Chapter 2: Revelation
Hyrule town marketplace
Despite sticking out among the crowd, Alm seamlessly walks within the panicking townsfolk. Making his way to the guards, Alm asks them as to what's happening, but they just shrug him off and tell him to get back to his post under the belief that he's one the soldiers. Increasingly frustrated, Alm asks several more guards who are trying to calm everyone down, until one of them realizes that he's not one of the soldiers at all. "Stop that man!"
Three other guards surround Alm and point their spears at him as the Captain of the guard approaches him. "Who are you? I've never seen you before."
"Easy now. I'm not here to cause trouble." Alm calmly says. "I'm not even supposed to be here. Just let me know where I am and I'll be on my way."
"Hmm." The Captain looks at Alm from top to bottom, taking in his appearance. "No trouble you say? Then why are you dressed for battle?"
"Oh, right. I was in combat with these monsters, some looked like skeletons and others like big lizards. Then, out of nowhere, this guy in green clothes with a sword and shield comes out and kills them." Alm explains while pointing at one of their shields, saying that it's exactly the same as the one Link had. One of the other guards nearby overhears this and listens intently. "Before I could ask him where he came from, this light shot up around me and the next thing I knew, a sphere of light dropped me off here." Upon finishing his statement, the eavesdropping guard's eyes widen in realization and he rushes off towards the castle, ignoring his compatriots shouts.
"Well, that has to be the most fantastical story anyone has ever made in the spot." The Captain says with his arms crossed, not at all believing Alm's story.
"I know it sounds crazy, but that's what happened!" Alm defensively says. "Now, you have to let me go so that I can return to Valentia!"
The Captain moves in closer to speak to Alm clearly. "Valentia? There is no such place; you're lying."
"It's the truth, I'm its king!"
Upon hearing this, the three guards surrounding him start laughing while the Captain smiles unamused before holding up his hand to quiet the others. "Alright, your highness, let us offer you our five star hospitality then; take him to the dungeons." The guards comply and restrain Alm, who understandably struggles to get loose. As they begin to escort him to the castles dungeons, that previous guard rushes back to halt their progress. "Oh, what is it now?"
"At ease, Captain." He looks past the guard and sees Impa walking towards them, to which he relaxes himself.
"Lady Impa, how may we be of assistance?"
"I heard that there's a stranger here with some important information. Is this him?" Impa questions and the guard acknowledges by pointing to an uncertain Alm. "Very well; release him."
Although confused, the Captain complies without question and he orders his men to remove Alm's shackles. Now freed, Impa approaches him.
"You said you came here in a sphere of light, yes?"
"Yes Ma'am; it showed up like light beneath my feet and then I was dropped here from a sphere." Alm calmly explains to Impa, whose eyes widen slightly in hope.
"I see. Captain, continue to maintain the order here." Impa commands as the Captain salutes her before returning with his men to placate the dying down shouts of the people, she then turns her attention to Alm once again. "Follow me."
Impa turns around and walks back towards the castle. Alm, not wanting to cause anymore disturbances and grateful to this lady for getting him out of his bind, follows her without question.
Valentia: Rigel Village
Groaning in discomfort, Anthiese's eyes slowly open up and as her vision refocuses, she sees Link sitting on a chair beside her. She gasps and quickly sits up.
"Whoa, easy now. Your head took a big knock." Link says while holding his arms forward. Calming down, Anthiese rubs the back of her head, wincing from the bruise she no doubt got from the lizalfos. "I'm just glad I got to you, at least."
"At least?" Anthiese questions before remembering what happened and dread wells up within her. "No…"
Link closes his eyes in regret before continuing. "I'm very sorry; I couldn't save your men." Upon hearing Link's apology, Anthiese hangs her head in regret over the loss of her soldiers. Link picks up her sword from the ground and holds it forward before addressing her again. "Now, I think I owe you an explanation. May I?" Anthiese looks up to see Link returning her sword and she sits at the left edge to face him.
