.
.
.
The wind whipped against my face as I sprinted through the forest.
...Although, 'sprinted' may not be the best word.
I was throwing myself forward and parallel to the ground, moving faster than should have been humanly possible.
My body must have been moving at almost sixty miles per hour, stamping the dirt and launching through the trees like a rocket, and that was while I had to avoid all the trunks and underbrush in the way.
It seemed obvious that my reflexes had also become just as monstrous, since even at such speeds I could dodge all the various obstacles without smashing headfirst into them.
But I wasn't thinking too much about that. Someone was in trouble, and I was just now realizing my body had moved on its own.
It seemed to be doing that a lot.
The Knight's Broadsword was strapped tight against my back as I dashed towards the increasingly loud sounds of battle, and the cries of someone close to death.
I was moving into an unknown situation that would most certainly end in bloodshed, and I would've definitely liked a shield, but I couldn't just stop time and access my menu like in the game.
After all, in order to access the inventory, I had to physically open up the Slate and find the right item. I had no time to grab anything besides the Knight's Broadsword, which was already out and ready.
I burst out of the underbrush and into the clearing, my eyes narrowed as I took in the sights.
Five figures in total.
One Hylian. Weakened, injured, armed with dagger.
Four Bokoblins- no, Bokoblin-like creatures. Small, green skin. Each armed with clubs.
Wait, "Bokoblin-like Creature?" No, those are goblins, like, from fantasy stories-
Lvl 3, Lvl 4, Lvl 4, Lvl 3, Lvl 5
No threat.
Instead of the numbered health bar normally seen over enemies while my Champion's Tunic was equipped, I instead saw… levels. Not something I had ever seen in a Zelda game.
-But now wasn't the time for getting distracted.
The four goblins were crowded around the injured Hylian, who was only a child. Around thirteen or fourteen years old at the latest. He had been stabbed through the leg with a spear, and struggling to stand, his dagger between him and the group of goblins. It was clear he was going to lose.
At least, he would have lost had I not arrived in time.
Now, instead of the Hylian being grossly outmatched, the goblins were.
None of the goblins would be able to put up a threat, so I confidently put my weight on my forward foot, and dashed forward in a single movement.
In just two quick flashes of the Knight's Broadsword, each enemy had been cleanly bisected in half.
I appeared in front of the boy in a burst of wind, who gasped at my sudden entrance and fell onto the ground, groaning in pain. Tears were in his eyes.
His leg wound was terrible. The goblins had managed to get him almost clean through, and at first glance it seemed like he would never walk again.
Blood flowed freely down his thigh- a major artery had been hit.
But I felt confident.
I knelt down onto the ground in front of him, putting my hands just above the gaping wound in his thigh, and with a mental command, I activated Mipha's Grace.
Sea-green light, gentle and soothing, began to emanate from my open palms. The boy's gasping began to quiet, and his fluttering eyelids slowed. Before my eyes, I saw the blood caking his leg begin to disappear, the wound slowly growing back together.
It was beautiful.
And also very, very disgusting.
I had never even seen any injury worse than a broken arm, and this much blood was a horrible sight. My knees weakened slightly, although I stopped myself before losing balance.
After a few more seconds, it seemed like the boy had stabilized. Surprisingly, that much healing only took out a small amount of my energy stores. I would need to thoroughly test how much my abilities used this new energy system-
My train of thought stopped suddenly.
At that moment, I had stood and turned to look at the aftermath of the four goblins.
Blood had been splattered everywhere within the clearing, but more still was pouring out of the dead bodies.
They had all been split in two, leaving internal organs spilling onto the forest floor. I could make out individual bones and intestines like some kind of cross-section.
I couldn't move my eyes away from the sight.
"..."
I did that?
The boy behind me, who had previously seemed to be unconscious, began to make movements, and I turned quickly, happy for an opportunity to put that gruesome scene out of my sight.
I crouched down to where he laid on the ground as he began to wake up, taking the opportunity to get a good look at the boy.
He was certainly young, and my initial estimates seemed about right- around thirteen or fourteen. He hadn't started filling out yet, still with a fresh face, and he was quite short. The boy was scrawny as well, thin, with barely any fat on his body, only sinewy muscle.
With his long brown hair falling down to shoulder level and his tattered, dirt-caked clothing, it seemed like he had been living outside of proper civilization for weeks now.
…Something I never realized about Link was how he always managed to stay looking good even after living in the wild for so long. His clothes stayed clean and dry, and his face was always fresh.
A not very small part of me hoped that this body still had that mythical quality.
Then my eyes caught on to something interesting.
His ears.
Something cool about Hylians was that even if they were mostly like humans, there were a few key differences. The main one being their long, pointed ears like normal fantasy elves.
This boy had short and round ears.
He wasn't Hylian at all- he was a human. And I was pretty certain there has never been a human shown in a Zelda game.
That confirmed it. I wasn't in Hyrule anymore.
My lips quirked slightly at the thought, but I decided to focus on the present for now. Specifically, the final thing about the boy that interested me.
Lvl 5
A few small letters floated above his head.
