seeing you all in a week or a month. Who knows