Link's Awakening
Chapter Thirty Two: My Awakening
And that was how my adventure on Koholint Island came to an end; one instant I was being flung upward by a stream of water, and the next thing I knew, I was gasping as my eyes snapped open. I remember the taste of salt in my mouth as I looked around, rubbing my eyes only to discover that there was nothing in sight but open water. Well, except for the broken piece of wood that I was slumped over… as far as I could tell, it was from my boat. Yes, I had awoken from the dream, and I felt awful… partly from dehydration, and also because I had to admit that Agahnim was right.
The beautiful island was just gone… gone with all of the people, monsters… Marin… everything like it had never existed at all. But if I had woken up, then where was my friend? I searched around, calling his name, but there was no sign, making me worry that he had drowned or something… at least until I got an explanation. You see, I was not alone out there on the water at all… up in the sky there was a form that I first mistook for a fast moving cloud, but no cloud could have been so brightly colored.
It was the Wind Fish, looking like a gigantic version of the carved relief as it floated up in the air as easily as a bird, and then it stopped to thank me in person for saving it from both its own nightmares, as well as the wizard's curse. I asked what had become of him, since there was no sign around me, and the Wind Fish assured me that my friend definitely did wake up… but as punishment for his wicked ways, he had been banished to a dark and isolated land where hopefully his cruel powers would never harm anyone else.
Well, if this beast had the power to do that, then I figured that surely it could bring back Marin, like… recreate her or something, but the Wind Fish swore that it could not. After all, she and all the other wonderful people and creatures on Koholint Island were nothing but a dream… a dream that had lasted a lot longer than it should have, and hurt so many people. With that the great fish wished me farewell, whistling that same familiar music as it floated off into the horizon, and as beautiful as the whole scene was, I will admit that I was angry.
I screamed into the endless ocean, hurt and heartbroken over the loss of both Agahnim and Marin, and from that moment on part of me has always wished that I had listened to him. If I had told the owl where he could get off, and abandoned the quest like my friend did, would I still be there with Marin today? Would we have married and raised children like Agahnim had done with Tracy? Would I really have been able to stand by and watch as other castaways washed ashore, only to be ripped apart by the island's nightmares while trying to find the instruments?
I don't know. What I do know is that it took me a long time to get back to Hyrule, and if not for the seasonal rains I probably would have died of thirst, and… its funny to think about now, but I was in pretty sorry shape when I finally got back to the port. They tell me that I was rambling and hallucinating, calling Marin's name while I was on the very edge of death, but I recovered… and then one of the hardest things I ever had to do was tell Agahnim's family that their son wasn't coming home.
His parents were heartbroken, and his sister was devastated; I remember her sobbing uncontrollably while my brother held her. Those two ended up getting married not long after, you know… but as for me… no, I never did get over Marin. On occasion my father would ask me if I wanted to talk about what happened after the two of us set out on that boat, but I would decline, telling him only that I had my fill of adventure, and that I was ready to step up to my responsibilities.
You know, it turned out that barely any time had passed at all since we left, but the years that followed were hard for me. Not the stuff involving my training to become the next Lord Sheriff, that was easy after my battles on Koholint Island, but my mind was what was holding me back. I thought about getting another boat and trying to return to the island, but without the Wind Fish, there was no way, and this led me to a series of suicidal thoughts that I am not proud of… I just wanted to see Marin again… just to hold her hand one more time and hear her beautiful voice.
I had dreams now and then about the Animal Village honey festival, and I was so happy there that my screams of despair when I awoke the next morning would sometimes draw the attention of the guards. My mother used to tell me that time always helped, and it got a little bit easier over the next decade or so, and then before I knew it my father announced his retirement, leaving me as the new Lord Sheriff of Hyrule. So I buried myself in my work, looking up occasionally to see the world around me, especially how my little niece, Lina was growing up… can't believe she's about to turn nineteen.
In my family, that age seemed to be cursed, because that was how old my father was when he faced Ganondorf, and how old I was when I faced Agahnim. Damn it, at least my father knew that his enemy was evil, but mine… my best friend… to this day I still don't know which one of us was really the bad guy when we fought on the platform inside of the Wind Fish's egg. Even more frustrating, though, was that I had no idea what happened to him. What had the flying fish meant by sending him to a dark and isolated land? Where the hell was that? I sought the help of every magician and historian in the land, but even my own mother, one of the best, was unable to help me find answers.
There were times that I thought about telling everyone about my adventure, but honestly I didn't want to be considered a hero… not for that. I didn't want historical plays about how I doomed an entire island, or a holiday to celebrate my broken heart. Maybe in my will I'll leave instructions for Lina to get this book published, someday when I'm dead and gone, and I don't have to hear about it, but at least… but at least then the people of Koholint Island will live on in the imagination of children… at least Marin will exist there.
So that's it, that's all I've got to write down. It seems unfair to just write THE END, since that would be me giving up in a way, wouldn't it? I always hoped that I would find a way to see her again, but judging by the amount of gray in my hair, my best chance for that is if we meet in the afterlife. So I'm just going to stop writing.