A Hyrule Historian

Chapter VIII

Find a Cure for My Life

I found myself incredibly grateful for changes from the Breath of the Wild map to this real life one. While it would have been nice to know exactly where I was and what was going to happen, it doesn't compare to the relief of not having to figure out how to traverse the snowy peak of Mt Hylia. Seeing as there are two of us, no suspicious old men to give us warm clothes, and no idea how to make magic spicy food that makes you immune to the cold; it was a relief that half the plateau wasn't partially covered in snow.

In this reality the entirety of the Great Plateau was covered the Forest of Spirits, okay well technically only the part that was to the west of The Ruins of Castle Town and the south of The Shrine of Resurrection was called the Forest of Spirits. To the north was The Forest of Hylia, with Mt Hylia breaching up through the impossibly large trees. While, to the East was the Sacred Grove, which contained what I'm assuming is the Eastern Abbey. These of course were labeled neatly on Link's Sheikah Slate.

As we traversed the temperate forest I couldn't help but notice the creeping dread of feeling out of place wrap around me again. I had nearly forgotten about it with the nightmare of the Trial of Courage. I was unable to suppress a panicked shiver that ran down my spine at the thought of it again.

I quickly switched my focus back to the sense of wrongness that permeated the entire forest. I couldn't help but wonder if this was a portion of the Lost Woods that stayed attached to this area? Or maybe it grew on it's own from the residual magic? Though, that's only assuming I am right about Castle Town and The Lost Woods switching places. I mean, the placement of the two don't make sense otherwise, but whatever. Maybe this is a weird version of the confusion magic that makes people get lost and turn into Stalfos.

It took us most of the day to hike to hike up Mt Hylia. It was dark by the time we reached the peak. Atop the mountain was a stone monument just like in Breath of the Wild, no names or inscriptions were on it to signify whom the grave was for and I couldn't help but remember people who had data mined the game and found out that the assets were named something like King's Tomb. However, unlike the game there was another Triforce pedestal directly in front of it.

I had only just made it to the smooth flat top of the mountain before I finally had to collapse and lay down. Drawing deep breaths into my exhausted lungs I took in the sight of the sky. In all of my travels back on earth, I have never seen so many stars. I was constantly amazed by this world with no light pollution or greenhouse gases and whatever else we had done to the environment back home. The sky was so much more alive than I ever could have imagined. No wonder ancient cultures firmly believed that the sky held their Deities, if their night skies were anything like the ones in this very magical land, I probably would have believed in a higher power too.

Link joined me on the ground, his head next to mine on the very hard stone of the pedestal. We stayed like that for a while, resting and catching our breath. I had always considered myself fairly physically fit. I was pretty muscular, more so than any of the girls I was ever in school with at least, I had always focused on strength and endurance training instead of worrying about looking slim or sexy like society demands of women. Being tall for a girl was beneficial in that way I guess; I had some many people both my own age and also grown ass adults telling me that boys don't like girls who are taller than them as if I could personally choose my height. The joke was on them in the end because I came out as bisexual and women are really into girls who are tall and can bench-press them.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that I am used to a lot of physical activity and the fact that it means nothing in the face of countless hours of hiking, fighting, and very physical puzzle-solving was more than a little disheartening. In the end though, I guess it didn't matter too much. I was too happy to get to spend time with Link on an adventure to be anything but grateful.

I turn my head to look at Link only to be caught off guard by him already looking at me. He gives me a warm smile before quietly asking, "So do you think we can wait until morning to do the next trial? All I can really think about right now is eating and sleeping." He looks a bit sheepish and I couldn't help but find it endearing.

"Honestly that sounds wonderful." I breathe in relief.

We remain laying down, any buzz of needing to hurry abated by the promise of sleep before whatever awaits us in the trial. Eventually, Link was the first to move and he began to create a small campfire for us to ward of the cool night breeze and heat up the food we had packed for dinner. I decided to busy myself by setting up out bedrolls and pillows; it was still mindboggling to me how this world had actual bags of holding. Like, magic was so fucking awesome and I never want to live without it again. We both had two bags apiece, purchased off of Parcy of course, and you can just casually put things inside and take them out as if nothing had happened. They never changed shape and they never got heavier. Truly it was an amazing feat of magic that I was going to be endlessly thankful for. The bag plus my star purse to hold my important items meant I had a pretty solid organization of goods going.

