This story is a sequel. The previous is called Kismet. While you don't have to necessarily read it to know what happens, I would recommend it to familiarize yourself with my version of Lynk.

Hope you enjoy!

And grammatical errors are my own and don't be afraid to point them out!

Changelog:

19/1/21—Chapters 1 to 7, corrections and improvements

Formally Heart of a Wild Heart

[Words: 3287]

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Book 2:

Courageous Heart

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It was difficult to remember before. Before her death. Before everything had gone disastrously wrong. Before destruction and death fell greatly upon the land of Hyrule. Just everything before the Calamity.

Some days, she could remember—remember running through lush green hills and towering forests laughing with those she believed to be her parents. She could remember castle spires reaching for the heavens, the busy market place of the town just outside the castle. She could remember the hard-working citizens and friendly atmosphere. She could remember a beautiful and glowing city resting upon pillars above a great river, and she could remember homes built from carved out rocks surrounded by lava. She closed her eyes and could feel the great desert heat and a snowy mountain range's chilly wind against her cheeks.

She could recall morning and evening skies, scorching days, and bitter winter nights cuddled beside a fire.

She could remember emotions—affection, hope, anger, desperation. Hate, love.

But most days, she could remember essentially nothing. Often it left her feeling very little. Emotionless. Thoughtless. Numb. Her mind nothing like it had used to be.

And yet, despite having nothing but her name and clothes on her back, she fought. Even when hope was but a distant memory, and her mind clouded with darkness, she fought to save the owner of the voice. Free the trapped souls of people she had also forgotten.

One hundred years. A lifetime for one. A small fraction of a lifetime to others. But she spent those years dead to the world, healing and sleeping.

Then she was awoken.

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Chapter 1:

Awaken

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…Open your eyes…

The voice pierced her slumbering mind like a golden beacon where before there had been nothing but darkness and silence, and then suddenly there was light. Sound. Awareness.

…Open your eyes…

She found it difficult to obey the voice, her lids were heavy and wanted nothing more than to stay closed form. But when she finally managed to grasp the strength, she was met with a bright blurry blue light from above.

…Open your eyes…

Her eyes focused quickly and she saw. What she saw, she had no idea but it was something. Some strange dome with an equally as strange pattern with glowing blue lights.

…Wake up Lynk…

The voice become clear as the pool of soft glowing blue liquid bled from around her. She realised she was resting on a hard surface, her head elevated above where the liquid had once sat.

Her eyes moved first, desperate to locate something her mind could place. Something, someone. But she was met with a deathly silent room, where the ceiling and walls were some kind of stone, or metal perhaps. They weren't smooth, instead, they were covered in swirling patterns—swirls and tendrils that formed maze-like designs.

There were small lights built into the wall patterns and it left the room in a soft orange glow.

Then slowly she, Lynk—that was what the voice had called her, was it her name?—sat up. Her body protested, she felt stiff, heavy but ignored the aching to instead glance down at herself. She wore nothing but a white bra and blue shorts.

At the back of her mind, her thoughts lingered on the lack of clothing but the front part paid it little attention.

Lynk pushed herself to the edge of the… what was this thing exactly? Basin? Either way, Lynk swung her legs over the edge, a bit awkwardly as the edges raised up higher than her butt.

She let her feet brush against the ground, part of her expecting it to be chilly. It was but not nearly as bad as expected so she pushed to her feet. They felt tender, soft and she grimaced slightly at the feeling. She straightened her posture and her spine popped in a relieving but painful way.

She took a moment to examine herself. Two arms, two legs—thin yet muscular. She peered down as she'd done so and long dirty blonde hair fell in front of her eyes. Ah, she reached up and grabbed a lock of it. Her attention was drawn to the right side as it was decorated with red ribbon and a silver crescent and purple gem.

It matched the gem hanging from her neck, she quickly realised, not having noticed the necklace before. She wondered about them, wondered if there was a reason she had her hair like that or still wore the gem when she had nothing else on her but the bra and shorts.

For a moment, Lynk thought her eyes caught a glimpse of red but when she turned to see it, nothing was there—merely a trick of the eye.

Lynk released her hair as she became distracted by a pedestal. It glowed a light similar to the pool of liquid she'd been submerged in. She walked toward to the pedestal; it bore the same patterning as the rest of the room.

It was a bright blue and left an almost painful feeling in her eyes the longer she stared at it—it was almost too bright. But Lynk's attention was drawn to the odd rectangular object locked inside the pedestal.

It… it… Lynk paused as she reached out, unsure of what she was trying to think. It didn't ring any bells, it didn't seem familiar despite the twang at the back of her mind as she looked at it. But before she could reach any further, the pedestal flashed and made a noise, much like when stone was ground against another piece of stone.

Lynk stepped back, startled as the inner circle turned and rose several inches and the rectangular object lifted out to stand up straight. The object had become illuminated once it had stood up, there was a stylized eye, iris glowing a familiar bright blue while the three-pointed lashes glowed orange above it. Beneath the eye was a teardrop and there were outlines that glowed orange.

…Take it…

Her eyes widened, immediately scanning the room for any sign of the owner of the voice but there was no one but her.

