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The Forest always gave off a feeling of unease. That is, until you reach the center which gives the opposite. The Great Deku Tree was giving Wild advice, telling him how Zelda was waiting. It was all well and good but he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. It wasn’t like the whole world was depending on him.
Other than responsibility weighing him down, the forest was a nice place to hang around. It was lively, but most couldn’t tell. Wild always found himself smiling when he saw the Koroks play around just inside his peripheral. Most of them hung around and watched him, while he was the hero, he was an outsider to them. One Korok stood on the edge of the forest, Wild approached expecting them to run away and hide, but they didn’t.
“Something is in the forest, it doesn’t seem dangerous, but most of us have no clue what it is.”
Wild frowned slightly at that. The Lost Woods wasn’t the easiest thing to explore, not when one wrong turn should send in right back to where he started. How would anything but the Korok know how to navigate it?
It was a couple of days later, when Wild had returned to the forest that he heard music. Or at least he thought he did. It was nearly night, most of the forest was settling down. The music was quiet, as if far away and seemed to fade even more as Wild tried to listen to it.
Maybe it was instinct, but he began to move, trying hard to keep the music in range. To his delight, he could now actually hear the song. It was soft and calming, it felt so familiar. Maybe it was a lullaby? He kept walking towards the music, too determined now to give up.
The music got louder and louder, Wild had finally begun to wonder what could be making the music. Even Kass, who knew almost every song in Hyrule, could never play loud enough to be heard from such a distance.
Wild froze, he was too lost in his thoughts to notice the music finishing up. His mind froze, he was just standing in the middle of the lost woods. Was this a prank? Wild listen to the sounds of the forest, maybe he had just taken the wrong turn. The forest was it’s usual eerie quiet, the fog too thick to see anything beyond a few feet. He could hear the slight rustling of leaves in the breeze. Something else was in the distance too. Mechanical winding?
He couldn’t think about it for long because the music started back up, but a different song was playing. It was faster and more lively than the other one, several more notes being played and a severely different tone. If the first one was a lullaby, this was more of something that one would hear people dancing to. It was upbeat and almost made Wild forget he was in the fog of the Lost Woods.
Wild picked up his pace, following the music. He had to be close now, the music was all that he could hear.
There was something pulsing red in the distance, right where the music was coming from. He could see movement and could hear the tell tale signs of a mechanical beast. It suddenly hit him what this was.
A Lost Beast.
The Beast was in the shape of a horse, slowly walking through the forest. Where it’s head was Wild could see the malice resting on some circle pattern. The song it was playing was fading as Wild got close to get a good look. Wild watched as the circle pattern spun, blue dots landing it different spaces. Wild also noticed how some of the circles couldn’t spin due to the malice clinging to it.
As Wild lined up his shot to ride the beast of malice, the dots created a pattern and the lullaby began to play again. At least Wild now had an answer for the music.
When the malice was cleared, the Lost Beast pulsed blue. The music faded and the beast knelt in front of him.
“Are you prepared to free this Lost Beast and the Champion inside? Will you board Vah Equolo?”
The inside was simple, well most of it was simple. It mostly consisted of two levels mirroring each other but different enough to confuse the hero. It was as if everything was moved around, but it was still the same room. The puzzles themselves were based around position and time. There was a lot of waiting around.
All through a quiet tune played, it got louder the more puzzles he solved.
When the main chamber opened, he steeled himself and walked in.
A tall imposing man stood before him. Malice clung to almost every part of his body, and what wasn’t covered by malice seemed to be armor of some kind. Blonde hair was barely seen due to the red glow of malice and a heart shaped mask on his face. Six arms were pulsing, only one holding a weapon. It hurt to look at.
SoundBlight.
The music being played was now distorted, coming straight from the blight himself. Although he moved slowly, he hit hard. The Blight calculated every step with wisdom that came from years upon years of fighting.
Wild found himself fighting from a distance, not willing to get too close to the Blight. Those arms were just for show, the Blight launched whatever he could at Wild.
With the last hit, the Blight screamed. The malice burst into bright blue light and the Blight was gone.
There was a gentle tune playing, it was that lullaby again. The only difference is now Wild could see who was playing. An older man held an ocarina with such care in front of him. The man himself had blonde hair and a scar going over his right eye and beautiful armor. When he finished his song and looked at Wild, only the left eye opened.
“Well done.”
The Man’s smile was warm.
“My name is Link, though you may know me better and the Hero and Champion of Time.”
The man wove a tale of a kid, far too young, forced to grow up physically and mentally and save the world. How even after the world was saved, the kid was lost. He had lost his closest friend and himself. Through masks and another scared kid, he had found himself. He told Wild about his journeys and his lovely lady who waited for him to come back every time.
“The world continues to turn, remember that ok? Here’s something to help out..”
Wild couldn’t help but admire the man, he was far more experienced.
“We all believed in you,” Something flashed in his eye, was it regret? Guilt?
“And I’m sorry.”
He could hear the horse trot away, a new song playing. It wasn’t particularly happy or sad, but Wild could feel it had some meaning behind it. Wild could feel Time’s Song within him.
He had said everyone believed in him, maybe Wild could actually do this.