Chapter 3: Forsaken
The waves of the water and sounds of swamp life snapped Link out of his trance he put himself in from his running. He found himself standing outside the shooting gallery and fishing pole in the swamp, he looked around and heard no sounds of running or the clanking of footsteps from the soldiers that were chasing him. He expected his chest to be heaving and be short of breath from the run from Clock Town to the Southern Swamp. Even if he had run here in the Deku's Butler's son, Darmani, Mikau or even his human form he would be out of breath. Even Epona would be breathing harder if he had her running here at full speed. But he hadn't broken a sweat; the only other way he'd be able to get here without breaking a sweat or even be the least bit exhausted was if he rolled here in Darmani's body.
"Link… you okay?" Tatl asked as she floated in front of her friend. Link nervously nodded.
"Yeah…" he said as he swallowed some saliva. "I'm fine."
"Good. I don't think the soldiers will come this far into the swamp since everyone in Clock Town thinks the 4 regions is super dangerous."
"Well they wouldn't be wrong." Link said as he smiled. A rustling in the bushes near them took their attention but they calmed as they saw it was only the Skull Kid and Tael. Link and Tatl sighed in relief.
"The scary men in armor went back to town. They gave up on searching for you fairy kid." The Skull Kid said with a smile as he looked up at Link in his Fierce Deity form.
"You aren't scared of this form?" Link suddenly asked Skull Kid. The forest child's head tilted in confusion.
"Why should I be? You saved me and are now big and strong and can do anything! You're awesome!" The Skull Kid exclaimed in glee. Link smiled to that explanation.
"So what are we going to do?" Tael asked. "I don't get this whole transformation thing but basically you can't turn back into the little kid in green?"
"Yeah Tael; basically Link here is that kid in green we robbed in the woods and that Majora's Mask cursed into a Deku. We found a way to turn him to normal and then use masks to transform him into not just a Deku, but a Goron named Darmani, a Zora named Mikau who was the guitarist of the Indigo-Go's and… well… this form which we don't know what it is."
"How do you not know? I mean you had to get it somewhere, surely that is a clue." The purple fairy stated with a raised eyebrow however his sister sighed in frustration.
"If I told you where we got the Fierce Deity Mask you would never believe us, but we got it right before we fought Majora in the moon. Link ended up having to use the mask to transform and defeat Majora and now he can't turn back. Now that the people of Clock Town now fear him he can't get anywhere near the Clock Tower doors and go home."
"Well then I guess I'm stuck living here in Termina in this form." Link said in a neutral tone as he stepped away from the group. The 3 tried following the Fierce Deity but Link raised his voice – almost too loudly – "Get away from me!" he yelled shocking himself but he calmed himself by taking a deep breath. "If you three are seen with me there will be trouble. Skull Kid hurt a lot of people and it's going to take some time but the people of Clock Town will forgive him in time. But I am not something they can understand. How would they believe that a boy who could travel through time also transform into different races by the use of masks but then get stuck in the form of some 'Fierce Deity'?"
When Link heard no response from them he continued walking, his mind now wondering where he could go and stay. There was no where he could stay at Great Bay. The Gorons were highly superstitious and he doubted the Smithy would take him in. The Swamp behind him was mostly under rule of the Deku King and they didn't take kindly to strangers. Ikana was the only region he could go. He noticed his bag was still with him so he could use the hookshot to get up there. But what of food or water? He thought to realize that there while there was no one besides Dampe, Pamela, her father and Sakon there, there was in fact no other living beings there; not even animals which he could hunt. He doubted the ranch girls would react to him any better than the people of Clock Town. His mind suddenly remembered the large overturned log near the South Gate and that there was a magic hole that he discovered underneath during the loops. There was dodongos and other creatures in the field he could hunt. He would be dangerously close to Clock Town and the Ranch so he would need to hide if someone approached but thankfully not many people actually left their regions since they all feared the outside world.
As he thought about his predicament he came to what will become his new home for the rest of his life; the log. He walked into it – the roof of the log was just tall enough to fit his tall form. He summoned his Helix sword and used it as a shovel to dig up the dirt. After about 30 minutes the hole appeared and he jumped down to find a large open cavern. There were magic lanterns lit in the corners of the cavern. Link was familiar with these torches for they were usually in temples and they had a magic cast upon them that if they were lit the flame would never go out. It wasn't his tree house or the Stock Pot Inn but it was good enough for him.