…Lynk, I am not there with you…

The tone was lighter, twanging with a hint of an apologetic undertone. Lynk frowned, then how was she speaking to her?

…I am speaking to you within your mind from far away…

Lynk allowed the information to settle before moving again, turning her attention back onto the pedestal.

…The object within the pedestal is called a Sheikah Slate, it will help guide you after your long slumber…

Only after a moment's consideration, she reached out and plucked it from its home. She was immensely surprised to find it was lightweight. She turned it over in her hands, it was light, yet carried a weight to it at the same too. How…strange.

A new sound filled the quiet chamber, one that she felt in her bones, and she looked for the source. She found it at the grey wall to her right. It was a…door, she realised. She watched as the stone raised from the ground upwards. It rumbled loudly and it made her knees feel weak until it stopped with a reverberating thud. It revealed another chamber, only this one was more of a…hallway. Yes, that was the word…

Lynk approached carefully, peering into the dark room with curiosity, her ears twitching as she searched for any other noise.

…You'll see a chest within this room. Inside that chest will be clothing. It may not be in the best of states for it has sat there for a long time untouched…

Lynk quietly moved toward the chest, eager to get some clothing—there was a slight chill in the room despite the stale and dry air that seemed to inhabit this place.

There was a cream shirt, it only reached her mid-abdomen, the ends were ripped and frayed so it had likely once been a full-length shirt. The lower half was a pair of quarter length brown trousers. The shoes were a similar brown and were one size too big, they felt weird on her feet, restricting and she wondered why someone would wear shoes.

It left another twang at the back of her again but she wasn't sure what the twang meant. Lynk ignored it as she slipped the Sheikah Slate into the pedestal and watched as the next door opened, much like the previous one.

Sunlight streamed in from under the door as it rose and with it a breeze of fresh air that Lynk gulped up—it was far better than the stale air that encased the room.

Lynk fetched the Slate again and felt her heart flutter at the sight of the outside world. She rushed forward with an emotion that Lynk belatedly identified as excitement. She leapt up the wall and didn't care as she stumbled to her feet in her attempt to run outside.

She ran to the cliff edge and stopped, eyes wide as she scanned her surrounding for the first time. It went on for seemingly forever, forests and plains as far as the eye could see. Mountain ranges covered in snow and ice, a massive volcano with magma flowing freely down its sides. But in the middle of all of this stood a solitary castle, with its central spire rising above several others.

Birds flew overhead and they chirped merrily without a care in the world. A soft breeze blew by her, tingling her nose with the scent of grass, trees and flora. She became increasingly aware of her own height in regards to the surrounding area. But even then, her surroundings were of a higher level with an abrupt cliff which seemed to be of hand-made origin. A plateau perhaps.

Her eyes were drawn to the large ruins of what seemed to have been a temple. Her gaze lingered on the building before they once more scanned her surroundings. She noted a smaller man-made structure by the edge of the plateau, it seemed to have similar designs as to the chamber she had been in moments before. Created by the same people perhaps?

Despite that, she knew she never wanted to return to the chamber if the entire world was like this—she didn't know why she'd awakened in the chamber or what led to her getting in there in the first place… she couldn't…

She couldn't remember anything.

She stopped short of examining her surroundings further, breath came and went in short rapid bursts at the realisation—her heart pounded as her now wide eyes scoured the world around her in an attempt to find something—anything recognizable.

Where was she? Why was she here in the first place?

Who… who was she?

…Lynk… I know you have many questions but you are the light—our light—that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now go, I have arranged for someone to help you. You will know who I speak of when you meet him…

Lynk's eyes turned to her right—as if they had been guided there—she noticed immediately that there was a fire. Her eyes flickered to the darky dressed person—even from this distance she could see the man had a long and white beard that reached his chest. He turned and headed back for the fire once he seemed to have known she acknowledged his existence.

Her stomach rumbled and she wondered if the man had any food, Lynk had no idea when the last time she ate was.

It was only a moment's hesitation before Lynk made her way down the hill. The closer she got, the more she could make of the man. He was a large man and looked likely to tower over her had he been standing, with large arms and bushy white beard. The man's blue-green eyes crinkled with this kindness as she approached, which helped ease Lynk's nerves.

"Oho ho! Well met, stranger! It's rather unusual to see another soul in these parts."

Lynk flinched and backed away in confusion; confused about how to go about answering the man. Was this the guide the voice had promised? He had a strange way of showing it if he was. He could also just be an old man that lived here. Either way, he could help her.

For a moment, Lynk was overcome with the feeling of dread as she opened her mouth to speak but her voice refused to leave. What was she to say? Her throat closed, felt tight, like there was a grip around it. But she forces herself, it takes several moments before she can even find and force the sound.

"W—Where am…I? What's… this place?" She paused before adding: "...You?"

She wanted to ask who am I? but bit her tongue, she doubted her throat would let her even.

