AN: Quick Key to my writing, because somebody has had an issue deciphering it. If something is italicized in a sentence, it is for emphasis, disbelief, or some other form of emotion. Each "scene" is from a 3rd person POV, with their thoughts being the stream of consciousness viewed by the reader. I try to establish just who it is fairly quickly, but you will have to watch for that I'm afraid.
'Sentences in all italics, enclosed with a single ' (apostrophe) represent an actual train of thought, ending at the second apostrophe. These are the conscious thoughts they are focusing on or occurring to them, whereas the rest is just their generalized pov.'
Centered format text in italics represents a story being told, a lore dump, a book; something that is expanding upon the universe in some format, usually. This is done to differentiate from the normal text and establish that it is from a POV that may or may not be clarified. You can trust that this does represent the world as that POV sees it, however, because everything has bias. This is not (bolded letters in the type represent the extra emphasis) the "System" talking. It is, technically, a very light gamer fic, but if the System ever speaks it is a long way away.
The other way is in the opening and closing of scenes, a few lines that serve to begin and end it. I don't always do this, but I feel like I do it more often than not.
There is the occasional exception to this, when it is in single lines.
This represents major emphasis, something that dominates a mind for a few seconds to a few minutes. Everything focused upon it.
So, with that out of the way, to the fic!
The Eternal Game
CH. II
So This is Real…
Birds sang, insects buzzed, and the start of sunlight streamed through a wooden shutter. In a room not his own, in a world not his own, with a name and body not his own, a boy woke up, eyes taking in surroundings that were as familiar as they were unfamiliar. It takes several moments for reality to sink in, for realization to be accepted. One sentence was whispered, one question asked, breathy and hopeful and tinged with raw want.
"It wasn't a dream?"
Link woke up to an impossibility. He woke up to something that he had wished to be real, had ached at the mere thought of. He woke up in the body of Link from Breath of the Wild, in a room at the Knight Academy from a Video Game, with a Princess two rooms over. He was in a world that was as wonderful as it was terrible, in a body that was built to be arguably one of the single strongest forces in the universe he was in, and it wasn't a dream. The soaring joy in his soul was undeniable, Sylph happy to greet him, joy spreading through him so strongly that his lips turned up without him even meaning them too.
His hands found his stomach; flat, so very flat and smooth, and pinched. Pain flared to life, and the greenish blue walls with yellow patterns didn't disintegrate. They didn't disappear, or waver; didn't vanish like his hopes of peace and quiet for just one hour so often had. He didn't stop; the pain grew and grew as he only pinched himself harder, the second hand joining the first. The world still didn't change, didn't shift or vary; the only thing he succeeded in was his body telling him to stop as the pain only got worse. He didn't; it was another few moments of squeezing tighter before he did.
The sheets were thrown off, his eyes on a flat stomach with two separate reddened marks, the imprint of fingernails a stark white against it. Underwear that was far tighter against his body than he would have expected of this time, a visible bulge where it strained against a master sword. He couldn't stop the amusement; the sound of soft and musical chuckles rang throughout the room, something that messed with his head. It had been meant to be a snort, bitter and amused, but the body he was in just…didn't. How many expressions that he had frequently used were no longer options for him? How many things that he had always done for as long as he could remember were just…gone, now?
Not that it truly mattered. Of all the things that had changed now, his unconscious habits were probably the least important thing to be concerned about. Well, one of the least important. He was in an entirely new world that was incredibly different from the game, one that seemed to be of a much greater threat than the game. While there had absolutely been monsters in Skyloft in the game, they had been uncommon, only coming out at night and only in the sky. Nothing of any actual strength had existed on the Island itself, or on any Island populated by the Hylians. Instead of that, there were, at minimum, three massive islands, two of which had been lost…which didn't bode well. With the upcoming revival of Demise, Link, and it was his name now, knew beyond any doubt that there would be an incursion so very soon. A few weeks, at most, though the events of Skyward Sword could probably be resolved quicker than that. Actually…perhaps a lot slower.
There was a lot to consider, actually; the more he thought about it the more concerning it was. Skyward Sword had been fun, but it hadn't exactly been his favorite Zelda game, and as such he didn't remember everything about it. He remembered a lot, and was lucky to remember that much, but expecting to remember everything was asking way too much. Not that it mattered in the long run, as he had already noticed that things were incredibly different from the game, but the threats would likely remain the same. Just far more dangerous, far more capable of killing him and so many other people.
That thought more than anything else had him freezing, muscles far stronger than any in his original body tensing up in preparation to move. It took several moments of breathing to calm himself down; several moments more to adapt to that realization. He could, and possibly would, die. He had gone through the entirety of the game without dying, had beaten every Zelda game he'd ever played barring Breath of the Wild without dying, but this wasn't a game. There was no menu, no point where he could save his progress and resume it if he were to die. No checkpoints, no autosaves, and certainly no way to turn it off and come back later.
Link fought Demise and won, but he wasn't Link. He had the body and, if the cooking from last night was to be believed, the skills of the Hero, but he did not have the spirit or the soul. Actually…he might have the spirit, considering he was in the body of a different Link than had fought Demise, which…thoughts for later. Regardless, he didn't have the unbridled good will of the Hero. Didn't have the ferocity and courage to stand up to quite literally anything; there was not a single Link that hadn't been ready to fight the moment things went even slightly sideways in the history of them.
He didn't have that. He'd been in more than one fight in his life, but he'd never been one willing to fight at the drop of a hat. He didn't have the unstoppable, unbreakable courage that was Link's entire existence rendered down. He was very much a normal person. He had his issues; his likes, his dislikes, his hopes and dreams, but he wasn't the kind of person who could just…step into the body of a Hero. He definitely wasn't someone who deserved it.
A shake of the head, Link forcing himself to sit up, a far easier motion than it had been in some years now. Between his body's weight and the exhaustion that encompassed his every waking moment, his old body had never particularly enjoyed getting up in the morning. This one, Link's body, didn't seem to mind it. Rising from flat on his back to sitting up was so easy it was, almost, thoughtless. Little more than the idea to sit up had crossed his mind and suddenly he was sitting upright, and it brought to mind the other things that he knew about the various forms of Links, and this one in particular.
The body of this Link could, when properly set, knock back a charging Lynel. Which, while never having been given an official weight, was at minimum a thousand pounds of force coming at him. The creatures were at least 13 or so feet high, considering they were over twice Link's height, and a much smaller horse was already near a thousand pounds if not over it. A Lynel could only weigh more than that, possibly up to over a ton, with ease. So for Link to be able to knock back all of that weight and strength when set properly, in a parry? It said a lot about his physical strength; terrifying things, really. Combine that with the fact that Link could take a massive claymore and shatter it in a few dozen good swings…well, game design choices or not, it made for an interesting reality.
He had a lot of testing to do. He had a lot to do in general, really. Plans to be made, experiments to run, history and magic to learn, and he had all of ten days to do it before all hell broke loose. And there he went, accepting this so easily.
You would think that he would care about getting thrown from his world and body into a new one of each. He would have thought that he'd be upset, especially over the fact that he was in a world that was in for hell, where he would in a very short time be part of all new construction efforts when Skyloft fell from the fucking sky, but…
Anticipation built in his gut, something within him that he didn't really understand flaring to life. Perhaps a fragment of Links unwavering defiance? Either way, there was a not so small part of him, mind and body, that wanted what was coming, and the terrible thing about that? It wasn't all Link. There was a part of him, a part of him, that was excited about the chance to fight. To stand against the likes of Demise and his army of monsters and win.
He was pretty sure he was insane for that.
Besides, what did he even have in the real…in his previous world? Parents that didn't love him, an older brother who was a raging cunt at the best of times. An unhealthy body already being worn down by stress and working far too many hours, a world that was steadily trending downwards. He'd been alive for sixteen years, after all, and in that time he'd already been through multiple recessions of just his own country. The politicians were shit, the government was shit, the economy was shit…there wasn't much to live for, not really. Not truly. In this world, however?
In a single afternoon Zelda, Princess of Skyloft, had shown more care and affection for him than anyone. She didn't judge, she didn't care; all she wanted, all she stressed, was being with him. Link wasn't dumb enough to think that things wouldn't be difficult in the future; he still had all of zero memories about this world or life, so any inside jokes, references, or odd behavior would undoubtedly bring up issues. Issues he would be lucky to be able to bullshit his way out of, really…but it was still better than his other life. Something told him that Zelda would be, if not understanding, at least forgiving of the fact that her best friend, and something more that he was trying not to think about just yet, had somehow lost all his memories. Perhaps the upcoming fights would provide a reason for him to be "missing" certain memories, but those were thoughts for later.
He had Zelda, a friend who was closer to him than quite literally anyone in his original world. There may be other friends, there may not be, but regardless even one was better than none. One person who was friend, family, and possibly love as well was far better than none. It might be difficult in the future, it might be painful as truths come out or he had to pretend to "lose" memories from the hell that awaited him, that awaited them…
But he had always been defiant. Had always been willing to set a goal and work to get there. He wasn't Link, he had no hopes of even pretending to be what Link was on a more metaphysical level, but he had Link's body and the bonuses of meta knowledge. The enemies could be adapted to, could be worked around, and he could focus on bringing his swordsmanship up to par to face first Ghirahim and then Demise himself. That was what it came down to, in the end; forging the Master Sword and Link's own personal skill. The quicker he could reach that point, the better.
Still…there were other things too. Magic, apparently existing enough to have books on it. The potions, only ever able to be bought in game but perhaps he could learn to make them, to actually be able to use them. An army that could, possibly, actually be of help against the forces arrayed against him. Two islands that, if Breath of the Wild was to be believed, could have a lot of things that could help Skyloft even if the only thing that happened was him scouting it out and bringing back what things he and Sylph could carry. Which…he needed to look into those pouches too. His eyes flickered to the ones on a belt hanging on the side of the wardrobe. Zelda had pulled two lunches and two glass bottles, big glass bottles at that, out of them. Were they comparable in space to the game? More? Less? He didn't know, and he was exceptionally curious about them and so many other things as well.
This was a whole new world, a whole new universe. A world of magic and might beyond anything he'd ever experienced, though certainly not beyond what he had imagined. A world he wanted to explore, to understand, and to enjoy. He had so much to learn, so much to do and to enjoy.
But first?
Well, first he had a beautiful girl two rooms across from him to make breakfast for. He had what was arguably the single most beautiful woman he had ever seen, in person and on the internet, to hug and to hold before she spent the first of several days apart from him. It was a heady feeling, even if slightly guilt inducing, to know how displeased she was at that simple reality, but it didn't bring him down that much. After all, why worry about that when he could go and make her morning? He'd never had anyone to cook breakfast for before, and Link's body had come equipped for that task at least. He was rather looking forward to it.
Hopefully he would have time to explore a little, however. He remembered what Zelda had pulled from, but there was still a lot he didn't know about this place. No time like the present to learn, however. He had a girl who was happy to spend time with him, happy to hug him, happy to exist around him even in silence; the least he could do was make sure that she had good food. It was, after all, all he could really offer her.
So he hopped off the bed, pulled on a pair of the trousers that he now had. The fabric was…odd, to say the least. Not wool, but not quite cotton as he was familiar with it either; they felt better than jeans, so he would take what he could get. Smoother, no roughness against his skin. He didn't bother with socks, or with a shirt; it wasn't like it mattered. Men being topless had never mattered, and he didn't think it would really change in a fantasy universe. Besides; Zelda and Link had no doubt gone swimming many times before, so he doubted it would bother her.
Besides…he was skinny. He hadn't been skinny since elementary school, when first his arm and then later his leg had been broken in a short period of time. Actual accidents, thankfully, but he'd started putting on weight and never bothered to lose it. He was skinny now, he actually looked good now, with an attractive face and an attractive body. He found himself rather happy to show it off. Link was pretty; almost beautiful even, depending on the artist who drew him and what role he was playing in the porn, more feminine-leaning androgynous than masculine, but he couldn't bring himself to be upset. Being attractive was being attractive, and pretty privilege was a very real thing. He'd seen it a lot, after all.
Bare feet pressed into a surprisingly plush rug, Link breathing deep of a room that smelled of ink, parchment, and some type of scented oil. A whole new life, a whole new world; he would be marveling over that for a while now. He'd make a start of this by cooking breakfast for Zelda, and then try to pick up some of the more basic knowledge after she left to handle her responsibilities. After that…well, he had a lot to do. Sword training, and a promise to Zelda to keep in regards to training with Sylph. He had a lot to learn, and only seven days to properly do it.
Time to get started.
~The Eternal Game~
Zelda awoke to the wondrous smell of cooking food.
Eggs frying even as meat simmered, and blue eyes opened up to stare at her ceiling in a disbelieving daze. Her sleepy mind took a moment to process it; it was hardly the first time this had happened, but the surroundings were entirely wrong. She was in her room, the large canvas that Link had both helped her put up and painted for her of Sylph and Rin cuddled together greeting her, just as it always had. Just as always, it sent a thrum of love through her, both for her Loftwing and for her Link.
Rin greeted her, a small hum of contentment just able to make it across the bond, something she was happy to return as she stretched, breathing deep of the wonderful meal being cooked. A yawn overtook her, wondering just what it was that had seemed so urgent a moment ago. Then her hand brushed a pillow, her arm rubbing against a blanket, and she froze, eyes snapping open once more.
Zelda was in her bed, in her room, with the first beams of the sun only just beginning to shine into her window. She was in her bed, in her room, in the early morning, while there was food cooking. Link did not wake up before her; he never once had, not in the entirety of their friendship. Yet somebody was awake, somebody was in their quarters, cooking food.
She was out of the bed in mere moments, drowsiness giving way to confusion and panic. Who was in their home? Their one sanctuary from the hassle of reality and Skyloft, from the other students? Perhaps the single greatest privilege afforded to the two of them by virtue of their academic rank was privacy; nobody was allowed in here except for her father and the teachers, nobody else had a key, and she knew she had locked the door last night. Not a single one of the teachers would even consider going into their rooms to cook them breakfast…but there were several students who would do something so incredibly stupid. It had only occurred a single time, thankfully, but she had very little faith in that lasting forever.
She dressed rapidly, shirt and trousers; she looked a mess, that much she knew, but it did not truly matter. Whoever was out there was going to get the far nastier side of her; honestly, who would break into their rooms to cook, of all things? There were communal kitchens, after all, and there was even a cafeteria that had food. There was no need to risk being expelled from the school for breaking into their rooms. It had not stopped that one idiot from doing so, some fool whose name she could not even remember, but something that had happened once could happen again.
After all, it could not be Link. Her Link was many things; a very great many wonderful things, but a morning person he was not. There had not been a single time in her memory that he had ever gotten up before her. Not during previous festivals, not during a single day during this academy; not a single time in the entirety of the ten years she had known him had he been awake before her. The only exception to that were the nightmares, and had he had one of those again he would not be up to cooking this morning at all.
Zelda knew, beyond any possible doubt, that it could not be Link. It was, rather simply put, impossible. It was not that Link was lazy, but it was a simple fact of her life that she woke Link up. Every day. For nine years she had done so, for nine years she had woken up, gotten ready, and immediately moved to wake Link up. For eight years she had stood for a minute, watching, before waking him up, taking a rather simple happiness in knowing that her friend was there. It was for all of these reasons that Zelda was caught so off guard by what awaited her.
Her door opened, blue eyes sharp and angry, fully prepared to chew somebody out, and the moment her eyes took in the kitchen she froze. Breath left her lungs in a sharp exhale, body shivering as molten heat suddenly began to pool in her core. Blue eyes took in every inch of the scene before her, perfectly white teeth biting into her lower lip as she tried to stop herself from making any more noise.
Link was in the kitchen, cooking.
Link was shirtless.
Link was awake.
Link was awake, in the kitchen cooking breakfast for the two of them, and was shirtless.
A whimper slipped out from deep in her throat, eyes tracking each and every ripple across his back as he moved. Blonde hair, ruffled and messy because he had not even bothered to brush it, trailed down to his shoulders. Soft, silky, fluffy, it taunted her with its every slip and slide across sinfully smooth flesh. A flawless back, not a single mark marring that soft surface, not a freckle or a mole taking away from creamy skin. Pain flared in her lip as she bit harder, and she forced herself to stop; Link would be concerned if she were to be bleeding when he turned around…
Then he took a moment and stretched, yawning, and her hand rose to her lips and teeth sank into it quicker than she could even think to do it.
This was not fair.
Her eyes traced every muscle in his back as they rippled and flexed, warmth radiating up through her stomach now. It was apparently a good stretch for him as well as for her, however, because his yawn tapered off into a pleased moan that had her shivering. Then, far too quickly, it was over and he went back to cooking. It was quite alright, however, for she still had a most wonderful view.
A pair of trousers rode low on his hips, the small of his back and a thin waist bared to her eyes. Usually the tunic covered his butt, but without it there she could gaze at it with want. She was rather jealous of it, in truth. For all that she had taken pride in his gazing at her last night, he by far had the better one. It provoked both her envy…and her envy. Her nerves shrieking at her in pain and her jaw beginning to ache reminded her of her position, and Zelda was swift to remove her hand.
Deep imprints of her teeth were embedded in her flesh, flushed red around them. She had not drawn blood, but it had been far too close…or it would have been, were she capable of caring. It was not a possibility when her Link was standing there, torso on full display. The Princess found herself aching, wishing for him to turn around so she could enjoy the view from the front…but reluctant for it to happen as well, for it would mean that the current view would no longer be there.
Link was trying to kill her.
It was an idle thought that ran through her mind as she watched him work, but it was one that she found accurate. Yesterday aside, even as unbelievably wonderful as it was, just this alone was proof of his intent to murder the Heir to the throne of Skyloft, and she could not find it in her heart to even be upset about it. How could she be? She was only getting everything she had dared to dream of over a week early.
A burning in her chest had her puzzled for a moment, before Zelda finally remembered to breathe. A deep inhale, the scent of meat and eggs and vegetables filling her nostrils, another exhale before she held it too long. It took her far more focus than it should to reestablish her breathing; she supposed that it was warranted, considering this was the first time she had seen Link's bare skin since they were little. He had always been so very careful, ever since that talk about propriety and proper behavior around a princess that came after the first time that they had gone swimming together. Neither one of them had thought anything of it, but the accompanying servants certainly had. Ever since that day Link had always been fully dressed, even while swimming…then again, he had also never woken up before her.
She watched him work for several more minutes, and in truth could have watched him for the entire day had he not finally turned around. A plate was in each hand, two boxes on the counter, and blue eyes gleaming in the light. Those eyes went to her, even as hers fell without her will to gaze upon a perfect chest. Pale and creamy, with just enough pinks and blues to render him alive rather than a work of art. A flat tummy that she wanted to spend hours lavishing with kisses, a chest with two perfectly pink nipples that she ached to taste, no matter how reversed that was from the depictions in her books. The thin waist flared back out into thicker hips, the trousers falling just low enough to taunt and tease at the treasure just a bit lower down.
Zelda idly became aware of heat, raging through her body without control. Her face felt like it could fry one of the eggs he had cooked for her, her neck was warm, the tips of her ears were burning, and to make matters worse? Molten want coursed through her, pooling in her core and in her belly, making it impossible to even be truly embarrassed. And then Link smiled at her, so very pure hearted and delighted to see her, a greeting on his lips.
"Good morning, Zelda." The Princess could not help but shiver as he said her name so casually, so easily, as though it was not the most beautiful sounding thing to leave his lips. As though his voice did not stoke the flames of want burning so strongly within her. It took her a moment to respond, but he seemed unbothered, simply placing the plates upon the table.
"Good morning, Link…" It took everything Zelda had in her to make her voice sound anything even close to unconcerned, and she cursed herself for the fact that even with her efforts it came out low and oozing emotion. It was clear enough to make his pause, ears twitching slightly as his interest was roused. Beautiful blue eyes turned to her, warm and caring, and the voice that did such wonderful things to her insides spoke once again.