"Alright. I'm listening." She says before taking back her sword. Link explains that a strange woman appeared in his village and she sent him here through a sphere of light and that a similar one took Alm. To put her at ease, he concludes that Alm is not dead, but rather sent somewhere else. "That woman sounds like a Witch."
"A Witch?"
"Yes; they're women who were granted power from the dragon god Duma, at the cost of their souls." Anthiese explains. "But, I've never known them to have such power before."
"So, there's more than one?" Link asks in disbelief.
"They were commonplace in a war over two years ago. I don't understand why there was one in your land."
"That's odd, alright."
"But, where did she send Alm?"
"That's what I don't know. If we were lucky, he'd be in Hyrule and I could go and search for him."
"Hyrule? What's that?" Anthiese asks in genuine curiosity.
"It's the land I'm from. Don't you know about it?"
"No, this is the first I'm hearing about it. Where does it lie?"
Again, Link can't comprehend how no one he's met has heard of Hyrule, which would make his return there all the more difficult if no one can tell him where it is. Come to think of it, he's never even heard of Valentia either, exactly where is this?
"Regardless, thank you for saving my life." Anthiese says with a warm smile. "And I'm sorry for my earlier outburst; none of this is your fault."
"It's fine. I understand that he's your husband and that it scares you not knowing where he is-" Link stops himself upon realizing what being married to her implies. "Wait; is he the king?"
Anthiese simply nods at Link's assumption. "Yes. He was the crown prince of Rigel and I was the crown princess of Zofia. Together, we are the king and queen of Valentia."
"Well then, is it too much to ask for help from the monarchs of this land?" Link asks expectantly.
"Of course not, I'd be more than happy to help you. Perhaps our library might have some answers for you."
"I'd appreciate it. Thank you, your highness." Link answers with a hopeful expression.
"Oh please, call me-"
"Celica!" Their attention is brought outside as a man calls out on horseback, followed by two other riders. "Where are you?!"
"Uh oh, we've got company." Link says as he moves to draw his sword. "Queen Anthiese, stay here; I'll see who they are. Hopefully they just want find this Celica person and be on their way.
"Wait!" Anthiese quietly calls out while grabbing Link's arm. "Don't worry, I know who they are. Just stay in here and be quiet. I'll call you out after I explain to them where Alm went." Anthiese says while moving Link to the back of the house and telling him her plans, to which he nods in compliance. Exiting the house, Anthiese walks down the steps and approaches the riders. "Conrad, I'm here!"
Turning around, Conrad dismounts his horse and approaches his sister. "Celica! You had me worried." Conrad runs up and crushes Celica in a hug, which she returns. From behind him, the two other riders dismount their horses; Clive (short blonde hair, dark blue eyes with matching armor, a yellow cravat and a greenish blue vest that denotes nobility) and Mathilda (blue and white clothing with a cape, black stockings, grieves, gauntlets, shoulder guards, breastplate and headdress, brown eyes and shoulder length blonde hair), the best knights of Zofia, personal guards of the king and queen and married couple. Having been sent back by Anthiese (will now be referred to as Celica from here on) to rendezvous with Conrad, they accompanied him to aid their queen.
"My queen! Thank Mila you are unharmed!" Clive comments with a sigh of relief.
"One of us should have stayed with you. Apologies for not considering it, my queen." Mathilda adds with a hint of regret.
Separating from her brother, Celica addresses them. "Don't worry about it, Mathilda; I told you to go." Celica adds. "Also, you can still call me by my name, you're my friend before my guard."
"Understood, my queen." Mathilda says, much to Celica's exasperation.
"Forgive me, my qu- I mean Celica, but where is Alm?" Clive asks, being more comfortable with calling Alm by his name due to their history together as part of the Deliverance. "He was supposed to be here."
"Yeah, where did he go?" Conrad asks. "I thought I'd find the two of you here."
"Oh. Yes, that's kind of a complicated story." Celica walks back to the house where Link is and knocks on the door, much to everyone else's confusion. After a few seconds, Link walks out and locks eyes with Celica.
"Celica?" Link inquires, under the impression that her name was Anthiese.
