The Book of Legends

Later that day, he happened to eavesdrop two castle guards talking about how the princess had left for Death Mountain. 'Interesting,' he thought, only having departed from Link an hour ago, 'Pretty sure he couldn't have gotten there in an hour so he's either back in his chambers or he went to guard a post. Though,' he tilted his head, 'it's weirder that he didn't tell me…whatever.' He shrugged and continued to the Dining Hall.

He was hungry after all the sparring and figured a fuller stomach would also ease the fact that Link, even after doing as he said, was going to think about being his next match. 'Like, I get it. I did a thing and my face was all serious, but my hand makes me do weird stuff sometimes! I don't know how to tell him that I simply wouldn't do that to him and that the situation was different. Though, I myself don't really have an explanation for my reaction.'

When he arrived, he got his food and sat near some of the other knights. They happened to be serving beef stew that late afternoon. It was very savory and the vegetables in it were incredibly soft. As he ate, he noticed that some of the knights were occasionally looking his way. After the sixth time, he bothered to ask, "Do you guys need something? What's with the looks?"

Their eyes flicked to one another to see who was going to answer, one with dark hair shrugging, "Well we just heard about the sparring matches today at the academy."

'Now that I look at them, they're all kinda young, like at least sixteen. No wonder they would hear about that sort of stuff.' "Oh, well what's the news?"

One with longer hair chuckled, "Weren't you there?"

"Yeah, but I was kinda busy actually participating. I don't know what all was said. Though, in my opinion, it was fun but way more restrained than what actual battle calls for, y'know?"

They nodded at his statement, the dark haired one continuing, "Well naturally it had to do with you. Did you really beat the second class's top student?"

"And still break your sword!?" Another chimed in.

He made a gesture with his hand, "Weelll, yeah. Though Link really did hand me a nearly broken sword, thought I'd do them a favor and just break it already."

They all smiled between each other, "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah!"

"Totally!"

"Say," came the one with long hair again, "What if you actually came to a real knight's practice?"

"I already have." He explained, "You guys just warm up and hone your skills a bit more."

"I meant more like, participate since you're so good. Y'know, give those old ones a run for their money."

"I assume you guys would go through your captains before randomly inviting me, but I need some rest after today and in general. Thanks though."

They shrugged, "Maybe next time."

Young Link had finished his food while talking to them and was getting ready to go return his silverware when a trainee from the academy had walked up to the table, "Oh hey, you're from th—"

"The 3rd class, yeah. L, right?" He asked.

The group of knights raised an eyebrow at him, "He goes by Young Link."

"Right, my bad," He seemed to be the confident but shy type, and he was certainly bold for coming into the castle.

"Are you supposed to be here?"

His eyes looked to the floor, "No," he answered quickly, "I just came here to ask you about something."

"Ask away." 'I'm interested.'

He took a deep breath, "Did you really catch Link's sword during that demonstration? All of the third class was trying to see, but the second class got in the way. Now of course they're toting around about it, but it sounds unbelievable."

"Yeah unfortunately I really did grab his sword. I don't recommend it. It really stings and the feeling doesn't go away for a while. I'm okay now though."

The trainee looked perplexed, "Wow...I-I don't know what to say...wait yeah I do." His expression got more urgent, "I don't know how serious Jack was about this, but even though he was fine after your match, he was pissed after cleaning the mess hall. He said he would come looking for you since you beat him and he's stuck cleaning it for a week."

The group of knights cringed at hearing the trainee's chore.

"He should take this as a lesson to not make bets, especially when someone like Link comes in and makes it even worse on purpose. He knew I was going to win somehow." Young Link picked up his bowl and silverware, his expression serious, "With that said, I'm not worried. After all, I'm probably one of the most wanted people next to Zelda in the Yiga clan. I've gotten good at watching my back and doubt whatever sloppy attempt he's got in mind will change anything. You should tell him to calm down and that he'll be wasting his time since he'll get kicked out for even trying."