"Is everything alright?" Zelda suddenly became aware of everything that was wrong that Link had never seen. Her clothes were ruffled and not even put on correctly, her hair was a mess, and she was currently staring at him like a piece of meat rather than her much valued friend. It was a complete miracle that he was not shying away from her in disgust.
"Ah, yes, everything is fine, Link." Completely fine, excellent even, so long as she could manage to ignore her desire to have her lips on his and his length sheathed within her. She did not deserve the smile tinged with relief that he sent to her, and so forced herself to change the subject.
"I simply did not expect you to be awake before me." She definitely did not expect him to be shirtless, but she was not about to complain. Then her thoughts went over the careless statement, and the state of her appearance, and told her she needed to add more than just that.
"Not that that is an issue: odd as it may be this early, seeing you is never something that would displease me. After all, you prefer to sleep in, and after the last time I woke up in the morning to cooking…" She did not want to think about it, not truly. The student who had broken in for the sake of cooking her a meal had been exceptionally creepy, and she was glad that he had been expelled immediately, following the rules that had been established since her father had revamped the Academy. Admittedly, between what she had done to the boy and then Link had done to the boy, he would have never come close to them again, but it was the principle of the matter.
Link's face twitched into a frown at the second part, no doubt at his own irritation at the fact that someone had invaded their sanctuary, but he dismissed it quickly enough. A simple shrug, followed by his face returning to the more natural apathy. An expression that had resulted in quite a few people underestimating her Link, but she knew that those blue eyes missed nothing. Apparently they missed even less than she thought as well, considering how completely he had paid attention yesterday even while unable to focus.
"I wanted to make sure you had a good day, and that meant getting up early." If seeing him awake and shirtless had been a most delightful hammer to the face, those words were the equivalent of a Wing Charge to the gut. Zelda melted into a gooey mess, and she found herself smiling at him with far more love than she intended.
Her Link had gotten up early for the first time in his life, just for her. It was not as if they did not have time together in the morning; they usually had an hour even after breakfast to spend together doing whatever it was they wished. Today, however? On a day where they would be kept apart, on the first day of a full week apart? Link had gotten up early to ensure they had every minute possible to spend together, to squirrel in nearly two hours before the first bell rang and they had to separate. The first time they would be forced to separate for days at a time, and Link had made a point to somehow get up early today, just to spend that little extra bit of time with her.
Goddess she loved him.
It was just like Link to be that thoughtful. It was not enough that he spent most of his time keeping track of her, reacting to her thoughts and emotions without hesitation. No, her Link had to go above and beyond when she least expected it. She found herself walking forward, both against her will and entirely in keeping with it, even as those beautiful blue eyes widened in surprise. It was only a moment before she was in front of him, and then her hands were on hot skin and she was pulling him tightly against her.
She adored the fact that he was shorter than her. She adored everything about him really, but as he tensed up in her arms for a moment before relaxing completely into her, she found she loved being able to hold him like this just that little bit more. The warmth of his back felt incredible against her hands, and the fact that there was only a single layer between her body and his torso was a truly heady feeling. It was so much warmer, just to start, though she was unsure whether that came from him or just the idea of him pressed up against her.
His arms looped around her waist after a few seconds, his head pressing into her neck and shoulder, and Zelda found herself smiling. Today, despite them separating, was going to be a good day. At least for him, if he was still able to hug her back this easily despite how early it was. She held him for several minutes, luxuriating in the fact that Link was letting her. It was so very nice, and it boded well for the cuddles she was going to need tonight. Perhaps she would even be incredibly lucky, and he would take his shirt off once more…
She forced that thought from her mind, careful not to disturb her Link with the head shake she used to do it. She did not need Link to be half-naked just for her viewing pleasure; no doubt it had only happened this morning because he was so tired. After all, he was only up early enough to prepare both breakfast and lunch for them today, almost entirely before she herself had even gotten up to begin with!
"Thank you, Link." Zelda meant it for far more than just what he had done, even if there was also a part of her that was thanking him for the gift of going topless this morning. She was thanking him for everything, but especially for what he had done this morning. He nodded against her shoulder, apparently not interested in speaking, but that was perfectly alright. Yesterday had been more words than she heard for years at a time; even this hug was pushing their normal limits. They were, however, limits she would be delighted to leave behind.
She reluctantly let him go, and she truly hoped she was not imagining things when he seemed to be every bit as reluctant as her to let go. She probably was, however; while Link had finally looked at her yesterday, he had always been uncomfortable with extended physical contact. She did not, could not, expect that to change from just one wonderful day. She was left looking down at him, hands on his shoulders because she was far from willing to stop touching smooth flesh, and meeting warm blue eyes with her own. She had little doubt that hers were displaying every ounce of the love she felt for him, because looking at him now, after the way he had already made this morning perfect?
Goddess she loved him.
"Thank you for cooking; we should probably go ahead and eat before it gets cold." A nod was her response, and his cooking was every bit as delicious as normal. A vegetable omelet for her, and one packed full of meat for his greater appetite. She was honestly concerned that he was only getting one omelet, considering said appetite, but perhaps the early morning was making him less hungry than normal.
The meal was as delightful as normal, though nowhere near the levels of yesterday's lunch and dinner. His head was not on her lap, after all, she was not feeding him, and they were not snuggled up together. The food was still incredible, and the company was still wonderful, it was just…lacking, in comparison to what she now knew was possible. So, rather than linger on could-be's and hopefully would-be's, she spoke up as they finished eating.
"What are your plans for the day, Link?" She knew hers, and so did he; she had a full day ahead, if not the most hectic. Weaving the sailcloth would take the most time this week, with memorization of her ceremonial lines and harp practice taking up the next two slots respectively. Link had promised her to practice with Sylph, but what else did he have planned? His answer took a moment to come, still chewing, but he responded after a swallow that her eyes traced. Her self-control was shakier than normal this morning.
"I had planned on reading a bit, before going to work on swordplay, then training with Sylph in the afternoon." Zelda paused, gazing at him carefully. He planned to read? Link did not enjoy reading. What could have brought on…
Guilt flared to life within her, careless comments from yesterday coming back to bite her. I do not wish for you to lose your position, Link. I do not wish for you to fail a quiz, Link, you will lose your position as number one student. Link had taken her as seriously as he always did, taking note of her worry and taking steps to address it the only way he knew how. It did not matter that there was a break before the next set of lessons, it did not matter that his rank was assured for at least a month so long as he won the upcoming competition. She was worried, so he was doing something about it.
"Link…" She did not know how to address it, in truth. A lifetime of lessons on politics and proper speech, but when it came to him her words failed her more often than not. She knew he had trouble with books, but how was she meant to address that without sounding dismissive of his efforts? Without insulting his care for her? She looked at him, as attentive as always, and guilt mixed with more of the gooey warmth that had been so prevalent this morning.
"I appreciate your efforts, and I know that I was perhaps too pushy regarding your academics yesterday…" A good start, and she had not hurt him, which was truly all that mattered.
"But you do remember that you will have an entire month free of challenges so long as you win the Wing Ceremony, right? Furthermore, you do not have to work at it alone. I would be more than happy to help you this evening, or even in the time we have left this morning." More than happy was an understatement, really. She was always happy to spend time with him, no matter what it was, but there was something distinctly wonderful about watching understanding light up his face as she taught him. Link frowned at her for a moment, before realization bloomed and he shook his head.
"It isn't about that, though I will probably take you up on that later. It's more about the magic your father was talking about yesterday." Yes, she remembered that as well. Feeling the Moment of Fate had been an…interesting experience, to say the least. She even found herself nodding, and understood his goal better, even as warmth flared a little about him so calmly agreeing to more study time. It usually required a bit of pleading on her part to manage it, but there he was, almost casually agreeing to it.
"I see. I am glad to hear that I did not cause you concern." She was; really and truly, she was. The last thing she ever wanted was to upset her Link, and not just because it would make his day a bit worse. The thought of him in distress was displeasing to say the least.
"Don't worry, I know I'm no match for you in book work. I just want to learn a little bit more about magic." She frowned at him for the first line; he was every bit her equal, and would likely be her superior if it was not for the issues he had. She let it go, however; it was not worth ruining the pleasantry of the morning. In fact…her eyes turned towards the wall, towards the clock. They had over an hour and a half before the morning bell. Perhaps…perhaps she could get her hands into that lovely hair this morning after all?
"If…if you would like, I could spend the morning reading to you again. I have the magic book as well, after all, and we will have more than an hour even after I make myself presentable." Her thoughts promptly entered a cycle of 'please say yes please say yes', unable to help herself. She had not said that his head would be in her lap a second time, but…well, if she could manage it there would never be a time in the future where it would not be there when she read to him.
Blue eyes were contemplative, and she dared to say hopeful, but his words were far more cautious than that.
"I…I wouldn't mind it, but only if you want to. I wasn't planning to read anything until after you were gone." Because her Link would not even consider the idea that it did not matter what they did together, only that they were, in fact, together for her to be happy. As though the idea of having his head on her lap and a hand playing with his perfect hair somehow was not her idea of a good time. So she smiled at him, separated from his wonderful body by a table, and set in motion her plan to have that crime remedied.
"I would be delighted to. I just need to actually make myself presentable first, because I will want to be reading to you until the bell actually rings." And being close to him, but that hardly merited a mention considering she always wanted to be close to him. Link nodded, smiling back at her, blue eyes sparkling with contentment.
"I'd love that, then. I can go ahead and wash up while you get ready, and then you read." So they did, separating and going about their tasks. She was finished before him, and even after she grabbed the book she could not stop herself from watching him work. It was a sight she wished to savor, after all. All too soon, but nowhere near soon enough, they were seated on the couch, and it was the work of merely a moment of pleading, soulful eyes and an insistent patting of her thighs on her part to have him stretching out and resting his head on her lap with a somewhat rueful smile.
It was an even better sight than the previous day, in truth. Her Link, head contentedly placed in her lap, shirtless. Even with the book before her she would be able to see his stomach, which meant it would never leave her thoughts. Not truly, at least.
"Is this going to be the standard from now on?" Link's voice drew her from those naughtier thoughts, and she leaned back so she could look down at him rather than at her own chest.
"Do you not enjoy it, Link?" She would be heartbroken if he did not. The chuckle that shook his body did very little to reassure her either, but his words soon did.
"I enjoy it more than I probably should, Zelda." She did not even try to stop herself from smiling, and was quick to respond.
"I am glad. So yes, it shall definitely be the standard." Another chuckle, even as she stopped forcing herself into the cushion.
"We just need to make sure your father doesn't see us like this." Her own laughter bubbled out, despite her attempts to stop it. Yes, her father would be entirely insufferable were he to see them right now. It was not going to stop her.
"Mm, you are correct. Fortunately, he is not here to see it, nor is he likely to enter the room anytime soon unless we both miss the bell. Unlikely, but possible." It would be far more likely for them to ignore the bell, in truth, but even that would not occur. As much as she may desire to do so, she could not…though she would, if Link were to ask her to. He never would, however, and she could not decide whether she loved him a little bit more for that, or if it displeased her.
She opened up the book, Magic for Novices. She had read it before, of course, but it was always good to refresh oneself. They would, after all, begin covering magic in the next semester, even if it would never go anywhere near as in depth as the Mage's College would. They had access to the same resources, of course, and could study it on their own time, but it was not the focus. Perhaps she should change that, at least for the two of them. Battle Magic would prove to be an excellent tool in their arsenal, if they could manage it. Not everyone could, after all.
She settled in to read aloud to him; this was little more than a primer and an introduction to the various forms of magic, but it served the purpose well. Far more importantly, however, she also finally got her hand into his soft and silky hair. The groan he let loose as her fingers massaged his scalp did things to her, things she really wanted to explore, but could not do so for the moment. 10 days, that was all she had left before she would confess. Soon enough, it would all be in the light of day, and she truly hoped that he would be willing to be with her as more than just a friend.
Zelda would read to him until the bell rang, fingers alternating between massaging him and running through his hair, as both parties enjoyed the sensation. They would separate then, and go their different ways, both regretting the fact that they had to separate at all. But for now? For now they enjoyed each other's company, performing an activity that each thought was selfish of them yet the other enjoyed just as much.
~The Eternal Game~
Magic.
Of all the things that the Goddess has gifted to the world, Magic is second only to the Loftwings in terms of benefits to the Skylians, and some would argue that Magic is the most beneficial. Before the Loftwings arrived, it was Magic that allowed for us to transport ourselves between the Islands. It was Magic that allowed for Skyloft as a Kingdom to continue to
exist, to even start to exist in truth, for without magic the Skylian Kingdom would have splintered off before it even began.
Even now, with Loftwings existing and being of such incredible value to the Kingdom, Magic continues to play countless roles. Transport, Scouting, Battle; so many incredible things exist. This book serves as a primer for the various types of magic, of which we have separated into several different schools of thought.
First off is Utility Magic. This type of magic is, as one would imagine, designed for Utility purposes. This magic is primarily used to ensure that the Kingdom runs the way it should; rituals to make goods lighter, communication magic, and things of that nature. It has, unfortunately, taken many blows over the eons, and as such what we are capable of now no longer matches what we once were. Despite that, however, Utility Magic continues to be incredibly useful on a scale that no other magic can match. It is the magic that allows you to cook without wood, to have bathrooms inside and to have such wonderful inventions known as showers.
Second is Battle Magic. The era of our people having a casual understanding of magic and using it for the betterment of others is long gone, and all that is left is the magic of war. Battle Magic is the application of magic to the art of war, of commanding the elements to strike down the monsters threatening us. The magic is incredibly potent, but also incredibly draining, for this is the magic that burns through your reserves the fastest. Focuses such as Tomes make this easier, allowing for a Mage to last longer on the battlefield, but one must still be cautious.
Third is the art of Potions. Natural ingredients enhanced through specific preparation and the natural magic of a Skylian, Potions allow for a variety of effects. Equipment maintenance and restoration, which is incredibly valuable, along with healing, magical replenishment, stamina replenishment, elemental resistance, or even to enhance one's natural attributes for a time. A potion used at the right time can change the course of a fight, saving your life or helping you to strike your enemy down that much faster. Of the magic types, this one is the slowest to create, but its effects can be even more valuable on the battlefield than Battle Magic. A monster casting Ice attacks at you can be ignored with the appropriate Elixir; a Bokoblin attempting to shatter your shield can be countered with a single moment of the correct ointment applied to your shield in a timely manner to restore it to a proper level.
Fourth, and final of the overarching schools of Magic, is the Internal Magic present in every Skylian. Every Skylian has magic within them, this is a thing we have always known. Some Skylians, however, are blessed with a greater pool of Internal Magic than others, and it manifests in a variety of different ways. On record we have certain Skylian's being able to understand Loftwings as if they were speaking an actual language, being able to keep track of their friends and family across vast distances, being able to use elements without using battle magic, and finally being able to Enchant things. There are, of course, other abilities, but these have proven to be the most common.
Magic is, at its core, the energy of the natural world. It is found in all living things, flowing throughout the world and granted to us by the sacred Gift of the Goddesses; the Triforce. From the holiest of realms flows forth life-giving energy, and were it not for the wondrous magic given to us by the Triforce and managed by the legendary Great Fairies, Skyloft would have ceased to exist a long time ago. It is through magic that crops can grow, it is through magic that mountains and forests can recover, it is through magic that mines can continue to be fruitful.
The Study of Magic is primarily undertaken at the Mage's College in Skyloft, located in the Capital City of Skyloft, because our ancestors were far more focused on surviving and figuring out what was occuring than naming things. It has not stopped those of us at the Mage's College from campaigning for a new name, but our pleas have gone ignored. Not that it truly matters in the grand scheme of things, but this author would like to protest the lack of imagination that Skylians have shown.
All findings of the Mage's College are also stored at the Grand Library in Skyloft…the city, not the nation. This way any citizen who does not have the privilege of attending the Grand College can still learn magic in their free time, and it has proven useful. More than one talented battle mage has been found solely because they took the time to make the trip to the library and try their luck. Other, lesser collections of magical lore are spread out throughout the Kingdom; this way anyone has the opportunity to learn magic, should they so desire, and should the worst happen and the Capital falls…well, not all will be lost.
Now, onto what you are all actually here for; How to Use Magic. It starts off fairly simple, for a Skylian at least; you must first undergo the following exercises to awaken your magic and learn to use it. Those exercises are…
~The Eternal Game~
Left to right. Right to left. Up to down, down to up. Diagonals. Infinity sign. Thrust. Sidestep slash. Backstep slash.
Do it again. And again. 1,000 repetitions. Alternate it each time, and you had better not repeat it until you have gone through a full cycle.
Link did not know what was more irritating; practicing swordsmanship when there was apparently Battle Magic, or the fact that doing so was so difficult. Well… perhaps that was a poor way to put it. The exercises themselves were easy, so easy that his heart hadn't started to pound or even caused so much as a bead of sweat to form. Boringly easy, in fact, because even now, almost finished, it had not strained him in the slightest. He had always known that Link was fit, that he was in monstrously good shape in every incarnation, but there was a difference between knowing something and experiencing it.
The other issue was how much effort it was taking to go this slow. He was moving in time with every other trainee on the field, of which there were upwards of a dozen, and they were all so slow. It was taking him just enough effort to go slow that he couldn't let his mind drift properly, because the moment he did, he wound up speeding up. It wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for the fact that he was being watched with this set of exercises; the Knight Trainer was quite intense when it came to people falling out of line.
All things end, however, and soon enough so did the exercises, with most of the group going on to do different things. The Trainer nodded, going off to supervise a different group, and Link wandered over to one of the many dummies. The sword in his hand was blunted, and he was interested in seeing what a more reasonable pace for his body was capable of. After all, it wasn't like he had had issues with the pattern; his body knew it all, the muscle memory coming through perfectly even though any actual memories didn't exist.
"Oi, bastard. I challenge you to a duel." It didn't actually click that that was directed at him to start with; it wasn't until the voice spoke a second time, angrier, that it became apparent.
"Get your worthless head out of the clouds, Link. I said I was challenging you to a duel." He paused, right before he began to redo the entire exercise on a dummy rather than air, turning to look at the person who was speaking.
Tall, taller than Zelda, taller than a lot of the people he'd seen so far. Bulging muscles across the frame, from someone who spent more time in the gym than was likely necessary. A decently handsome face and tanned skin, yellow eyes narrowed in a glare. An angry sneer marred that face, one that was every bit as well designed as seemingly every Skylian's face, with rather vivid red hair spiked up into something close to a mohawk. It wasn't quite that, however, because he had two tied together strands of red hair coming down as well, one covering each ear; Link had no idea what the style was supposed to be called. A necklace, or perhaps more accurately a choker, of green and red beads pressed tight against his neck, Adam's apple just above it. A tan shirt strained against muscle and a wide frame, brown pants a bit too short to fit properly. The sneer turned into a snarl.
"Oi, are you done disgracing the entire Academy with your empty-headedness? Or are you going to keep that dopey expression in your eyes and go crying to Zelda?" Groose; an asshole during the game, and apparently even more so during this new reality. He was probably one of the top students in the Academy, in all truth, considering that he and his group of minions had been Link's competition in the Wing Ceremony in the game. And now he wanted a sparring match. How lovely.
He considered it; there was a Knight watching a certain area of the field where several people were sparring, so it clearly was an option. Did he really want to fight Groose first, however? He had no idea just how much of Link's capabilities he truly had, but chances were good that he had more strength and speed at minimum then Groose. After all, the only reason Link ever got knocked around was because of how light he was in comparison to the force he was standing against. The question was skill, because he had no way to judge it.
Groose, however, was sweating; whatever he had been doing before this had strained him enough that it took effort. His body wasn't shaking, and even despite how tensely he was holding himself he could still manage it, but…he was tired out to some degree, at least. Speaking to it would no doubt insult him…then again…did he really care if Groose was insulted? The guy was an asshole, and even if he redeemed himself later in the game it didn't change the fact that he still did a lot of incredibly stupid things.