It wasn't long before we were settled and munching on our dinner.

"Do you think I was wrong to run away from Michiko?" Link's question was soft as the breeze, barely able to be heard over the crackling of the fire.

It startled me; I had been so wrapped up in trying to distract him from the hurt she had caused him that I guess I didn't realize he was still thinking about it. My mouth was full of meat and mushrooms so I used chewing to stall for time as I thought of a good answer. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure what would help Link the most right now, but as I looked at him I remembered my promise to tell him the truth.

"Honestly, I don't know." I sighed, "If I were you I would have absolutely run away, and probably never talk to her again. But, I've also never had any long lasting friendships so I'm probably not a great authority on this subject. And honestly, I can't say I like her, so I might be biased against her. But, no matter how I feel on the subject I think you're opinion matters most. You were the one she hurt by constantly lying so I think however you want to handle it is okay. I'll support you no matter what. Even if you forgive her and want to travel with and probably date her." I ended in a joke to try and cover my awkwardness on the subject. I completely failed at it but it was worth a try.

Link didn't say anything for a while. I was starting to understand that Link was a pretty deep thinker; he always seemed to go over his words in his head before saying them. "I think, I want to know why she did it, but I'm also not ready to see her yet."

I smiled sadly at him, "I think that's fair. We can do things at your pace and when you feel ready, I can go with you. Or I can step back and let you talk to her on your own. Whatever you want, my dude."

He doesn't say anything in response but he doesn't need to. He just gives me another one of his warm, sad smiles and goes back to eating.

I hope I said the right thing.

We rose with the sun. After a quick breakfast and a quicker pack up of our little camp we were officially ready to start our next trial. A quick glance a Link for confirmation that he was ready was all I did before playing the opening notes of Zelda's Lullaby.

I was more than a little curious about where the door to the trial would be, or if maybe we would have to fight something atop the mountain; which, I won't lie, scared the shit out of me. I didn't have to wonder for too long. No sooner than the final notes of the melody floated into the air came a loud crack of stone breaking apart.

Before I could even think to move, I was falling down a large tunnel straight down through the mountain. Black swam up and around me as I fell further away from the daylight above. I would love to say that I was thinking of a way to save myself or even Link, who I could sometimes catch a glimpse of, but I wasn't. In fact I wasn't thinking of anything. I was in the worst panic attack I have ever had in my life. I couldn't take a breath whether it was from the fall stealing the air from my lungs or hyperventilating it didn't really matter. My head was swimming, vision blurry, as I plummeted. Everything happened so fast that I couldn't comprehend what was actually occurring.

Thankfully, I was with the most competent person in the universe. I was firmly grabbed by my cardigan and yanked backwards into Link's arms. He managed to both turn me to face him and duck his way into the circle of my arms, which I hadn't noticed were still desperately clutching the Ocarina of Time.

Don't let go of your obsession.

I couldn't hear if Link was saying anything, the wind and my own screaming was too loud for anything to break through, but with Link's frantic grab at my legs trying to pull them up around his waist; I got the memo and clung to him like a large terrified koala.

Just as suddenly as our descent began, it stopped. Well, not stopped per say, but slowed to a smooth even glide downwards. By this time I had squeezed my eyes shut and buried my head into Link's neck, so it took a bit to work up the nerve to peek, but eventually I glanced above us to see Link's hands gripped tightly to the Paraglider.

"It's okay. I got you. Just hang onto me. I won't let you fall." The soft assurance was whispered straight into my ear. As I looked at Link I was overwhelmed by the comfort he offered. I wasn't sure when I had started crying, but I certainly was now.

Far too soon, the tunnel opened up into a massive room at least the size of a football field. Every surface in the room was made of the same smooth black stone which, coupled with the flickering light of the many torches across the whole space, made for an intense atmosphere of anticipation. It was clear that there was something waiting for us somewhere in the shadows behind pillars and torches but it's was impossible to see what it was.

God, I hope it's not spiders again. Er- Goddess…Hylia. Hylia, I hope it's not spiders again.

We land on a circular platform, which is just about as large as the tunnel above, in the middle of the room. As soon as Link's feet touch the ground, mine still firmly wrapped around his waist. The torches flare blindingly. Even as I quickly slam my eyes shut bright spot dance across my vision while the light tries to pry its way through my eyelids. Once the light faded and I felt it was safe, I opened my eyes and dropped my viper grip on Link.