"Will do, thanks." He looked around, "Bye." He ran up to the door and was gone within seconds.

The other knights looked to him as he rolled his eyes and left the table. He still felt better now that he ate, but the idea of one of the trainees doing something so dumb left a bad taste in his mouth. Before leaving, he was checking to see if he had all of his equipment with him. For once he left the Deity's Mask in his room, it was simply unnecessary to bring. He found that he had everything but his shield, 'How the hell did I misplace my shield? I guess Link ran off with it.'

When he was outside he went up to the nearest set of guards, "Sorry for bothering you guys, but have you seen Link?"

They looked to one another, the one with a mustache answering, "Uh, why is it your business?"

He had to keep himself from sighing, "Because he has my shield? I need that."

They both shrugged, "Weird, but I'm pretty sure you can find him in the Guards' Chamber or the training arena."

"Thanks." He headed off to the chamber first, it was closest and, from what he could remember, Link seemed to be pretty into the book he was reading. It took him ten minutes to jog there, witnessing the evening guards getting together and learning their stations to take in the next couple of hours.

One of them saw him, "Hello there! Do you need something?" His voice was hearty and his face matched it.

He quickly answered, "Yeah, just came to check if Link was here. He has something of mine and I need it back."

Some of them had quizzical looks on their faces, like they doubted it. The same guy answered him, "Well, I can tell you that he's not here. However the captain is just around the corner, so you're better off asking him."

Nodding in response, he continued to the captain. "Hey there," now he was starting to feel out of breath, "Do you know where Link is? I just realized he has one of my things."

The captain looked like he recognized him, "Oh hey, you're a part of Charlie's main group. I know where he is, he should be in the castle library. Better hurry though, he's currently on break."

"Got it, thanks!" He continued jogging all the way back to the castle and then fast-walked to the library. When he pushed open the door, he found him on the second floor in the process of putting a book back. Young Link scaled the staircase and met him before he could finish.

"Oh hey there, didn't think I'd find you here." He greeted, looking away from the tall bookcase.

He panted, "I really could say the same. You never, pant, striked me as a book person."

Link wore a half smirk, "Well to be frank, I've got you to thank for that. I've become just slightly interested in Hyrule's history."

"Weird, how has anything I've said or done led to that?" 'Is he trying to see if he'll find me in the old legends or something? I highly doubt it's even in these books.'

He shrugged, "I dunno, just a thought that crossed my mind. Anyways, I'm getting ready to guard the castle for the rest of the day, did you need something?"

"My shield. I have no idea how either of us forgot it."

Link's eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder, "Wow your shield is super light! No wonder I didn't notice it!" He took it off and handed it to him.

"Heh, I guess it blends into the weight of your armor huh."

"Actually yeah it does."

Young Link crossed his arms, "Well before you go, I was told some troubling news by one of the trainees from the third class while I was in the Dining Hall."

His descendant's eyebrows raised, his tone sounding stern, "He shouldn't have been there."

He nodded, "I know. I asked him about it and he was pretty aware. Anyways, aside from his questions, he told me that Jack was fine after our match, but now he wants to come beat me up after cleaning the mess hall and realizing he has to do it all week." The young hero rolled his eyes, "I told him to tell the guy to calm down and that it's not worth getting kicked out of the academy for."

Link seemed to relax a bit more, though his face still had distaste for the situation, "Hm. Well I'll consider letting you deal with this in case nothing happens and Jack's ego is just getting the best of him, and he's talking too much for his own good. However ," he leaned down, "if he actually attempts it, at least give him a nick or two to remember you by."

"Trust me, I'm meaner about defending myself when it's outside of the arena. I was thinking more like a small scar. Nothing too extreme of course and nothing too bad to send him to the doctor."

"Good, hopefully it's just bluff. I'm going to get to my post," a small smile appeared for a second, "It'll be a bit hard to explain why I'm late, but it'll be fine. See ya."

