Chapter Text
Chapter 1: The Fall
He didn't think he could ever forget the exact moment everything went wrong. He didn't care about falling or how much he was hurting... He only cared about trying to reach his best friend. He would never forget how terrified she looked as he desperately tried to reach towards Zelda. She was screaming his name and flailing as she tried to grab his outstretched hand. Until… she wasn't anymore. The pain in his arm and chest couldn’t compare to the pain in his heart as he watched her disappear in the strange wisp of light. He hadn’t even processed the blue and green hand that had wrapped around his decayed arm and lifted him up at first, he was too busy trying to struggle and reach her, as if he could do something to save his best friend.
As the hand lifted him up and away, further out of reach from where he vanished, he had lost consciousness at some point. The next thing he knew, he was laying on the cold, hard ground and staring at a ruined ceiling. Oddly, he couldn’t remember how long he was laying there for. It felt like the world was moving so much slower than usual. Eventually, he forced himself to sit up only to wince at the vertigo. Once his head settled he realized that he still felt awful.Everything felt… off in a way he couldn’t explain. Like when you fall asleep and the pins and needles are digging underneath your skin. He forced himself to sit up as the wrongness that he couldn't explain became too much. His limbs felt leadened as he then forced himself to his feet.
Only to stumble and crash right back to the floor when his feet didn't move quite as expected. He blinked in confusion. Even when he woke up from the shrine without a memory to his name and next to no common sense he knew how to walk. It was like a muscle memory that never left, just like his fighting skills. Yes those had adapted and warped to fit his new mindset, but he still had the fundamentals. Now though, it felt like he had never walked before.
He looked down at his legs to try and figure out if the numbness caused him to not notice an injury only to go stock still. He slowly stretched out his right leg and turned it this way and that way. He watched the foreign looking limb respond to his brain's requests. He reached an arm out to try and feel the weird leg only to jump in surprise as his arm looked just as unfamiliar.
He raised the other arm and realized it looked different than its twin, but also different from his usual arms. One of the arms matched the soft gray color of his legs, but the other one had a much darker tint and an almost greenish hue to the dark grayish black and had these odd copper brown bangles on them. He poked the bangled arm and blinked as he realized he had no feeling in it at all. He could move it just fine but couldn’t feel if anything was touching it. He tried poking the other arm and sighed in relief as he realized he still had feeling in it. Sure, it wasn’t really a lot considering how it was littered with deep, nerve-severing scars covering that arm. Wait, where’d his scars go? He parted the short fur and frowned at the sight of the gnarled scars below…. Wait, fur? He blinked slowly as he realized he’s finally lost it. This was all some super weird nightmare and he’d wake up to Zelda yelling something about a scientific breakthrough or excitedly rambling about something.
He shook his head and tried again to get to his feet. The knees and legs were shaped weirdly, almost like an animal’s. It took him a minute to figure out how to get up. He’d also never tell a soul how many times he tripped on his own legs, feet, and tail. Yep, that wasn’t even the most mind boggling part of all this! He honestly was so tired and stressed out that the tail wasn’t even registering as a problem. It seemed to keep to itself and actively tried to correct his balance so he would never insult the tail. The tail was arguably the one blessing about all of this. He used the wall and practiced for a few minutes before finally righting himself and getting to walk out the room and down the ruined halls. The doorway was blocked by vines. As he was about to test the sharpness of the claws on his hands against the vines, the darker arm glowed a similar green hue as the magic hand and a voice rang out across the room. “Link? You’re finally awake.” Link glanced everywhere around the room, trying to find the voice. “Zelda told me a great deal about you, though she failed to mention you were a Zonai.” A what? He hesitantly stepped towards the doorway and peeked out to try and find the voice. “Oh, my apologies. I suppose you just woke up and have many questions. Come, grab what remains of the Master Sword and make your way outside. We will speak further there.”
Link blinked slowly as he processed it…. The Master Sword– wasn’t that broken? He walked back towards the center of the room he woke up in and looked around. It didn’t take long before the dull gleam of the blade caught his attention. As he removed it from the vine, he winced at the sight of the decayed blade. He glanced between the broken sword and the vines and grimaced as he realized this was probably the best item to cut the vines with. He would just have to be careful, that’s all. He nodded to himself and hesitantly went back to the vines before taking the broken edge to the vines. Thankfully, it didn’t seem any worse for wear but he still swore to use it sparingly for now. The next room didn’t seem like an exit either. He eyed the green glowing dias with the hand symbol warily before lifting his own arm up and staring at it. It couldn’t be… would the arm seriously be the answer? With cautious movements, he reached out towards the emblem and jolted backwards as the image burst with a strange noise before it dispersed into smaller wisps of green light and then vanishing entirely. A noise behind him made him turn around just in time to see a blue emblem appear in the circle on the floor behind him.
