Chapter 3
It was a warm summer afternoon in the kingdom of Hyrule. The light from the sun warmed both the hearts and bodies of the Hylians meandering about in the Castle Town. Off in the courtyard, two children were at play, enjoying their day in the peaceful veil of childhood. One child, held aloft a tree branch, swiping at the air, cutting through imaginary monsters. The other child, a girl with golden blonde hair, bronzed skin, and plump cheeks that caught the sunlight, approach the other.
"What'cha doin'?" she said in a high pitched innocent tone.
The child stopped what they were doing and nervously dropped their arms to their sides.
"I'm...uh….saving Hyrule", they responded
"Saving it from what?" the girl replied excitingly
"I dunno….evil or somethin'".
The two stood silent for a few seconds, the one child anxiously awaiting for the girl to say something else while she excitedly waited for the other to do the same. After it became clear that they weren't going to say anything else unless she did.
"Do you know about the Hero of Time?"
The child enthusiastically met the girl's eyes.
"No, what's that?" they said as they sat down of the soft grass of the courtyard.
The girl smiled as she began her story.
"Well, my daddy told me about it. A really long time ago there was this kid who had to save Hyrule from an evil man. To do this, they had to rescue the princess and use a super special sword to defeat the man"
The child rested their soft cheek against their palm, eagerly awaiting the rest of the story.
"They had to fight big monsters like spiders and dragons and even had to go through time!"
"Did they do it?"
"Well, of course they did! The hero and the princess used both of their powers to defeat the man, saving Hyrule. And they all lived happily ever after".
"Wow, is this real or made up?"
"I don't know, I'll have to ask daddy about it tonight".
Just as the child was about to ask the girl another question about the Hero of Time, a grown up in a set of red robes stepped in, demanding the attention of the girl.
"Zelda, playtime is over. We need to get you ready for your fitting".
Zelda sighed.
"Ok, Mr. Aganihm".
She smiled one last time at the other child.
"Bye Link".
The warmth of childhood memories gave way to the chill of the present. Link trudged through the sewers beneath Hyrule Castle, shivering as they made their way through. Link hadn't yet wiped the tears from their face, letting them dry into a hard surface beneath their eyes, in a sense creating a small barrier.
Finally, Link saw a lit torch outside of a doorway. There was more light inside.
'This must be the dungeon', they thought. Link stepped forward, quietly across the stone floor making only the subtlest of tapping sounds. Link peered in seeing rows of empty cells. One, however, did not appear empty. At the very end of the room there was an armored guard standing in front of a cell. Thinking that this must be where the princess was being held, Link drew their sword and approached the knight.
The second Link left the shadows, the knight turned around. Link jumped back as he saw the same, lifeless, glowing eyes as the guard they ran into earlier. The knight quickly grabbed the flail off of its belt and began swinging it at Link with inhuman ferocity. Just before the flail could impact Link, they raised their shield, blocking the steel ball with a loud clunk. The knight attempted to swing at Link again, this time swinging lower in an attempt to immobilize them. Luckily, Link jumped at the right time and, while the knight was distracted, managed to get behind it. Before the knight could realize what had just happened, Link plunged their sword in a weak part of the armor, where the black mass that made up the creature's body was exposed. Upon doing so, the knight's suit of armor crashed to the hard stone floor.
Link turned around to the cell that the knight was guarding, where they met eyes with a familiar face. It had been a long time since they'd seen her and both of them had changed in so many ways over the years. But Link didn't see the changes, they only saw what was the same. Her golden blonde hair, seeming to reflect the sunlight even in such a dimly lit cavern. Her bronze skin, full of color and vibrancy, painting her form with shades of copper and amber. Her soft, pump cheeks, freckled and blushing a brilliant red. And her piercing blue eyes, soaked in moisture. Link rushed to the door and broke the lock with their sword. Zelda ran up and gave Link the biggest, warmest hug Link had received in a long time. It had been so cold up until now, but this was so comforting. Link wished that this moment where the two teens, no, the two children embracing would last forever. Through tears, Zelda began to speak softly into Link's pointed ear.
"I knew it had to be you. It always had to be you".