"I'll explain later. Go on, tell them."
"Who are you, stranger?" Conrad asks, feeling uncertain with Link standing too close to Celica. Clive and Mathilda look on while reaching for their lances.
"ahem Ok, I'll start from the top; my name is Link. I come from a land called Hyrule.
Hyrule Castle-Hallway outside the throne room
Sitting on a chair, Alm waits anxiously to be called into the throne room. Taking in the portraits of nobles within the red floored and white marbled hallway, he sees that there is a very long line of royalty in this land. The one that catches his attention is that of a tall man with a dark blue vest, black belt with a triforce buckle, white pants with black leather boots, a red robe reaching past his waist, black hair slicked backwards with a short beard, dark blue eyes and a crown atop his head. Next to him is a seated young lady with a lavender dress and gloves, a cloth with the triforce and intricate designs at the front of said dress, a dark pink top, golden shoulder guards connected by a broach with the royal family insignia, blonde hair, blue eyes, triforce earrings and a gold tiara with a red gem in the center. Putting two and two together, he concludes that they are the king and princess of this castle.
"Hmm, why didn't I have one made of Celica and I?" Alm wonders aloud, referring to not having a portrait with himself and his wife. His attention snaps back to the door and Impa steps out.
"Sir, the king will see you now." She says and Alm quickly stands up and enters the doorway, marveling at the throne room with two sets of white stairs leading to the red throne with a blue carpet going from there to the door, a ceiling with many designs showing the different races of the land (A/N: Imagine it in the style of the Sistine chapel), the triforce symbol above the throne surrounded by three angelic figures and four dome shaped windows behind it. Impa then walks up to the seated man and announces Alm's arrival. "Your Majesty; King Alm of Valentia."
The king stands up and places his arms behind him and his two royal guards now stand at both of his sides. "Welcome to Hyrule, King Alm. I am Daltus, king of Hyrule." King Daltus says in a fairly deep voice.
"Thank you for seeing me, your majesty."
"I have heard from my confidant that you may have information as to where one of my citizens was sent?"
Alm nods and explains that while trying to halt attacking monsters in a village close to his castle, this stranger in green clothes came out of nowhere and before he could question or even aid him, he was suddenly transported here. Concluding that Link is in Valentia, Daltus stops Alm.
"I must admit that I've never heard of Valentia, may I ask where it is?"
"I was hoping that you could show me a map of your land, I have never heard of Hyrule either." Alm answers, noticing Daltus's partially surprised expression.
"Hmm, two kings of their own land, but neither one having knowledge of the other. That is very…curious."
"I'm aware that Valentia is unknown in Hyrule and vice versa, but I assure you that is where he is."
"I'm afraid that your assurance is not enough, you must show us where this land is."
"How can I do that if I don't even know where I am?" Alm says with visible frustration.
"You may peruse through our archives until you find out where this 'Valentia' is." Daltus says, to which Alm relaxes himself. "But be warned; if you do not find what you assume is real, then I will have no choice but to incarcerate you for withholding the Triforce of Courage."
"The what?" Alm asks in a mix of confusion and apprehension over the conditions set out before him.
"I haven't the time to humor your ignorance now, just get to searching for Valentia. Impa, please escort him to the archives." Daltus announces before leaving with his personal guard. A dumbfounded Alm is approached by Impa and she escorts him out of the throne room and out the hallway. After a few minutes, they arrive to the archives room and Impa leaves Alm to search through them, telling him that she is needed elsewhere. Reminding him that there are guards at the end of the hallway, she leaves him to his search, to which he nods. Unbeknownst to Alm, Impa nods to an unseen person and tells them to be careful.
Hyrule castle-Archives
"Alright, let's start." Alm says to himself as he searches through files, but becomes discouraged as he sees that they're written in a language he cannot read. "Well, this is a downer…" Alm has little time to vent his frustrations as the door opens and closes behind him and he turns around in surprise. "Who's there?"
The person's footsteps get closer and Alm concludes that it's a woman due to the sound of heels. He reaches for his sword, only to remember that he was told to leave it in the armory before meeting the king. His nervousness turns to curiosity as the unknown person is revealed to be a young woman in royal clothing.