Then, as if linked somehow, the wheel on the wall to his left started to spin. He took a few of the steps to get a better view of the upper area when the grand door lock was disengaged by the moving wheel and finally opened itself. With significantly less caution, he continued up the stairs until it led him to a platform that had water below it. Internally, he dreaded the fact his newfound fur was about to get soaked before jumping in and swimming to the other side. The sight of the climbing wall only grated on his nerves. How long would it take to get outside? When said annoying jump into a body of water repeated twice more, he internally promised himself he would throw confetti on Hylia’s statue for this.
Or pasta… Actually, something to eat sounded nice. He shook his head and tried to focus. As he climbed out of the last pond he noticed a chest on the shore. Hesitantly, he approached it and opened it. Similar to the dias from before, the chest reacted with a green glow before the emblem vanished and the chest unlocked itself. Inside he found a pair of sandals and a sort of skirt? He was about to put it in the slate when he remembered that it had fallen with Zelda. With a groan, he resigned himself to have to either wear it over his pants or leave it. He glanced down at his legs and blinked as he realized another reason his legs seemed so odd earlier. He didn’t have pants– who took his clothes this time?!
Last time he woke up in his boxers made sense. He was in a healing pod and the clothes probably would’ve gotten water-logged and ruined. This time though? With a grumble he put on his new shoes and skirt and then grinned as he realized they fit. The shoes weren’t exactly super comfortable against his oddly paw-like feet but he wasn’t about to complain about protection from rocks, glass, or whatever else was on the ground. With a little more dignity restored, he turned towards the doorway just next to the chest and walked through. To his relief, he could see the sunlight beaming from the other side. Without waiting another moment, he excitedly made his way out. He had to cover his eyes for a few seconds to prevent being blinded, but as his eyes adjusted he blinked in shock.
It was just a platform overlooking a super long fall. There were clouds as far as the eyes could see and he was starting to doubt if this was an exit after all. Considering there were no other routes, he looked around at the odd floating islands and frankly beautiful sights. Zelda would love this place. As he continued to look down and around, he noticed a fairly deep looking pond just below the edge of the walkway… With a silent prayer for good luck, he stood, took a few steps back… and ran forward and jumped off the ledge before he could lose his nerve. As he fell, he took in the strange floating islands he was falling towards as well as just how insane all of this was.
As he looked around, he even swore he saw a dragon off in the distance, though he couldn’t see it well enough to make out the specific details of which one. It didn’t seem familiar… Shaking his head, he tilted himself into a dive just before he hit the water. It didn’t take him long to swim back to the surface of the water. Seeing the giant lilypads, he swam towards one and tried to figure out where to go from there. He remembered seeing what almost looked like a temple with a giant door… Maybe that’s where he should start? To his surprise, the lilypad was shockingly stable as he stood on top of it. He looked around, but his position from the lilypad wasn’t really much better than his view from the water. With a tired resolve, he hopped back in the water and swam towards the staircase not far from where he landed. Despite everything that had happened, he couldn’t but help but appreciate how pretty the scenery was as he calmly walked down the path. Of course, that also didn’t stop him from picking up a few sticks and other materials he found on the way. He had no idea how he was going to carry them all but he was determined. He looked around before making a temporary basket weave to hold onto the mushrooms and vegetables he found. It wasn’t exactly great and he could already imagine the kids in Hateno making fun of it.
With his newfound storage system, he resumed his trek along the set path in hopes of finding a route to that temple he saw. This journey was halted by a strange, mechanical noise that sent him straight onto high alert. He drew the stick and entered a combat stance as he looked around for the source. It didn’t exactly take him long to find that strange… construct thing-a-ma-bob?
It barely even looked like one cohesive creature with the way the panels seemed to separate and move. The only thing seemingly holding it together was a familiar green glow at its core. This… really didn’t inspire confidence in what was in store with the voice he heard. It wasn’t really hard to fight considering it, too, was wielding a stick and had no real combat instinct. One flurry rush and 3 extra taps caused it to quite literally fall apart. Warily, he poked the broken shell with the end of the stick…. When nothing happened, he took to looting it. He may have no idea what it was, but the materials could probably be useful, right? He retrieved some weird blade-like horn and a glowing green ball from it. He shrugged and hoped it was food safe and wasn’t going to cause a fire as he put it in the pack he made.