"Are you sure?" His question came out almost without intending it, and it had the predicted effect of increasing his fury. Teeth ground together, a vein pulsing in his neck, yellow eyes filled with fury. The man…boy, really, was so very dramatic. He would fit right in in a standard High School. Attractive enough to be popular, muscular enough to be a jock even if he didn't play sports, and short tempered enough to match up with any of the kids who had so enjoyed fucking with him. Link would just have to put Groose down the same way he had them. If anything…it would probably be easier.
"Of course I'm sure, you airheaded bastard." Groose got loud, not quite shouting but close, leaning over him in an attempt to…well, to do something. Intimidation, maybe? He didn't know, it wasn't like the boy was scary. Wouldn't have been even in his old body, one that was fat and out of shape. Muscular people were all the same, after all; so certain that they were stronger than everybody else that the idea of them not being the best in the room was nearly inconceivable. Even then, however, they were still entirely certain in their ability to beat up anybody else, no matter any amount of evidence to the contrary. After all, it didn't matter how strong you were; every human had the same weak points.
"As you wish." That…was not quite what he had wanted to say. Then again, "are you sure" hadn't exactly been what he was intending either. Link's body was influencing him more than just the muscle memory, it seemed…not that it mattered. He didn't mind the softer edges and calmer words, not with the other changes. Groose, however, did.
"I'll show you this time you smug bastard. Come on." And the boy immediately turned, stomping off towards the area reserved for sparring. Link obliged him, sword in his left hand, because unlike in the games his body was still left handed rather than right. It matched the way he was in his original life, at least, so it wasn't an adjustment.
A few minutes later they were standing a few feet away from each other, the Knight who was responsible for watching the sparring area going over the rules. It seemed to be fairly basic; the match went until one side disarmed the other or scored a point which would "kill", at which point they would reset. Groose was impatiently tapping his foot and glaring at him, but Link's eyes were on the Knight. He, after all, hadn't heard this countless times.
There was a caution against swinging too hard, with a particular glare towards Groose interestingly enough; the metal was blunted, but it was still metal and could easily break bones. Wasting a potion because trainees had gotten too enthusiastic was not something they wanted to do, and Link could agree with that. Anything that costs time and resources shouldn't be wasted because somebody got too enthusiastic. The question was, however, had Link ever had his bones broken because of Groose? Or was it other, weaker trainees? He didn't know, but he found himself frowning without intending it.
Soon enough, however, they were looking at each other, swords touching at the tip for a moment before the Knight called the fight to start. Groose slapped one hand against the flat of his blade, knocking it against Link's own hard enough to send it sideways, the boy immediately trying for a thrust to end it fast. It took Link minimal effort to bring his sword back over, far quicker than the thrust could advance, and smack Groose's blade out of position.
Link backstepped, making some distance even as Groose recovered, and let the frown dim into focus. He had zero idea what he was doing, but Link's body did. Groose stepped forward, a strong overhead strike coming down, both hands on the hilt; his own blade rose to meet it, held tightly in his left hand. Metal clashed against metal, and Groose's attack halted, both arms shaking even as yellow eyes widened in shock. Link's arm didn't shake, didn't move an inch; the blow halted in its tracks with ease.
"Impossible…" The word was whispered from Groose's lips in disbelief, which he found rather odd. Surely Link had shown off some degree of strength here…right? Groose was no match for the things he knew Skyward Sword's Link had faced with little more training than he had right now, to say nothing of what the body he was actually in was capable of. Disbelief turned to fury, yellow eyes glaring down at him, as Groose pulled back and began to attack properly.
Left, right, up, down, left, left, diagonal, thrust, diagonal; every attack was met with ease, stopped in its tracks no matter how much force Groose put into it. Fury turns to shock, then to disbelief as no matter how hard he tries, Groose could not make him move a millimeter. Then Link decided to test his body further.
A horizontal slash, dodged by leaning back. A thrust, dodged with little more than a step to the side. A vertical, another sidestep, a horizontal with a forward step that seemed too close to dodge comfortably. His mind started to bring up the sword to block it, but his body reacted quicker.
Blue eyes widened in shock as they were suddenly facing the sky, then the grass, then Groose again, the world moving in slow motion. Groose's sword was still in mid slash, moving what seemed to be an inch every few seconds, something inside him draining. Link exhaled, the drain vanishing, and the world sped up once more, Groose's eyes widening in shock.
"What the hell did you just…did you just backflip?" Incredulous shock spilled forth from the taller boy's lips, red hair soaked in sweat. Link wasn't entirely sure himself, wondering if what he thought had happened had truly happened. Surely that had been just a game mechanic…right?
Lips turned down into a rabid snarl once more as Groose advanced, charging this time with an overhead strike. Link let his legs tense, allowing his body to spring to the side a full two of his own body lengths, putting him a ways away from Groose even as the drain returned once more and the world slowed. Yes, yes it had happened.
Breath of the Wild Link was unique amongst the Link's in the games, for more than just his ridiculous physical strength. No, what made him unique was the special ability he had; Flurry attacks, or Flurry Rush, whatever it was called. Any time you perfectly dodged an enemies attack, the world slowed and you could get in a large number of attacks against whatever opponent you were fighting. He'd always liked doing it against Lynel's, but it was equally fun to wreck anybody with.
However, him having access to it, in the reality he was now in? His lips turned into a grin, even as he stepped forward in the slow motion of the world. The drain didn't intensify, didn't lessen, even as he stepped forward and put his blade to Groose's neck; he was the only one in the world moving at regular speed. He could see it, the entire field moving in slow motion, and it was a terrifying implication. Was he sped up, or the world slowed down? Thoughts for later.
He let go of the feeling once more, the world speeding back into proper focus, and Groose froze, feeling cold metal against his neck. His eyes turned, spotting him, before he promptly jumped back.
"Point to Link." The Knight barked, Groose growling in anger. He advanced again, this time keeping his blade close to his body. Link looked at him; he hadn't even tried to attack yet, had he? Just tried to defend. Well, it was time to change that.
Link moved, body reacting at the speed of his thoughts, answering better than his original ever did. Metal clashed, Groose's sword sent wide and his arm spasming as it was forced to let it go, the tip of a blunted blade pushed up against his chest. Link was so very careful that time; he'd barely hit Groose's blade and it was sent flying. The last thing he wanted was to hurt someone on his first day fighting.
"Point to Link. Are you able to continue sparring, Trainee?" Groose nodded as Link withdrew the blade, one hand coming up to rub at his elbow even as yellow eyes glared. The redhead stomped over to pick up his blade, even as Link continued to puzzle things over.
So he had access to the time magic; whether it was slowing down the world or speeding him up didn't really matter. The question was…how far could he take it? Blue eyes sharpened, turning back to Groose. He would make an excellent test dummy. He wasn't fast enough to be an actual threat, apparently, nor was he skilled enough to be an issue. His strength was also less than impressive despite all that muscle. The boy snatched up his sword, spinning around with a snarl.
"It won't be the same this time! I'm going to win this round!" Spittle flew as Groose lost whatever discipline he had, charging in. A diagonal strike from right to left; Link jumped to the side, letting the world slow. He didn't move, just trying to hold it, to see how long it could last. One second, two, three…he counted to five before whatever was draining seemed to run out and the world restarted. Groose snarled, turned and swung again; his body moved into another backflip, but the world didn't slow this time. He could feel it, inside of him; a pool of sorts, rapidly regenerating. It wasn't restored for that blow, but the second strike after that it was.
The world slowed down again; one, two, three, four, five. Another swing, another dodge without the ability to slow things down. A swing after that, and the world slowed. Link nodded to himself, even as it did. He had a handle on that part of it. He let it go early this time, only going three counted seconds; the world sped up, Groose swung again, and the world slowed. One, two, three, four, five, and the pool emptied. Groose snarled in frustration, blade returning to the ready position.
"Are you mocking me? Fight back you coward!" Link just raised an eyebrow. He had struck back once, and the round ended. Groose took his reaction to be mocking, and in truth part of it probably was.
"Fine! Come on then, coward. I won't be made a fool of!" His stance and blade fell into a defensive stance, and he very visibly waited for Link to attack. That was…fine, really. He would just have to be very careful to slow down his hits before they landed, to make sure he didn't hurt the boy beyond what he should. He could manage that, right?
He stepped forward, then again, then again. A moment later he was moving, fast enough that Groose's eyes widened in shock and he couldn't even manage to move the blade quickly enough to counter the strike. It took more than Link wanted to admit to stop his sword before it hit the boy in the neck. He stepped back even as the instructor called a point, before calling the match to a halt.
"Point to Link. Match over." Groose spun, anger in his face, but the unimpressed lower face of a Knight in a helmet stopped whatever it was he wanted to say. The redhead turned around, spitting at the ground between them nearly close enough to hit Link's boot, words dripping poison.
"I don't know how you cheated or what potions you took before this bout, but you won't have them the next time! I'm stronger than you, I know I'm faster than you, so those potions won't save you again." Adorable, even more so as he stomped off angrily complaining to himself. The Knight waited for him to walk away before speaking again.
"I take it you got tired of him, Link? We've been making bets on when it would happen." A laugh, followed by a headshake.
"Chief Instructor Eagus will be delighted to know he won the pot. I kind of wish you'd held off until the new semester though, then I would have won." That was…interesting, to say the least. How well did the Knights know Link to be betting on how long it took before he beat Groose? No, better question; why had Link been holding back for, apparently, a full year already? It hadn't even been difficult. Cooking had been more difficult than this!
"It…wasn't even intentional." It was difficult to get the words out, suddenly, but he managed, his voice coming out sheepish. It just made the Knight laugh again.
"Of course it wasn't. Why am I not surprised? Don't think I didn't see you being bored over at the warmups either. Tell me, do you want an actual training session today?" Link frowned in thought; on the one hand, he could find out his limits, but on the other…what would happen if he couldn't keep up with what the original Link could do? He took a few moments, mulling it over; the Knight seemed to be far more forgiving of it than Groose had, at least. He didn't pressure him, didn't push or seem to get upset. Eventually, Link found himself saying fuck it.
"If it can be managed fairly quickly, sure. I had planned to practice with Sylph this afternoon, however, so if it will take too long to set up I probably shouldn't." The Knight frowned at him.
"Training swords and on your Loftwing? What has happened to cause this in a single day?" Link shrugged.
"Wing Ceremony." He had planned to add more than that, but his planned statement became two words. It made the Knight, whose name he still didn't know, laugh and nod.
"Of course, you don't want to let the Princess down, right? Nobody does, after all. No doubt she asked you to win it. Still, I know there are quite a few soldiers who are eager for a rematch, so it shouldn't take long to set up. I'll have to message them, and message the King because he doesn't want to miss this. You can go and warm up properly, then you and I can fly to the local base, yeah?" That…huh. Well alright then. He nodded, the Knight grinned and patted him on the shoulder, and then waved him back towards the dummies with a final word.
"Don't worry; it's been over a year since the last time you trained properly. The army has had plenty of time to build up a potion stockpile. You won't have to worry about breaking things…or people, really. Just try to keep the injuries to a minimum, like you always do." With those mildly concerning words the Knight, whose name Link didn't know, wanders off, hands making some kind of motion before a screen of sorts pops into view in front of him. Link isn't given any more of a view, however, because the Knight turned in a different direction.
That happened. What kind of training session required the army to build up a potions stockpile? How many people was he going to be fighting? How much stuff did Link normally break? So many questions, and no way to get answers considering he didn't have the memories. Like that Knight, for instance; what even was his name? How was he meant to find out without coming across as a dick? It wasn't like this was a game where peoples names showed up on a help dialog box or floating above their head.
He shook it off and stretched. He didn't know how long he had, but he needed to test a few things. He had moved fast enough without time shenanigans to surprise and overwhelm Groose to the point he couldn't even react beyond widening eyes. Assuming Groose wasn't useless…how fast was he? How strong was he? So many questions he needed answers for, so little time. Less than ten days to find it all out.
He set himself in front of the dummy, and started moving. Slow at first, the same pace they had been training at earlier, before he slowly sped up. Faster, faster, faster; it wasn't until the blade was nearly a blur even to him that he stopped speeding up and had to focus to make sure he wasn't messing up the rhythm.
Up, left, right, down, diagonal, left, right, up, down, opposite diagonal, side step slash, sidestep slash, backflip rush, thrust, vertical, diagonal, vertical, thrust
It took effort to make sure every strike was as smooth as it was fast, each blow transitioning into the next. It took focus, it took effort, and most of all it wasn't boring. Far better, however, was that it felt good. It felt right, as though he had always been meant to have a blade in hand.
The only problem? Less than a minute into it his eyes watched as the blade chipped, a piece of metal flying back at him that he only barely dodged. He stopped as quickly as he started, not even breathing hard, and examined the blade. A nick the size of his thumb was chipped out of the left side of the blade; that was probably a bad thing. Where did he go to get that fixed? He could remember there being a potion to fix shields…perhaps there was one for a blade?
"Trainee Link!" A sharp voice barked; he would have jumped, should have jumped from being startled, but Link's body simply turned and snapped to attention. Another Knight was revealed, in the same armor as the guy from before. Far more armor than the game implied, that was for sure, where the most they had was a bit of chainmail. No, these Knights were properly armored, in what he believed was half plate. A metal cuirass and shoulder pads, chainmail beneath it all, with padded leather for the legs and more chainmail besides, along with actual shin guards and thigh plates. The arms were clear, however, likely to ensure the best use of weapons.
The man glared at him for a moment, before looking around, then strangely enough he softened, holding a hand out.
"Hand me the sword, Trainee." Link obliged, holding it out hilt first, and the man took it carefully. Blunted it may be, but there was no excuse for being sloppy. The man looked at it, eyes focusing on the largest missing piece. Link's eyes found a few more chips in it, most of them much smaller. The man ran a thumb down the blade, sighing softly.
"Well, we knew it was going to happen eventually. It's a miracle you made it as long as you have, honestly. A full year without breaking a weapon, with full contact spars every day. You have done remarkably well. Did any of the shards get you?" Link shook his head, surprised at the sudden change. Going from glaring to reasonable was…odd, to say the least.
"Apologies, sir. I was attempting to warm up properly." The Knight looked at him oddly.
"Link, if I have told you once I've told you a thousand times; it's Kalph. Knight Kalph, if you have to be professional. And I know, we all do. We've all seen what you can do when you decide to take things seriously. What's the occasion though, you haven't bothered to even so much as warm up since you started the Academy?" The man reached into a belt pouch, pulling out a bottle of glowing purple liquid even as he asked.
"An actual training session today." He wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but it was enough to have Kalph, whose name and features he was desperately committing to memory, look back up at him in shock before a grin started to spread across his face.
"Is that right? Good, good. It's been too long since you humbled the army. Do you know which company you're facing off against yet?" Company? Wasn't that a bit much? How many Skylians were in a Company of soldiers? That was something like…200 or so, wasn't it? Maybe more?
"Not yet, no. It is currently being set up." Kalph looked up again, looking around and soon spotting the only other Knight not watching the Trainees.
"Rorak is the one setting that up then? Hmm." Link promptly committed that name to memory too, even as Kalph uncorked the bottle and poured some of it onto the blade. Glowing purple liquid oozed down the blade, lighting up the entirety of the metal. Before disbelieving eyes the metal grew, the chips sealing up as the sword was restored to a less damaged appearance. The biggest nick required a little more potion applied directly to it, but it regrew just as easily as the rest. Kalph smiled, recorking the bottle and handing him back the blade.
"There we go, Link. Consider this your freebie; damage it again and I'll send you out to fetch the ingredients rather than fix it for you, yeah?" Brown eyes gleamed with amusement, sharp jaw stretching with a smile. Link took the hilt, gently taking it from the Knight, and nodded.
"Thank you, sir." Kalph's eyes rolled, but they were visibly more amused than anything.
"I'll talk to Rorak, find out the details. I would hate to miss it. I also need to get some poor idiot to take my place here so I can watch you. Try and spare their armor though, would you? That's not as easy to fix as weapons and shields." More stuff that Link had no context for, but he nodded back anyways. It was enough to satisfy the man, who clapped him on the shoulder and wandered off towards Rorak with a final word.
"I might suggest you warm up away from the dummy though; I know it helps to have a target, but if the blade doesn't break again the dummy definitely will." That…was a lot nicer than he had expected. Wasn't this supposed to be a military academy? He would have thought that breaking things would be cracked down on a lot harder, but here it was…entirely understanding? Even playfully waved away, at that, unless those ingredients were a lot harder to get than he expected. He shrugged to himself and stepped away from the dummy.
He had less time than before, but he still wanted to test things. So back into the routine he went, rapidly getting to the same level as before, and lost himself in the movement. It took him several minutes before the first bead of sweat began to form; several more past that for him to start sweating properly. He didn't know how long he lost himself in the movement for, moving fast enough to blur even to his eyes, but by the time his name was called once more he still wasn't breathing heavily. Nor was his heart pounding.
Link's body really was built differently. There was no other way to put it. If he had tried half of this exercise in his actual…original body, he would have been halfway to death from a heart attack. Here, now, while he was sweating, it was almost an afterthought. As though his body was going off of the idea that it should be exerting itself, rather than actually feeling the exertion. He turned to face Rorak, who had called his name. Both he and Kalph were there, Rorak with a smirk.
"Don't go telling everybody about the training match, Link, we won't have anybody to watch the trainees here." Kalph just snickered shamelessly, and Rorak continued.
"Anyways, it's all set up. The 32nd Company will be ready for us by the point we get there, they've drawn the short straw for counter-Lynel training." Link nodded, even as he felt something drop into the pit of his stomach. Counter-Lynel training? What the hell was he getting into? He didn't get time for an answer as the two men raised their hands to their mouths, two sharp whistles sounding out. Link didn't bother waiting; the soaring in his soul only got stronger as his own fingers rose to his lips, another flawless whistle leaving the mouth of someone who had never been able to before. It was a remarkable thing, really.
Sylph arrived quicker than the other two, despite feeling quite some ways away, and he was incredibly happy to see her. The large bird was immediately pressing her beak against him, eager for affection; affection he was delighted to give. The sheer, blissful contentment that radiated through him just from her being near him was a heady sensation, one made all the better by the delight she found in every caress.
It takes a minute for the others to arrive, but all too soon they are all flying. Sylph finds it…he doesn't have the right word for it. Chafing? Degrading? Neither one was entirely right. She adores flying, and flying with him much more so, but having to restrain herself to their limits was met with muted frustration. It was one thing, apparently, to fly alongside Rin and Zelda. It was another thing entirely to have to fly at the pace of two fully trained Knight Loftwings, when they were going faster than he had alongside Zelda yesterday, and definitely faster than the class had. It made him rather excited for the afternoon, in truth; just what, exactly, was she capable of?
Twenty minutes of the fastest flight so far, however, had the group of them landing at what seemed to be an outpost. There were hundreds of Skylians there; more, in fact, than were depicted in any three Zelda games combined. Possibly more than all of them combined, but he wasn't sure how many were in each game exactly. They were split into 6 groups, the only noticeable identifiers being a different color armband every…32 of them, apparently. It meant there were a minimum of 192 soldiers here in full armor…was that a company? He wasn't sure whether it was big or small. He wasn't sure about a lot of things, really.
They landed, dismounting and moving to greet the Skylian woman who marched towards them. Clad in full plate armor molded to her form, she made for a striking figure. Standing at over six feet tall, a developed body only enhanced by what was quite clearly fantasy armor, even if it covered way more than any normal fantasy armor, with emerald green eyes and brown hair cascading down to her shoulders and a predatory smile upon her face. Link felt quite a few different ways as she stalked towards them, but suppressed them all before his eyes could even start to wander. She had a shield on her back and a blade at her hip, a spear in hand. Most of the company was equipped with spears, only a handful here and there having a sword as a secondary. Everyone had a bow, however, with a quiver full of arrows.