Thanks to some general RPG logic, I could identify them as a level, showing his relative strength. Surprisingly, it was higher than all the goblins, even though he was still just a kid.
At this point, his breathing had steadied and he began to wake up.
When his eyes opened and met my own, his instantly widened in… fear?
He scrambled backwards, gasping in panic and breathing hard, until he forced himself against a tree, shaky hand picking up his dagger quickly.
"...Who… who are you?!"
...I have to say, I wasn't exactly expecting that reaction.
For somebody I had just saved, he wasn't acting very grateful.
I was prepared for a heartfelt 'thank you' and maybe some small hero worship. Not panic and fear.
Although, thinking about my actions from a different perspective, I could understand it. I had appeared before him in a blinding flash and instantly killed four goblins in a single moment. A normal person would probably be scared at the display of power.
So I responded simply to his agitation- in order to not show aggression and calm him down.
I shrugged.
"Wha- what? Who are you? -Why did you save me?!"
The kid had begun to stand up, and at that moment, he realized he wasn't bleeding to death anymore.
His eyes widened.
"...You healed me?"
I nodded.
"...Um, thanks."
I nodded again, and walked over to a nearby tree, leaning against it and inspecting the Knight's Broadsword in my hand. It was well-made, for sure, but I had swung it at a force and speed that would probably break a normal blade. I still wasn't sure if I could just make infinite copies of weapons with the Sheikah Slate, but I didn't want to test the limitations. After all-
I blinked, and broke out of my thoughts.
That's right, I was in the middle of a conversation.
As I turned to look at the boy, I saw he was still standing there, awkwardly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself.
"Um… are you an elf?"
He probably saw my ears.
I shook my head.
"...But you're not human. Humans don't have ears like those... And besides, a human wouldn't have done that."
I didn't know what he meant by the last part, but he was right, so I nodded.
"Can you talk?"
I nodded again.
Technically, I still hadn't tested if I could speak or not while in this body but at the moment I just wasn't in the mood, especially since I could get everything across with simple motions.
"So you can talk, but you don't want to."
I nodded again, smiling slightly.
He stood with an awkward expression on his face as the silence stretched on.
"Um, okay…."
Based on the boy's clothing and general lack of adults in the vicinity, I guessed he had probably been living out here by himself.
I tilted my head in a silent question.
"What?"
I looked around the area and spread my hands out, before looking back at him with a quirked eyebrow.
"Oh, are you wondering why I'm alone?"
I nodded.
At my response, his awkward expression suddenly transitioned into something much more hostile.
"It's none of your business! Don't bother sticking your nose in my problems."
I blinked at his sudden volume increase. The yelling had kind of hurt my ears.
Immediately, he calmed down and looked at the ground sheepishly, scratching at his wrist.
"Ah... sorry. Um, I'd like it if you didn't ask. Don't bother trying to find my parents nearby or something, you… you won't find them."
My brows furrowed in worry.
His parents were dead. That, or they had abandoned him- or he ran off on his own. All of the options were bad, and I really had no idea what to do with him.
I obviously couldn't just leave this kid by himself, not after seeing him almost die at the hands of local monsters.
The best thing to do was probably bring him to civilization, protecting him from threats. Once we arrived there I could get some answers as to where I even was, and make a plan afterwards.
I nodded to myself, before making eye contact with the boy. Pointing at my chest, I opened my mouth to speak.
But as I formed the word, my voice caught in my throat and I began scratchily coughing, the boy rushing over to me with a worried look on his face.
When was the last time this body had actually spoken…?
I sighed, and spoke very quietly, to the point where the kid had to visibly strain himself to hear me.
"...Link."
His eyes widened slightly, before he nodded.
"Your name's Link? Weird name for an elf- I mean, whatever you are. Um, I'm Aly."
I nodded, before turning and beginning to walk into the forest, beckoning the kid behind me to follow, and making an effort to not look at the goblin corpses.
…I don't know why I decided to tell him that. It wasn't really my name, just the name of the body I was currently in. I could have easily just said my real one, but something had stopped me at the last moment.
Maybe it was another one of those automatic reactions from the body, but maybe it was something else. Maybe it was me, latching onto what could clearly become a second chance.
I shrugged.
Now wasn't the time for introspection. I had to help this kid first.
.
.
.
*Author's Note*
If you've ever played Breath of the Wild, you can probably tell I've been making a few changes. There's two basic things that I'll be basing these changes on. 1: I'm trying to make Link's powers and abilities as canonical as possible. This is the guy who single handedly dueled Calamity Ganon- even if Ganon was weakened at the time. It's also why the Sheikah Slate is a little different with it's copying powers. I feel like the Sheikah Slate should be powerful, it's a piece of magical ancient tech made for a champion.
The second reason for the changes is I'm trying to combine Link's abilities with the New World and YGGDRASIL power systems- the reason that he sees levels instead of hp bars with the champion's tunic is simple. Hp bars don't make much sense in a real world, since technically with an hp bar you could repeatedly stub your toe on a bench and eventually die. Also, I don't want to have to guess the hp of Overlord characters when I can easily figure out their levels.