He looked around for more enemies before resuming his path once more. Eventually he reached a set of ruins with an inactive version of the previous enemy nearby. He had half a mind to just pillage it or leave it alone, but he blamed Zelda and Purah for making him so curious about everything. As expected, the moment he interacted with it it began to come to life. He readied himself for a fight only to pause. It looked scared? He lowered the weapon and tentatively tilted his head. He blinked in surprise as it mirrored his movement and blinked at him. After a tense stareoff, it relaxed its stance. “Are you… Link?”
“Ye–” a cough broke through his chest as he struggled to speak right. His mouth and throat felt off and the words weren’t coming through correctly. Panic started to surge, did he forget how to talk again? He cleared his throat again and tried to speak once more. “Yesh, I’m Linkh.” He winced at how weird it felt to talk. Was… was his mouth also a different shape, just like his legs?
“Wonderful, I have waited for you.” The strange looking creature nodded before moving the middle chamber of its body to reveal the Purah Pad. “Princess Zelda left this for you in my care.” Link stared at the creature oddly as he wondered if he was supposed to just grab it or wait for it to hand it to him. “This is the Purah Pad, I am told it is an invaluable tool that will provide you with direction.” As it made no other moves to hand it to him, he hesitantly reached forward and took the Pad out of its chest. He turned it so that the screen was in front and turned the device on before smiling in relief to see that it was working fine. It seemed no worse off for the fall. He quickly took to the quest journal and left himself a note of what he knew and that he needed to find Zelda. “I have received it from Zelda, and now I have passed it onto you. My records indicate that Princess Zelda is waiting at the location marked on its map. My message has been delivered, thank you.” The machine started to pull away when Link hesitantly reached a hand out to stop it.
“Wai-t. Where ‘m I?”
The machine tilted its head once more before answering. “We are in the Garden of Time.” The creature then turned and pointed towards the temple-like structure he saw before. “From here, the Temple of Time is visible. It was used in the distant past as many rites and ceremonies for the kingdom were held there.” The machine seemed to almost droop as it turned back towards him. “But no more.. Now it is a lonely place. No one visits.” As he was about to ask another question, the familiar green logo appeared next to the broken bridge. Hesitantly, he glanced between the broken bridge and the creature before him.
“Th-ank yu’, for ans.. anser– talkin’ to me.”
The creature nodded. “Thank you as well. Please be safe on your journey. There will be several Steward Constructs such as myself that you can communicate with at any point if you need it.”
With nothing else to say, he nodded and walked over to the bridge. He had so much more he wanted to say but he was getting a little frazzled with how hard it was to talk like this. The fingers weren’t shaped right for signing, his mouth wasn’t shaped right for talking like he was used to, and he had a nagging suspicion that his body language probably wasn’t going to come across correctly either. As he pressed a hand into the emblem, he watched in awe as a bridge literally formed from the broken edges. When no more movement continued, he walked onto the bridge and peeked over the side.
There was land below, though he didn’t trust himself not to accidentally hurt himself going down that way. Talking to the next construct wasn’t very useful either. They just warned him about the machine he fought earlier and told him that they were called ‘soldier constructs’. Apparently they were created to protect the land and were created by the Zonai… Which is what that one voice from earlier had called him. He dismissed the combat advice since he already knew it, but made sure to thank the Construct for all its advice on the way out of the room and eventually to yet another platform with water below.
His fur had just started to dry and he was getting a little fed up with this. Once at the bottom he continued his trek in the path that led him closer towards the temple in the distance. He had to take out a few more constructs but he was just over this place despite how pretty it was. He had no answers, was soaking wet again and had already broken several sticks and gotten a few splinters from this trip. He ignored the construct that tried giving him cooking advice as he immediately started to roast some apples and mushrooms to eat. There wasn’t a cooking pot near so this was the best he could do. The fire also helped dry him off as a bonus. He then turned to the staircase once he had finished eating and glared at the bit of water between him and the stairs… He just got dried off again and he wasn’t about to do it again. He glanced at the broken Master Sword and a tree and decided that he probably couldn’t break it any worse than he already did before cutting a tree down, shoving the log into the water to make a makeshift bridge, and happily making his way across. Thankfully the only thing that got wet was his sandals. Triumphantly, he made his way up the many, many steps to hopefully get some answers.