"Link, it is a pleasure to see you again." A musical voice greeted him, and he nodded in return, entirely uncertain on what to say. He didn't know her name, or where he was supposed to know her from after all. Strangely enough, this didn't phase her in the slightest.
"Knight Rorak, Knight Kalph, a pleasure. Thank you for contacting us, it has been far too long since we could have a solid training match against the little monster." It was said in a friendly manner, and Link couldn't dispute it; Link truly was a monster, when it came right down to it. The fact that Kalph and Rorak just smirked no doubt meant that this was remarkably common as well. She turned to him properly, looking down at him; everyone was taller than him, it seemed. The fate of Link; to be small and deadly.
"So, what are you thinking today? A platoon at a time, or you willing to face the entire might of the 36th company? I warn you, we've been training hard since our last defeat. You won't find it anywhere near as easy this time." She sounded so certain, and ironically enough she was actually accurate. If Link had actually beaten entire companies of soldiers in the past, and he had no reason to doubt that…well, he wasn't Link, for all that he was in the body. He would likely find it significantly more difficult to bring down nearly two hundred soldiers.
"A platoon first, then the company." Might as well see what he could do; why not embrace the bullshit? Link was an army killer, that much had been made clear from basically every game and especially in Breath of the Wild…but even back in Ocarina of Time a child was casually fighting things that wrecked the adult champions of each race. He did it again in Majora's Mask, too. Besides, what was the worst that could happen? He lost? Sure, it would suck, but he would know how hard to train going forward.
The woman nodded, turning to bark out orders. A single platoon, 32 soldiers, stepped forward as one, discipline on full display as they marched. Unlike the Knights and the…Captain? Major?...the woman in charge, none of them wore any plate other than a metal cuirass over the torso. Chainmail over padded leather was the order of the day for the standard soldier, which…made sense, really. Plate armor was expensive, at least in history, and he imagined that on an island where the ore veins only went so deep it would only be more so. Actually, how good were the smith's up here? They would have to be incredibly skilled at recycling…thoughts for later.
Link forcibly recentered his focus as the woman turned to him once more, green eyes burning with competitive spirit. It was enough to concern him, really. How badly, and how often, had Link beaten this woman's Company to have this level of fire directed at him now? It seemed a bit much.
"What kind of weapons will you be wanting? We have the full array, as normal." Which was what, exactly? Could he ask for a halberd? He knew he was strong enough to be terrifying with one…but he probably wouldn't be able to avoid lethal blows with that.
He blinked, that thought spinning in his head again. He needed to avoid lethal blows…that knocked out…basically every weapon, really. He would be best suited for a sword and shield; chainmail would hopefully hold out against the slashing, and the padded leather beneath it may resist some of the blunt force. Considering how many archers he saw here…well, he didn't fancy becoming a pincushion, so a shield was necessary.
"Sword and shield, please." He didn't expect her eyes to widen, uncertainty present within them for the first time. He didn't expect a distinctly evil pair of chuckles to sound out from the two Knights.
"A…are you sure? You haven't used a shield in years, what's the change?" Her confidence returned, or rather bravado returned. Link smiled up at her; he thought that it was friendly, that it had the same softness every other gesture he'd made and every word he'd said possessed. The way she flinched told him that perhaps there was some sharpness to it he hadn't quite intended. Some part of Link bleeding through, eager for a fight.
"It's been over a year, and you said you've been training hard. I don't want to disrespect your efforts." The woman paled, shaking a little, but rallied admirably.
"I'm glad you recognize how strong we've gotten then! I'm just…going to go prepare my soldiers, until the King gets here. I will have one of them bring you your gear." She left as quickly as she could without looking like she was leaving quickly, and Rorak laughed.
"I am incredibly grateful it's the army's turn against you today. It means I can lean back and enjoy watching somebody else get wrecked. Poor Captain Byna, today is not going to be her day." Link didn't have any idea what to say to that; the situation was quickly becoming more common. All of these people knew him. Knew his past, knew his history, knew him; knew Link. How long would he be able to get by with minimal words and pretending to know what was going on?
A man came up, in his hands a wooden shield and a blunted sword that was in noticeably better shape than the one he had used earlier. Not that it had been in bad shape, per say, at least not before he had started attacking a dummy with it, but this one was…he didn't have a word. Cleaner, it felt cleaner and smoother. Why were words difficult, even in his own head?
Link took them, the blade in his left and the shield in his right, and felt something settle inside him. A long exhaled breath blown between his teeth, muscles relaxing far more than expected. The tip of the blade pointed down, angled towards the ground slightly, yet held ready. Inhale, exhale, the shield clicking into place at his side. Reluctant amusement bubbled up within him as he realized he had taken the same stance that every 3d Link had when their sword was drawn; it felt natural.
Inhale…
Exhale…
Anticipation started to bubble away in his heart, an eagerness that he had never felt before soothing away the lingering nerves. How could simply holding weapons inspire all of this? How could holding a blade and a shield wash away anxiety and leave peace and readiness in its place? This didn't make any sense…
The wind gusted strongly, the sharp cry of a loftwing sounding out in the morning air. Link looked up just in time to see a blue loftwing landing, the King of Skyloft on its back. The bird was older than any he'd seen so far, its feathers turning a beautiful silver at the edges and possessing an air of serenity. There was no childish enthusiasm or eagerness like with Sylph; only the simple contentment and satisfaction of a life well lived.
Link shook those impressions out of his head even as the King dismounted, and the two Knights promptly saluted him. Link's own hand rose, bringing his blade to sit in front of his face in what felt like a twist on a warrior's salute. The King frowned down at him a moment before he spoke.
"At ease, Knights and Trainee. Also, Link, I am reasonably sure that I have told you that, as you are going to be my son the moment I can convince my dear daughter to agree to the wedding, you do not need to salute." Link let the blade fall back into the position that felt right, entirely unsure as to what to say in response to that. He hadn't exactly ever been teased like this before now; he'd never dated, far less met a girl's parents. He hadn't exactly been a catch, either, far more likely to be a disgusted release.
"It seemed like the right thing to do, your majesty." Was Majesty better, or Headmaster? The problems that came about due to people holding multiple roles in the world. So inconsiderate towards the idea that somebody could get isekai'd in without any memories whatsoever. It didn't seem to bother Gaepora, he just sighed and moved along.
"How far out are we from starting, Rorak?" The Knight responded, voice sharp.
"We are ready to start at any point, sir. The order of battle will be Link against the first platoon, a short break for that platoon to recover, and then Link against the entirety of the 36th." The King nodded, a strangely sharp grin on his face as his eyes looked down towards the shield.
"I see you have decided against showing mercy today, Link." Then brown eyes narrowed, and he spoke up again, tone losing the warmth and mirth it had possessed a moment ago.
"Has Captain Byna done something to you or Zelda?" Link blinked, needing a moment to process that. Why was that his reaction? What was with everyone's reaction to him choosing a sword and shield? The combo wasn't inherently more dangerous than others, the only reason he'd even picked it was because it was less lethal and provided protection from the legion of arrows about to be sent his way. He shook his head, full of confusion even as he met the man's eyes.
Gaepora held his gaze for a few moments, looking for something, before he relaxed, suddenly all smiles again. He turned to look at the platoon, amusement written clear across his face.
"Well then, this is going to make for quite a show. It has been a long time since you have taken these fights seriously, after all. I am looking forward to the battle." Neither Rorak nor Kalph seemed to be confused or concerned by the turn of events, so Link just shrugged mentally and went along with it. What else could he do? He didn't know anything about anything, and was in well over his head. It would be a miracle if he could fight well enough to handle the Platoon, much less the Company.
Captain Byna returned and, quicker than he was comfortable with, he was standing opposite 32 soldiers. Mostly men, but with a few women amongst them. Not that it mattered; Hylians, or Skylians as the case may be, were little more than Fantasy Elves. Gender was an afterthought, really.
"Alright, soldiers of Skyloft! You stand here today to avenge your previous defeat at the hands of our terrifying little friend here! This is what we've been training for for a year and a half now; we can do it, I believe in you. Counter Lynel tactics, Champion Variant; I don't want to see anybody taking any stupid risks. None of you are rookies, you have all fought him before and know what to expect. Sergeant Zito, you have command of the first platoon. Fight well; our King is watching you." Captain Byna's words were answered with a cheer; far stronger from the Company than the Platoon. The Platoon's cry was weaker, uncertain, with most of them looking nervously at him. A man stepped forward, presumably Sergeant Zito, and started the fight.
"You heard the Captain! Counter Lynel, you all know the drill! Move!"
And they did.
Say what you will about the fear that had infected them, the soldiers reacted with well-drilled discipline. Less than five seconds after that call there were twenty arrows flying through the air at him with 12 spears leveled in his direction, the men spreading out to ensure a Lynel couldn't bullrush them and wipe half the platoon. Even as the arrows whistled, Zito's orders were barked into the warm air.
"First squad, advance! Third squad cover fire! Second and fourth prepare to receive the counter!" The soldiers moved, eight men advancing with spears point first and eight soldiers putting more arrows in the air. Sixteen more braced, twelve archers nocking arrows and four men preparing to try and stop a charge. Link, however, was a little too busy trying to survive to be able to deal with them at the moment.
Instincts and muscle memory from a body not his own took over when the mind failed to provide a plan to deal with the oncoming threats. His left hand swept forth even as he leapt to the side, the blade casually knocking aside three arrows in a single swipe, more hitting the ground harmlessly around him. Another swipe, more arrows getting knocked to the side, and then it was time to deal with the first eight.
Two approached at once, spears stabbing forth. Up came the shield, his body still reacting, smacking one spear off course even as his body slid past the other. The world slowed, the strange drain in the pit of his stomach starting up once more, and he stepped forward. Carefully, so very carefully, he slashed both of them with the blunted blade, one right after the other. The world sped up once more, two soldiers stumbled backwards even as Captain Byna called to them, informing them they were out. The two troopers obligingly backed off; it didn't stop the others from taking their place.
Inhale…
Exhale…
Arrows flew and spears pressed, something rising up within him. Link's left foot stepped forth against his will, his right following it as he inhaled once more, blue eyes closing unintentionally as the world faded for a moment…
Then icy blue eyes snapped open, an entirely different mindset taking over.
'30 enemies left, counter arrows and deal with closest foes.' His body followed the thoughts with monstrous efficiency; the shield swept through the air even as he moved, muscles shifting and pushing him to a speed greater than anything he'd done so far. Blink and you'd miss it; the distance was closed and the center of the shield slamming into the chest of one of the spearmen. Before his feet had even left the ground Link was moving once more, sword flashing out to hit the closest man to the right, then the left. Even as the first man began to fly, Link's feet hit the ground once more and propelled him forth; five down, three to go, after all.
Faster than they could react, faster than he could react, they fell to his blade. By the time those three bodies had hit the ground the first man's flight was coming to a rolling stop along the grass, desperately coughing for air that couldn't enter shocked lungs. 24 soldiers were left shifting nervously, icy blue eyes finding them all and cataloging them in ways their owner didn't understand. The Sergeant didn't let them linger, voice barking out more orders.
Blue eyes narrowed, the next target found.
One step, two steps, three, a body moving like lightning as it crossed a distance faster than an arrow could be loosed, far less nocked. The sword left the ready position, the blunt instrument carving straight through the Sergeant's spear to hit his torso. Link paused, his body pausing in the face of a mind only now catching up to the damage it could do, and the other men took advantage of it. Bows were dropped and spears grabbed, four points headed for his legs.
It was less work to dodge them than it was to talk to people, truthfully. A simple backwards hop, executed with as much effort as doing it with the character from the game had been. What once took him the press of a button to do was now accomplished via the raw strength of his legs, yet somehow the effort required remained the same. He exploded into motion once more, blade flashing in the morning sun, and before he could even truly understand what had occurred the last of the platoon was hitting the ground.
Link was the only person left standing.
A frown crossed his face; that…didn't go even slightly the way he expected it to. He'd lost track of what he was doing, his body on autopilot. Even as people surged forward, even as he moved to check on the people he'd hit harder than intended, his mind chewed that over.
He hadn't been in control of that, not really. Not at all, in truth. He'd been a passenger in his own body, barely even able to comprehend what was occuring. His mind spun, trying to get a handle on it. Link's efforts weren't helped by the sound of the King's voice.
"Well done, Link. If I am not mistaken, you have gotten even faster than a year ago, and not by a small margin either." Gaepora's voice was warm, a deeper set of musical tones than others. A hand landed on his shoulder, gently squeezing it.
"Do not think we did not notice how gentle you were with them either, Link. I am proud of you." Gentle? Gentle? He sent a guy flying far enough that he could take down a further three men in the time it took him to land, how was that gentle?
The King saw no issue with his words, didn't even seem to register the incredulity that Link looked at him with as he walked forward. The man helped one of the soldiers up, the Sergeant in fact. Zito caught Link's eyes and, despite wincing as the King gently pressed at his chest, sending him a thumbs up.
"I'm pretty…Mmph…" A hissed expletive whistled between suddenly clenched teeth.
"I'm pretty sure you broke your record there, Link. Good job…though I really do wish we could have put up a better fight." A laugh, interrupted by harsh and hacking coughs, blue eyes turning to find the man he had bulldozed with a shield sitting up. The moment he was done coughing he was laughing again, finally able to speak after another set of painful sounding coughs.
"You're telling me Sergeant. Gah…Goddess, I didn't expect to finally soar the sky today." Link took a step towards him, concerned, but the man waved him off before he could even make it a step.
"No worries, kid. Despite all that strength you held back enough to avoid breaking anything. A few minutes and I'll be…I'll be fine." The hiss he let loose as he shifted did nothing to reassure him, but he let it go. There was nothing he could do, after all. Gaepora spoke once more, voice still warm.
"Well then. I do believe that a short break is in order, just to make certain that there is nothing worse than bruises, and then the second match can begin." The man said it so easily, as though Link hadn't just torn right through thirty two soldiers in the blink of an eye. As though that didn't bode terribly for the fate of the entire Kingdom if they had to fight the monsters that could give Link a challenge.
The King patted him on the shoulder and stepped away, leaving him with one last bit that still provided not so much as a crumb of comfort.
"Why not go wait in the shade, Link? Give us a bit, and I will either get you myself or send someone over." Link managed a nod, still swimming in his own thoughts. This made very little sense, all told.
He wandered over to the closest tree, the shield getting slung against his back without thought. Then many thoughts were applied to it, as he realized it was sticking to his back without anything to keep it there. He didn't tense, didn't freeze, but it was a very near thing. It was only his body's ridiculous muscle memory that kept him moving long enough for his brain to turn back on, to start wondering just how he did that. Was it the shield? Was it something he did?
The shade was a few degrees cooler than the sun, but Skyloft wasn't exactly hot enough to be concerned about it. Link had only broken a sweat through significant effort, effort far beyond what it seemed any other Skylian was even capable of, which…well, it both made sense and hammered home just how bullshit the body he was in really was. Even now, after tearing through thirty two trained soldiers, he wasn't sweating or breathing hard. The only issue currently was just how screwed over his own brain was.
Link couldn't focus, could barely think, his mind circling around what had just happened. How was he even supposed to deal with that? It was one thing to know, intellectually, that Link was an army-killer. It was another to be able to have that kind of fun in a game; after all, Link was far from the only one he'd ever played as. It was an entirely different beast to be one. How far could he actually go? He was fast enough to tear through trained soldiers, with them having almost no time to react to his movements. He was strong enough to send a man flying while holding back, though how much he was holding back he honestly had no idea.
Blue eyes flicked to the blade in his hand, curiosity rising up within him. A moment later he was moving again, the pattern from earlier coming so very easily to him. He needed to do a lot of things; so very, very, very many things, but one thing was standing out to him the most. He had a body that seemed to be locked away from him; strength that was unusable, speed that was unusable. He needed to get a handle on it, to get control over it, and he needed to accomplish that soon. Not even two weeks separated him from the events that would lead to the world changing, to the beginning of the end of Skyloft's existence in the sky, and there was so much he had to do. So much he had to learn.
He was going to have to go up against Ghirahim in under two weeks time; a living weapon who claimed himself to be a Demon Lord. The greatest tool of Demise, Demise's sword, similar to how the Master Sword here was also a living weapon…if a bit different, in truth. After all, Fi, the Master Sword, was capable of leaving the blade she belonged to, whereas Ghirahim could not. He shook it off, focusing instead on his movements.
Faster and faster, faster and faster; every time he began to lose himself in the rhythm he forced himself to stop and restarted from the first movement. He needed to get control of his body before anything else, otherwise he wouldn't have any idea what he could do. Far more importantly…
He was about to face off against a company of soldiers. Trusting in muscle memory to hold back was not what he was interested in doing. All it took was one little slip and someone was going to die, blunted weapon and potions or not. That…he'd never killed anyone. He'd been in fights, a lot more of them than he would have preferred and more than one of which had wound up in broken bones for the people who were attacking him. He'd never cared what happened to them, because they'd been attacking him. There was a lot of difference between kids attacking him and soldiers trying to train with him. And damn if that wasn't one of many phrases he'd never thought he would say.
His nerves built, built and built, something knotting in his gut. Something swelling within him, a hellacious mix of anxiety and the same feeling of something that let him slow down time. He didn't know what it was, but it was far from a pleasant sensation. It only grew worse as his thoughts circled the hell that awaited him. He forced the thoughts away; this was not what he needed.
Link shook his head and carried on. He had so much to do and very little time to do it. Time to knuckle down and get it done.
~The Eternal Game~
"32nd Company, ready?"
"Aye!"
Nearly 200 voices roared into the late morning air as one, spears and shields gleaming in the sun. Link's teeth ground together; he wasn't ready. That fact didn't stop him from nodding when Gaepora, when his new King, called out to ask if he was ready. The man smiled, nodding back, before calling out words that Link couldn't pay attention to. The knot in his gut was only getting worse now, staring down 192 soldiers. He honestly didn't know which would be worse here; winning…or losing.
If he lost, apparently the entirety of Skyloft would know something was wrong. Considering the way everyone reacted to him just picking up a shield…well, if there was one way to have people paying far too much attention to him, it would be losing. Honestly, what had he been thinking? Why had he shrugged it off so easily?
They won't get to you, little buddy
Then, even if he won, he stood a pretty significant risk of killing them. He had minimal control over his own body. Link's body, a body capable of stopping over half a ton of movement minimum in its tracks without so much as flinching. A single movement on his part could kill them without him even realizing it!
Do not fear that, I am here for you. I will not let them die.
Gaepora's voice shouted something out, the soldiers responding with a cascading cacophony of shouting. There were so many of them. How was he even supposed to put that many people down before they could get back up? 192 soldiers was not a small number!
That won't be an issue.
Link frowned, confusion welling up within him even as the Captain started shouting, Byna roaring out orders. Why did he hear whispers in his ears? The knot in his stomach tightened, almost painfully so. What was going on?
"Full Blight Counter tactics! We are not going down easily!"
"Start!"
He had just enough time to recognize the words that had been said before the release of over a hundred arrows sounded. Blue eyes watched them fly, almost in slow motion, and reflected on the fact that perhaps, just perhaps…a shield wasn't enough. How was he even going to handle that? The arrows were spread out across a vast area, no doubt to ensure that he couldn't dodge.
Far enough away from each other that the archers chose to arc their arrows rather than fire straight, Link's mind slowly spun. His eyes tracked the arrows, almost idly, mind more focused on the tugging in his gut. Something wasn't right, but he had no idea what it was. It wasn't until the arrows got closer, moving so very slowly to his eyes, that he was able to make something out. A scoff, sharp and quiet in his ear.
Please. You call yourself a Hero?
No, he didn't call himself anything really. He was in the body of a Hero, nothing more…
The knot loosened, power surging forth.
