POV Link
"So that's it, Purah" I finish, exasperated.
"Geez, Linky. And how long has it been? Two months?"
"63 days, exactly. Since we returned from the last spring."
When we finished receiving Hylia's memories, I was fascinated. The sacrifice of the nameless man, her love for him, and her refusal to let destiny separate them. Everything she did just so they could have a chance to meet in another life… the story moved me deeply. However, despite understanding that this is part of my own history, my past, it all feels very ethereal and distant—like I'm watching a tragic play with unknown characters.
Curious to know the outcome and how all this tied into our current problems, I suggested to Zelda that we head to Hebra as soon as possible. It's a long journey, a week on horseback, and I was eager to finish the quest.
She, however, didn't seem very anxious to proceed. As soon as our connection with Hylia was severed, I was in ecstasy. Zelda, on the other hand, was the opposite. Her face was blank, and she seemed to be in another world.
"Let's monitor the situation and see what happens from now on, if more Blood Moons appear. Depending on the severity, we'll head to Hebra soon," she said, simply.
Since we returned from that mission, she has remained strangely cold and distant with me. I can't understand what happened, and when I ask about it, she just changes the subject, saying she's just overwhelmed by the imminent problems. But I can't shake the feeling that the problem is me—although I have no idea what I could have done to cause this reaction.
After more than two months with no change in the atmosphere between us, desperate, I turned to Purah for advice. Maybe she could understand what's going on in Zelda's head, since she won't communicate with me.
"I have a theory about what might have happened, Linky. But I don't know if it's my place to tell you; I think it should come from Zelda. Let's wait a bit, maybe she's still processing the information," observes Purah diplomatically. "Give her time, I'm sure she will open up. After all, didn't she wait for many years until you could do the same?"
I nod, frustrated. If I had known it was this unpleasant to be left in the dark, I would have started talking much sooner. The feeling of helplessness was overwhelming.
"And about the mission, aren't you going to proceed? I know there haven't been other Blood Moons, and that, although it was terrible to look at and ominous, very few monsters were summoned that night," she continues. "I understand it's not the ideal time, given Zelda's emotional state, but we're all worried. That toxic smoke has started leaking all over Hyrule now, although most of it is concentrated in the Castle. We need to finish investigating what's happening."
I shake my head, tired. There's a lot to deal with, and I'm completely exhausted. With Zelda distant, it seems most of my brain is occupied trying to understand what happened between us, and there's no energy left to focus on anything else. But I know Purah is right, and our duties to the people of Hyrule are more important than our relationship problems.
At that moment, Zelda enters the lab, and Purah and I fall silent.
"Good afternoon, everyone," Zelda says. "What were you talking about?"
"The toxic smoke, Zel," I say. "Purah reported that several people have come into contact with it at different points in the kingdom. It seems it's also leaking from cracks in the ground now. The good news is that it seems to be less concentrated than the one that killed that volunteer a while ago, but it's still harmful. Those who come into contact are losing vitality and becoming bedridden. We need to do something."
Zelda nods reluctantly, and I see in her eyes that she is as exhausted as I am. But I feel we are at the final stretch of this journey, so I encourage her.
"Let's go to the Forgotten Temple, as Hylia instructed. I think we're almost done, Zel. Everything will be alright," I insist. "We can stop by the Rito village… I know how you like it there. It's a shame Kass left on a mission again, or we could hear him perform the ancient songs."
Feeling she has no other choice due to her responsibility to Hyrule, Zelda agrees, resigned.
"Okay," she says, without emotion. "We leave tomorrow."
We cross the Forgotten Temple in silence. It used to be infested with active guardians, but now even those stationed here have been removed.
The quietness during the week-long journey reminded me of when we used to travel across Hyrule on different missions in the pre-Calamity era—but not in a good way. I recalled when Zelda used to be cold and distant with me, during the period when I was newly appointed as her bodyguard. Not even the stop in the Rito village cheered her up.
Worry consumes me, but I don't know what to do. So we just keep walking forward.
We arrive at the foot of the giant statue of Hylia at the end of the Temple. It is extremely similar to the one we saw in the last memory of the goddess, and I wonder if it might actually be the same structure—since it appears to be very ancient.
"Okay, we're here," Zelda says. "And now, what should we do? Did you receive any more instructions?" she asks, disheartened.
"No, just what we heard from Hylia. I don't know what…" I begin, but I'm interrupted by the sound of two pairs of footsteps. Instinctively, I place myself in front of Zelda and draw the sword I'm carrying.
"Hey, calm down, man. No need to stress out," says a familiar voice.
"And are you sure you want to fight us? We have as much talent as you and millennia more of experience," adds another voice.
Within seconds, I see two of the other Links emerging from behind the statue. I recognize them as the heroes of Time, who is serious—as always—and of Sky, who is laughing, greatly amused by the situation. Relieved, I sheathe the sword and relax. I check Zelda and notice that she is wide-eyed, staring at the Links in disbelief.
"Congratulations, it looks like you've recovered the memories," Sky celebrates, happy. "Finally, huh. I thought you'd give up after that long pause when things got so much more... interesting for you two," he adds, suggestively, and then laughs. Time doesn't seem as impressed.
"My Ocarina, please?" he asks, bluntly.
Immediately, I take the instrument out of my bag and hand it to him.
"How are you here, materialized? Reborn?" I ask, curious.