Not even the sheer climb up a broken section or Soldier construct slowed him down any as he approached the giant door. However, this time when he tried to activate the green emblem it sparked his hand and turned red before chain like symbols spread from the icon. As if in response, the right arm began to glow again. Was this another puzzle? Suddenly, one of his ears twitched as he heard a noise behind him and he spun to see… something standing there. He wasn’t sure what it was aside from the fact it was a spirit of some sort.
“I’m sorry, I did not intend to startle you… It was I that spoke to you earlier. I am Rauru.” The spirit gazed at the door before turning back to Link. “That arm you don… originally belonged to me.” The spirit lifted its own right arm to show emphasis.” Rauru slowly approached and gestured to the door. “That door will only open to those with sufficient power. That arm should allow you to open this door, but it seems to have lost the power to do so over the years.” The Zonai put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “You may be able to restore its power by visiting a place with sacred light. Hm… ah, perhaps you should try visiting the shrines on this island? I’m sure they’re the key. There are 4 total that you need to seek out.” Link turned to ask the man something, but the spirit abruptly faded without giving him a chance to ask any of his questions.
With a resigned sigh, Link realized he probably would have to get decently high up and to try and use the scope function on the Purah Pad to mark the shrines. He grumbled, climbed the nearest cliff he could, and began to look around. He spotted three of them, but didn’t see the fourth one immediately. He figured he’d probably spot the fourth one eventually and got to work… The first shrine wasn’t very far from the Temple of Time, the second shrine was in a very cold looking environment, and the third was across a lake. He went to the nearest shrine first and was greeted by Rauru once more. The spirit explained something about the shrines purging evil and possibly fixing his arm before causing something to happen that made the familiar green and teal wisps appear before gathering in his palm and eventually forming an orb that abruptly sunk into his hand and disappeared entirely. “Whas th-at s’posed to happen?”
“Yes, that was the Ultrahand ability rune. Your arm should have a new power now that will allow you to move objects freely and attach them to other objects. With it you can build anything that your mind can create. Use your newfound ability to solve this shrine.” Oh, was this going to be another 120 shrines sort of thing? The shrine was pretty simple since most of it was just moving platforms to make bridges. It almost reminded him of the shrines on the Great Plateau in a way. The second shrine he just built a raft using the Ultrahand to reach the other side. It felt weird that the wind just so happened to be pushing the direction he needed but he wasn't about to complain. He registered it on the transportation feature and let himself explore some other areas to make sure he covered all his grounds.
Several caves and other features caught his attention and were explored just to be safe since he didn't locate that 4th shrine yet. This led to him finding tons of new resources, a togalike top that he immediately put on and only slightly struggled with, and more things to show the researchers later who would no doubt foam at the mouth to have more things to study. Sure they preferred technology but the food up here tasted really good… maybe they wouldn't be nearly as excited about it as him but it's fine. More for him! He also saw a new enemy that reminded him of the soldier constructs, only way larger. The weird box giant was significantly less fun till he accidentally activated Ultrahand and realized he could use it on the boss. Pillaging the remains left him with more orbs he didn't know how to use and some weird, moving device. The cylinder wasn't exactly useful so he just left it there and moved on with his search.
He eventually got around to actually doing the second shrine he found. Just like the first shrine, he gained a new ability. This one was apparently called Fuse and let him attach things to his weapons, shield, and arrows. Naturally his first instinct was to figure out if the fire fruit on an arrow made a fire arrow… which it did. Now he just needed to find something that acts like a bomb and he's pretty set for most enemies. He's also pretty sure he didn't solve the puzzle the intended way based on the baffled look Rauru sent him the next time they met up but it was fine. Shrines are designed to let you be creative!
The last shrine gave him a chance to make some cold resistant foods at a cook pot at the base of the mountain before beginning his journey to the top. Of course he had to take the weirdest route imaginable using various parts with ultrahand and his struggle to navigate this stupid map. He definitely didn't get distracted with gathering materials or helping Koroks once in his journey either. Eventually after getting lost for the umpteenth time he resorted to grabbing the weird floating platforms and just basically moving between 2 of them to get to a decent point on the mountain and grinning triumphantly.
That most definitely wasn't what he was meant to do but that didn't matter. He happily looted the chest up top and put his new, warm pants and boots on. His feet felt squished but it was better than frostbite. With new pants and confidence acquired, he entered the third shrine and gained the Ascend ability. Being able to go through ceilings? Pretty neat! No cage would ever hold him, unless the roof was too high anyways. As he exited the final shrine, Rauru greeted him.
