"Ruin is upon us, young one. Please save my people from that which I could not stop."
The woman's ethereal voice had no clear source in the endless abyss. It stretched in every direction, twisting and turning onto itself in a mockery of primal chaos.
"My power wanes, as the darkness encroaches. Please, rid my world of this blight… save my Hyrule."
A single being resided in this abyss. A lost soul, forsaken by any deity or afterlife… all except for one.
After a lengthy training session, there was nothing that Link enjoyed more than the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair as she flew on her Lofwing, Crimson. The massive bird's leisurely wingbeats normally served to calm down the girl after the torturous spars her teachers forced upon her… but not this time.
Link's mind kept thinking back on the way Groose poked fun at her for breaking her practice sword, ending up in a very embarrassing defeat for her. The wannabe-bully – because that was all she could describe him as without devolving to 'unladylike language' – kept trying to put her down in any way possible, ever since they'd known each other.
She had to wonder why that even was. Link was by no means stupid, but she struggled to understand what drove Groose to be so… Groose-like. If Zelda hadn't been there to keep her calm and de-escalate over and over again, she was certain that the man would've found himself with a few broken bones by now.
A chirp from Crimson broke Link from her musings. She looked over to see the bird giving her a worried glance. As worried as a bird could look, at any rate.
"I know," she muttered, her voice barely audible above the wind. "I shouldn't let Groose get to me so much, I just… he's so annoying you know?"
Crimson nodded, an odd sight coming from a Loftwing. They weren't dumb animals by a long shot, but nobody was certain if they actually understood Hylian. At least she wasn't going to spread Link's secrets.
Before Link could have a chance to get herself worked up again, another chirp from Crimson garnered the young woman's attention. Below them was Skyloft's lake, with somebody inside it. Normally that wasn't a problem, as it was a rather warm day, but the person didn't seem to be moving. And they were still clothed, too.
Quickly, Link pushed Crimson to go lower and pick up the person. Once they were safely placed on solid ground, Link dismounted to check on the person.
After a quick check, Link let out a relieved sigh as she noticed the man was still breathing. He seemed well, if not for being soaked. On that note, she unclasped his coat and laid it out on the grass to let it dry, followed swiftly by the man's tunic.
The sun would dry him up, but leaving him in damp clothes might end up getting him sick.
Finally having the time to relax, Link took a moment to observe the unconscious man in detail. She was fairly certain she hadn't seen him anywhere on Skyloft, which was very curious as there weren't that many people around.
Perhaps he didn't leave his home much? It made sense, considering how pale his skin was. He didn't look particularly athletic either, though not exactly flabby. Definitely not a farmer or a merchant.
She idly noted that he seemed to be around her own age, perhaps a little older, but she didn't dwell on that note too long.
The only thing the man possessed, beyond the clothes on his back, was a curious stone in his cloak's inner pocket. The symbol of Hylia was engraved on it, but beyond that there wasn't much else of note about it. It wasn't exactly unusual for people in Skyloft to hold onto something with the Goddess' symbol as a sign of faith or a good luck charm, so she simply put it back where she found it.
Without much left to be done, she resolved herself to wait for the man to wake up, steeling herself for the conversation that was sure to ensue… and the pit that formed in her stomach at the thought.
"Ah, good old anxiety."
His head was pounding as if someone had taken a hammer to it. The sun shining straight into his eyes when he tried to open them didn't help one bit.
His mind was a jumbled mess, trains of thought crashing into each other faster than he could recognize them. Trying to focus on any specific one was a challenge, so he instead attempted to focus on the world around him.
First, he felt warm. The sun, no doubt.
Second, he felt something prickly yet soft on his back. Judging by the smell, it was probably grass.
Third, he was – for some reason – shirtless. And his pants were damp, which wasn't a very pleasant feeling.
Rolling his head to the side, he attempted to open his eyes again. The light still assaulted his eyes, forcing him to squint, but at least he could see something. He was next to a lake. A really clean lake, he couldn't help but note. Something about it felt wrong, yet strangely pleasing.
With a heave, he forced himself to sit up. The pounding in his skull began anew, forcing his eyes shut, but it thankfully subsided far faster this time around.
A warbling chirp garnered his attention, prompting him to force an eye open again. A large red beast was in front of him, a mere few inches away from his face.
With a very unmanly screech, he crawled away, putting some distance between the animal and himself. The screech startled the animal – a bird, he later realized – and it jerked its head away, glaring at him.
Seeing as the massive bird wasn't attacking, the man took the chance to settle down, only then noticing the girl sitting next to the bird. She wasn't paying attention to him, covering her mouth as she struggled to hold her laughter in.