"May I help you?" Alm asks and the young lady quickly hushes him so that the guards won't hear. "Who are you?"
"I am Zelda, princess of Hyrule." Zelda quietly answers. "Are you the man who saw Link?"
Relaxing his expression, Alm takes a deep breath before answering. "I am Alm, king of Valentia. By Link, you mean the young man in green clothes?"
"You saw him." Zelda anxiously states. "How was he?"
"I didn't really have a chance to talk to him, but he looked healthy."
"I see. Can you tell me where he is and where you came from?"
Alm, seeing the clear stress that Zelda is under, recounts all the events leading up to his arrival to Hyrule. She follows up with what happened before Link disappeared, mentioning the Witch that almost got them both. Having some peace of mind, Zelda exhales in relief with the knowledge that Link is alive.
"Listen, I need your help now; I can't read your language. Can you help me look for Valentia in your files?"
"Oh! Alright, let me find some maps." Zelda responds and finds a box containing maps of various regions, which they take to a nearby table and look through them. Five minutes in, Alm decides to ask Zelda about what the king told him.
"Princess, I have to figure something out."
"Hmm?" Zelda, while looking at the map, answers.
"What's the Triforce of Courage?" Zelda's eyes widen at Alm's question. "Your father said that I'd be jailed for withholding it, but I don't know what that is."
"You don't have the Triforce of Courage; Link does." Zelda says in sadness.
"What?"
Zelda recounts to Alm that the Triforce is a sacred power created by the gods and is the foundation of their world. During an incident several years ago, the Triforce was split into three pieces; Power, Wisdom and Courage. Power was given to the perpetrator, Wisdom was given to her and Courage was given to Link.
"Unbelievable. So with Link holding this power, the king wants it back. Right?" Alm concludes.
"Yes…" Zelda quietly answers.
Catching Zelda's somber expression, Alm continues his questions. "Wait, you're more concerned with Link, but the king is more interested in the Triforce. Is there something more that's at stake?"
Stopping herself, Zelda rubs the back of her right hand and looks at Alm. "Without all three pieces here, the world will-" Before she can say anymore, Zelda is cut off by massive rumbling from outside.
"What's going on?!"
"I think it's an earthquake." Zelda answers before a loud horn makes her rethink her statement. "No, it's an attack!"
Valentia-the fields near Rigel Village
After being told about Alm, Celica, her envoy and Link make their trek back to the castle. They had all taken the time to bury the dead and gave all the appropriate funerary rites to the fallen soldiers. Link had done most of the digging as a means to show them that he's truly sorry for the losses and as an act of respect for the soldiers, this being partly personal to him ever since he learned that his biological father was a knight of Hyrule. Now, they ride back in silence (Clive and Mathilda in the lead, Celica and Conrad in the middle and Link at the back). Link had been offered one of the horses so that he wouldn't lag behind, although he has to lead the other riderless horses with him, even though he didn't really seem to mind, being thankful that they trust him enough to not steal them. Midway, Conrad decides to ride backwards until he's side by side with Link, much to Celica's confusion.
"Yes?" Link questions.
"Relax. I just wanted to thank you for saving my sister." Conrad extends his left hand to Link. "You have my gratitude."
Although a bit apprehensive, Link slowly takes his hand and shakes it. "It's fine. I couldn't just leave her like that, it's not who I am."
"Hahah, you're not a knight in shining armor; but a hero in a green tunic. Hey, that's not bad."
Link can't help but smile at Conrad's semi jovial nature, not like he was back at the village. "Aw, you're giving me too much credit."
"Be that as it may, thanks uh…"
"Link. My name is Link."
Celica listens intently to the conversation behind her and she smiles at the fact that her brother still acts like her number one protector, even though she can take care of herself. However, Clive and Mathilda halt the groups advance, taking note of how they saw something fly overhead. With everyone arming themselves, they wait for something to approach them; yet nothing appears. Calling the coast clear, they continue to advance; until a wall of fire and ice blacks their path.