“I see you restored some power to that arm if yours. The door in the Temple of Time around now open for you.'' Wait, what? Wasn't it supposed to be 4 shrines? Before he could even ask about the last shrine Rauru vanished again, leaving him scratching his head in confusion. As he begrudgingly started to go down the hill he ran into another construct. It greets him and asks if he wants to use the Device Dispenser. In response to his confusion the machine gestured to the giant bowl with weird balls in it.
“Do you see this bowl-like receptacle? Resources held in your hands can be deposited there. It accepts resources such as construct horns and Zonai charges for processing. The altitude here is incredibly high. It is no easy task to descend the mountain. That is why I am preparing wing-type Zonai devices. They are useful tools to make your descent easier.” The construct continued to speak, but Link was more interested in the big orb now. He took one of the aforementioned charges out of the Purah Pad and placed it in the bowl and watched in awe as it accepted the item and then spat out the weird ball with something inside. It was so small, how was he supposed to use it? He didn't really know how to use it so he just pocketed it in the Pad and paused as the map caught his eye.
Why was he bothering with walking down the mountain when he can just teleport near the Temple? He takes the time to assure the construct that he was fine and had another way down the mountain before warping close enough to the Temple and making his way up. Upon getting to the Temple of Time he froze. Why was there so much fog suddenly? As he turned his head and looked around, Zelda appeared before him. He started to take a step forward and tried to talk to her but she didn't seem to acknowledge him. She just… reached an arm out and offered him her hand.
He stared at it, then his own, then back to her before hesitantly taking the hand into a handshake. Is this what she wanted? As he was about to try something else the pendant on her neck began to glow, then a golden light traveled from her arm onto his. The whole thing was glowing now as she began to pull away. He watched his arm in interest as the light then began to coalesce around his hand. The yellow rune then formed before Zelda vanished once more and he was rather abruptly in the Temple of Time again. This time with no fog and no Zelda.
He stared blankly before realizing this was just the second to last step. He still needed the 4th shrine, right? Three was enough to get through the first door, but something told him it wouldn't be enough to get through the second door. He had no choice but to figure out where to find the mysterious 4th shrine. No matter where he looked with the scope he couldn't find it. Maybe he just needed to get higher up? He looked down at the Purah Pad and chose the teleport back to the room he awoke in.
He followed his previous path until he wound up back at the exit he had jumped off before. He still didn't see it, maybe he just needed even higher up? He glanced down at his arm before changing the rune to Ascend and tried going up. This put him in some weird area with giant metal birds sitting around and something that reminded him of a boat dock. He eventually managed to stumble into the 4th and final shrine within a cave. The shrine seemed to rely on the Recall ability that Zelda gave him, it wasn't as cool as Stasis but it was still really useful. He couldn't wait to figure out how to use it in combat. With that done he just needed to get back to the statue and door.
He could teleport back and do a ton of walking, sure, but something about the metal birds were making him pause. Why was his brain insisting they could fly for? Considering there were multiple birds, he shrugged before grabbing 1 with Ultrahand and guiding it to the rivets in the floor. Then, to his amusem*nt, he watched it begin sliding down the ramp. He moved to follow and watched it leave the platform before gliding off in the distance. Oh, that looked seriously fun. He eyed the other birds before grabbing another, setting it up on the rivets, and quickly hopping on it.
As it tipped over the edge, he had half a mind to grab onto something but ultimately made no move to do so as it began to tilt downward and soar. He quickly found out that he could sort of steer it by walking across the top, but he tried his best to avoid the edges anyway since he didn't have a glider. To his utter glee, he landed at the steps of the Temple of Time and easily began the climb for the rest of the way up. That totally beats walking! Maybe that wing device that construct was telling him about was just a smaller version of these? He went straight to the Hylia statue and knelt before it in greeting.
“Hero”. She greeted him warmly. “You who have conquered the shrines and claimed their Lights of Blessing. In exchange for four Lights of Blessing, I shall grant you the power you seek.” A heart container appeared before him and he tentatively reached up to take it into his hands. As it vanished, he felt a good portion of the dark energy leave him as he watched it curiously. It seemed that the heart pieces make more of the darkness abate than the light orbs. Does that mean all heart pieces contain a bunch of light energy? “Go, and bring peace to the world.” she said sweetly before the light beaming down on the statue began to abate.
“Wait!” He cried out, hoping she'd stay a little longer. “I ha-ve ques-t-ions!” He struggled to get the words out as he waved his arms frantically. To his relief, the light resumed.
