Chapter 1: The Visitors
"Link!" a high pitched voice rang in Link's ears. "Come on, get up!"
Link placed a pillow over his head to muffle Jixi the fairy's voice. During hunting season, she made it her job to make sure he never slept in. It was helpful, sure, but in his morning haze he couldn't manage to remember why he kept her around.
"LINK!" yelled Jixi, intent on making her voice heard past the pillow. "Hurry up! You're gonna miss prime hunting hours!"
That's right, this was one of the last days of the hunting season, and Link hadn't exactly had a very profitable year. He grunted as he removed the pillow from over his head and sat up slowly. "I'm up, I'm up," said Link tiredly, as the fairy circled his head. He waved his hand at her to make her stop.
"Hmph, don't treat me like a bug!" sneered Jixi, flying away from his head and towards the door. She was the only light in the room apart from the soft moonlight shining through the open windows. The sun hadn't even begun to peak over the mountains silhouetted against the starry sky. "Get dressed! You've only bagged two deer all season! How are you supposed to make it through winter?"
"We have enough," said Link simply, trusting that she hadn't woken him in the middle of the night.
"Barely!" exclaimed the fairy. "And you can't just survive on meat, you gotta trade for other food, too."
Link sighed. "I know, I know." He smiled faintly, thinking of how he'd met Jixi seven years ago when he was barely 11 years old. She took it upon herself to look after him after he saved her from having her wings ripped out by Lako, a local ruffian with a bad temper and meaner stare.
Jixi continued to pester Link as he dressed in his green hunting tunic and favorite cap. They helped him blend into the trees as he hunted.
Link and Jixi lived in a treehouse on the outskirts of Hateno Village. He preferred living where monsters and other fiends would be easier to pick off with his bow, should they ever draw near.
"I'm just trying to look out for you," said Jixi, as Link slipped on his boots and grabbed the salted deer jerky he finished preparing the day before.
Link only smiled at her in response as he continued his morning preparations for the hunt. They continued in mostly silence, only broken by Jixi's occasional reminder to bring snares, extra arrows, and to make sure his bowstring was taught and ready. As long as he bagged one more deer, he would be fine until Spring.
As Link disembarked from his home's ladder, the first rays of sunlight broke over the mountain near his home. Other hunters would be getting ready to tread into the forest as well, including the hotheaded Lako.
As they approached the line of trees that marked the edge of the forest, Link and Jixi stopped. There was a slight mist that seeped out of the forest, tendrils licking the grass at Link's feet.
"Great," said Link sarcastically. "Mist."
The two walked slowly into the forest, Link holding his bow with an arrow strung in front of him.
Trails were difficult to see through the mist, so Link had to keep his face closer to the ground. Eventually he found indents of the hooves of a large buck that were quite fresh beneath the underbrush.
Half an hour passed, yet the tracks of the buck continued to bring Link farther into the forest than he felt entirely comfortable. Fortunately, the mist had begun to dissipate. The further he traveled out into the woods, the more difficult it would be to bring the buck back. As he considered turning back to find game closer to home, a twig cracked close by.
"Link, lemme go check it out," whispered Jixi, flying a bit ahead to see if there was indeed a buck worth taking home. Link waited stiffly, fiddling with the arrow in his bow. It grew quieter, even the birds ceased their songs. Pale sunlight shone through the branches, illuminating small patches of underbrush through the mist.
Jixi floated back to where Link was sitting. "It's a girl," she whispered disappointingly. "I think she's hunting, too." Link walked nimbly through the trees where Jixi had just surveyed, making sure to keep himself hidden from sight.
As expected, the young woman was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, seeming utterly put out. Link had never seen her before, though she appeared to be close to his age. She had long, unkempt blue hair, a pale face, and what looked like leather armor. Resting against the tree beside her was a plain-looking sword. Who goes hunting with a sword and leather armor?
Link almost turned away, but at the edge of his vision he saw it. A buck with enormous antlers stared intently at the woman who was resting against the tree. Pulling the arrow back on the string, Link took aim at the buck. The forest grew eerily quiet, even the bugs had stopped calling.
A black claw suddenly ripped through the mist and the trees, causing the buck to run. Link let the arrow fly at where the buck had been, cursing as it stuck into the tree that was behind it. Following the black claw into the clearing where the woman sat was a scaled monster the size of a large horse with massive wings and a long tail.
His first instinct was to turn and run, but something kept him rooted to the spot. What about the woman? Rapidly, Link fired an arrow at the charging beast, and it roared in pain as it sunk into its arm.
"Link! Let's get out of here!" shouted Jixi from behind him. The woman opened her eyes and was on her feet with her sword drawn, her blue eyes opening wide as they beheld the monster.
"Either you're incredibly brave," a dark, female voice reached Link's ears, "or incredibly stupid." Link turned his attention away from the girl who had engaged the monster with her sword in the clearing and heard the crackling of fire spring to life behind him. Instinctively he rolled forward to dodge and a fire ball howled through the air above him.
Stringing another arrow and turning to face behind him, Link saw his attacker. A woman with long, emerald hair wielding a flaming spear smirked down at him. She was clothed in black and gold armor. "It's not you I'm after," she sighed. "But you're not just going to let me by, are you?"
