Chapter Text
Going through another portal was just as unpleasant as the first portal I was conscious for. The feeling of suffocation and claustrophobia was back. I couldn’t see or hear a thing, only feeling the vague presence of the Chain around me. The gravity felt wrong, both too light and too heavy. It was hard to tell what direction we were going and where we were walking, feeling like one of those crazy rollercoasters with twists and big loops.
Eventually, a bit of light was visible at the end. Unlike the previous portal, whatever we were walking on was starting to slope up steeply. We all almost had to climb up because of how steep it was. With a ripple like water, we exited the portal. This portal was on the ground, so none of us had to worry about stumbling.
I immediately felt intense heat, like noon of a summer day in a desert. Which it was a desert, based on the sand and seeing cacti around. I thought we arrived in Lanayru Desert in Sky’s era, but the cacti here weren’t as vibrant of a green as the ones in Sky’s era. It could be my era for all I knew because what I could see, it didn’t look like any of the other’s deserts. I got confirmation that we were in my era in some form when I saw a stretch of black asphalt in the distance.
“Where are we?” Hyrule asked.
“A desert for sure.” Legend groaned.
“I think we might be in my era.” I answered. “But I’m unsure of where exactly we are and if we’re in the year I came from.”
“How can you even tell? We’re like in the middle of nowhere!” Wind demanded.
“See that stretch of black colored road? That’s how I can tell. It’s basically a transportation road from my time.” I explained.
I saw Wild take a look at his Sheikah Slate, presumably checking to see if the map feature would function. He was probably wasting his time because there was no Sheikah Towers in my era. The closest to them would be cell towers, but I doubt the Sheikah Slate would be able to connect to them because they weren’t powered by ancient magic. The cell towers I could see were decently far away, so the connection and reception would be poor quality. If it does connect, I’d probably need to help Wild navigate.
“Hmm? It looks like the map function is actually working this time! It’s a bit fuzzy though…” Wild stated excitedly.
“Wait what?” I asked, peering over Wild’s shoulder.
He wasn’t kidding, the map feature was actually working, albeit with some static. I had him zoom out somewhat(it was zoomed into where we were standing) to see if I could recognize anything. It was displaying a map much like Google Maps, but more in the style of the Sheikah Slate’s map. The map loaded and moved a bit slow when scrolled, I blamed that on being far away from the cell towers. We were borderline in the middle of nowhere, the road we were near would eventually lead to an interstate.
Surprisingly, it looked like the interstate would lead to the city I lived in. The not fun part, it’d be a long walk. We’re going to probably have to stop partway because of how hot it is. And hopefully find some decent shade for all of us. Because getting sunburned and heat stroke is not fun. The heat felt extra nasty after being on a snowy mountain peak.
Poor Time in particular, he’s probably going to have to take his armor off. His armor was probably getting close to being molten hot already. I can imagine that Twilight, Sky, and Warriors are going to be feeling hot and sweaty too. Speaking of Twilight, I should give him his fur pelt back. I didn’t want to start baking with that still on me.
So I handed the pelt back to him; he almost seemed… disappointed, that I took it off. A little strange, but maybe he thought I looked cute wearing it or something. With the seemingly pocket dimension his belt pouches have, he stuffed his pelt into one of them. He also shucked off his tunic and chainmail, but kept the undershirt on. If it wasn’t midday, I imagine he would’ve gone shirtless.
Twilight taking off most of his upper layers caused a chain reaction; everyone else going down to a lighter amount of clothing. Time took the longest of course, with his armor and all. I could see him occasionally wincing, he was probably a bit stiff and his armor was probably already borderline molten hot. Everyone either stuffed their layers into bags or into Wild’s Sheikah Slate. With everyone’s clothing situated, we decided to head towards the road to walk alongside it.
…
The walk was dull and miserable, not much to see and ungodly hot. I caught multiple instances of water drinking and using ice magic tools being used by the boys. Every once in a while, a vehicle would drive by on the road, startling the Chain each time. They’d all jump and briefly reach for their swords. I managed to get them to try not to attack them by explaining what they were.
I told them that they are metal carriages controlled primarily by a person, fueled by a liquid that kind of stinks when it becomes gas. I did catch them coughing whenever they got a particularly big whiff of strong smelling gas. Based on the few vehicles I’ve seen, we could be in my era, unless the ones I’ve seen are being driven by people who like older model vehicles. If I had my phone on me and if we weren’t a mildly large group, I’d be calling an Uber so we wouldn’t have to walk. Getting them into vehicle would not be fun and the driver would probably ask too many questions that’d be hard to give answers to. The Uber trip would also be pretty expensive too, both for the travel and the size of vehicle needed for all of us.
Once we saw a bit of a city in the distance, we decided to take a rest. We decided to stop a bit away from the road, not wanting to garner any weird looks because of how the Chain was dressed. Thankfully there was a bit of mildly tall rock formations and some tall cacti that provided some shade where we had stopped. There was a bit of a breeze now; it was some cool wind instead of hot and dry wind. I could see a few white clouds rolling in, none of them looking like they could cause a storm.
We sat around resting somewhere between thirty minutes to an hour. We all took small drinks of water and ate some slices of a hydromelon that Wild happened to have. With our brief rest stop finished, we continued onward.
…
I was primarily following Wild, because he was the one who had a map. The signal was getting better now that we were closer to a city. I still wonder how his Sheikah Slate is able to connect to the cell towers despite them not being magical. It does make me wonder though, if I had my phone with me in Wild’s era, would it have connected to the Sheikah Towers? Maybe, but like Wild is currently experiencing, the signal would be poor quality.
I’d occasionally have us change directions, as to not be on the main roads. Most people might assume that the Chain are cosplayers if they saw them, but I didn’t want strangers bugging them. They might spill the beans that the Links are fictional characters before I’m ready to tell them. With the Chain being from the future, who knows what repercussions would possibly happen with them being here. Still, I wonder how the Legend of Zelda series exists as a fictional tale here despite being future events.
There has to be a time traveler from one of the eras of Hyrule who might have gotten lost while time traveling. Either accidentally or on purpose. They could’ve geeked out about their culture and history to the right people, making humans be like, ‘Why not turn the stuff they told us into video games?’ The potentially on purpose route worries me though, were they wanting to perpetuate a loop much like the reincarnation cycle? Heck, if we time travel presumably some amount of centuries or a few millennia into the future of my era, we could come across the first Link.
Gods, that is an odd thing to think about. Sometime after I’m presumably long gone from this world, the reality of the Legend of Zelda is born… If we happen to come across First, I wonder if he’d join us. It’d be interesting if he’s already aware of the journey the Chain is on and knows how it ends because maybe the Chain finally defeats the Shadow in my era. It’d be extra spooky if First recognizes me; like I could be included in the Chain’s tale in the future for all I know.
I was so lost speculating that it took me a bit to realize that Wild was trying to get my attention. Oh yeah, that’s right. We’re still kind of wandering, trying to head towards the city. I apologized for zoning out and steered us towards the next direction. Stopping at my house will be good enough for the day, even if it’ll be a bit crowded with having nine other people who are loaded with lots of stuff.