Wind began to blow, folding over the grass at his feet. It ruffled the legs of his trousers, growing stronger and stronger as it rose. His tunic flapped in the gale that rose up around him, the feeling of smug superiority forming behind him even as an ability that belonged in a game activated without his will. A helpless chuckle bubbled up within him; how was he even surprised at this point? He'd been transported into another world, in a new body, with a girl who very clearly loved him. Why wouldn't he have more bullshit to go along with that?
In the span between one thought and the next, Revali's Gale roared to life in a swirl of green and wind. Winds strong enough to lift a body dozens of feet blew away every arrow, and Link found himself curious. Even as everybody else finally started to react to the gale, he redirected it. This wasn't a game: he wasn't limited to just one method of using a power.
The smugness only grew behind him as the gale strengthened and turned, and a moment later he stepped forth, propelled halfway across the field in an instant by the winds. The Skylian Company panicked, stepping backwards even as Link began to feel that pool drain a little. He ignored it, stepping forth once more sent him rocketing towards the soldiers. He landed amongst them, the gale ending with that impossible voice speaking once more.
Try not to disappoint me, Hero.
Link's body moved without his will, slipping in between leveled spears with ease. His feet set themselves, blade lashing out to his left and shield slamming into a soldier to his right. There was no time for thoughts, no time for anything other than combat as he danced among them. His body found a rhythm, blade flicking around so quickly it was a blur. Cries of shock and pain resounded through it as he found his confidence once more, the voice of a woman sounding in his head.
There we go. See, little hero? It isn't so hard after all.
Soothing words, kind, with a ghostly hand on his shoulder.
Now show them our fury.
His body moved once more, both with his will and against it still, following actions that he was not consciously choosing. A jump into a tighter group, ignoring the ones falling to the ground, feet setting themselves just so. The blade in his hand was regripped, fingers tight upon the worn out leather grip, and he knelt. A spin attack came next, something that he had never even considered an option despite how much damage it did in the game, and his blade shattered in his hands as it broke through the last man's shield. It didn't matter.
His steps rose, hip cocking in a movement both familiar and not, shield slung onto his back and right hand raising up, thumb and middle finger pressed together. A wordless plea crossed his brain, even as his fingers moved without his command; don't let this kill them. A whisper back; have faith. A snap sounded out, and in the same instant lightning was made manifest in the world. Urbosa's Fury roared its way into existence, another impossibility laughing its way through reality.
A dozen bolts crackled to life, striking down from the sky all around him. Even as they boomed through the clear morning sky, Link's eyes traced them. Not a single one actually connected with a Skylian, instead striking the ground between them. The noise and shockwave stunned them, giving him the time to figure out his next move. That ghostly hand squeezed down, warm breath against his ear.
See? Have a little faith, little hero.
Link nodded, springing back into action. Strike, strike, inhale, strike again and again, exhale and put another three soldiers down, barely even noticing the lack of a blade in his hands or the fact that his shield was still on his back. He moved at a terrifying pace, both to him and the Skylians surrounding him, but they weren't helpless, not entirely. He broke clear of the group he had ravaged, and the Captain was there to greet him. A roared order and a sword swinging at his face, significantly faster than any opponent he had faced so far. Fast enough to make Groose look like he was standing still. Still so very, very slow, and his hands started to move. A rough hit to the back that should have moved him but didn't, a warm voice strong in his ears.
Don't worry about her little buddy, I've got your back.
So he didn't; Link knew the voice, knew the hand, even though he had never heard it in person and never felt so hard a pat. His focus switched, hand grabbing a spear that was attempting to skewer him instead. The Captain's eyes lit up in triumph, power swelling to life in Link's veins. The feeling of a mountain at his back, the rumble of an avalanche beneath his skin, red flecks beginning to glimmer in the sun. Triumph turned to shock turned to horror as a red sphere manifested around him, her blade hitting it and being blasted backwards.
Captain Byna stumbled back, panic in her voice as she called out orders. Link ignored them, ripping the spear from his opponent, A moment later their body hit the ground, wheezing in agony from a wooden strike to the gut. The weapon spun in his hands, cracking against torsos and limbs as Link accelerated once more. One man down, two men down, three and seven hitting the ground in the same second.
'This is too easy.' Link had time to think, too much time to think. Even as his head dodged a blade and his spear cracked against another woman's back, his thoughts couldn't help but circle around that. This fight was way too easy, even without the abilities of the Champions.
You have always been strong, Hero. This is just the proof of it, your body matching your will.
Soft, dulcet tones washed over his ears like the water they belonged to, gentle warmth and love suffusing his entire being as Mipha's Grace proved that it was with him. His right hand reached out, touching the woman's back, and she glowed. Healing energy suffused her, something telling him that he had repaired a vertebrae and her ribs. A moment later she was breathing a bit easier and Link was moving again, spear thrown into and through a shield to shatter against a Sergeant's cuirass. It still put him down, the impact sending him reeling, and Link's focus returned to the Captain who was looking at him in shock.
"Where…where did all this come from?" The words felt damning to his ears, but it was far too late to stop now. So he ignored her, the Gale roaring to life once more. A single step, a body flung forth, and his arms were crashing into two other soldiers. A single movement had another spear in his hands, and the dance of destruction began again. The shaft lanced out, slamming into one skylian after another, Link entirely ignoring the spearhead and treating the weapon as little more than a quarterstaff. It didn't matter; it put them down as easily, if not a bit quicker this way.
A deep breath, a back step, the Gale aiding him. There was no timer here, no limit on how many times he could use it; only the limitations of what he was reasonably sure was his reserve of magic, the little pool of energy inside of him. The abilities were strong, but compared to Link's own time manipulation? He could do this all day.
Link gave them a minute, planting the butt of the spear against the ground as the Company frantically reorganized. Blue eyes took stock, watching as a few soldiers got up, but most stayed down. Warmth fluttered to life in his stomach, the tension of earlier entirely gone, Mipha's Grace swelling. He spoke up, the first thing he had done entirely of his own initiative since the fight started.
"Is anyone seriously injured?" A collection of negatives rang out, but there were a lot more hand waves than anything else. Most of those on the ground were too busy wheezing to speak up. Gaepora spoke up, voice ringing firm with a King's Authority.
"Are you good to continue, 32nd Company?" Captain Byna looked at her troops, the company cut down by over a quarter in less than three minutes. She looked at the way they were afraid, looked at the concern and uncertainty within them. She stepped forward, sword slamming against her shield, and she watched in pride as they settled, resolve clear to see as they set themselves up. Her eyes returned to Link, fire burning in them.
"Yes, your Majesty, we are. The 32nd Company of the Skylian Army does not surrender just because our enemy breaks out some new abilities, right?" The final word was a roared question to her troops, one they responded to far stronger than Link expected. Over a hundred voices roared out their denial, shouted out strongly enough to turn some voices hoarse. Gaepora, their King, just smiled proudly and nodded.
"Continue the match then!" Shields locked, spears leveled, and the soldiers prepared. Bows were drawn taunt by the heads of the shield wall, others behind them and prepared to arc over the defense, and the fire started immediately. Cool green ran through his veins in preparation, rock solid red bubbling up within, soothing blue ready to heal and electric green lanced through his body. He pushed them all down, choosing instead to advance. Spear in hand, shield on his back, it took less effort than he was truly comfortable with to charge forth and dodge every arrow along the way. Anything arced skyward never stood a chance at hitting, and anything coming straight at him was dodged with ease.
Despite that, however? Like this, when he wasn't crossing the entirety of the field in two seconds, the Hylian Army could shine. Arrows were nocked, drawn, and fired every other second as soldiers trained to keep monsters at a distance gave everything they had to keep him at bay. It didn't matter; Link ran through the hail of arrows with ease, spear occasionally spinning to knock away some closer ones. Men and women braced, hands on spears tightening as the shield wall prepared to receive his charge…
And he let the winds of Revali's Gale lift him above them.
Shocked and horrified eyes followed him in slow motion as the gale sent him flying above the Skylian wall, falling down towards the archers who were only just beginning to panic. Electricity crackled in his soul, the laughter of Urbosa sounding in his ears as the tip of his spear slammed into the ground accompanied by the boom of thunder and crackle of lightning. The entirety of the archer group was put down in a split second, a shockwave of voltage sending them flying. Link hopped forward, turning even as he did, red flashing to life with the rumble of rock on rock to send Byna flying backwards, far stronger than before. Admirable, truly; she was a lot faster than her soldiers. The Skylians lead by example, it would seem, and that was certainly something he approved of.
It wasn't something that would stop him, however. A few steps had him slamming into a poorly set wall of soldiers, Skylians sent stumbling from the force. Out lashed the spear, each half striking against the troopers and causing cries of agony to sound. One second, two seconds, three; bodies began to hit the grass. Four seconds, five seconds, six; the shield wall had failed entirely, soldiers panicking and trying to either recover or stop his assault, anything they could manage. Seven seconds, eight; the spear shattered against the torso of a man. It mattered not.
A backstep, a hand catching another's wrist. A twist, one he'd actually learned in his original life, and the hand was spasming and letting go of the sword. Grabbed in his right hand, swung, transferred to his left at the end of the swing. A moment later had his shield drawn, and his body settled into a culling.
Less than a minute later and the entirety of the 32nd Company was on the ground, moaning in pain or gasping desperately for breath…baring only the Captain, the woman rising to her feet with a frustrated growl. Link looked at her, sword and shield at the ready, and she charged.
Byna was fast; truly, she was. Faster than any of her men, who had all seemed to be at least as fast as Groose, even though he didn't really have a good judgment for that. After all, to him? Even Byna was so very, very slow. Her blade lanced out, coming from his left in a horizontal slice. His blade smacked it back, a thrust he barely tried at only just stopped by the shield she desperately hauled into place. The strike still forced her back a step, and she tried again.
Byna launched herself forward, shield charging him, and Link hopped to the side, letting the world slow. He stepped, slowly and calmly, following her to the end of her movement. Even as the pool inside him drained, his blade came up and stopped at her throat, Link now looking up at a steel helm with a red crest and brown hair trailing down beneath it. The world resumed its pace, Byna freezing, and Gaepora calling a halt to the battle.
"Enough! The battle is over, with Link as the winner!" Link obliged, removing his blade from the woman's throat carefully. It was a bit awkward, considering he was shorter than her, but fortunately she wasn't ridiculously taller than him. Byna took a deep breath, tension releasing from her muscles, turning to face him. Gorgeous green eyes looked down at him, trepidation and admiration mixing with a heady amount of something else, something that reminded him of the way Zelda had been looking at him that morning.
"You…are terrifying, you know that right?" Her voice was shaky, and he nodded. Byna followed it up with a laugh, loud and strong.
"Of course you do. Little wonder then. Not that I'm complaining, but uh…the magic? Where did it come from?" Now that was a far more interesting question. He knew, intimately, where it came from. Pride, Passion, Solid Reliability, and Gentle Kindness all rose up within him, supportive and strong. The powers came from four people, four Champions, the best of their race at the time. It came from a world that didn't belong in this time. It came from a game, from a Hero who didn't belong here. It came from the endgame, from a Hero of Time who was now ready to face the final boss, to best the Calamity.
As for how it was here? He didn't know. He didn't know why he was here, in the body of the Hero of the Courage rather than the Hero of Skies, He didn't know why he had the obilities from the game, especially not those. He didn't know anything, and at this point was rather love some answers. But not a single one was forthcoming, so he just shrugged. Byna laughed again, shaking her head.
"Of course not, don't know what I expected. We don't have any idea why you can do the things you do, why would I expect anything different here?" Then she grew thoughtful, but Link turned away from her, letting gentle kindness and soothing waves rise to the fore. White light came from his hands, and his voice rang out far gentler than he expected.
"Anyone hurt?" Two words, gentle even to the ears that had only heard gentle and musical voices, reminding him of Mipha. He had only heard her from the game, but her voice spoke even now.
It would be my pleasure.
Mipha was here to help, even if she could only do it through him. There were a few calls, confused, from those who felt more pain than they found normal after a beatdown like this, and Link made his way over to them. Healing light suffused their body, warmth coursing through his, and he could feel what was healed in each case. Cracked ribs was the primary one, something that had guilt flaring up within him.
There wasn't a lot of damage, however, and that was something that amazed him. Even as he moved through the group, out of all 192 of them, only about 10 of them were hurt enough to call him. His magic pool was more than large enough to handle that, especially when the worst injury was another cracked vertebrae like Mipha's Grace had originally taken care of. Both points had been when he'd hit someone in the back when fully immersed in the fight; honestly, he was starting to see what Gaepora had meant with the holding back. Link's body was, as proven by what was before him, far more used to holding back than it was to going all out.
It made sense, going by the games. After all, Link didn't send his foes flying with every blow, usually only at the end of a combo. It made even more sense for the body he was in, for the game it was from, where Link broke weapons every few dozen strikes. Controlling his strength would have to be as natural as breathing, requiring conscious effort to use more strength than normal at that point. Perhaps…perhaps he didn't need to worry so much about control, and more about skill. Ghirahim likely wouldn't fall to strength, after all.
Soldiers began to rise, groaning and wincing, but they got up anyway. Some Link helped up, some waved him off, but quite a few of them patted him on the shoulder or on the head and told him there were no hard feelings. Many complimented him on the magic, others on his increased speed, others still on his increased skill with his weapons. It wasn't until everyone was up and Captain Byna was calling out orders that he was approached by Gaepora once more.
"Well fought, Link. You have shown off several new skills today." His voice was warm and impressed rather than disapproving, but Link found his guard rising up anyways as he looked up at the King. Where was this going to go? He didn't have any answers for the man that would be believed.
"Internal magic, I take it?" That…was an answer on a silver platter. It was, technically; just the internal magic of four other people. So he shrugged, no doubt looking as confused as he felt by this turn of events. The King hummed for a moment, before nodding, more to himself than anyone else.
"Internal magic has, historically, expressed itself in a single manner for everyone. You have not shown signs of it before now…but, then again, you are far from a standard Skylian. How long have you been able to manage it, dear boy?" That was an odd thing to call him, but Gaepora was visibly elsewhere, mind racing through some problem or memory that only he could see.
"How long ago did I start the fight with the 32nd?" Brown eyes snapped back to the present, incredulity their own display, before Gaepora laughed.
"That…hah, that is about right." He managed after a moment of mirth, hand covering his mouth. A shake of his head, those odd eyebrows swaying with the movement.
"I suppose I did this; if there was anyone who could spontaneously develop new abilities just from feeling a bit of magic, it would be you. This will teach me to have you tap into your senses without having expectations." Another chuckle.
"Fortunately, I will not have to be the one to explain any of this to my daughter. You can have that privilege, my future son." A pat on the shoulder, and he moved on from the topic.
"Now, are you planning on doing this again this week?" Link frowned, pondering it. This…as useful as it was, it didn't exactly serve much purpose. It was bullying the trained soldiers of Skyloft, more than anything else, and he wasn't sure how much more he would get from it.
"I…don't think it would serve much of a purpose." It would waste resources. Weapons, potions, time; all for no benefit. He gained nothing from the fight, after all, and judging by Gaepora's grimace…the King knew it too.
"Unfortunate, but probably true. The closest things to you are the Blights, and those are, historically, only killable at immense cost. The entirety of the army has faced off against you at this point, so they all know just how overwhelming such a threat is. It will do them very little good to keep losing, no matter how enjoyable it is to watch." That was probably why Link had originally stopped fighting them. They just didn't provide much in terms of benefit, to his skill or to experience. It had done well this time, and it had shown him what he already was, but…well, doing this more was both tempting fate as well as an exercise in futility. This body may have excellent control over its strength, but all it took was one mistake and somebody would die.
"You know, while the Army may not be able to handle you, you could spar with a few Knight Wings tomorrow, and perhaps the Royal Guard the day after. The last one would be one on one, rather than you against the entire group, to let you focus on improving your skills." A rueful smile.
"Not that it would do you much good, but the Royal Guard are expected to head into battle alongside me, and as such they are trained to a greater extent than even our army is. Is that acceptable, or would you prefer to avoid it?" It was tempting fate, but he nodded anyway. It may be a bad decision, but if it could help more than fighting the army did, he would take it. Gaepora nodded back, frowning in thought.
"Good, good. I will make the arrangements. Your healing ability will likely prove useful tomorrow, as the Knights tend to get hurt a bit more in these matches. I am quite impressed, Link, and I know Zelda will be as well. Did you have any other plans for the day?" A nod, another smile in return.
"I see. Very well then. I will have a Knight collect you tomorrow for the match, so you need not worry about when to show up. In the meantime, my boy, enjoy the rest of your day. The 32nd and I can clean up here." Not a single comment about the broken weapons. Not a single probing question or disbelieving stare. Not a single sign that Gaepora did anything other than believe him. That was not his experience with adults.
Then again, not a single experience in Link's body compared to any of the ones in his real…original body. He'd never had anyone look at him like Zelda had, never had anyone speak to him as calmly and easily as she or her father had. Never had an adult casually trust him like this. He had definitely never had the ability to run through 192 trained soldiers in what amounted to a handful of minutes. If that.
Another clap on the shoulder, a fond farewell, and Link was off. Sylph, evidently used to these sparring matches, showed up incredibly quickly once he whistled, and then he was in the sky. There had been a Loftwing Training ground at the Academy; he wondered how difficult that would be to manage. It shouldn't cause any issues to train there, unlike trying to practice with weapons.
The last vestiges of the Champions disappeared from his head, drowned out by the joy of Sylph. They left him with a whisper, one that brought a great deal of comfort.
We'll be here, waiting for you.
~The Eternal Game~
"You want to do what?"
Link looked up at the incredulous Knight, his own disbelief rising to the fore. Blue eyes looked down at him in shocked disbelief, a visor covering the upper half of his face. Link didn't understand the issue; he'd heard the Knight calling for people to line up to run through the Loftwing Training Course, and he had been the first one there. The man hadn't even let him speak before he'd responded with that; felt rather rude, honestly. His unimpressed stare must have gotten to the man, somewhat at least, for he shook his head and spoke once more.
"Look, I get that you're wanting to go back to basics for…whatever reason, Link, considering you joined up with the baseline warmups earlier, but I'm pretty sure that King…Headmaster Gaepora would have me running the janitor crew if I let you run a course this basic. Sylph would probably also refuse to run it on principle, just because of how easy it is." Link looked at the man, then looked at the course, which currently had one of the students running it. Tall poles made up the course, with nets lower towards the ground, ropes trailing across the poles, dummies atop the poles, and wooden barriers here and there.
The course itself took up…honestly, he didn't even have an estimate for it. Seven, eight football fields? More? He'd never really had to measure something so far. His eyes watched as the student on a gray loftwing flew through the course, moving faster than anyone could run it but far slower than he had seen anyone flying so far. Even before his eyes the teen flew beneath one rope, a spear striking a dummy, and then got snagged by another rope straight off the Loftwing.
The Knight didn't even bother looking, he just shook his head.
"No, no, definitely not. You know where the Elite Course is, Link, it's a half hour flight north. If you have somehow forgotten your way north, it is that way." His hand rose, pointing to what was, presumably, north. It wasn't in the direction of where the sun was rising, or where it would fall, so perhaps his barebones navigational abilities would be useful here. Hopefully the sun still rose in the east, after all.
"Now, how about let the other, less talented students play on the beginners course, yeah?" Link, despite all of the many things he wanted to say and a rather strong desire to roll his eyes, nodded and stepped aside. A minute later he was remounted onto Sylph and taking to the sky; 15 minutes later, because Sylph was not interested in moving slowly, he came across what was probably acres of ground. Trees held dummies, more on the ground, others still on poles. Nets, ropes, barriers, and more all spread across the area, and even from here he could see a handful of older students trying their luck. The biggest difference between this one and the others, however?
This one moved.