Link let his arrow fly, but was shocked by the agility with which the woman was able to move her flaming lance through the air to block the arrow. "Tch tch, so foolish of you. Just sit quietly, and no one has to get hurt."
"You're the foolish one!" shouted Jixi pathetically at the woman. Nocking another arrow, Link fired another hopeless shot and ran back towards the clearing.
The blue-haired girl was nowhere to be seen, but the monster was stalking around with Link's arrow still stuck in its leg. Frozen to the spot, flanked by the woman with the flaming spear and the black scaled monster, Link let another arrow loose at the creature. In his panic, the shot went wild, and then the monster lunged.
"Don't just stand there!" shouted an unfamiliar female voice. Link felt arms wrap around his waist and was pushed to the ground as the beast's jaws clasped where he had been standing a split second earlier.
"There you are," said the green-haired woman greedily.
"Tell me! Are you the one who resurrected Grima?" shouted Link's rescuer, already on her feet with her sword pointed at the other woman.
"Oh, not me," scoffed the woman, posing to attack the girl. Just as she rushed forward to strike her, the blue-haired girl turned and ran towards Link, reaching her hand out to him.
"Come on, we aren't equipped for this!" she shouted. "We've no time to lose, Caeda's waiting for me out here." Link grabbed her hand without hesitation, letting her pull him to his feet with surprising strength. He didn't know who she or this Caeda person was, but he wasn't about to wait near the crazed warrior and her monster.
"What about the monster?" shouted Jixi, clearly frightened out of her wits. "Won't it catch us?"
Straining his ears to listen for the sound of pursuit, Link was surprised when he heard nothing behind them. "I don't think it can run with that arrow in its leg," said the girl. "Keep going that way, Caeda's just ahead. Don't worry, she'll explain things to you." The girl stopped and faced behind them, her sword drawn.
"What are you doing, she told us to keep going!" shouted Jixi. Link had stopped running after a few meters. Again, he wasn't sure if it was just him being foolhardy, but he wasn't about to just let a girl face an enemy like that alone. "Oh come on, she can handle it!" Jixi's voice betrayed her false confidence.
Link shook his head at the fairy and ran back to the girl, stringing another arrow, however useless it seemed against the woman with the spear. When turned around, the woman with the spear was advancing on the girl menacingly. Letting another arrow fly, Link sprinted back towards the two who started to swing their weapons fiercely at each other.
Again, without missing a beat, the woman hit the arrow away from her, laughing at Link's pitiful attempts to harm her. It did give the girl enough time to regain her footing, as she quickly thrust her sword at her attacker. The woman quickly used the force of her flaming spear to hit the girl's sword away, sending it flying towards Link. It stabbed deep into the bark of a nearby tree.
Link immediately grabbed the sword and ran to protect the girl who had already saved him. "I thought I told you to get out of here!" she shouted. "I can handle this!"
Link ignored her comments and stood in between the woman and her, pointing the blade at the grinning madwoman. "This just keeps getting easier and easier for me," laughed the woman, swinging her spear at Link.
Link had never trained with a sword before, but somehow he was able to block the swing with the girl's sword, despite all of the crushing force behind it. He was relying solely on his instincts, and began to fight back, much to the woman's dismay.
"You're not bad," said the woman, blocking each one of Link's attacks with surprising speed for a lance so large. "The King would love your potential." The woman quickly regained her hand on Link, as the blue-haired girl watched beside a tree.
Link knew that as far as this combat went, he was hopeless to come out on top, but he knew he couldn't leave the girl. Link blocked another attack on his left, and with his right hand he drew an arrow and lunged at the woman's leg, sticking it in her calf. The woman swore violently, and swung the butt of her spear at Link's stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"Give that to me!" shouted the girl as she tore her sword away from Link. She grabbed his hand once again and pulled him into a run behind her.
"You better tell us what's going on!" shouted Jixi as they followed her through the forest.
"I don't have time to explain right now, we have to get you out of here, first," said the girl. Link couldn't help but wonder who she was.
"At least tell me your name," said Link, between breaths.
The girl looked behind her and smiled slightly. Link was surprised by how pretty she was up close. "I'm Lucina," she said, before turning her head back to the trees in front of them. "Caeda should be just around here." They ran through a thicket of trees and what Link saw completely surprised him.
There was a girl with leather armor over a red tunic, and long blue hair waiting beside a white horse. Only, the horse had massive wings folded like a bird's across its sides. "What is that?" asked Jixi insensitively.
"It's a pegasus," answered Lucina simply as they slowed their run to a brisk walk. "Caeda, I think this is the one we're looking for."
"How is—?" started Caeda.
"I don't know, we split up," said Lucina, cutting her off. "He wanted to cover more ground." Caeda had a somewhat downtrodden look on her face. "He'll be okay, Caeda, he's faced worse than what's in there."
"Well, he has been through much worse, but he always had me at his side," said Caeda, grabbing Link's arm and pulling him over to the pegasus. "I suppose I'll just put my faith in him again." She nudged Link to prompt him to get on the pegasus. "Well, hurry up! Get on!"