The man eyed her for a long beat and Lynk shuffled, palms turning sweaty under the gaze. She adverted her own when she couldn't stand seeing him look at her…

Eventually, the man spoke, voice musing, "This is the Great Plateau. According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule." He stood, Lynk instinctively backed away when he did, with the help of his wooden staff and made his way around the fire toward Lynk. Lynk stepped back again, it caused the man to look at her curiously but he didn't comment on her reaction, (thank the Goddesses, she internally rasped but quickly questioned who these Goddesses were she was thanking), instead he motioned toward the temple Lynk had spotted before.

"That temple there. Long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the decline of the kingdom a hundred years ago, it has sat abandoned, in a state of decay. Yet another forgotten entity. A mere ghost of its former self…" His expression had fallen during his speech, Lynk didn't understand why—did…did he have some sort of connection to this place? Is that why he had chosen to take harbour here?

Still, Lynk glanced back at the delipidated temple, a frown tugging at her brows. Temple of Time? Decline of the kingdom? None of those words meant anything to her! Even the name Lynk was unfamiliar! She held no knowledge so she couldn't confirm if it was her true name or not!

She curled her toes, feet still uncomfortable in these shoes.

"I shall be here for some time, perhaps some exploration to refamiliarize yourself with the surroundings?" he smiled, "Please let me know if I may be of service."

Absently nodding, Lynk turned on her heels and wandered down the hill…maybe investigate the temple?

There was an axe buried partly in a tree stump and Lynk yanks it out, feeling its weight…a gesture that felt familiar at least.

Plucking an apple from a tree, axe tied securely to her back, Lynk moves on.

A strange blue jelly looking creature bursts up from the ground, with her axe, however, all that's left is a small chunk of jelly. It was squishy but didn't stick to her fingers then—it vanished in ribbons of blue light. She yelped and dropped the axe, staring at her hand in shock. The Slate at her hip vibrated.

Lynk pulled the Sheikah Slate from her hip and the screen displayed a box…with an image of the jelly! She squinted.

[A gelatinous substance that came from a Chuchu. It's unusable in this state, but applying a bit of elemental stimulation will change its form.]

…A Chuchu? Is that what the creature was called? Would this strange Slate tell her about whatever was…taken into it? Lynk didn't even know where to begin to understand what exactly this strange item was. She reattached it to her hip, picked her axe up and moved on.

But the sound of that voice returned to her.

…Lynk...head for the point marked on the map in your Sheikah Slate…

She frowned, pulling the Slate off her hip again and fiddled with it until it brought up a…map? But there was no…aren't maps meant to have locations and markings and an actual image? This was just blank.

However, it displayed where she was…and there was a yellow mark not far from her…is she going there?

She fights some red monsters, something she learns are called Bokoblins via the Slate—this thing was really useful! She wonders what else it could teach her!

She gets a sword and shield, arrows and bows! (All of which are also stored inside the Slate!) Things Lynk already knew that names of, items which she instinctively knows she has skills with.

Despite no memories, no idea where she is, all by herself—at least Lynk has these skills. She must have known how to use them before, the skills being craved into her very being. It makes her happy, relieved that she doesn't have to relearn something seemingly so important.

She finds a strange structure half-buried by the earth at the marked point and at the centre is another slot for the Slate. She sets it inside and—rumbling, the earth cracking and rocks tumbling down. Lynk covers her head with a shield, knees almost giving out as the tower moves, rising up and up and up!

The tower glows blue and Lynk's eyes gaze upon the seemingly endless land.

She watches as the strange pedestal drips a blue liquid onto the slate and the map fills in.

Oh? Some sort of…puzzle? Lynk squinted…did she have to find other towers to climb and fill in the rest of the map?

The Tower ejects the Slate and when Lynk turns to climb down…she hears it for the third time. The voice. The woman.

…Remember…try to remember…

Lynk turns to face the castle in the far distance surrounded by six large angled pillars, covered in a dark mist. But within that darkness shone a bright light.

"…Remember?" She croaked, "Who…who are you? Why…I'm here?"

A pause, then she spoke again.

…You have been asleep for the past one hundred years…

Lynk stumbled to a halt—one…one hundred years? That—that wasn't…that couldn't be…

The ground beneath Lynk's feet shuddered and she braced herself—was the tower going to sink again now she had used it?...No, it wasn't the tower but the castle, that changed! A thick red-purple haze began to rise up from the ground, swirling lazily around the structure, beginning to obscure the pale light.

…The beast…I know you do not remember yet, but when Calamity Ganon regains its true power, this world will face its ends!...

The woman's voice was urgent, strained.

Lynk watched the castle as the haze began to take shape; swirling around the ruined castle before solidifying into a much darker face. like a boar's snout and horns, distinctive pig-like head, though deformed. It opened his massive mouth, and Lynk heard, felt, the distant roar that caused the ground to tremble.

It continued to circle the castle, roaring again and rising into the air above the central spire. It was only when the pulse of the golden light pierced through the haze that it seemed to sink back; not fading completely but diminished.

…I fear the Calamity has sensed something has changed but it might not yet have realised you still live nor do I wish it to! You must hurry, Lynk. Before it's too late. I wish you the best of luck my friend…

In the centre of the distant castle, the pulsing life faded away.

Lynk suddenly felt so oh very alone. She didn't like it. Not one bit.