My legs wobble uncontrollably fro a second and I'm sure that I probably would have fallen to the floor had Link not thought to grab my upper arms to steady me. I'm not even able to thank him everything happens so fast.

The sound of heavy footfalls and the metallic slide of a sword being drawn come from behind me. Link uses his grasp on me to throw the both of us to the side. Link manages to turn us so he lands on his knees, already drawing his sword and shield, while I land less gracefully on my hands and knees beside him. In the spot we had just been standing was a person sword poised and a stabbing motion.

He could only be loosely called a person. It was an inky black mass. It had no facial features, darkness too encompassing to show the ridge of a nose of curve of a mouth. There were, however, two perfectly round, glowing, red lights where eyes should have been. Unlike the games where the polygons of a character shape are usually enough to distinguish them, this real life shadow too indistinct and dark to tell just by sight who it was trying to represent. But, I wasn't guessing by sight, and it was all too obvious what this was.

Dark Link turned towards us, shield up and sword at the ready.

"Link. That's you. Your shadow. He's going to be able to replicate your swordsmanship." I blurt out in a rush as I struggle to my feet. Legs weak, heart racing, and freshly drawn sword shaking; I stand next to Link and wonder if my nonexistent sword skills will help or hinder in this instance.

Dark Link lunges at us with alarming speed but Link darts out to meet him. A swing of a sword is deflected by a shield and Link swings at the opening it created. It looks like it connected with the shadow's not-body, but it didn't flinch and jumped back so swiftly it was hard to know for certain. They traded a few more blows in quick succession.

All I could do was watch. My meager skills with a sword couldn't even begin to compared with the two in front of me. If that wasn't enough, I couldn't even begin to see an opening for me to join in without the risk of being in Link's way. I was well and truly useless.

I shook in despair and fury. My eyes stung and I have never in all my years hated myself more than in this moment. My still unsteady legs finally gave out and my body and tears fell to the ground.

Despite the blurriness of my vision and the heaviness of my limbs I couldn't tear my eyes from the form of Link and his shadow. The constant motion of strikes, parries, blocks, and glancing blows were an endless cycle of motion, a never-ending dance of death. Or at least, it felt like it would never end. That is until the shadow stabbed Link in the side.

I screamed as the blow caused Link to crash to the ground and in that heart stopping second it was clear that Dark Link was going to go for a finishing blow. I was on my feet before I even consciously decided to stand.

My scream turned from terror to rage and without thinking I threw myself at Dark Link; my sword slipping from my grip. Whether he had been too wrapped up in trying to kill Link to notice me, or simply deemed me not a viable threat I couldn't say for sure. Thankfully though, that meant it clearly wasn't expecting my interference so it didn't have time to try and dodge or block my tackle. I wrapped one hand around its sword hand and tucked the other tightly into my side, and with all of the force I could muster I lunged into its chest. I barely even registered the pain of contact, as we were both sent flying off the platform.

The landing was harsh, even with the creature's body beneath me lessening the impact, but I had no time to dwell on it. My heart in my ears and stomach in my lungs I scramble to get purchase on top of it as I tried to force it to let go of the sword by slamming the wrist I held against the ground. When that failed to produce results, I vaulted higher onto its body, straddling its chest and used both of my hands to try and rip open its iron like grip and take the sword from its hand.

It very suddenly snapped its free hand up and grabbed a fist full of my curls and yanking down and away from the hand I was wrestling. I screeched in equal amounts of pain and anger before shoving my elbow as hard as I could into the area of its face where a nose would be. There was an audible crack and I prayed that whatever this thing was that it could still have a broken nose. It let out a type of hiss I have only ever heard from incredibly aggressive owls and used its grip on my hair and the awkward position it had pulled me in to flip me off of its chest and onto the solid stone next to it.

My head hit the ground with a loud crack that sent my entire world spinning. Miraculously, I managed to keep my grip on its hand so instead of immediately running me through with its sword when it flipped us it was forced to pin me down with its shield, its sword pointing harmlessly off to the side. Realizing I wasn't about to let it stab me the creature hiss again and suddenly put all of its weight onto the shield punching the breath out of my lungs.