"Link won't move until you explain what's going on!" shouted Jixi, but Link waved her off.
"Jixi, I'm open to other suggestions," said Link simply. Jixi grumbled to herself and flew into Link's hat to hide. Link had a fair amount of experience with riding horses, so he tried to mount it in such a way that it wouldn't irritate the pegasus's wings. Caeda and Lucina were continuing to have a hushed conversation away from them, which ended with Lucina nodding at Caeda and running back into the forest.
"Hold on!" Link made to dismount the pegasus to follow after Lucina.
"Just make sure he's safe!" shouted Caeda after her. She ran to the pegasus and jumped on so swiftly that he hadn't had time to dismount. "Hold tight to me. Hyah!" The horse kicked off and spread its massive wings and started flying. Flying. So the wings hadn't just been for show.
Now too high to dismount, Link's face flushed as he tried to think about where to grab the woman sitting so close to him, or risk falling. He wrapped his arms around her waist. There was enough room in the canopy for the pegasus to make a clean flight through and out into the open air.
Link had never been so high in his entire life, and though the wind brushing through his hair was peaceful, he'd never felt so nervous before. "It's nerve wrecking, isn't it?" Caeda spoke up. "The first time you ride a pegasus."
"A little!" Link admitted. "Who are you?" Below him he saw Hateno Village and the forest growing smaller. All around him the vast landscape of Hyrule stretched below.
"I'm Caeda," she replied cheerfully, "Princess of Talys." Link was surprised. He'd never heard of this country before. "And don't feel foolish if you don't recognize the name. I'd be surprised if you had." The forest beneath turned into fields, but ahead of them another forest stretched for miles.
A Princess, from a country he'd never heard of, riding on a flying horse after Link had narrowly escaped a woman with a flaming spear, a scaly monster, leaving a pretty girl to fend them off? A dream, surely.
"You probably think we're crazy!" said Caeda, clearly trying to help Link feel more comfortable with her. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything when we're safe!"
Several minutes passed and they were flying over the Lost Woods, a vast forest that Link had refused to enter in the past ten years. "Just in here," said Caeda. Before Link could protest, a familiar roar echoed across the sky.
Link turned to see the green-haired woman was hot in pursuit upon her wyvern, flaming spear drawn, and a stream of blood dripping down her face. He immediately began to worry about what had happened to Lucina. "Hold on tight!" shouted Caeda as the pegasus jerked in the air and turned about to face the woman's advance. Caeda pulled her own lance from her back and pointed it at the woman.
Link gripped tighter around her as they got closer to the intimidating foe. The woman swung high, but Caeda was able to cause her pegasus to descend and ascend quickly enough that they were able to dodge and Caeda dug her lance in one of the wyvern's hind legs, a roar piercing the sky in pain. They turned again in the air to face the wyvern.
The woman was ready for them. A fire began to form at the tip of the spear like the one Link had dodged in the forest. "I knew I should've taken magic defense lessons more seriously," said Caeda, her voice shaking. A burst was launched at them, but Caeda was able to maneuver her pegasus enough to dodge the first ball of flames.
The second ball, however, made direct contact with Caeda and she was flung from her saddle. Link grabbed her hand as the pegasus started to fly out of control, rocking Link more than he thought was possible. She wasn't heavy, but the effort to gain balance and hold onto her was too much, and he slid off of the pegasus's back with her.
Link refused to let go of her hand as they plummeted towards the trees. In the distance Link could see two horses with riders coming from Hateno. Caeda's mouth was moving. The wind was too loud in his ears to hear what she was saying, but the tears streaming up from her eyes and the smile was enough to tell him that she wasn't afraid. Not afraid? he thought. We're dead.
They passed through the trees flying fast, but before they made contact with the ground, a triangle on the back of Link's left hand began to glow brighter than the sun. Suddenly their rapid descent was slowed almost to a halt until they made soft contact with the ground. Link looked at Caeda, who had apparently passed out during their fall.
Her clothes were singed beneath her armor, and she had burns all over where the fire had gotten her. Water, thought Link. He had been deep in forests plenty of times, and finding water was something he had no real problem doing. But these were the Lost Woods. Link tried to block out the memories of these Woods as best as he could as he stood up to collect himself.
A roar far in the distance told Link that the woman was flying away. The triangle which had shone on the back of his hand had faded as quickly as it had arrived, leaving him to wonder exactly what had happened. He also wondered about the two horse riders pursuing them from his home. It just has to be her, he thought to himself. Lucina.
Author's notes: Though I used the name of Hateno Village to establish Link's home, please, dear readers, do not think that this is the same map as used in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. It's a unique Hyrule landscape that has familiar landmarks and unfamiliar ones, wherever I need them to be for the sake of the story itself.
Changes to the story from my 7 years more experienced self: Jixi was too annoying, so I made her more spunky rather than the extremely annoying version this used to have. I also swapped Ashnard for Petrine, thinking that another important plot change was to remove the knowledge of who Link is from the villains. At least for now.
And of course here and there I refined the dialogue, descriptions, etc.
Expect an update to the next chapter tomorrow or at the latest, this weekend if you are reading this again.