He waved to his descendant, 'I'm glad he doesn't plan to storm the academy and snitch on the guy. A threat's a threat, but not when they're just mad, empty words that never get acted on.'

"Now then," he turned back to the bookcase, "what book were you reading Link?" He had managed to catch the color of it before it was completely put back on the shelf. It was a burgundy red and not too thick. The Hero of Time rolled over the nearby ladder and took the book out, taking a seat on a couch and opening it. 'I figure I'd just see what's in the table of contents and find something that catches my eye.'

"Hmm...the beginning of time...the races...the pledge of the Goddess," he muttered, "Weird, it doesn't look like he would have found anything to do with me in this one. Though that first chapter is interesting, I'm actually curious to see how this world was created in comparison to mine." He continued through the page, a familiar person eventually sitting beside him.

"Hello young one." It was the teacher from before.

He looked up, smiling, "Oh hey, it's nice to see you. It's been a while."

The teacher peeked down at the text, "Ahh, so you're interested in Hyrule's history?"

Young Link shrugged, "Sort of. I more or less just have a few questions."

He perked up, "I'm all ears of course. I tend to have a bit more free time now that Zelda is away."

The young hero laughed, "It's a bit more complicated than that. Do you know if this library has any books about the legends of this world? Or ones that are in the Old Hylian?"

"Hmm," he thought for a moment, "I know there's definitely a book of legends, but I'll have to ask my other colleagues about scriptures in the Old Hylian, and even then I'd probably have to personally write down the excerpt since you likely wouldn't be allowed to handle the original."

"Well don't bother with the old stuff if it's too much work," he insisted, "Could you show me where the book is?"

The teacher could see it was starting to get late, "How about you head back to your room and I'll drop it off when I find it?"

"Sure, in that case," he handed the book to him, "think you could put this up for me?" He innocently smiled. 'The best part is I know this will work.'

And it did, he saw the teacher's pupils widen and he gladly accepted. He took his leave as Zelda's instructor reached for the ladder. Luckily it didn't take too long for him to get back to his room, just a few more turns than normal. After setting his equipment to the side, he looked out his window and saw that it really was getting late, the sun was halfway done setting. 'Odd, I would've never guessed, especially since I'll need to go back for dinner at one point...I suppose I'll let my stomach remind me.'

It wasn't long before he heard a knock on his door and one of the maids handed him the book. "Thanks," he said, closing the door. Young Link had already changed into his night clothes. He also did some sort of flip into his bed as usual, 'This never gets old haha.' He opened the green, leather book; the font of the title on the cover was too complicated to bother reading, so he again began skimming the table of contents for something interesting.

"Huh, this mentions stuff about a creature that lives in the mountains, the dragons that Impa talked about…hmmmm." He flipped the page, "Here we go, stuff that's about people. Weird...there's not as many as I thought there'd be."

Young Link sank more into his pillows, trying to remember the different incarnations of himself he heard of, "There's at least the Hero of the Skies, Wind, and Twilight...and Time, duh. All I see is stuff about the sky, twilight, the Goddess Hylia, and essentially the tale of how my world was created. It's labeled as 'The Alternate Creationist Theory'," He giggled at the notion.

He started with the legend of the Hero of the Sky. He would only admit this to Zelda's tutor, but it was honestly kind of hard to read. Some of the words weren't spelled how Hylians often spelled them now, 'Must be one of those things where this is the old spelling and everyone uses the more abbreviated version. The context doesn't always help either..'

The legend essentially entailed the adventures of the knight who lived above the clouds. His dear friend fell prey to a demon lord beneath the clouds and naturally he went down to assist her. The people of that time normally lived in the sky and used large birds to get around. In the end, the hero's friend was basically the reincarnate Goddess Hylia and was in fact needed on the surface to continue the Goddess's original plan. The hero had his own duty as well. Naturally the demon god was defeated, but he cursed the hero's bloodline until the end of time, bounding them all to bear the same fate: fighting his evil incarnations for generations to come, whatever form it may be.