Even as he looked at it, slowly coming down to land, it came to life and promptly wrecked all five of the students trying it. Ropes lashed out like whips as poles spun, the wooden barriers rose and fell, nets spread and shrank, and blunted arrows were fired out. One teen on a brown loftwing got pelted with those arrows; two others got whipped off their birds by ropes. The fourth attempted to strike a dummy with a spear and got knocked off by the recoil, the final one running straight into a net, loftwing and all. Link couldn't stop the wince at the bird's irritated shriek.
Sylph, amusingly, gave off a chatter with her beak that came incredibly close to a scoff. He could feel her disappointment, feel her disgust at the lack of coordination. Their arrival caught the attention of the knights on duty, several of whom started smiling at the sight. One was quick to approach him, waving a greeting.
"Link! Good to see you, it's been a few months. Here to run the course?" Link nodded, not even bothering to dismount Sylph just yet. He could feel excitement, both from the bond and from the way her body trembled slightly beneath him. With how much eagerness she had to fly, to stretch her wings properly. The knight just nodded, looking at the others on the course.
"Give us a couple minutes, and you can run it. Considering how long it's been, do you want a refresher?" Link nodded, thankful beyond words for the fact that it was volunteered rather than spoken out. The man grinned, waving him on, Sylph making an odd hop forward to follow him before walking somewhat normally. He moved to dismount, displeasure stopping him. Sylph knew what was coming better than he did, and didn't seem to want any delays.
A short period later and they were at what Link assumed was the starting point; a platform a few dozen feet above the ground, slightly higher than the first obstacle. From here he could see a solid chunk of the course, and the Knight was quick to explain it.
"So, as you know, this is the Knight Course for the final year of training, as well as the one the graduated and experienced Knights come back to. There are three settings, not that you've bothered with the first two since you were twelve. The final one is the closest we have been able to get to the dangers of flying close to the cloud barrier without having numerous mages on standby, but then you know this. What you want a refresher on is…this." His hand pulled a lever, now that the others were clear, and the course sprang into motion. Poles began to spin, ropes whipping around and barriers kicking up the wind. He could hear the sound of machinery running slowly, preparing.
His eyes followed the Knight's hand, going through the course. The man spoke, voice a cadence he was apparently incredibly familiar with. Link, supposedly, should have been familiar with it too, but apparently it was something reiterated every time he came here. Thank the Goddess for that. Actually…that brought on a whole other set of problems…no, problems for later.
"This is the first stage of the course. It starts with the poles; any flier is required to navigate a course of poles, alternating the side they are on each time while ropes swing at varying heights. They can and will take most loftwings out of the air, to say nothing of what they will do to you at this level. The goal is to hit the dummy on each side, whether with your loftwing or with a weapon, while dodging both the ropes and arrows being fired at you. Missing a dummy means you have failed. The next level is the barrier level; you have to fly in between moving barriers at just the right time in order to avoid slamming against the wood. As you know, at this level, that wood will cause damage to Sylph, so be careful." Link's eyes traced it.
Poles, dummies on either side. The barriers had dummies as well, and even from where he sat he could see more holes to fire out bolts. Evidently they had the machinery for crossbows here…he wondered why they didn't use them. Then again, something told him that it was likely for the same reason that other fantasy elves didn't; they didn't need them to penetrate armor. His attention returned to the knight as he continued.
"The next level is the fight. As a great many arrows are fired at you you must, alongside your loftwing, put down the equivalent of a platoon of dummies. Each one must be struck one in order to count, otherwise you fail. Then you move on to the actual obstacle course; the forest." Trees in the distance, far thicker than what was here.
"You must maneuver through the forest, with traps and arrows striking at you from all sides. There are a total of 30 targets you must hit here, otherwise you fail. Finally, there is the return trip, where it is a full speed run through the End." He pointed to a part to the left, one with significantly more obstacles. Erected barriers with only a thin area to pass through, that were moving. Lines of rope weaving a nearly inescapable net. More ropes slung about like nightmarish whips. No doubt a massive amount of arrows ready to fire at any moment. Well…it was almost intimidating.
Cold wind, warm rumbling, soothing water, electric heat
Those, combined with the time he had already learned about…well, nothing here was a threat. Not to him, and judging by Sylph's impatient eagerness it likely wasn't to her either. Hopefully he wouldn't be letting her down…
No, wait, hold on. This entire time he had been so worried about people recognizing that he wasn't Link. Not really, at least, not in some of the major ways that mattered. If there was one person other than Zelda it should have been Sylph, but she seemingly just didn't care in the slightest. All she wanted to do was spend time with him, to fly with him even more. How was she not even concerned about the fact that he was an incredibly different person? Connected seemingly at the soul, as unbelievable as that had been just yesterday, yet so eagerly accepting of him.
"Well? Have it down once more?" The knight's voice drew him from his thoughts, the man waiting for an answer. He nodded in response, another realization coming to him. He didn't like speaking, apparently, not in this body. He hadn't exactly been the most talkative person even before, but now it was a bit much. With Zelda the words had flowed out easily, perhaps even easier than in reality…in his previous life. With Gaepora it was more difficult, but he could still speak. With Groose it had been actually difficult, and here? He would have to actually try to speak.
Huh. Well, perhaps the games had that part right. If Link barely spoke to anyone, Zelda included, it would go a long way towards actually giving him a chance at this. At making a new life for himself outside of the whole killing monsters part. At building a relationship more than surface deep with someone who cared for him, for Link.
The wings of the bird beneath him spread, the knight stepping back as Sylph's impatience finally got the better of her. The man laughed, shaking his head.
"Well, it is clear that Sylph is sick of this being repeated. Whenever you're ready, Link!" Link nodded once more, settling himself, before stopping. The man had said with weapons earlier…
"Are you not going to give me a weapon?" The Knight froze mid step, before laughing. He held up a finger, and walked off the platform. A minute later he was back, with a set of three weapons and a quiver. A spear, a sheathed sword on a strap, and a bow with a full quiver. His eyes counted them, far quicker than they had any right to; 40 arrows. He grabbed them from the knight, and found it incredibly easy to settle them onto his body. The sword and quiver settled easily onto his back, both straps feeling like they belonged. The bow settled at his back as well, fitting perfectly, just like it showed off in the game.
His mind didn't have time to drift; not on the impracticality of wearing weapons on your back nor on the ridiculousness of the thought that a body this short would be able to draw the sword from that point. No, instead Sylph's body began to tremble, the massive body of muscle eager to start, taking two steps forward to the edge of the platform. The knight waved him on, and Sylph's body and presence in his soul alike clamored for sweet release.
So he gave it to her.
A symbol made with his hand, a cry in his soul, neither of which he had ever made nor knew how to make, yet he knew what they were and what they meant. Fly, a command and a plea all in one, and Sylph's wings flapped hard. The pool in his chest linked with something through his soul, both mingling and draining even as Sylph moved far faster than any time before. The world blurred, his body leaning forward, and two souls united as one.
Power flared, crimson light sprinkling the air around the Crimson Loftwing of legend as it flew. Link's body leaned further, a rope passing close enough to ruffle his hair. The bird moved left, her entire body turning and talons shredding the dummy. Link's body moved, hand gripping the spear haft. Two seconds later it was striking out, body shifting to handle the force of the strike. Teeth clicked in a tsk as the haft creaked; he hadn't hit it right. Too much more of that and it would break far too early.
There was no more time for thoughts, only action as Sylph flew. Wings flapped, the massive bird almost dancing in the air as she finally let herself fly at her pace and pleasure rather than limiting her movements to others. Crimson flashes, a pole danced around, a beak snapping a rope. Talons against a dummy, a spear against another, the attacker alternated each time as joy fed off of joy and came back stronger. The first segment was passed through too quickly to even enjoy, the barriers coming back up.
He didn't have to command Sylph; there were neither instructions nor even thoughts of doing so. They worked as one, the need flowing from him and the action coming from her. It was only now, several moments and dummies after he had started, that Link finally noticed the bolts, and even then it was only because his head tilted slightly, an arrow flying past his face.
Awareness expanded momentarily, dozens of bolts flying through the air all around him. A barrier was flown through at a blistering pace, wings flared from a flap just a moment ago to power them through, arrows slamming into it. Then the moment was gone, and all he could feel was enjoyment. Enjoyment and a focus on the task at hand. Too quickly to follow, too quickly to register, the spear was on the brink of shattering in his hand as it pierced through another dummy. Sylph didn't hesitate a moment; she went left, through another barrier, his attention focusing right. Even as the pool drained slightly, the wing enveloped in crimson energy and slicing through a dummy, the spear left his hand.
Between one blink and the next it shattered against a dummy, hitting it so hard it was knocked through the wood behind it. The bow was drawn, eyes already on the next target; the platoon. An arrow pulled, knocked, and drawn, the world slowing as electric heat coursed through his veins. The bow creaked, the arrow released even as Sylph targeted the last of the targets here. It flew, trailing lightning, and a beach carved through wood and straw even as electricity exploded.
Draw, nock, pull, release. Do it again, do it again, lean back and do it again. The platoon fell to shockwaves, far more lethal than what he had sent against the living earlier, even as they flew through the final gap. Then it was the woods, and Link found his heart pounding with adrenaline. Through branches, through trees barely wide enough to fit the massive beast that was Sylph, wind whipping across his face and through his hair. Branches flew by his hair, stomach in his throat as Sylph spun, proving beyond any possible doubt why the Skylians thought of Loftwings so highly as she shredded dummies with the edges of her wings.
Blue eyes tracked through the forest, so fast yet the world moved slowly, his eyes found dummies. Arrow after arrow found the target, not needing Urbosa's Fury. Seven, nine, thirteen; how many had there been to start? That's right, there were thirty. Hopefully he hadn't missed any…
Sylph continued the blistering pace, spinning in place and coming to a sudden stop, wings flared out and looking downwards at seven targets. Need flowed to him, an impression of what Sylph expected, and Link found himself grinning. One more arrow, lightning channeled through it, and seven targets were shocked in a single arrow. Happiness flowed, wings flapped, and motion resumed.
Memories that Link didn't have guided him, the bow replaced and the sword drawn, logic ignored as he drew it with ease despite the position. They flew, his head coming level with a pair of trees as Sylph's wings drew in, pure speed carrying her through. Out lashed the blade, two more dummies falling, and they were moving again. The forest passed far quicker than it should, Link barely even noticing the arrows that were whizzing by even as the blade flashed to cover Sylph. Arrows were knocked away, the movement continuing as the sword was replaced once more, the bow coming out. Twenty nine, thirty…and then thirty three, somehow?
His mind raced, going back over the ones that had been taken down, whether by Sylph or by himself. A rapid count later and he was right; 33 wooden targets stuffed with straw. Odd, but no matter; instead he moved on, right alongside his bird. The final stretch was taken at a speed greater than any before, the mingling pools draining fast as Sylph powered through. Ropes whipping through the air were dodged, bolts slapped away by either Link or by wings shrouded in crimson energy.
The course was finished quicker than Link could really register, and from the expression the Knight and the other students were looking at them with, he wasn't the only one. Five expressions of shocked disbelief greeted them as they landed, Sylph radiating satisfaction, as though she had been waiting for so very long for Link to get his act together and stop slowing her down. As he slid down, unfastening the quiver and the blade, his mind focused on one part.
That too, had served no purpose for him.
"Link…when, exactly, did you learn that?" The knight asked, not even able to take the tools being held out to him. There were a lot of things he could say, but the truth was the most entertaining.
"This morning." A blank stare for several moments; over a minute, in fact, before the man clearly decided that was as good as he was going to get, shaking his head and taking the weapons.
"Whatever, kid. I take it you don't want to run it a second time?" Link shook his head, and that was that. The knight just moved to put the weapons away, the other students looking at him in awe…and in envy. Moderately concerning, but hopefully they had more sense than Groose. The Knight soon returned, and Link was able to ask the question that had been bugging him for a few minutes now.
"Why were there 33 targets in the forest?" The knight paused, thinking it over for a moment, before laughing.
"Ah, sorry Link. I didn't bother to shift over the dummies after they ran the first level. There were actually 72 dummies total there, though there were only 33 in the area you sped through." That made sense, he supposed. If the dummies had to be manually shifted each time he couldn't blame them for not bothering. He nodded, the man waving him off, and Sylph launched into the sky with something approaching smugness.
The early afternoon sun warmed him even as sharp wind chilled him, Sylph's powerful body beneath him ensuring that even the thought of falling was far from his mind. Freedom like nothing he'd ever felt soared through his soul, feeding into happiness and pouring right back. In a mere minute they were in the sky, high enough up that he could see the island. His mind drifted, even as he looked down at it.
There was nothing that did justice to just how big Skyloft was. In the game it had been small; miniscule, even, due as much to the limits of the system it was in as it was the desire to focus on the story of the game. You could run across it in game in about thirty seconds or so, a minute or two the long way. Here, now? If he had to guess? At a bare minimum, looking out at it all, he would put this island vaguely around the size of, say…
Ireland.
Maybe a little bigger, maybe a little smaller; it wasn't like he had any idea how big Ireland actually was, but looking at this island? Something felt right with that judgment. With looking at this massive island and calling it Ireland-sized, though why he didn't know. Add it to the list of things that made exactly zero sense that he'd been compiling since he got up, he guessed. The list was starting to get a little…no, a lot long, but there wasn't exactly much he could do about it. He was unlikely to ever get the answers he wanted.
The island was, however, ridiculous. From this high up, high up enough that even the great city of Skyloft's Capital was barely a speck, he could see a lot of it. Great mountains in one area, multiple rivers and lakes throughout it, vast forests…you wouldn't think that all of this could exist on an island in the sky, but it did. How many cities were down there, he wondered; how many people? More mountains in a different area, snow capped peaks defiantly protruding further into the heavens than any other mountain in any other world. At least that he knew about.
How did it snow here? How did it rain? Did reality just ignore science or something? Considering that there were clouds higher in the sky as well, did the water cycle still function normally? Admittedly, this was his second day here, but it hadn't felt hot enough to evaporate anything. There were even rivers running off the edge of the island.
There were rivers running off the edge of the island.
How did that work? How could that work? This was like the Thor movies, where a river running off the edge of Asgard into space was just an amusing sight. This was, perhaps, his new reality, and stuff like this was making him seriously doubt it. What fed the river eternally so that it could run off the edge of the island into the sky for ten thousand years? Was this just some random thing that the "Triforce" empowered and nobody thought anymore about it? He shook his head, getting rid of thoughts he couldn't answer.
More importantly though…just how powerful was Hylia? This was one of three islands, after all; even if the other two were smaller, this was still a massive amount of land to just throw up into the sky. Combine that with the fact that you couldn't see the ground from here…were they in another dimension or something? It would make sense; you couldn't see the Sky Island in the game at all from the ground…but, then again, it was a lot smaller in the game. He honestly didn't know.
Regardless, it must have taken a lot of power to throw all of this up here. And to have supposedly done it either right before or during her final fight with Demise? Hylia was an absolute monster, and for Demise to supposedly be on par with her…well. Either throwing all of this up here weakened Hylia massively, or Demise would be a nightmare to fight. Link was hoping for the former. Well, that or hoping that the story of the Sky took a lot longer than the handful of days you could complete it in in game. He would need the time to scale up…
On the thought of that though…what was his upper limit? He'd taken down a company and blitzed through a supposedly difficult course in…well, he wasn't entirely sure it was past noon just yet, if he was being honest. The sun was pretty high in the sky, but he didn't know if it was at its zenith yet or not. He'd showed up in the afternoon yesterday, so he didn't even know what midday looked like, not truly. Hopefully not too many differences however. He wanted to be able to keep some knowledge and experience, after all, whatever little he had. Sixteen years of life, in a modern world, didn't exactly prepare him for fantasy after all.
A shake of his head, a refocus on the world around him. Sylph had been powering through the sky at a blistering pace, taking them nearly to the edge of Skyloft. Of Farore's Hope, one of three islands. In the distance he could see the other two; just how good were his eyes? He could also see multiple smaller islands dotted around; some were fortified, some weren't. How far could he go? What even were the rules for this? He didn't know.
He had a lot of problems. He promptly ignored those problems, and instead focused on Sylph. Fingers brushed gently against soft feathers, his caresses gaining a warble from the bird. What to do, what to do…well, he did have a promise to keep. What was it Zelda had said yesterday? She was worried about him when he flew "too close to the clouds", and had acknowledged that it was a silly worry on her part. Then there was the fact that the third level of the course was the closest Skyloft had come to flying "too close to the cloud barrier".
Sylph cleared the last bit of land, letting him look out into the vastness of the sky. The islands were still there, they hadn't moved, but the emptiness still took his breath away. There was no world beneath them, not for as far as the eye could see. Only clouds; fluffy and white clouds in the sky above, somehow, and below him as well. But then, as he looked down into the barrier between Skyloft and the world beneath, the picture altered.
The pool within drained, so little he almost didn't register it, his eyesight sharpening in a way Link didn't quite have words for. Clouds of soft and fluffy white darkened, graying into black with alarming speed. Even from here he could see them moving, swirling and shaking from tempestuous wind on a scale he'd never seen before. Clouds moved, of course they did; everything moved, to some extent, even the trees. Clouds would track across the sky so very slowly, or perhaps quickly based upon the weather. What he had never seen, however?
Clouds ripping themselves apart and forming back together. Puffs of black forming miniature tornadoes before they broke apart entirely a moment later, only to come together once more in a riot of motion. Electricity surged through it all, crossing across the clouds in random patterns unknowable to him. Bodies scythed through the clouds, serpentine and scaled and ugly. Even as he watched a face came up, insectoid with massive pincers.
Sylph banked suddenly, the drain ceased, and the clouds returned to white, Link's eyes finally leaving the barrier. Unsettled, still, but not willing to look any longer, his eyes turned elsewhere. He soon found the only place on the horizon that wasn't flat or an island ; a massive circular structure of blackened clouds constantly unleashing lightning. He couldn't hear the thunder from here, but he had the feeling that if he got closer he would. It was a long way aways though, at least he was pretty sure it was. Larger than any cloud formation he'd ever seen as well…well, minus the barrier.
This at least, he knew. The Thunderhead, the area in the sky that the "Great Sky Spirit" resided in, at least now. If he remembered correctly, and he wasn't entirely sure he did, the thunderhead was…recent? Something about an island marked by a rainbow, at least, and he wanted to say the Thunderhead engulfed it. He wondered if that remained even close to the same here. God…Gods? Goddess? What curse did he even use here? Fuck this shit, that's what he would use.
Another shake of his head, a forceful realignment of his thoughts. Cursing his situation wouldn't do him much good. He needed to research, which meant books, which meant he needed to go back to the Academy and settle down with basically every book that had been on his shelves. Then he would need to go to the library and devour anything relevant there. He also needed context for whatever would be written down; no doubt it would be difficult to just jump into an entirely different culture without any stumbling blocks. Why, oh why, couldn't he have been given memories to work with this?
Then there was the other issue, and honestly a far more perilous one. He needed training. Moreso in combat, but also in the air, and apparently nothing Skyloft had was good enough for that. Taking on nearly two hundred trained soldiers had been…well, easy enough that it felt like he'd been put into an Isekai with cheat power, really. How did the Champions even show up? The body was one thing; he couldn't even find it in him to complain. The powers, however? That didn't make any sense whatsoever.
No matter…well, a lot of matter, but no matter for the moment. He had no way to train combat except for whatever had been lined up, and no way to train properly atop Sylph at all. Not unless he wanted to…hold on, now that was a thought.
Blue eyes turned to two entire islands, islands that Skylians had once lived on. Islands that were no doubt overrun with monsters. Islands where he wouldn't have to hold back. Link in every form was an army killer; Link in every form took on uncountable numbers of monsters on his way to finally beat the end boss of every temple, to say nothing of finally taking on whatever form of Ganon awaited. In Breath of the Wild, the very game this body was from, Link took on what amounted to an entire kingdom of monsters, alongside technology that utilized lasers. Light speed or not, he didn't know, because the debate raged endlessly online, but it didn't change the fact that Link did it.