At this point my vision was blurry and spinning enough that I could no longer make out anything but the glowing red orbs of Dark Link's eye directly above me. There was a moment where I was certain I was going to die this way, and then the creature let out a shriek of pain. The shadow form was no longer able to hold together and it exploded layering me in a cloud of pitch-black smoke.

The magical and incredibly welcome tone of the puzzle complete melody rang out around us and as the smoke disappeared I could make out the shape of Link standing above me, sword posed in such a way that it was clear he had run it through Dark Link's torso.

I didn't move from my place on the ground, and for a while Link and I just stared at each other. Eventually he sheathed his sword and knelt down on the ground next to me.

"You okay?" He eventually asked, voice soft and full of some kind of emotion that I was far to out of it to begin to surmise.

"I'll live. You?" I respond trying to move as little as possible until the room stopped spinning.

"I'll live too." He winced clutching his side.

"We should head back to Lon Lon Ranch once we get out of here. I think we might need some real patching up and someone there has got to know how to." I offer my opinion exhausted though I've only been awake for maybe an hour at this point.

Link didn't verbally respond and I had at some point closed my eyes, so I wasn't sure if he had agreed with me or not. He did however shift his stance and I felt his hands reach under my back as he lifted me into a sitting position. I cracked an eye open to look at him but he was already beginning to stand. He bent over in front of me and without a word wrapped his arms around me incredibly tender torso and pulled me up so I was standing.

I groaned in protest but didn't fight him on it. We made our way back up onto the platform where, standing in the middle, there was another statue of a Goddess holding the Pendant of Power. We paused on our way up to grab my discarded sword, but soon enough we had the pendant in hand and Link was leading me over to another shining portal.

I felt the increasingly familiar feeling of weightlessness before suddenly we were on to of Mount Hylia again. The pedestal was back and from what I could see, the hole we fell down was completely gone. While normally this would have fascinated me I couldn't be bothered to spend even a moment to think about it due to the pounding in my skull.

It seemed Link was on the same page because he already had the Sheikah Slate out and after pausing for a moment for me to grab onto it, he selected our destination and once again we were teleported away.

A couple hours and a furiously concerned Ramona later, we were sitting inside the main tent of the ranch eating some hearty soup. Ramona and Parcy had joined us, after Ramona bandaged us up and gave us some Hearty Radish Potions, otherwise known as Red Potions, of course. Parcy was regaling us with stories of her treasure hunts closer to Castle Town and things were nice. Content in a way I had never really felt before. It was strange but in some small way, the four of us sitting at the table together eating lunch felt right. I couldn't help but wonder if this was how people felt sitting down for a meal with their family. I suddenly felt kind of stupid and embarrassed for getting so mushy about people I've only known for a short period of time. I busied myself by shoveling more soup into my mouth in hopes that no one would catch on to the pinkness of my cheeks.

"Oh yeah, Lazarie!" Ramona suddenly interrupted the conversation to catch my attention. She succeeded as all three of us swiveled our heads to look at her. "While you're down here you should spend some time with Epona. She's been getting pretty fussy in the couple days since you've been gone." She finished brightly and again I couldn't help but be a bit envious of how at ease she felt despite the attention on her. The sheer confidence she always carried about her was honestly amazing and I couldn't help but be incredibly jealous of it; and also her shiny hair, and soft skin. Long story short there were a lot of things to envy about Ramona and I am getting side tracked again.

"Epona?" Link piped up from beside me, looking from Ramona to me in question.

"Lazarie's horse. Epona! She's the first person who Epona actually liked so she really is the reasonable person to own her. She also named her so that really means she belong to her. She also keeps biting the stable hands so no one is really willing to try and fight that claim. The horse I mean. Not Lazarie. Lazarie does not keep biting the stable hands." Ramona rapid-fired the answer before anyone could get a word in edgewise.

I felt a warm butterfly-esque feeling in my stomach at the word's Lazarie's Horse; unbelieving that I got to keep something so important. I chanced a glance towards Link who was smiling and nodding in understanding. I couldn't stop the thought popping into my head about what might happen if Link meets Epona.

Would she like him more than me? If he doesn't want me to travel with him for the rest of this adventure is her gonna take her with him? How do I stop that from happening? Keep them separate? Cry until Link feels to bad o take her from me?

"Lazarie?" Link's voice cuts through my panicked spiral of unreasonable thoughts.