He had to admit that she was rather cute, though at that moment he wasn't in the best state of mind to appreciate the fact: there were more important things for him to deal with, such as figuring out where he was.
Still keeping a wary eye on the bird, the man called out to the girl.
"Hello?"
The girl froze, any trace of mirth fading away from her face. She sat up straight, turning towards him… although her eyes kept darting to something behind him as soon as she tried to meet his gaze. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder, making sure that nobody else was there, focusing back on the unknown girl as she began to talk.
"Hello. I am Link, apprentice Knight. You were in the lake. Who are you?" The newly named Link rattled off the few short sentences in choppy bursts, not unlike somebody reading from a list.
Now wary of both the bird and the girl, the young man decided it was for the best to just play along. "Again hello, my name is…" He trailed off, furrowing his brow in confusion. "I can't seem to recall."
Glancing around, the man noticed a patch of flowers nearby, his mind quickly supplying a name. "Call me Ibis for now? Hopefully, I'll figure it out soon." With a shake of his head, he gave a small bow of his head to Link. "Thank you for pulling me out of the lake. I'm not sure how I got there, but I probably wouldn't have gotten out without your help."
Link nodded, her head jerking up and down stiffly.
Silence fell between the two. Ibis wasn't certain what to make of the girl, no thanks to his faulty memory. On one hand she – and maybe the bird, if it belonged to her – had apparently saved him from drowning. On the other hand, she was… odd, to say the least.
"Can you remember anything?" Link asked, still in the same brusque tone.
Ibis had to admit that it was a good question. He could recall seemingly useless things, such as how birds weren't supposed to be as big as the one he'd just seen, how going around shirtless wasn't usually accepted, and so on.
Two things did come up, though. The memory of a woman's voice, the words too muddled to properly recall. He could still feel the sense of warmth and authority said voice instilled in him even now.
The other memory was far less mysterious, yet for some reason, it felt important nonetheless. He vaguely remembered a rock he was supposed to have among his possessions.
"There is something I recall, though it isn't much," he began after a moment of deliberation. "A voice, though I cannot recall the words, and a stone, for some reason." He looked quizzically at Link. "Did you happen to find one on me while I was unconscious?"
With another jerky nod, Link reached towards the cloak and tunic lying on the ground – which he hadn't noticed until then – and reached into a pocket. She pulled out a small rock, barely the size of her palm, and handed it over to him.
Looking over it, he spotted an unfamiliar symbol etched on the rock, but beyond that, it seemed to be a perfectly normal piece of smooth stone.
"...Curious," he hummed, putting the stone in his pants' pocket for later.
"We should go to town. See if anyone knows you." Link pointed towards a collection of buildings a short walk away, which Ibis assumed was the town in question.
Before leaving, Ibis picked up the tunic and cloak, draping them over his body. They still felt slightly damp, but at least they weren't completely drenched.
No matter how much they - or rather, Ibis - asked around, nobody seemed to know him. The responses ranged from neutral to apologetic to bordering hostile in a few cases, for apparently no discernible reason.
"You wouldn't happen to know why they were being so rude, would you?"
Link shook her head and continued to walk. At that point Ibis was following along for no particular reason, having lost most of his hope in the people of Skyloft, as the place was apparently called.
At the very least, he now realized the reason why there were so many birds around: the whole city was on a set of floating islands, thus making Loftwings – the birds – the most effective method of transportation.
He almost didn't notice when Link snapped her fingers and quickly climbed on her Loftwing. He definitely noticed when she went to pull him on, though.
"Wha- hey!" Ibis pulled back as Link let go of his now-dry tunic. "Would you mind not pulling like that? These are the only clothes I own, I'd rather they remain intact for the time being," he huffed, straightening his coat so that it comfortably fit over his shoulders.
Link took a deep breath, the man completely missing it as he fussed over his clothes.
"Climb on," she said.
He glanced at the bird from the corner of his eye, and then flicked his gaze back to Link. "And fall into the endless abyss below? No thank you, I'm quite happy with keeping my feet on the ground."
With a groan, Link pat Crimson's side, prompting the Loftwing to take off.
"Oh, of course, good idea!" Ibis' voice came from below. "Go do whatever you have to, I'll just be waiting her– AH!" Whatever he was going to say was lost in his screaming as he was picked up in Crimson's grasp.
While Ibis kept screaming, Link couldn't help but feel a tad exasperated with the man. She was just trying to help him, why did he have to make it so difficult?
But as a knight in training, it was her job to deal even with the more… prickly, individuals.
Hopefully, Zelda would have some way to fix it. She always did.
