"Link, wake up..."
Link took a moment, his eyes adjusting to the darkness all around him. He was unable to feel anything, to smell or taste the air. He could only hear, and even that sense wasn't quite operating at full capacity. He stepped forward into the darkness, hesitant and careful, afraid to put his full weight onto his foot.
"Link... You need to wake up..."
The darkness surrounding Link started to give way to light, tinted in a deep and unsettling crimson. Shapes manifested in the distance, tall rectangles silhouetted against the red horizon. As the light got brighter, those shapes started to take more familiar forms. The crumbling and collapsing facades of high rise buildings, familiar to Link as Downtown Hyrule City. Only one building sat untouched, towering stoic above the rest of the damaged structures. Link was just barely able to make out the dark block letters on the top left corner of the building. Dragmire Industries.
"Link, dude, seriously. You gotta wake up."
Link sat up with a start, taking in his surroundings quickly. His coworker James sat opposite his desk, shaking his head as Link wiped the sleep from his eyes. His short blonde hair stuck out in different directions and he took a moment to smooth down the erratic locks, making himself look work appropriate again. He also took a moment to make sure his pristine white button down and green tie were free of drool.
"Bro, you have to stop doing that shit. You're gonna get us both fired. We work as a team. Teeaaaam. If your work suffers, that means my work suffers by default."
Link shook his head and sat back in his chair, stretching his limbs in an exaggerated manner. He checked the time on his smart phone before glancing across his desk to James. Like the rest of the office, the two men were sat together in a pair with their desks pushed together. Management had made the decision to pair employees long before long before either of them had started so for them it was just standard operating procedure.
"We've been here ten hours man. How the hell do they expect us to work like this? I understand we have a deadline, but shit dude. I don't even remember where I was." Link sat forward, jiggling his mouse to get rid of the screen saver on his computer. A mess of graphs and spreadsheets were open on the screen and seeing the unfinished work prompted a low groan from him. He pushed back from his desk and stood.
"I'm gonna get a coffee, I can't deal with this shit right now. You want anything man?"
James shrugged, pushing back from his own desk. He stood, gesturing toward the break room. The office was spacious, with clusters of desks sat in two rows on either side of a central path that had a break room on one end and a pair of restrooms on the other. The entrance to the room and the reception area sat in a corner to the right of the break room entrance. The word ACCOUNTING was stenciled on the wall of the reception area in large black block letters.
"This audit is crazy, man." James pushed open the door to the break room as he talked, allowing Link to pass him. "Word around the office is that something's going on up on the hundred and second. Maybe the big boss is in some hot water with the Department of Finance or something. I've been with Dragmire for almost six years now and we've never done an audit like this before. They're having us go through literally everything." Link shrugged, replacing the filter in the coffee machine and scooping some fresh grounds into the top. With the machine reloaded he hit the start button before turning to lean against the counter.
"Who knows, man? All I know is that I'm getting sick of this shit. If the DoF is doing some kind of investigation or whatever, they should send their own people in here to sift through all this crap. I found records earlier from almost a hundred years ago when the company was founded. What the hell could the DoF possibly want with information like that? Goddesses above, cars were still running on steam power a hundred years ago." Link rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Oh well. At least we're getting paid to shovel this shit I guess. Still, I think I'm a little over-qualified for audit duty."
James grinned, nodding his head in agreement. "You're preaching man. I have a Masters from Hyrule University of Finance and I'm spending twelve hours a day sorting through documents from back when Geruda was still an independent nation. Most of the shit from that far back are scans, they were still penning their official documents on parchment with quills and ink while the rest of the world were using typewriters. And don't even get me started on some of the translations they have with the scans. It's unbelievable."
Link nodded along, grabbing one of the disposable coffee cups from the counter when the coffee machine finally dinged. He poured himself a cup, not bothering with cream or sugar before pouring the rest of the pot into James' cup. Link took a slow sip of the hot liquid, the inky blackness seeming to flow new life into him. He checked the time on his smart phone again. "Well shit, if we don't get back out their we're likely to get our asses chewed."
James nodded, turning for the door. He was chomping at the bit to get back to work anyways, knowing that the sooner they made it through their daily quota the sooner they could go home. The two men returned to their desks, neither of them wasting their time before getting back to work. Link sat back in his chair, using his mouse to click through page after page of scanned in documents. Most common were things like old deeds, handwritten account information from several Geruda banks that had been absorbed by Dragmire Industries over the years, personnel files from previous employees of the company. None of it was new to Link and he didn't even bother recording most of it. He stopped when he came to a new page, this one with an attached picture.