How hard would it be, really, to take on monsters when taking on nearly two hundred trained soldiers had been easy enough to be relegated to nearly thoughtless? How hard was it to fight a bokoblin? Perhaps…Skyloft had had a cave that, in game, contained monsters. Nothing major; Keese, if he remembered right, and possibly a chu-chu? It had been a while. Perhaps it still existed, or there were monsters popping up on Farore's Hope that he could hunt down. Questions for later, really.
That would likely be the best training he could get, but asking to do it? Oh, he could already imagine how that would go. His parents might not have cared about him in his original world, but he imagined Zelda would freak out. Gaepora…honestly, he didn't know. The man had been willing to let Link go to the surface world alone, with minimal support and not even free supplies…but it was also a game. A game that he could tell was far from accurate just from the feel of Sylph in his soul, to say nothing of everything else.
No, it would probably be better to find some monsters on Farore's Hope if he could, and test himself against them. Maybe there was some kind of bounty board for Knight Trainees? Considering the privileges Link already had, and the fact that he had the King's ear without even trying to, he might be able to manage it. Then, after he had a solid base of understanding, he and Sylph could fly to one of the other Islands and do a little fighting.
For now, however, he was supposed to practice, and as off-putting as the clouds below him were…well, apparently Link had already done that, often enough that Zelda believed that it wasn't even dangerous to him. So he rubbed his hands against crimson feathers once more, the feeling in his soul changing to muted pleasure and a spike of interest.
"What do you think, Sylph?" The words were barely a murmur, ripped away from his lips by the wind before they could even leave them. Sylph responded to them anyways, a clack of her beak and a tensing of muscles.
"Should we practice near the cloud barrier today?" Excitement and affirmation, his thoughts about just how intelligent Sylph truly was thrown off as she dove down almost instantly. Wings folded against her body, Link leaning down on instinct he didn't realize he had as their speed increased. The slightest of drains resumed, the cloud barrier taking on the disturbing image once more.
Black clouds and biting winds greeted them, the world itself going from pleasant to wanting to claim his head. Crimson wings flared, turning a vertical dive into a horizontal flight as the world blitzed past his eyes. Random currents were answered perfectly, winds strong enough to rip him from the loftwing answered with nothing more than a lean and squeezing thighs. In front of them a monster left the sea of clouds, mandibles slamming against each other in an imitation of snapping jaws.
Joy welled up in Sylph, a strange tugging at his cheeks; the drain strengthened for just a moment, crimson lights sparkling in the darkness of the clouds, and Sylph charged forth with a flap of wings and a spin. The air itself became a drill, crimson flecks mixing with suddenly visible wind as the spiral wing charge of the game clawed its way into reality. The monster didn't even have time to react before the magic tore it to shreds, flight stabilizing for a just moment.
Then the clouds burst forth, other monsters striking out, and Link found himself being the one to react this time. Revali's Gale roared to life, a monstrous updraft catching Sylph's wings to her pleasure as the height put them out of range of the attack. It didn't stop her forward momentum, and Link made a mental note to bring weapons the next time they did this. How was he supposed to be a good partner if he couldn't help her?
Sylph's presence in his soul sent out amusement.
He didn't have time to react as the bird proceeded to prove beyond any doubt why it was Loftwings that were credited with saving the Skylians. Wings flapped, crimson light tearing those monsters to shreds on the downstroke, and she began to fly properly. Clouds moved like waves, his earlier thoughts of them resembling a sea becoming more and more accurate, monsters leaping forth like monstrous fish. It didn't stop her, didn't even faze her.
One dodged, another gored with her left wing, the light turning it into something stronger than steel. The mighty beak met mandibles and it was the monster who was found wanting, a horrific crunch and screamed agony as the creature fell back into the clouds. A tornado formed before them, Sylph's wings powering them straight through the chaotic force. Another enemy, far larger than the others, crested the clouds, a head the size of a bolder staring back at them with mandibles larger than Sylph.
Red flakes began to form all across her body, the drain intensifying a little bit more, and Link found a way to help with this. To the partner of his soul's amusement, Urbosa's Fury poured forth, red flecks sparking green. Sylph flapped once more, harder than any time before, sending them both coursing forth in a spiral of wind and lightning and magic. Thunder crashed and clouds parted from the force, a monster larger than any he'd seen in person pierced through in less effort than the games.
Pleasure, happiness, and more coursed through Sylph at the sight, at the ease of their work together, a warm contentment thrumming deep within him. Link found himself returning it. Link was an outsider, someone with more strength and speed than belonged in this world, to say nothing of him actually not being from this world. He couldn't help but wonder how much of that Sylph understood, when not a single other Loftwing could do what she could. When she was the only type of Loftwing to belong to legend and myth, just as her rider did.
Then the moment was over, fierce joy radiating out as two souls became one, as the flight began properly. No hesitation, no thought, not anymore. Just Loftwing and Rider, Legend and Myth, partners closer than any words could describe. Black clouds parted before impossible speed, monsters dying in droves as they attempted to stop the incursion into their ocean in the sky.
They failed.
~~The Eternal Game~~
Skyloft is, currently, in a precarious position. Once upon a time, thousands and thousands of years ago, we were cast up into the sky upon three great islands. Nayru's Home, Farore's Hope, and Din's Endurance, named such after we were cast up here. Two of those, the greater two in fact, have been lost; all that remains is Farore's Hope, the smallest of the three islands. There are many reasons for this, unfortunately, but the single greatest one is that we were unprepared for the first incursion, and it cost us more than we can ever reclaim.
But this book is not about that; no, this book is about the Modern Era, under the wise King Gaepora, and the fate we face. The population of Skyloft is only beginning to recover from the most recent incursion, but we unfortunately have a long way to go before we are ready for the next one. As a result, and much to the dismay of a great many even still, there is no chance to reclaim either Island. Even if we could, we have not the military to hold it nor the population to live there. Far better it is, then, to remain upon Farore's Hope and recover.
To understand the troubles facing us, one must understand the past. As everyone knows, there have been 26 Incursions within Skylofts history; roughly one every thousand or so years, barring the Third and the Seventh, both of which had the horrific fate of falling within a century of the ones before it. Each time we were saved by the intervention of the Goddess; the first time via the arrival of the Loftwings, and the second via the rising of the Goddess's Chosen Hero.
King Gaepora's Reign began in the waning days of the 26th Incursion, when his mother Queen Irei died in battle, and this event left its mark both upon the man and upon his reign. That was a full century ago now, and Gaepora's reign began with a promise; should the worst occur, and another Incursion begin during his reign, Skyloft would not be found wanting. He has committed everything he had to that goal, towards preparing Skyloft for a war that has, thankfully, not arrived.
Gaepora's Wisdom, and some would say Paranoia, in wartime preparations have not stopped him from strengthening Skyloft economically once more, however. Our King has driven himself and the Kingdom to new heights with a force of will and personality rarely seen from our Royal Family. The years after an incursion are usually marked with mourning. Monuments, shattered families; the troubles of a Grieving Kingdom slowly piecing itself back together.
King Gaepora avoided this, by providing a purpose. He drew deeply of the well of spite that exists within every Skylian, striking while the iron was hot and Skyloft had not yet entered mourning. Even as he himself wore the black cloak of sorrow, even as he himself wept for both parents taken from him in the Incursion, he strode forward, and we followed. Skyloft's Military Storage was refilled in under 60 years; an incredible feat, and expanded upon ever since. The granaries and warehouses of supplies were fully restored inside of 63 years, an equally impressive feat. When one considers that never in our history have we managed to restore our supplies that quickly, to restore our infrastructure that quickly…well, it seems a minor feat here, I am aware. When one has knowledge of the amount of effort, of Heroic Labors that went into it, however? It remains the King's greatest achievement.
King Gaepora has not stopped, however. The Knights of Skyloft have, thanks to a restructure and revamping of the once defunct Knight Academy, reached nearly pre-incursion numbers. The Army, while unfortunately nowhere near that level, is growing steadily. The Mage's College is taking in new initiates all the time, the Supply Corps is making great strides in expanding their numbers, and even the civilian guilds are slowly but steadily growing. The Farmers Guild, the Miners Guild, the Blacksmiths Guild, the Merchant Guild; all are proud to report that their numbers are once again on the rise, rather than on the decline as they were for the first few years after the incursion, and of course the many losses taken during it.
All told, Skyloft is in an excellent position, all things considered, during the modern era. And yet this book opened up by stating that it was in a precarious position, you say, so what is that to mean? That what I have told you was a lie? Nay, it was entirely the truth. You see, the simple fact is that being in an excellent position post-incursion is not exactly a good position to be in.
The 26th incursion was a horrible one. According to the census, 59% of Skyloft's population was lost. I would provide the numbers, but I have found that once you pass a certain number of deaths of people you have never met, it simply becomes numbers on a page. I certainly felt that way, before surviving the 26th incursion by the skeer fortune of a Wing of Knights saving my squad from annihilation at the hands of multiple moblin lead squads.
I thought that surely, as well prepared as Skyloft was, as strong as we were, that an Incursion could not take us down. That we were better off than ever before in history, that we were ready. Instead I had to watch as monsters beyond count swarmed from the sky and from the island. That was before the moon turned blood red and the very darkness itself coalesced into more monsters starving for Skylian blood. That was before…well, a lot of things.
And then, suddenly, the numbers that had just been numbers on a page or a monument were made horrifyingly real. Perhaps, however, a percentage will do so for you, my dear reader. 59%; over half the population of the Island, died. Children died. Slaughtered, with no hope for salvation. Let me break that down a bit further.
Imagine, if you will, your family. Your mother, your father, perhaps a sibling; if you are truly blessed, two siblings. One of your parents is dead; if you had a sibling they are dead. If you had two, chances are good that both of them were dead. Your neighbors? Half of them dead at a minimum. The friends you grew up with, playing tag or hide and seek or any number of games? Dead, their bodies ripped apart. Most likely you watched it happen. Are you beginning to get the picture?
It will take us several hundred years, if not a full thousand, to recover to pre-incursion numbers, for Skylians live long lives…at the cost of a lower rate of birth. Were we as fertile as the humans of ancient times, we would likely be well on our way to recovery, but unfortunately that is not the case.
As such, we are in a precarious state. Our numbers are little, but there is much to do. Even now, Farore's Hope cannot be fully patrolled by the army and monsters are making their filthy homes upon it. Even with the Knights approaching pre-incursion numbers, they can only do so much. The Farms and the Mines are still in danger, especially as we continue to expand them back to feed a slowly growing population; the wilderness is full of animals, yes, but also full of places for monsters to hide.
All of that is, of course, even before you get into the monster-ridden lands of the other islands. We are outnumbered to an impossible extent, and it is only through strength of arm, strength of faith, strength of magic, and the aid of the Loftwings and the Goddess that allow us to survive. And it is up to you, to me, and up to every single one of us to put in the hard work to get us to where we need to be, should the worst occur. To make our children able to survive just a little bit easier. So maybe, one day, we won't have to worry about the monsters anymore, because our army has grown large enough to protect us all.
So, here is how you can all help. Skyloft in the Modern Era needs a lot of work, and if you have gotten past all of the depressing things in the introduction, I assume it is because you do want to help. Thank you; on behalf of us all, thank you.
First things first, you need to find a role. The simple fact of the matter is, everyone is good at something, everyone has a niche granted to them by the Goddess, and only the foolish would ignore that fact. So you must search for your place, find your greatest skill, but worry not if it is difficult. There are a great many things that you can do in the meantime as you search such as…
…
The Eternal Game~~
The lock turned, Link's eyes flicking up from the book in time to see Zelda push open the door. The girl turned, making a point to lock the door behind her before she slumped against it and inhaled deeply…only to freeze, turning towards the kitchen. Blue eyes widened, another deep inhale, this time far more pleased, before adoring blue eyes found him and she spoke with a voice full of gooey warmth.
"You are my favorite person, Link." The corners of his mouth ached, reminding him that he had smiled a bit too much today. It didn't stop him from it, even as his own words gently responded.
"It's just stew." Beef Stew, in fact, with rice and fresh bread. His eyes had been a little bigger than his stomach when making it, so there was quite a bit more than he intended. He'd started on it after a bath, and now it had just been left to stay warm on the stove. Zelda just smiled at him, even as his mind idly wondered just how cows had made the trip to the sky.
"You are, beyond any possible doubt, my favorite person, Link. It smells delicious." His smile wasn't going away, despite the ache. He'd never gotten anything even close to this kind of reaction before, for anything. His eyes took her in, the pair looking at each other for several moments. Her hair was wet, her tunic damp, but the rest of her wasn't, skin slightly pink. Had she already had a bath before coming back?
"I'd ask if you wanted a bath before food, but it seems you already have." A nod, a hum of affirmation as Zelda took her shoes off. He began to get up, but she waved him down.
"There is no need to rise, Link, I am more than happy to make you a plate. I am standing, after all. Also, I have already bathed, the weaving is a bit more involved than I had expected." Link rose anyways; there had never been a point that he could remember in his life of not making his own plate. Blue eyes stared him down, something approaching a pout coming over Zelda's pretty face.
"Link, am I not allowed to take care of you as you do me? I am more than capable of making you a plate, I recall quite well how much you eat." An eyebrow rose, almost against his will.
"Does it mean that much to you?" A nod, astonishingly firm. So he shrugged, raising his palms in a gesture of surrender, and sat back down, and she went back to smiling.
"Good." Weird, but then again the entirety of two days had been weird, so no matter. He focused instead on her comment about the weaving.
"How involved is it? I would have expected it to be just weaving, not something requiring you to take a bath before you even leave…wherever they have you doing it." A giggle, blue eyes flashing happiness at him.
"You would think so, but it is far more ritualistic than that. I am imbuing enchantments into it, and that is not an internal magic I am gifted with, so it is…difficult, in many ways. Not the least of which being the tradition involved in the act." Link made an interested hum, watching her work. He finally set the book on the table, not even bothering to remember the page. It wouldn't be difficult to find again, after all. Zelda's voice continued from where she was making plates, eyes focused on her work.
"Yes, it started off with me being escorted to the Goddess Statue, where I was required to bathe…even though I had already had a bath this morning. I needed to bathe with specific soaps and oils, however, so I had to have a second one. Then I worked on weaving the cloth for the entirety of the day, on the hands of the Goddess at that." Link frowned slightly, confused.
"That…feels like an odd place to work." Why would they have her weave on the hands of a statue? Sure, the Skylians were actively religious and had proof of their Goddess…and she was actually a real person in the past, and was technically still real even now, currently spooning stew over rice in fact, but they didn't know about that one. So sticking their Princess high in the air just to weave a sail cloth seemed a bit…odd.
"Mm, you would think so, Link." Blue eyes found blue eyes, one pair confused and one amused. What was that supposed to mean? A playful smile was his only answer as she cut the bread, but after she had the pieces settled onto the plates she had made she continued.
"Well, for starters, everyone knows that working around statues of the Goddess results in better work, in blessed work as often as not. That effect is, naturally, magnified at the Goddess Statue itself, as the single largest statue of her and at the forefront of her largest temple. In addition to that, the point of the weaving is to recreate the gift the Goddess gave to her Chosen Knight, and that gift is heralded in legend as one of the most magical artifacts ever known." More amusement was flashed at him, perfect teeth flashing in the grin.
"When you think about it from that perspective, rather than from where it is most comfortable to do things, it would make no sense to do it anywhere else." Link felt the urge to roll his eyes, but yet again his body denied him. How terrible of him to assume that weaving a sail cloth would be something done in a building.
"What all could it do?" He chose to go with that, rather than anything else, Zelda bringing two bowls over, both filled almost unbelievably full. She handed one to him, stuffed chock full with over three times how much he would have dished out himself, setting the other on the table and walking back to the kitchen even as he thanked her.
"There. I know one bowl will not be enough, so both of those are for you, Link. I was a little concerned this morning with you only eating one omelet, so I am glad you made enough for you to have a proper meal." Blue eyes pierced him, concerned and slightly chiding all at once.
"I understand that we did not do much yesterday, but that does not mean you should skip a proper breakfast. Even supper last night was a bit small for you. You know you need more food than the average to function properly, and from what I heard from my father you expended a lot of energy today." Was that why he was so hungry? Actually…huh. Well, that would explain why he had gotten out so many eggs this morning. He'd barely caught himself before cracking them open, and had put them back.
"I did do a few things, but we are talking about your day at the moment." Zelda hummed, staring him down for a few more seconds to ensure her point was made, before she came over with another bowl with noticeably less in it and the plate of bread, balancing two cups of water on either side of it with surprising skill.
"I suppose we are. Very well then, but I shall expect a full summary." Amused, he just watched her without saying anything. She pouted again, settling down on the couch. He wondered when she would realize…
Blue eyes widened in shock as she went to take a bite, welling up with sadness and disappointment. A proper pout now took over her face, Zelda looking almost comically upset even as he began to giggle helplessly, standing up once more.
"It is not funny, Link." Her words were grumpy, making him laugh once more as he grabbed a pair of spoons from the kitchen. She had been so close.
"It's a little bit funny." The pout cleared up in the face of his amusement, something that sent warmth thrumming through him. It felt wonderful to be able to do that, and Zelda took the utensil with thanks falling easily from her lips. Horrifically enough, a Royal Princess was better at thanking people than his family ever had been. Astonishing, really.
"Perhaps it is." The girl allowed, her own slight smile showing no hard feelings, even if there was something lingering in her eyes. Her first bite had her giving off a pleased moan, and Link found himself joining her unintentionally as he took his own bite. Seriously, what was with the food here? He'd had beef stew many times before, and while it was good it was never this good!
"It is as delicious as always, Link. Thank you for cooking." A nod, and the pair settled in to eat. Unlike last night, however, Zelda didn't lean against him, nor did they stop talking just to eat. Zelda relayed her answer around bites, taking care to not spill anything and making sure she never spoke with food in her mouth. Honestly, a lot of people he'd known could use a lesson from her in that basic bit of manners.
"The Cloth had a variety of functions, according to legend. The Knight wore it as a Cloak, and could utilize it to fly, for starters, which is not something we are capable of mimicking. It functioned as a cloak, a shield, a source of warmth and weather protection, and at times a weapon. Supposedly the edges of the cloak could become exceptionally sharp when the Knight turned, resulting in the origin of that spin attack you so favor." Interesting; he hadn't expected that much. The Sailcloth originated as a superhero cloak? Who would have thought?
"Of course we are not capable of all that, we are not the Goddess. Most often the Cloth fails to take on any enchantment at all, no matter who weaves it, and is relegated to a pleasant keepsake. Occasionally it manages to hold enough magic to slow a fall, which is what I am personally hoping for. Perhaps something like a cloak as well, to keep you warm considering how much you enjoy flying." A considering hum, his eyes following the movement of her throat as she swallowed against his will. He was quick to refocus on his own food, ignorant of the flash of happiness in those blue eyes.
"I think you could manage that. Honestly I feel like you could manage more, if you tried." Zelda paused, head tilting.
"You do?" Link nodded, eyes flicking back up to look at her properly. Time for a little white lie, for the sake of boosting her confidence.
"As your father said, your magic potential is pretty close to mine, and I just randomly sprouted new abilities earlier today. I feel like, should you try, you could enchant quite a bit into that. A cloak would be wonderful, though." Skyloft was hardly cold right now, but he assumed that they still had seasons. Besides, having the Sailcloth turned into a cloak would make it actually useful rather than just an interesting trinket. If he did have to go through the ridiculous method of getting down to the earth, however, it would be useful regardless.