"What is this?!" Clive shouts while trying to calm his horse.
"It's some kind of barrier!" Mathilda concludes. "Highness's, stand back!"
Conrad catches up to Celica and draws his lance, telling her to stay close to him. Link dismounts and runs up to the knights.
"What are you doing?" Clive questions.
"I thought you might need some help. I've got your back."
Both Clive and Mathilda look at Link in confusion over his sudden need to help them, but they decide not to question it as a pair of cackling women on brooms fly down from the sky; revealed to be twin witches that Link is familiar with.
"Koume and Kotake!" Link shouts in anger, surprising everyone else. The twin sisters float down to face Link.
"Hee hee hee hee! Ah well, fancy meeting you here, Hero of Time." Koume announces.
"Hoo hoo hoo hoo! You're quite a long way from home, aren't you?" Kotake mockingly says.
"Link, you know these two?" Mathilda asks, to which Link nods.
"Why are you here? What do you want?" Link demands.
"My my, aren't you the rude one? You should greet your elders before asking them questions. Right, Kotake?"
"I guess his parents didn't teach him manners, Koume. Hoo hoo hoo!"
"Shut up!" Link shouts before slashing at them, causing them to back off.
"Enough of this, state your business." Celica orders.
"No need to get chippy, dearie. We were just getting to that." Koume says while pointing to Link. "We've come for him."
"Why?" Clive asks.
"I don't remember you being part of this conversation, soldier boy!" Kotake shouts as she prepares to shoot a stream of ice at Clive, only for Link to stand in between them. "Heh, always playing the part of the hero. Eh, boy?" Kotake dispels her ice and she, along with Koume, lower themselves to face everyone.
"What do you want from me?" Link sternly asks.
"Well, if we're being honest, we needed you plus one more." Koume answers while holding up two fingers. "I guess that Witch got half of our quarry."
"That Witch? Wait a minute; so this is all your doing!"
"Heh, you are bright after all." Kotake jovially says. "Yes; we brought you here to the great land of Valentia, a land where Hyrule does not exist."
Link's anger soon turns to horror over this revelation as he drops his sword. A land where Hyrule doesn't exist? How can that be?
"We needed the two of you in a land where no one would be able to aid you, where no one knows who you are. You'd be like two rats in a maze." Koume states with a smile which eventually sours. "But then, you just had to, once again, be the hero. Saving a person who has nothing owed to you, and the queen no less? You're disgustingly noble, do you know that?"
"Leave them out of this." Link responds with anger. "You're right, they don't owe me anything. So, if you want me, here I am." Everyone else looks at Link in shock over his declaration; so willing to sacrifice himself for people he doesn't even know. "But, I won't let you hurt them."
"Well, that's very touching." Koume says while mockingly holding her hands up to her heart.
"Wait." Celica walks up next to Link before continuing. "What does this have to do with Alm?"
"Alm? Ah, you mean the one sent to Link's place." Kotake says in realization. "When Link laid eyes on him, that power that brought him here transferred over to Alm and sent him to Hyrule. You see, what we've done could be considered unnatural; taking a being from one world and transferring them to another causes an imbalance in space and time, so to prevent that, another being from this world was sent to the other. Thankfully, that does not apply to monsters, otherwise we'd be doing so much back and forth and no one wants that."
"In other words, Link traded places with Alm." Conrad concludes.
"Bingo." Koume says while pointing at the group.
"What are you planning?" Celica asks while Link holds her back from getting to close.
"Now, we can't just spoil the fun right away. But, giving that power to the Witch has left us tired and drained, it takes a lot of magic to create those transfer gates, you know. I don't think we can deal with five of you at the moment after all." Koume says, visibly tired.
"Now, it's going to take some more time to make another one of that caliber to bring in the other one. Until then, catch you later kiddo." Kotake states with an exhausted expression before she and Koume swirl out of existence. Link picks up his sword and takes a moment to ponder his options, until he decides to walk off on his own.
"Wait, where are you going?" Celica asks in alarm.
