I don't remember how it all started, exactly. All I remember was I was playing World of Light one cold, wintery December night in 2018. As I was freeing Spirit after Spirit in the game, I came across the one whose design I thought was cute: Mipha, the Zora Princess from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I freed her Spirit for what had seemed a joke of a battle and noticed I was getting drowsy from the blanket I was wrapped up in. I put my Switch back on its dock to charge for another day of gaming to my heart's content, yawned, and fell asleep as soon as I hit the mattress. What I didn't know is that that night, my life would change forever.
That night, I had a dream. I was riding on top of a Swampert through the vast oceans of my imagination. When all of a sudden, I fell off and was dragged towards the bottom of the sea. I struggled to swim upward for air, but my effort was naught. I noticed my vision was getting hazy, and before I knew it, I closed my eyes. I felt something drag me upward and placed me on a flat surface. Then I heard a voice coming from somewhere.
"Are you ok? Can you hear me? Please wake up!"
The voice was clearly feminine, from the high pitch. Otherwise, I dreamt of a rather squeaky-voiced man. I coughed up seawater a few times, then opened my eyes to see a pink-scaled fish-human staring at me. She wore a blue, ornately-designed sash across her chest, silver adorned all over various places of her body, and yellow eyes that seemed to glow faintly. In her hand was a large, silver trident, prongs sharp as knives.
"Thank you...you saved my life..." I said weakly, still gasping for air. "Wait a minute...don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Yes," she said, as a smile began to appear on her face. "I am Mipha, Champion of the Zora. You freed my spirit in World of Light. Don't you remember?"
"Oh yeah! You're right! But why are you here, in my dream?"
"To pay you back for setting me free, silly!" she said, letting out a giggle about what I said. "If something bad happens to you in the real world, and you have a dream that night, I will appear in it to comfort you. I promise." She leaned in and gave me a hug.
"Um...ok," I said, trying to contain my shyness as my face turned red. "And...I promise that I will not have any problems with you helping me."
"Thank you."
I awoke the next morning wondering what had just happened. Was my mind playing tricks on me? Was I going insane? I had no idea. "This could be the start of something. Whether it's good or bad, I don't know. I should tread carefully."