His eyes felt droopy when they glazed over the last few words at the end of the story. It was quite detailed, but it was exactly how Zelda from the previous universe told him—minus all the specifics of course. The next page had the story of the Hero of Twilight. 'I'm actually the most curious about this one, the other Zelda didn't seem to know a lot about it.'

He was getting ready to read the first line when something peculiar caught his eye, "What's up with the fold?" It looked like there were remnants of paper between the two pages, like there was actually more. Like someone did a great-but-not-so-perfect-job of tearing it out.

"My story comes next…" Young Link slowly sat up at this find, "My story is next!" he said fervently, "Where is it!?" He clapped a hand over his mouth, realizing he was being loud. He continued in a whisper, "I- someone tore it out!? Why? It would have just been my story in Hyrule and in Termina! Nothing more!"

There was no way that it wasn't there due to his involvement in other universes. It serves this written book no purpose to entail of his other adventures. After all, it came from this universe. "Besides, it's not like this is a magical tome...this wouldn't update itself just because something changed. Which means someone definitely tore my—ugh—the Hero of Time's story out."

His stomach grumbled. 'Good idea, an empty stomach is no good for solving mysteries. If I somehow run into Zelda's teacher, I'm definitely telling him about this.' He checked the table of contents again for the title, now seeing that someone, for some reason, appeared to take the time to color match the page and paint over where it was supposed to go. It was also conveniently at the bottom of the page where it wouldn't have looked suspicious, the title to the Hero of Twilight being at the top of the next page.

Fed up, he strapped on his sword for safety and left for the Dining Hall in his night clothes, grabbing a candle to carry with him. The halls were dimly lit, meaning the majority of the interior torches were blown out and only a few lit the entrances to other hallways. The idea of Jack coming out of nowhere hung in the back of his mind as walked the various halls. 'Naah, he's probably asleep right now. Maybe he's tired from being pointlessly angry and cleaning the mess hall. There's no way he would have managed to get past the guards either.'

Speaking of which, it was an interesting experience to see the guards up so late at night. They appeared stoic and quite focused, but maybe it was just the way the moonlight hit their armor. He carried on, figuring that he'd only bother them unless it was Link.

Aside from the dim hallways, the castle also carried a different aura at night as well. In the daytime it was bustling, busy, and welcoming, but after dark it was quiet, solemn, and oddly serious, almost grim. 'Gosh, no wonder no one is about the halls other than me,' he felt a slight shiver go down his back, 'It's sorta creepy!' The moonlight that cast onto the floor from the windows didn't help either. Their shadows were often made up of trees and other vegetation, causing one to speculate at what could possibly be making that awful figure on the floor.

"Thank goodness I'm practically there," he murmured as he quickly paced toward the Dining Hall's doors. The candle was nearly a third gone by the time he was creaking open the large doors to slip through. Once inside, there weren't many people, but it was enough to be surprised at. His stomach growled before he could think of a reason for why they were there, causing him to go to the reporting staff, "Uh hi, what do you guys have right now?" He could feel the fatigue pulling at his lower eyelids.

The server bowed, "Ah yes, there is rice porridge, oatmeal with the option of blueberries or bananas, and biscuits with butter and honey." He seemed to get a better look at him, "Oh my, you're up quite late for a child."

"I'll take the oatmeal with bananas, thanks. And yeah, I know. I was—yaaawn—reading and the time got away from me. Next thing I know my stomach wants food so here I am."

He politely gave him what he asked for, "I see, I'm glad I could help you then. Please feel free to come back for seconds."

"Thanks again," he said as he carried the bowl and spoon in one hand and the candle in the other. Again, the Dining Hall was already quite a dim place in the daytime, so naturally it was actually pretty dark, but still in a homely kind of way, at night. The candlelight was much needed to say the least.