Link sat forward in his chair, examining the scan. The article was about a stone of some sort, referred to as the Zamarad Kokiri. Though most of the article was in Geruda, Link was knowledgeable enough to know that the word zamarad meant emerald. Link opened the attached photo which showed a Geruda woman, likely an archaeologist, holding what appeared to be a baseball-sized stone with a peculiar metal trim around it. Though the photo was in black and white, he guessed the stone was likely the Zamarad Kokiri, or Kokiri Emerald as it would be translated to Hylian, and he guessed the metal trim around the stone was likely gold. Link whistled to himself, turning his screen so James could see it.
"Take a look at this bad boy, it's an emerald, looks about the size of a baseball." James rolled his desk chair around the desk to look at Link's screen and let out his own whistle in return.
"Damn dude, that thing is massive. How much do you think a stone like that is worth?" Link shrugged, turning his monitor back toward himself.
"Hard to tell man. As big as it is, probably thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of rupees. And if I had to guess I'd say it's trimmed in gold too, which makes it even more valuable. I didn't think they had mineral deposits like that in the Geruda deserts." Link dragged the file from the folder to his desktop. He had never really been into archeology, but something about the stone made him want to research it a little more.
"Doubtful, they probably requisitioned it during one of their crusades before the war." James used air quotes on the word requisitioned, rolling his chair back around to his side of the desk. "When the Royal Army took the Geruda Monarchy's palace in Twinrovia during the Geruda Offensive they found all kinds of shit like that. Millions of rupees worth of gold, gemstones, even fine art and older artifacts from countries like Ordon and Labrynna. I remember learning about it in history class. I'm pretty sure Geruda was mostly just worthless desert aside from Twinrovia..."
Link zoned out on his conversation with James, instead turning his attention back to the scan on his computer screen. He couldn't figure out exactly what it was, but somehow the stone that the woman in the picture held felt... familiar to him. Link closed his eyes, rubbing at his temples to fight off a headache that he knew was coming.
()()()()()()()()()()
When Link opened his eyes again, he was no longer at his desk. The sudden change in scenery startled him, but no matter how hard he tried he was unable to move. A massive tree loomed in front of him and to his surprise, it had... a face? Link blinked, unsure of what it was he was looking at. Was he dreaming? To his surprise, the tree began to speak.
"Thou must never allow the desert man in black armor to lay his hands on the sacred Triforce. Thou must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to enter the Sacred Realm of legend. That evil man who cast this death curse upon me and sapped my power... Because of that curse, my end is nigh. Though your valiant efforts to break the curse were successful, I was doomed before you started. Yes, I will pass away soon, but do not grieve for me. I have been able to tell you of these important matters. This is Hyrule's final hope... Link... Go now, to Hyrule Castle. There, thou will surely meet the Princess of Destiny. Take this stone with you, the stone that man wanted so much that he cast this curse on me..."
The tree stopped speaking then, his pained voice trailing off and leaving the surrounding woods cloaked in an almost unbearable silence. Link felt warmth from his deep tone, wanted nothing more than to hear him speak again. A blinding green flash caught him by surprise and he yelled out, though no sound escaped his lips. When his vision returned to normal, Link looked down at his outstretched hands, at the baseball-sized emerald held in his upturned palms. The stone was beautiful, enough so that Link could feel tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He cradled it to his chest, as if it were a child and he wanted nothing more than to keep it safe. He returned his gaze to the stoic face of the tree.
"The future depends upon thee, Link. Thou art courageous..."
Link could see that the tree's mouth was still moving, though after the word courageous he was unable to make out anything else. When it finally finished talking, Link watched frozen, anguished, as the warm light in it's eyes dimmed before finally fading altogether. Though he still wasn't sure who or what the tree was, he knew that the pain he felt in his heart was beyond any he had ever felt before. He imagined this would be how it felt to watch a parent pass away.
()()()()()()()()()()
Link came to in his office, letting out a wail loud enough to draw eyes from every single employee on the floor. James stood quickly, startled, but before he was able to react a blinding flash lit up the room drawing screams from some of his other coworkers. Link instinctively covered his eyes to protect himself, letting out his own yelp of surprise.
After what seemed like an eternity, the brightness in the room began to die down. Link lowered his hands hesitantly and was immediately aware that his entire office was staring at him. A flush rose to his cheeks, embarrassed by his reaction to the strange dream he had witnessed. Link looked sheepishly at his teammate, but before he could apologize James lifted his finger to point at him.
"Link... Your... Your hand, what is that on your hand?"
Link looked at his palms and after seeing nothing, turned them to inspect their backs. That's when he saw it for himself, the dazzling golden triangle emblazoned on the back of his left hand. He stared at the mark for a moment, unsure of how to respond before muttering to himself, "What the fuck..."