"It was a mistake involving you in this, I'll find my own way." Link answers as he walks further away, until Clive and Mathilda block his path. "Let me pass, you can't get involved."
"Too late, we're already involved." Conrad answers from behind.
"It's not right to leave you to fate." Celica says after catching up to Link. "You heard them; it's not that you're in a different land, but you're, astonishingly, in a different world. Please, let us help you." Celica warmly states while holding out her right hand. Link, with uncertainty, looks at the two knights, who stare at him expectantly and Conrad nods at Link with a friendly expression. Finally dropping his gaze at Celica, Link exhales before taking her hand with a soft smile.
Hyrule-outside the drawbridge (sunset)
With the drawbridge raised, the knights stand at the wall and await their opponent from the entrance of Kakariko village as it rolls down. The massive beast unfurls and crawls towards the wall and roars loudly.
"Men, destroy King Dodongo!" The captain of the guard shouts and the knights respond by throwing bombs at the beasts hide which harmlessly explode on it. Inhaling deeply, King Dodongo releases a large fireball at the wall, damaging it and disorientating a few of the soldiers. After a few minutes of fruitless attacks, the knights fall back into the town. The captain then approaches the king, who was waiting for the results. "We can't even put a dent in its hide. What should we do, your highness?"
Daltus begins to ponder what the next move should be. Exhaling, he decides to evacuate the citizens through the castle catacombs and plan another method of attack at a later time. As the knights move to uphold the kings order, Alm (having retrieved his sword from the armory) and Zelda run up to them.
"Father, what is going on?"
"Zelda, what are you doing out here?" Daltus asks before noticing Alm with her. "And why are you with my daughter?"
"I asked him to accompany me here. Now, what's happening?" Zelda asks amidst King Dodongo's bombardment. Daltus, although still confused as to how Zelda met Alm, decides to tell her about the monster trying to get in and how they failed to kill it. "Wait, why didn't you try throwing those bombs at its mouth when it inhales?"
"Zelda, not this again." Daltus answers with a frustrated sigh. "Just because that young man found out about Ganondorf and his plans does not mean that everything else was true. We cannot take the risk by standing in front of that monster and throwing bombs at it."
"Then what else can we do?!" Zelda shouts in anger. "If it gets in here, everyone will die!"
Ignoring her outburst, Daltus orders his men to begin evacuating the citizens. Alm, seeing the terrified citizens scrambling to head for the castle, decides that he can't let more people die again and whispers to Zelda to find a way to get him outside the wall. While everyone is distracted, Zelda explains to Alm what King Dodongo is and how they can stop it. Understanding the instructions, Alm readies himself to push through the knights and get to the wall, but Zelda had other ideas.
"King Alm, hold still."
"What?" A confused Alm looks back as a swirling pillar of green light envelops him and he soon finds himself at the top of the wall. "Agh, what was that- huh? How did I get here?"
This act does not go unnoticed by Daltus however. "Zelda, what do you think you're doing?!" He then orders his men to escort Zelda away from here and to send another group to retrieve Alm.
"Grab some bombs and jump into the moat! Hurry!" Zelda shouts to Alm and he complies, tossing a bomb at King Dodongo's head to distract it. After landing in the moat, Alm swims out with a bag of bombs and he confronts the beast.
"Whoa, it's bigger up close." King Dodongo then turns its attention to Alm and roars at him. The knights run up to the top of the wall, along with the king, to see the confrontation. Alm skillfully dodges all of King Dodongo's swipes and bites until, in its frustration, it begins to inhale. Alm, taking note of Zelda's instruction, throws a bomb at its mouth. Swallowing the bomb, King Dodongo roars in pain as it detonates in his gut. Not wasting time, Alm lays down a flurry of slashes on its head, finally causing damage.
"I don't believe it; it actually worked." Daltus, leaning his hands on the edge of the wall, comments in shock.
"Just like he said it would…" One of the other knights adds. Now convinced at this revelation, the others begin hitting their spears on the ground as a means to motivate Alm. The now angered King Dodongo recovers from its shock and tries to bite Alm, to which he jumps away.