“Yes, my little hero?”
“Why am I thish? How do I-” as the words got more annoying, he resorted to sign and hoped it came across correctly. ‘Why am I a Z-o-n-a-i? How do I go back to being Hylian? Is Z-flower okay? The sword’s broken, what do I do?’
“There are many things I wish I could tell you… but I cannot. All your questions will be answered on your journey.” As he slumped in defeat, he heard her voice soften. “I assure you that you will eventually be able to return to your Hylian form, but for now it's very important you remain a Zonai.” She sounded apologetic. “You shall understand in due time.” He felt as if there were a hand gently petting his hair despite the lack of anything actually touching him. “I'm sorry to put you through this again. Please stay safe, find Zelda, and save Hyrule once more.”
He nodded slowly. He still wanted to throw confetti or pasta at her for being so cryptic and dooming him to his fate of being a cat-man, but he couldn't stay mad when she sounded so sad like that. This time when the light vanished, he made no move to chase it. He just turned towards the giant set of doors and resolved himself to continue on. It's just another journey… he needs to help his friends. He can do this. As his hands pressed into the door he could feel everything growing cold as it immediately began to sap his strength. With a wince he held on and continued to push. Thankfully, before his arms gave out entirely the door finally opened.
Once on the other side, he noticed that Rauru was already there, waiting. “Ah good. I see you have managed to open the door. You haven't fully recovered yet, but that is to be expected– you were almost beyond saving… By visiting the shrines and receiving their blessings, you have mitigated some of the corruption's effects.” The spirit paused before his voice turned somewhat somber. “Though our time together has been brief, I am so happy that we finally met… you are exactly as Zelda said…” His tone was warm, parental almost in a way that reminded him of King Dorephan or Teba. “I've done everything that I can for you, now it is up to you.”
Link opened his mouth to say something but the words felt locked in his chest. It wasn't even the mouth being difficult, just his brain. Rauru smiled knowingly and signed one final message to him before dematerializing. Link signed back his own ‘ Thank you for everything’ to the empty air as no one else remained. He couldn't wait any longer no matter how oddly sad he felt about the goodbye. The spirit had guided him for Zelda… how did they know each other? He turned and began to walk towards the open platform before ascending to the second level. Once there he saw a golden orb hovering over some sort of pedestal.
He didn't hesitate to approach it… it felt warm and familiar. Like the sun, like Zelda, like Hylia. As he began to reach for it, the Master Sword on his back began to make some sort of beeping noise and glowing erratically. He quietly removed it from his makeshift sheath and held it in his hands. Was it getting louder the closer it got to the orb? Almost a moment of silence he realized what it wanted. Zelda had said in the past that the light energy of the pedestal would heal the Master Sword and that's why she needed rest, right? She probably wanted somewhere safe to heal. Knowing what he needed to do, he held her out into the light and watched the golden energy encase the blade.
Suddenly, the world seemed to still as he heard a ticking noise begin. A similar sound to when he used Recall also began to reverberate somewhere in the distance. As the sword vanishes entirely he blinks in surprise. He… really hoped that was the right move. As he was about to step back and away from the pedestal a loud roar nearby startled him into a fighting stance. He shifted closer to the edge where the noise came from to get a better look and froze. It was a dragon, the one he saw earlier even. He watched it break a hole through the clouds, giving him a clear view of the water below.
Despite the beautiful view of the land below he found himself staring more at the dragon. He knew he hadn't met that one before but it seemed so familiar in a way he couldn't place… maybe its because its horns look identical to the ones on his own head now? Maybe it was because it seemed to share traits with Naydra? As the dragon began to leave he hurriedly took out the Purah Pad and snagged a photo to see what it was called. To his slight bafflement it was just titled ‘ The Light Dragon’ like what? Why did the other dragons get names but not this one? Why had he never seen or heard of this one before?
Spirits love to talk about the dragons, and yet none of the Koroks ever mentioned a light dragon… His eyes trailed over to the Hylia statue he was just at. Did she have something to do with it? Maybe he should nickname the dragon, it seemed awfully rude to not have a name. Even when he just woke up without a memory to his name he was given a name… He was also notoriously awful at naming things, maybe he should get ideas from someone else first. Shaking his head, he put the Purah Pad away and eyed the ground that had been revealed. That was an insanely long drop and he wasn't sure how comfortable he was making that jump.