"Ha, no, and thank goodness for that. I had forgotten how painful this mortal body is. If I stand too long, my feet hurt. If I sit too long, it's my back. Being a spirit is much easier, I swear by Hylia," jokes Sky. "And speaking of Hylia… hi Zelda! I'm happy to finally meet you. I'm Sky, the first Link to embody the Spirit of the Hero. And this is Time, the Link who caused chaos in the timeline, along with the Zelda of his incarnation."
"Chaos in the timeline?" Zelda asks, confused.
"We'll get there," says Time. "But first things first. Wild," he says, turning to me. For the first time since the last spring, I see a smile playing on Zelda's lips at the nickname the Links gave me. "To answer your question, we're here only to conclude the story for you. The goddesses granted us the opportunity to travel to this land to meet you, but we can't stray far from the statue of Hylia; and we don't have much time. So we'll be brief—as brief as possible: despite being the end of the story, there's a lot of information. So, if you want to sit…" he invites, indicating the ground.
The four of us sit, and Sky begins to speak.
"Well, I think it's best to start with me. As I said, I'm the first Link. After Demise was sealed and Hylia abdicated her divine form, the goddesses monitored all the inhabitants of Skyloft for years, while Hylia remained suspended in hibernation. After… what, 2 or 3 millennia? We don't know the exact date, but something around that. After that period, I was born, and the goddesses identified that I had the Unbreakable Spirit necessary to embody the Spirit of the Hero. So they created the first Zelda from Hylia's energy. She was left on the doorstep of the old headmaster of the soldier academy where I studied, Master Gaepora. No one talked about it at the time, but she was adopted by him.
"Our first years of life were completely normal. Since we were kids, we formed such a strong bond that people around us found it strange. We were always together: we rode our giant birds—gifts left by Hylia so the inhabitants of Skyloft could move between the floating islands—together, we studied together, anyway. In adolescence, inevitably, we developed a romantic interest in each other. It was around that time, shortly after I graduated as a soldier from the Academy, that she was taken back to the land below us.
"The night after this incident, I was visited by Fi for the first time, though I didn't know who—or what—she was. She led me to the chamber where Hylia hid, so many years ago, the weapon we knew at the time as the Goddess Sword. The moment I touched it for the first time, the Spirit of the Hero fused with mine. That's why they say it's the Sword that chooses its wielder, not the other way around. If I didn't have the Unbreakable Spirit and the necessary vitality, I would have died trying to pull it from its pedestal. And before you ask, no, not all young men who carried the Spirit of the Hero wielded the Master Sword. We don't know why, but sometimes it chooses to fuse with a young man of Unbreakable Spirit autonomously—but these are exceptions, not the rule.
"Anyway. The sword I claimed that day was still a primal version of the Master Sword. During my journey to find Zelda in this unknown land, it was I who tempered it in the sacred flames of Din, Farore, and Nayru until it assumed its final form as you know it today. By acquiring the qualities of Courage, Power, and Wisdom, I also retrieved the Triforce from within the Sacred Realm and wished for the destruction of Demise. Finally reunited with Zelda, we celebrated the annihilation of this evil. But our joy was short-lived.
"Just as Fi resides in the Master Sword, Demise's sword also housed a guardian spirit: Ghirahim. Seeing that we had destroyed his master, he kidnapped Zelda and took her back to the past, to a time shortly after the battle between Hylia and Demise. Using a sinister ritual, Ghirahim managed to extract enough energy from my Zelda to revive Demise."
Zelda and I are stunned, shocked that this demon had been sealed for such a short time.
"And where is he now?" Zelda asks, distressed. Sky hesitates a bit before continuing.
"Well… I also returned to the past and fought against him. I managed to deliver a fatal blow to him with the Master Sword… but things didn't unfold exactly as Hylia predicted. Instead of losing his consciousness and returning to represent the natural entropy of the worlds, what remained of Demise was absorbed by the sword. And, as if that wasn't enough, before being captured by the blade, he cast a curse on us."
We all fall silent for a few seconds. Zelda and I exchange a look, beginning to understand the situation.
"And… this curse is the 'old problem' you warned me about?" I ask.
"Yes," confirms Sky. "The curse of Demise ensured that a cycle of chaos and destruction would always repeat throughout the Ages. Just like Hylia, upon losing his consciousness as an immortal being, he was reborn in human form. And whenever he returns, we also return; the triad is composed of him, a young man who embodies the Spirit of the Hero, and a Zelda who can fully access Hylia's powers. Over hundreds of thousands of years, this pattern repeated time after time."
"And you expect us to break this cycle how?" I ask, exasperated. "Is this man even alive today?"
"We believe so. It has been many millennia since a man was born among the Gerudo; he used to be reborn in the tribe every 100 years and became their leader. The lack of male births among them is an indication to us that he was not completely destroyed the last time."
My body goes cold, and looking at Zelda, I see that she also made the connection.
"This man… is he the one we were warned would return?" she asks, cautiously.
"We believe so. But we also have reason to believe he is weakened, so it shouldn't be difficult to finish him off."
"Sounds simple enough," I say.
Sky hesitates a bit.
"Well… not quite," he says, apologetically. "Do you remember that I said part of Demise's energy was sealed inside the Master Sword?"
I frown, recalling this detail.
"We believe you will first need to find a way to let it escape from there."
"And how do we do that?"
"That part we have no idea. But I think you'll be able to figure it out."
Great, I think, irritated.
"Don't be sarcastic," scolds Time.
"Hey, get out of my head," I complain, annoyed. "And where is this man, do you know?"
The Links exchange a look before Sky responds:
"Under Hyrule Castle. When he is not conscious in his human form, he takes the form of a monstrosity… You have already known him as Ganon."