"Alright, that worked. I just have to keep that up now." Alm says to himself as King Dodongo tries to run him over with its curled up body. Rolling to the side, Alm readies another two bombs and tosses them at King Dodongo's path, making it fall on its back. Seizing the chance, Alm climbs on it and stabs the beast on its soft underbelly several times. Roaring in agony, it manages to get back on its feet and pins Alm to the ground and prepares to devour him. Just then, a flash of light blinds King Dodongo and it thrashes around to regain its sight. Getting up to his feet, Alm sees the one behind that flash of light; Impa had arrived to help him.
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me yet; you've still got more bombs?" Impa asks.
"Last one." Alm answers while opening up the bag. "Think it'll be enough?"
"We'll have to make it enough. The princess and I have a plan; you might not like it."
"I'm ready, what is it?" Alm confidently asks and Impa explains. "You're right; I don't like it."
Recovering from its blindness, King Dodongo inhales once again. Going through with the plan, Alm once again throws the last bomb down its gullet, stunning the beast. Impa conjures several flame naginatas and has them whittle away the scales on King Dodongo's head. Although apprehensive, Alm points his sword up in the air and Zelda, who managed to get to the top of the wall unnoticed, uses Farore's Wind again to teleport Alm six feet above King Dodongo. Dropping down, Alm successfully drives his sword through its head and, as it groans pitifully, King Dodongo drops to the ground. After a few seconds of silence, the knights shout in victory as Impa helps to get Alm off of King Dodongo's corpse, congratulating him for stopping the beast. While Zelda smiles in relief, Daltus merely looks on and ponders just how much Link said was true. Shaking the thought from his mind, Daltus orders that the drawbridge be lowered to let Alm and Impa inside.
Valentia castle-night
Exhausted from the very eventful day, everyone had decided to turn in for the night and plan their next course of action first thing in the morning. Before that, Conrad, Clive and Mathilda went to oversee the surviving villagers of Rigel Village for anything they might need. Celica, meanwhile, leads Link to his temporary lodging; a quaint room with a bed, dresser, closets with unused clothing and a window with red curtains.
"It isn't much, but it's yours." Celica kindly says to Link.
"No, it's fine. I don't really have much on me anyway." Link directly answers.
"Well then, I will leave you to rest now. Good night, Link."
"Wait." Link says, stopping Celica from closing the door and leaving. "…Thank you. You didn't have to do this, but I really am grateful to you for showing me this hospitality."
Celica's eyes widen in surprise over Link's declaration of gratitude, but she smiles regardless. "You're welcome. Thank you as well for protecting us." With that, Celica takes her leave and Link wonders if he'll actually be able to find sleep, knowing finally that he's "in a land where Hyrule does not exist."
Hyrule castle-night
As thanks for stopping King Dodongo, Daltus had offered Alm a room used to house visiting nobles to spend the night in, reminding him that tomorrow he will have to find out where Link, especially the Triforce of Courage, is. Removing his armor, Alm exhales heavily and sits at the edge of the bed and pulls out a compass that has a small picture of Celica within the lid. Staring at it in sadness, Alm closes his eyes and pictures her standing in front of him. "Celica, I promise; I'm going to find a way back to you."
It would turn out to be a very long night for many; Link pondering the witches words while holding the Ocarina of Time close to himself. Alm having Celica's voice in his mind as he tries to find sleep. Zelda staring out her balcony, wondering where Link is. Celica lying down on the left of her bed, somberly reaching out to the right where Alm would've been.
Unbeknownst to any of them, however, a long journey awaits them all.
To be continued.
Author's note: Boom, chapter two. Now, I've been going through at least three different ideas as to where I want this story to go and I think I've finally found my rhythm. Does this mean that more chapters will come out more frequently? I can't make any promises, but I'll do my best. Alright guys take care and stay healthy.
Also, for anyone confused as to why Koume, Kotake and King Dodongo are here when they should be dead, remember that this is the child timeline, as in none of that (technically) happened.