As he sat there debating on stealing a wing from the one dock he heard Zelda's voice ring out. “Link…” at first he doubted he heard it, until it rang out again. “Link… You must find me.” Well, that answered that at least. He walked back to the ledge, took a breath, took a few steps back… before running and diving off the ledge before he could lose his nerve. Courage did not mean he was totally cool with leaping down from this height without a glider… In fact, the moment he gets his glider back he's never surrendering it again.
His stomach felt like it was doing flips the entire way down, but at least the scenery took his mind off of it. When he got closer to the bottom he adjusted his dive angle so he was less likely to hurt himself. Then he hit the water hard. Yes, he didn't hurt himself. No, he was not happy about that dive at all. It took him a few seconds to reach the surface he had hit so hard. He immediately swam to the nearest shore and tried to shake the water off.
He seriously hoped he couldn't get mold in his fur from all this water, that sounded awful. After desperately trying to shake off and wring out any water from his fur and clothes he eventually gave up and prayed the sun would finish drying him out before he resorted to using a fire again. With that done, he looked around to try and figure out where he landed. He seemed to be somewhere in Hyrule field. The castle wasn’t even that far, though it seemed smaller than usual… He shook his head and began his journey towards the keep. If he remembered right, Purah and the researchers had made a fort near the base of the castle to try and study the weird dark miasma up close. He had no idea how he was going to convince Purah and the others who he was, or if they’d even react well at the sight of him. Maybe he needed to greet them with the Purah Pad first? Practice talking a little? He sighed to himself as he begrudgingly resumed his walk to the keep. It felt like an eternity before he finally arrived despite how little daytime had actually passed. Then, not so much to his surprise, the guard in front of the drawbridge gate shrieked in horror. Before he could even get the word out the man was yelling “Monster! Monster at the drawbridge! I don’t know what it is!” as he started to slowly fall back; brandishing his makeshift weapon towards Link as he backed away.
“Not mon-ster.” Link tried as he raised his hands in a sign of peace. “Frien-d.”
“...SOMEONE FETCH PURAH, THE MONSTERS CAN TALK NOW!!” The man shrieked in horror as he backpedaled so hard he fell on his rump before desperately trying to skedaddle away. This was… awkward.
“Um… Not–”
He was, of course, cut off by the man’s screams as he frantically began to spin the wheel to raise the bridge. Link just stood there with a blank expression as he waited for the bridge to go all the way up. Could he have just pushed his way past? Most definitely, however that probably would’ve ended with him being met with tons of weapons. With his ears feeling more sensitive than normal, he could still hear the man shrieking the entire way towards the observation tower… Hopefully Mondi actually went to get Purah. In the meantime, as a show of good faith, Link put his weapons away in the Purah Pad and resumed trying to get the water out of his fur and clothes since he was stuck waiting anyways. After a few minutes, guards swarmed the top with their bows aimed down at him, though nobody was moving. They seemed focused and determined but their grip on their bows were sloppy. They were liable to accidentally notch an arrow if they kept it drawn like that too. “...Your archh-ery instructor needsh fired.” He deadpanned as he looked at their forms.
The poor archers looked embarrassed but nonetheless kept their aim up. “You just wait till Lady Purah gets here! She will decide what to do with you!” One of the braver ones yelled out… Scorpis was the name, if he recalled right.
“That sh-ounds nice, thanksh!” He was positive he could convince Purah who he was. She might probably smack him, demand blood samples, or be an overall menace afterwards, but it was a small price to pay for some explanations and help. Thankfully it didn’t take long for the gate to begin to lower and Purah to step forward. She was surrounded by guards and even seemed to have her own weapon on her. Good, it looks like she took his request and advice seriously! He was a firm believer that everyone should have a way and the knowledge to protect themselves and others. Obviously you shouldn’t push yourself beyond your limits or do reckless things that you can’t handle, but basic defense is a must in this place.
“So… They said you speak?”
“Yesh, I pre-fer sign. Can we do tha-t?”
Purah tapped her fan to her chin thoughtfully. “Hylian sign? Or another form of sign?”
“Hy-lee-an.” He felt pretty proud of himself for saying that right. Of course he immediately swapped to sign the first chance he could. ‘ P-goggles, it’s me.’
She finally raised her goggles off her head and squinted. “Only three people know that sign name… Prove who you’re claiming to be.”
‘ When you still lived in Hateno, you had a diary you left upstairs in the top of the tower that talked all about your anti-aging rune experiments. When you found out I read your diary you snatched the Sheikah Slate and pretended to delete all of the runes and d-a-t-a.’ He signed triumphantly. To further emphasize his identity, he held up the Purah Pad.