The Hero of Time started trying to speculate why someone would tear that legend out of the book as he ate his food. Though the warmth of the candle and oatmeal was eventually getting to him. He wasn't under the covers of his bed, but damn it sure felt that way! 'Dear Goddesses,' he thought, hardly being able to keep his eyes open, 'I must be way more tired than I thought I was…' His head started to slowly descend toward the table.

'Seriously….w..hy would some...one..do that? They...must wa..nt...inform...-ation..about m—'

His thoughts left him as he dozed off, resting his head beside his oatmeal.

The young hero awoke to the sense of someone getting ready to touch his shoulder, his left hand immediately enclosing around their wrist before it got any closer. His eyes blinked open, and he quickly faced them, "Oh," he slumped a little, releasing his hold, "Mornin' Link."

"Good morning to you as well." He replied, his eyes showing his bewilderment at seeing him, "What are you doing here?"

He rubbed his eyes, still feeling sleepy, "Well I came here last night to get something to eat. I'm sure you understand what it means to listen to your stomach. The—" the bowl and spoon were gone, only leaving his candle that had burnt out overnight, "—well there was a bowl of oatmeal here, but I ended up falling asleep as I ate it." His ears started to pick up the sound of chatter coming from the others in the hall. He heard it get quieter, Link must have smiled or something.

"Well let's get you back to your room then, given you're still in your night clothes. You seem like you could still use an hour or two." He started to help get him up by the arms.

"Wait, what time is it? Didn't you have the evening guard shift?"

"It's five in the morning, and yeah, I just got done."

He felt himself get hoisted into the air. Young Link tried to not be just dead weight, "Ah okay. Yeah take me back." He must have slipped out of consciousness again because the next thing he knew he felt the familiar give that his mattress had.

"The book of legends? I would've never guessed," He heard Link comment.

The young hero was far too tired to go on a rant about it missing one of the entries, a pretty important one at that. He yawned, "I was curious about it." He felt the covers come over him.

"Well I'll leave your book on the desk, get some rest." And with that, he left.

A few hours later, Young Link started to feel the hilt of his sword press into his shoulder from the scabbard, causing him to sit up and take it off. "Gee I wonder how long I slept." He looked out his window, it was late morning.

The book on the vanity caught his eye, 'I will find out what happened to that chapter.' He started to get dressed, muttering to himself, "I know it's just a story and there's the possibility that it hardly says anything about me at all.." His gaze switched to the Fierce Deity's mask, his heart fluttering at the idea of the book mentioning it, "But I can't take that chance!"

He put on his cap and picked up the precious mask, "The more I think about it, maybe I should stop carrying this around with me on a regular basis. When I leave the castle, sure, but…maybe hiding it would be better?" He thought on it, "Actually no, or at least not in here. I mean, whoever came in here to change my sheets didn't need some master key, they probably walked right in."

Young Link set it back down, "I can't deny that this is basically my secret weapon, and while I wouldn't be worried about someone else trying to use it, what if they can somehow extract the magic from it? Is that even possible here?" Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure if there were people with the magical abilities of wizards and witches. How does magic in this universe work in the first place?

'They have potions...but do they have spells?' All this thinking was starting to make his head hurt. He sighed, "I'll just keep it in the drawer with the Keaton mask." The young hero finished putting the mask up when he heard a fervent knock at the door.

"Hey kid!" It was Kevin, he sounded a little out of breath.

Hurrying to the door, Young Link opened it and saw the young knight was visibly sweating, "What? What is it?"

"Oh we just need you for an expedition today. Charlie told me to come find you and I ran all the way here."

"Dear Goddesses!" Young Link playfully pushed his arm, Kevin smirking, "I thought we were getting attacked! You kill me man."

He put a hand on his hip, "A common compliment for me. Anyways, meet us at the gate to the town as soon as you can. You might consider eating, but because this is a long one today, we plan to stop by one of the villages to get something so it's up to you."

"Cool, I'll see you guys there."