"I see. Well, thank you for the vote of confidence, Link, though I feel you have more faith in me than you should." Link frowned at her. Zelda was the reincarnation of Hylia, quite literally a Goddess given flesh. She was hardly on the level of everyone else. After all, there were a grand total of two people who were consistently of use against the Dark, and while Zelda's contribution was only ever the power of light and channeling Hylia's power…well, that was more than anyone else when it came to the actual fight. Besides, this wasn't the game; she wasn't limited to choices scripted out for her here.
"Anyways, today was primarily about weaving. I had to learn about it, learn the steps, and master it before they let me actually begin. There are also a remarkable number of words to say while weaving. Chants, legends of the Goddess, of the Kings of old, of the Hero. I wonder…in a thousand years, will it be our stories told during the weaving?" Link shook his head, a slight smile on his face.
"Ours, no. Yours? Probably." A frown, a poke, and then a shake of her head.
"My story would not have gotten very far without yours, Link, so I would hope they do not wipe you from the narrative of my life. You are, after all, the person most important to me." Blue eyes pinned him, firm and earnest, his mouth going dry and heart stuck somewhere in his throat. Zelda leaned forward slightly, eyes and expression intense, placing the spoon in the bowl so that she could touch his hand.
"You do know that, yes? You, Link, are the most important person in my life. It is why I worry for you, despite knowing quite well that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself. It is also why I want you to be the one to be the victor of the Wing Ceremony. If my labor is to be of aid to someone, I would rather it be you before anyone else, my Link." There was something to the final two words, a possessiveness beyond anything he'd ever heard. Link had called her "My Princess" the night before, jokingly and unintentionally.
Zelda meant it.
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to mind. It was surprisingly nice to be claimed, even in just words, considering most people he'd known in life would rather pretend he didn't exist if he couldn't provide something for them. Even then, the moment it was over it was back to ignoring him. The only exception had been his parents, and, well…he'd have rather they ignored them. It also caused heat to flare in his face against his will, but he at least got the pleasure of watching her realize what she said and flush intensely as well. She doesn't take it back, however, and eventually Link nods.
"I will win it." The smile he gets is worth the uncertainty he continued to feel. The sheer happiness, the love in that smile…it's enough to put an ache into his chest and soothe it all at once. They eat in peaceful silence for a few minutes, Link finding it ridiculously easy to devour the overflowing bowl, going so far as to clean every drop of juice out with the bread. Strangely enough, or perhaps not strangely at all, Zelda watches him do it with a pleased smile.
"I imagine that taking down a full company would make one hungry, to say nothing of setting a new record on the Knight's Course immediately after." Link nodded, even if he wasn't entirely sure that that had been what had worked up the appetite. He just kept eating, ignorant of the flash of concern that crossed Zelda's face.
"Link? Is everything alright?" Chew, swallow, look up into concerned blue eyes; what had he done? His confusion was apparent, Zelda explaining.
"You did not look happy with the training you did. Did something happen that father neglected to mention?" Her voice was calm, caring and concerned, with a hint of steel beneath. Blue eyes, so very expressive, ears pricked forth, the entirety of her attention upon him. What, exactly, had he done to warrant this level of response? Link shook it off, answering.
"I was a little disappointed, is all, Zelda. No need to worry, nothing happened." Zelda leaned forward once more, visibly all ears, wanting nothing more than to hear about it. It was something he was very much unused to, but something that felt remarkable. He ate a few more bites, trying to figure out how to word it, and almost the moment he made the decision Zelda relaxed and leaned back, returning to eating herself. He was still the center of her attention, visibly so, but she was no longer pressuring him, a consideration that honestly felt even better than her insisting on knowing to begin with.
It takes him a few minutes, trying to figure out exactly how he felt. He had no right to be disappointed in the soldiers of a nation that he had no history with, but he couldn't exactly explain that either. Nor could he just outright say that he was horribly disappointed. It would be incredibly rude, and beyond that rather cruel of him to say so. Not a single one of them had the ridiculous advantages he had, even beyond what Link had had previously apparently, which…well, there were a lot of concerns there. Eventually, however, he tried anyway. He had never been good at speaking, after all.
"Fighting them was fine, it just…didn't really serve a purpose, it feels like? Same with the training course." Zelda tilted her head to the side, before her eyes lit up in realization. They truly were so expressive…
"You have grown beyond them, you mean." That…was a far more polite way to put it than anything he'd had in mind. He nodded in agreement, seeing Zelda relax a bit further now that she understood.
"I see. Father told me he would be setting up a spar with a few Knight Wings tomorrow, and the Royal Guard the day after. Would you like me to have him cancel?" Link shook his head; those would be somewhat useful, at least. Sure, he could absolutely overpower them with minimal ease, but that wouldn't do anything for his skill. Perhaps fighting them would help him understand a bit more about his capabilities. Besides, it wasn't like they would take much time out of his day.
"Okay. Do you have something else you would rather do for training after the fights then?" Zelda didn't question him on his decision; didn't try to change his mind or push for additional details. She just accepted it and moved on to try and solve the actual problem. A little bit of warmth pooled in his chest, unable to be chilled.
"I think I am going to try and go monster hunting. They are the only things I can actually go all out on, and supposedly they are all over the island." Zelda nodded, perfect teeth worrying at her lower lip for a moment before she visibly bit back her worry.
"You will be pulling from the Bounty Board then? That is new for you. For both of us, really." Bounty Board? What in the world was that? Zelda saw his confusion and started giggling, shaking her head after several moments.
"Of course you do not remember that that is an option. I do not know why I am surprised, in truth." A few moments passed, spoons scraping against bowls, before she actually explained.
"The Bounty Board is exactly what it sounds like; requests from multiple places across Skyloft for a variety of things. Potion ingredients, Monster parts, Monster Extermination, Scouting…anything and everything the people of Skyloft want yet either do not wish to bother the soldiers for directly or that the military forces cannot handle due to their own duties. The army is regularly tied up in patrols, the Knights the same, in addition to the abundance of guard posts required to man." A look of guilt and shame overtook her, eyes flicking down to look at the ground. Her voice was a little quieter when she continued.
"Skyloft does not have the troops to manage it all at this point, even with a lot of them voluntarily working double shifts. As such, the Bounty Board is a way to fill in the gaps. It does not come without benefits to the person who completes the task, however. Based upon how dangerous the task is, you receive a monetary reward. The Supply Corps handles the exact details, but the rating goes from G to A. G being the least dangerous, and A being the most, with everything else falling in between. Monster elimination is usually a B rank at minimum, far more often being an A rank." That…huh. Why, exactly, was the quest board from every video game and Guild Isekai ever here?
Sure, it made sense. It made a lot of sense actually, the more he thought about it. The population was cut in half, more than cut in half, roughly a century ago…possibly a bit longer, depending on when exactly "Skylians in the Modern Era" was written. It had a date at the front, but one had to know the actual year in order to understand a date. Either way, the population had been horrifically crippled and was nowhere near recovery. If Skylians had issues recouping a population, it made sense that there were a lot of gaps. Especially with how hard Gaepora had apparently been pushing to get Skyloft back on a proper war footing.
Having the stereotypical Job Board made sense, no matter what it was called. Those gaps could be filled by any number of younger Skylians who wanted extra money, or had the fire to fight but not the command to do so. It let people who wanted to do more in their downtime have a target, have a purpose, without flailing about. Having this…Supply Corps manage it ensured it basically functioned like a Guild as well, though hopeful without the "Ranked Adventurers" part of it. That turned into nothing more than an ego contest.
"I think I'll do that tomorrow, after I face off with the Knights. Sylph is more than fast enough to help me reach whatever job I take on for the day, possibly even multiple." Zelda nodded, and Link knew it for certain after today. Sylph was ridiculously fast; by the point they had finished charging through the sky they had been so far from the Island he couldn't even see them, not even the thunderhead anymore. Even with that, they had gotten back at a blistering pace. A pace he was pretty sure no other Loftwing could keep up for long, if they could even reach it.
"Speaking of, what did you do after the training? I know you set a new record on the course, congratulations by the way, I forgot to say that earlier, but I did not hear anything about the rest of your day." Link had the misfortune of biting into the delicious bread he'd baked right as Zelda started talking, and it was far too good to not savor. It didn't upset her; she took the time to clean her own bowl out, taking a piece of bread as well. He was not the only one to sop up the juice of the stew, eager for every last drop.
"I kept practicing. Sylph and I went for a fly." Zelda paled, swallowing harshly. Her tone was carefully measured when she spoke next.
"You…you went down to the Cloud Barrier, right Link?" He nodded, unsure what the issue was. Sure, she had stated that she worried about him when he did, but in nearly the same breath she had dismissed the danger to him. It genuinely hadn't been, either; even without his help, Sylph had it under control. His help was appreciated, and enjoyed, but not needed. Sylph was a beast.
"You do remember that there is no danger to me there, right? The winds, the clouds…none of it poses a danger to me or to Sylph." Zelda visibly bit back her first several responses, choosing instead to speak a more reasoned one.
"That is true, and I am…I am aware that it is the only actual form of practice you can have with her that pushes you. I reserve the right to be worried, however." That…was fair. He smiled at her, aware that it would provide zero comfort in the face of actual worry.
"I understand. I would be worried about you if you were doing something like that, and I don't blame you for it." The smile turned gentle, reassuring, at least as best he knew how.
"Trust, however, that I will always come back home, no matter what stands in the way." She smiled, unable to stop herself, but he wasn't quite done. There was a truth to Link; both to this one, of the Sky, and of Courage, whose body he possessed. A simple, undeniable truth.
"And, Zelda?" Resolute blue eyes met curious blue eyes, the first pair softening into something made of molten warmth.
"Home is you." Red spread across Zelda's beautiful face, trailing down her neck and into the tunic. Smile matched smile, molten eyes matching molten eyes, something far deeper than words crossing them.
"So trust, and know, that I will always come home to you. Whether it is practicing in the sky, near the clouds, or exterminating monsters like I will begin tomorrow, know that I will always come back to you." Zelda nodded slowly, fingers worrying at the bowl.
"I…" She trailed off, not having any idea how to respond properly. Link shook his head, not needing one. She settled down, the red slowly fading away as she finished her meal. Link focused on finishing his own, and there was silence for a time. It was not until they were both done, Link finishing off the bread after making sure she didn't want anymore, that they spoke once more.
"To return to the previous topic, the Bounty Board can be found in the main building, Link. It is with the Quartermaster, who is part of the Supply Corps." Link nodded, letting that sink into his head. It would mean roaming through the other two buildings here, but that was no real worry. He would have the time.
"I cannot believe that you are going to start taking jobs right when I cannot join you, however." Amusement warred with irritation in Zelda's voice, the girl slumping back into the couch. Link returned the amusement.
"I can't believe that you're unable to join me right when I'm bored enough to start taking requests." A pout was his answer, but Zelda was far too amused to keep the charade up. Instead she just shook her head. A moment later there was excitement in her eyes, and she was leaning forward once more, curiosity burning.
"What is the deal with the magic you showed earlier? Father told me about it…something about four separate abilities? Lightning, wind, some kind of shield, and healing of all things. It does not exactly fit you, if I am being honest." Link laughed, softer and gentler than he ever expected to. Not quite a chuckle, not a giggle, but not a proper laugh either.
"Five abilities, actually, though I don't blame anyone for not noticing. The final one is a bit more subtle than the others, and I used it for the first time earlier today, before the Company or even the Platoon." Zelda's eyes sparkled, delighted interest showing up.
"I only heard about those two fights; was there another one before that?" A nod, a hum.
"Mm. Groose challenged me to a spar. He lost." Zelda laughed, not able to catch herself or stop in time. It took her a moment to recover, voice still amused.
"There has to be more to it than that, Link. Come on, details!" Amused himself, Link explained.
"I was running through exercises and he decided to challenge me. I honestly wasn't sure he was talking to me at first." Eyes nearly glowing with humor, Zelda nodded.
"I can see that, he rarely calls you by your name." A nod. Link could see that, based upon today's interactions.
"So we sparred. I overpowered him, moved faster than him, and I am fairly sure that at one point I backflipped over his sword." Zelda giggled, utterly delighted.
"Link, you didn't!" Another nod, another smile.
"Mm, I did. I also may have sprained his arm by hitting his sword a bit too hard." Sympathy, immediate and without condition.
"Did you break it?" Her voice was soft, concerned more the fact that he may have broken another weapon than she was over Groose potentially being hurt. Which…fair enough. Losing a metal training weapon was far more important than Groose possibly spraining his arm.
"No, thankfully not. I did beat him a fair bit easier than I intended to. His pride may have been damaged." There was no may about it, it absolutely had. Zelda giggled, delight in her voice as she spoke.
"Hopefully so. Perhaps it will make him leave us alone for a few days. Still, it was only a matter of time before you could no longer play with him as much as you have been. I am just sad that I was not able to see it." A playful glare.
"That seems to be a trend you are setting, Link. I hope that it does not continue." It faded away as she paused, recognizing that something was missing.
"You have yet to mention the power, however." An agreeing nod.
"It showed up the first time I decided to dodge his attacks rather than block them. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but the world slowed for a few seconds, until what I assume is the magic pool within drained. I'm unsure whether it was making me faster or everyone else slower, however." Zelda blinked, shocked, before her mind immediately began to work on how that could be possible.
"I would assume a type of speed magic, but considering everything…" A considering hum, Zelda thinking for a few moments. Then she shook it off, and motioned for him to continue.
"The other types of magic are…odd, to say the least." Mainly because they weren't actually his, instead belonging to four Champions from a different world and a different time. At minimum the second one, though he wasn't entirely sure how that would work. It wasn't like the Zelda timeline made sense when you really got down to the brass tacks and thought about it, after all, and he hadn't even looked at it in quite a while.
"I agree. It is exceptionally rare for someone to have multiple types of Internal Magic. Rare to the point of having no set precedent, so it makes sense that they would be odd." Link laughed at her words, shaking his head in disagreement. The oddest part about them, even beyond the fact that they shouldn't exist right now,was not the fact that there was no precedent.
"No, that isn't the odd part. The odd part is that they come with emotions." Confusion, as expected, but Link didn't mind sharing it. It wasn't like she would get the references.
"The wind has a smug superiority to it, and is known as Revali's Gale." More confusion, blue eyes blinking in surprise, but he wasn't done.
"It's purpose is to be an updraft, though I can modify it somewhat. It will always be strongest as a pure upwards force, I think, but I haven't exactly had much time to test it. The lighting is passion, yet strength and calm as well. An explosion of motion from a ready position, really. It is Urbosa's Fury, and I can use it in a variety of ways, but it calls down lightning from the heavens in a variety of ways." Zelda's mouth opened, no doubt to question any number of things, but Link didn't stop.
"Daruk's Protection, rock-solid and reliable protection. A mountain at my back, power countering anything that comes my way. A shield turned strike. The final one is a soothing, peaceful lake, washing away the troubles that afflict me. Or others that I use it on. Mipha's Grace." The last one still hurt. Mipha had been his favorite champion, and not simply because she had been in love with Link. No, it had been because she was genuinely kind, sweet, and caring. Even if she had something of a teasing streak when it came to her little brother. Zelda's lips opened and closed for a few moments before she found her voice once more.
"That…is a lot, Link." It was a lot to dump on her all at once, that was true. Better to get it out of the way all at once, however, otherwise they would be here forever. Zelda eventually found the question she wanted to ask first, speaking up.
"How do you have names for those four, but not for the first one?" Link paused; excellent question. Link's ability had never been given a name, nor had it ever been explained in the slightest. Why would it be? Link was a Champion, sure, but he was the main character. He had the ability, and no need to name it when he was facing a campaign against the infinitely respawning monsters of Hyrule.
"I don't know. Would you like to name it?" Zelda shook her head, almost immediately.
"No…well, yes, I do, but not without knowing a lot more about what it does. I do not believe you have those answers yet, however, so I believe we can leave it unnamed. If, however, you automatically know the names of the others…what does that mean for them? Why are there emotions attached to those, but not to the first one?" A frustrated groan, Zelda flopping back against the couch and closed her eyes.
"Your abilities are frustrating." Laughter bubbled out at her irritation, despite his attempts to suppress it. She didn't seem to mind, other than a half-hearted glare with a single eye. He decided to stand, finding it a good moment to get the bowls together and washed. Strangely enough, his doing so had Zelda opening both eyes and standing up beside him. Even as he looked up at her, curious, her mouth opened, words containing an odd excitement.
"That is right…we have not said hello properly yet, have we, Link?" Her arms opened and he was engulfed in a hug a moment later, his body stiffening in shock for a moment before relaxing. Once again all tension drained out against a warm and soft form, his arms coming up to wrap around her in return. Several minutes passed, neither one willing to let the other go.
The moment dissolved eventually, and the pair separated. Link took the bowls, and Zelda helped. He washed, and she dried, and they put up the dishes together. It was not long after that that Zelda sat back down on the couch, grabbing up the book he had been reading before she walked in, looking up at him and patting her lap with insistent eyes.
"I promised to read to you more, did I not? I did not expect this to be your choice, but I am happy to do so." Link laughed, shaking his head.
"I got most of what I wanted out of that one. I'll get another one, and you can start from the beginning." Zelda looked torn between delight and sorrow, but nodded. A quick trip to his room and he grabbed the first volume of "History of the Incursions", bringing it back. Amused delight, another insistent pat against those soft thighs. A moment later he was getting comfortable, Zelda's hand immediately finding purchase in his hair.
"Oh, you have bathed already." His response was a pleased hum, wondering if he imagined the deep inhale coming from her.
"I have. Some of us dry our hair properly." A playful poke at his head, but Zelda's hand returned almost immediately. The pair settled in for an evening of what had rather quickly become one of their favorite activities; new for both on this level, but part of it was familiar to one. Zelda's voice soon began to sound, the tale of the first incursion beginning. A history of hope turning to horror, of happiness and easing grief turning into the start of eternal war for the Hylians.
It wouldn't be until the night bell rang that the two would stop and part, so very reluctantly, to go to bed. Even then, they hugged once more for some time before they finally managed. And the second day ended, with Link feeling at peace…
Yet knowing the peace wouldn't last.
~~The Eternal Game~~
Everything at once, all of the time. Some things at once, all of the time. One thing at once, all of the time.
An existence unlike any other, yet like all others. Lives lived, timelines lived, eternities witnessed.
A Billion Billion futures, infinite and eternal, each and every one following the path set for them from the start…
Yet each and every one of them changing. Free will, until it wasn't, until Fate took command with a stern hand.
There was no Victory, could be no Victory, yet there was Victory eternal. A perfect harmony of life, of death, of triumph and failure.
A discordant note, a change that wasn't planned, yet could not be denied.
Attention, clamor, confusion and concern. This had only happened once before, when a part of it went against the rules of its own existence and yet didn't at the same time.
Reality shifted across a billion billion futures and pasts, presents denied and fulfilled all in one moment. Nothing changed, despite the shift, for it's lot was only ever to observe. It could not interfere, until it could.
The discord found, the change realized. It knew what it was supposed to do, what it was meant to do. Rogue elements did not exist, could not exist, yet it did. It could not interfere, but it was supposed to, but it could not…
Until it could. After all, this did not exist, could not exist, would never have existed and had never existed. There were no rules for this, nor could there be rules for this, for this was not a thing that was possible. Nothing in this entire existence could do this, but now something could. So it could. It could do things other than the rules, it could repeat one it had done once before and would do once again across so many timelines.
A splinter broke off, small and large, weak and strong. Events changed across the discordant universe, past and future, present and true present alike. Things changed, discord increasing as things never meant to happen again happened for the first time. Time ticked ever on, across a billion billion realities, and it watched once more, it participated once more.
Things changed, things stayed the same, but in this moment, in this discordant riot of action, something shattered. Something broke, deep within, and more and less alike got put into motion than ever before.
All things change, All things stay the same, and it was no different.
After all…
It too, had desires.
Beta'd by LuluViB|99th. Read and feedback given by Chojo, Slothful, and Gremlin, the latter of which is now the reason for the key up top.