She stared at him before sighing. “Linky, what did you do to yourself now? Why are you a cat-man?!” She exclaimed before rubbing her face. “Okay, look. I’m sure you’re tired, thirsty, and absolutely starving– not to mention completely soaked. Is that normal– I mean, no shame if you’re supposed to look like a drowned rat, or is being soaked abnormal?”
‘Not normal. Jumped in a lake.’
She shook her head and let out a deep exhale. “Sounds about right. I’ll get my assistant, Jorsha, to get us something to eat and drink. Let’s get you a towel and near a fire before you get sick. Zelda would be very cross with you if you did; and if you do get sick you better not hide it or I’ll be the one cross with you.” She huffed as she raised her hand up and began to gesture for everyone to dissipate. “Back to your stations! This isn’t an enemy!”
He watched everyone slump in relief as they returned to their positions. He even watched someone open a strange chamber in the center of town and some people came out… Was that a protective bunker? He didn’t remember that being a thing last time. ‘ P-Goggles… What happened?’
Purah shook her head. “That’s a conversation for after you take a minute to rest and to give me all the answers I want. There’s… a lot, like so much it’s almost like what hasn’t happened would be easier to say.” She sighed dramatically before leading him towards the building with the telescope on top. Nobody stopped them, though there were definitely plenty of stares. As they entered, Purah closed the door behind him and gestured towards the couch. “Doesn’t matter if you get it wet, just get comfortable.” She walked over to a side room and hollered out. “Josha! Come here please!”
“Yes Doctor Purah!” A young voice called out as a young sheikah ran into the room before nearly crashing into Purah’s side. “Oh, sorry Doctor Purah! What do you need? Is it a new research project? A new discovery? A special task?”
“Would you mind getting our guest some tea, something to eat, and a towel?” She gestured to Link, making the young girl’s eyes go wide in shock.
“Um… Is he an omnivore or a carnivore or–”
Purah turned to Link curiously. “Can you still eat anything? Including literal rocks?”
He nodded. “Yesh.”
“Anything is fine, maybe consider some more proteins in it though. Cats need lots of meat in their diets.”
“Yes ma’am!” Josha grinned excitedly. “When I get back, can you please tell me what they are? I’ve never seen one before!”
Link sighed and signed ‘ Does J-o-s-h-a know sign?’
“No, Link. She doesn’t. Well, she does know the very basics like fingerspelling but that’s it.”
“It signed my name! That’s amazing!” Josha cooed in awe as she continued to unabashedly stare. “Wait, did you call them Link? Like Champion Link?” The girl’s stare turned confused.
“Josha, the items?” Purah reminded gently.
“Oh, right, sorry!” The girl flushed as she hurriedly ran out to get the aforementioned items.
“I’m sorry for that, we really do need to find a way to mark you as one of us to prevent more misunderstandings and hopefully lower the amount of stares you’ll get…”
‘Blue?’ He signed curiously. ‘Champion blue?’
Purah shot up in excitement. “That could work! We could make you a tunic or a sash… though I’m not sure we have the materials or time to make an entire tunic considering Zelda– oop, disregard that last bit. We should have enough scrap to make you a sash tonight, though a tunic isn’t possible.” She nodded to herself as she started to plan it out in her hand. “We do have a tailor here… They come from Lurelin Village if I recall, even run their own general store as a team right now.” She said thoughtfully. “Either way, that can wait till Josha returns so I can have her run the errand.” She said firmly as she took a piece of notebook paper out and began to write… something. Eventually she set the book down on the table, lit the nearby fireplace, and then sat herself in the chair across from him. “Okay Linky, get talking. Where have you been? You’re not a ghost, are you? Some sort of spirit beast? This is all just so interesting and I can’t wait to hear it all. Worry not, we can take it one step at a time. Just tell me exactly what happened.”
‘ I thought I would get tea and food for this conversation?’
“You get tea and food for my side of the conversation, not yours. You need your hands to talk right now, don’t think I didn’t see how much you were struggling to move that tongue. Speaking of, I’m definitely taking all of your measurements and doing a full exam on you later.”
He made a mental note to flee from her the second he got all the information he needed. He could deal with the repercussions for that later, he didn’t feel like getting stabbed by needles or poked and prodded today. ‘ Okay, so just… start from the beginning?’
“Yes! Just tell me anything that happened after you and Zelda left to investigate under the castle a few months ago!”
…Months? Uh oh.