"Oh! Sorry, Yes. Yes I'll definitely spend time with Epona before we head back up." I answer trying to reassure the concerned occupants of the table, the flush from earlier returning with a vengeance.

"We an saddle up a horse for you as well Link. That way you can also go for a ride if you want too." Ramona began again and went on to dominate the conversation as her fast talking speed makes her inclined to do.

I found that I could quite keep my mind on the conversation though, my focus to quickly stolen by the feeling of Ramona boot slide to tap onto mine and stay there in a silent show of reassurance. But, my amazement was meant to end there, as quickly on the same foot another boot bumped up against mine, coming clearly from Parcy's direction. Then surely enough, a third boot came to rest pressed firmly along side of my other shoe, our legs pressed firmly together to the knee, obviously belonging to Link.

For a second I felt like I couldn't breath. My heart was pounding so loudly in my chest that I was certain everyone at the table must be able to hear it. I struggled to keep my composure and not just immediately burst into tears, as I was inclined to do. No one at the table drew any attention to me, and for that I was grateful. Here I was sitting and eating lunch with three people I've only known for a very short period of time, and they were all wordlessly offering me support; not even knowing what was wrong with me, or potentially even know the others were doing the same.

I ate and listened to my friends chat, and for the first time in a very long time I let myself bask in the feeling of not being alone.

True to her word, Ramona saddled up a large brown horse for Link as I slowly tried to copy her movements. She still ended up coming over and helping me finish, also fixing the mistakes I had made but let's not talk about that. Link was a natural at horse riding, or more probably had enough muscle memory alone to make sure his skill level was much higher than mine, and was in no time racing around the corral with ease. I stuck to the easy trot pace that Epona defaulted to and just tried to keep my riding posture in check and hope this didn't add to the soreness I was undoubtedly going to have to deal with later.

Once Link had given his borrowed horse a good workout he eventually dismounted and came over to me to walk beside Epona and I. Epona instinctively slowed so a lazy walk and Link was able to keep pace with us no problem. She also seemed to already like him the traitor, as she would sometimes nudge his shoulder in demands for pets.

Seeing as this was the first time since the Trial of Power that I had really a moment to go over what had happened, I couldn't help the feeling of dread and guilt that eclipsed me.

"Link," I hesitantly began, "I'm sorry. I was pretty useless back there on the mountain. I really only succeeded in making your job harder. And, I think I'm not supposed to even be there. I would understand if you wanted to do the rest without me." I word vomited before I could chicken out of telling him. Despite the fear and the fact that I would be pretty heart broken to not continue this adventure with Link, I had to face the facts. Today had shown that I wasn't built for this, and one day I could really put Link into danger. I had to make sure he knew he had a choice.

"What? Of course I want you to keep coming with me! I- Why do you think you shouldn't be there?" he seemed genuinely confused and surprised that I would be thinking this way.

"Well, I mean it's pretty obvious that they only had you in mind, like that whole test was against only your shadow, not our shadows. And-like- I just stood there scared and screaming for most of it. I don't have any real training with this sword so I can't help you fight and-" I try to explain, really explain. I needed him to understand that being around me was not likely to end well for him.

"Lazarie." Link interrupted me, "We're in this together. I don't think I can do this without you. I don't want to do this without you. I can train you. Show you how to use a sword. We can do this together." His tone was pleading, worried in a way that shattered me to my core. In that moment, I didn't see the Hero sent to save Hyrule. I just saw a boy, scared and alone, and that loneliness mirrored my own so thoroughly that I had no choice but to let my anxiety go.

It didn't matter how woefully unprepared I was for an adventure. All that mattered was making sure that Link didn't have to feel alone ever again. It seemed fitting, considering how The Legend of Zelda was the one thing in my childhood that made me feel less lonely. A friend I could keep with me no matter how many times I moved. Maybe it was time I returned the favor.

"Together. Okay. I can't promise I'll be of much use but I will be here for as long as you'll have me." I offer up an unsure smile.

The smile that Link gives me in return is worth every minute I'm going to lose sleep over worrying about getting him killed.

Notes:

Here we are the end of another chapter! And we have a few more favorites and subscribers too! I really appreciate each and everyone of you guys who are reading this. I hope you are all safe and doing okay with all of this Corona Virus stuff that's going on. I hope that I can offer even a tiny reprieve from the nightmare of reality.

Thanks.