Zelda's eyes flicked to the sky every now and then, her gaze fixating on the wings of the Loftwings gliding above, and occasionally to Hilda – her own Loftwing. The pencil in her hand moved in quick strokes as she put down the last details on her drawing.
It wasn't often that Zelda had the time to simply lounge around and practice her artistic skills, but today had been the perfect day for it. In fact, the idea for that piece had been stuck in her thoughts for quite a while, so there was a sense of satisfaction to just getting it on the paper and out of her mind.
It was a bit rough around the edges, but the piece was coming together quite well in her opinion. Just a few more details on the feathers, and it would be complete–
Hilda perked up, raising her head to look in the direction of the mainland, her confused chirrup pulling Zelda out of her reverie. A few seconds later, the sound of wingbeats and desperate screaming reached Zelda's ears.
She quickly recognized Link and Crimson fying towards them, the latter carrying someone in her talons. From the voice, she assumed that it was a man, although Zelda had to wonder the reason behind such a strange arrangement.
Several moments later, the man was dropped on the ground a few paces away from her, and Crimson landed close by.
Thankfully, the impact didn't seem to have hurt the man, as he quickly got back up on his feet, grumbling to himself and shaking off the grass and dirt on his clothes. Now that she could see him properly, Zelda realized that she hadn't seen the man before… which was quite the novelty, considering the low number of people living in Skyloft. There were only a few hundred people spread around the multiple islands, but everyone swung by the mainland at one point or the other.
Zelda's confusion only deepened as Link strode towards her, and hastily pulled her up to her feet. The only times she'd been that brusque…
"What's wrong, Link?" She asked, hoping that her long-time friend could shed some light on the subject.
"Found him in the lake, has amnesia, nobody knows him, what do I do?" Link rattled off, her whisper growing more desperate with every word.
With a nod, Zelda pat Link's shoulder to reassure her, and made her way to the man, who had been patiently waiting for them to finish talking.
"Hi," she began. "My name's Zelda, mister…?" She extended her hand to the man.
"Just call me Ibis, miss Zelda," the man gently grasped her hand and gave it a quick shake, though his gaze seemed to roam over her face in a brief flash of confusion. "I apologize if this seems rude, but have we perhaps met before? I'm afraid to say that I cannot remember much of my life to this point."
Zelda found herself taken aback at the abrupt question, but shook her head regardless. "No, no we haven't met. And from what my friend Link told me–" she motioned for the fellow blonde, standing just behind her "–that's the issue you're dealing with?"
The man nodded gravely, still glancing at Link with a wary glance, before refocusing on Zelda.
"Indeed. Nobody so far has any recollection of me, as if I'd appeared out of thin air…" He grimaced, turning to look at the mainland for a moment. "And there was some hostility, too. Nothing outright violent, but there was definitely some modicum of mistrust."
Zelda wasn't very surprised about that. Shopkeepers tended to know pretty much everyone in Skyloft for one reason or the other, and now that some unknown man appeared claiming to know nobody… needless to say, it did sound quite suspicious.
"I see…" Zelda trailed off, trying to figure out how to approach this situation. It wasn't the first time she had to sort out puzzling situations, but this was proving to be a tough nut to crack without any clues to work with.
"Perhaps you could wait for a while? See if you remember anything over time, then maybe we could try to help you more," she proposed, trying to buy some time. Hopefully her father could have some insight on the matter.
"...I suppose," Ibis grumbled half-heartedly. He didn't seem particularly enthused with the idea, but at least he didn't outright object. "Although, I do need somewhere to stay. You wouldn't have any ideas, would you?"
That's when Zelda found herself drawing a blank, and Link decided to provide some input, in that usual quiet muttering of hers.
"Maybe your dad?"
"This… might just work," she thought as the metaphorical gears in her head began to spin. "Link is right, maybe my father can help us."
"If you believe so, then who am I to say otherwise. By all means, lead the way–" Ibis made to start walking, when he abruptly stopped. He stared at the gap between the islands for a solid few seconds, saying nothing.
"Are you feeling alright?" Zelda asked.
Ibis shivered, and whispered something that she could only barely hear.
"...not the bird again…"
Holding onto Link's waist for dear life, Ibis did his utmost to not focus on the seemingly endless abyss below him, his only lifeline being the bird they were riding on–
"Get me off of this, get me off of this, get me off of this–"
–and was doing a terrible job of it.
Forcing himself to think about anything else, his mind flicked over to the girl he'd just met, Zelda.
"We haven't met, have we? She said so," he thought, remembering how puzzled she looked when he asked. And yet…
"...why is her voice so familiar?"
Who is that author who can't stop churning out ideas and leaving behind old ones?
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