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Two minutes
Wild pressed his fingers against the back of his sheikah slate to indicate the start of the countdown. Hyrule bit back a grin and forced himself to act as if nothing was amiss. This was a completely normal morning; nothing unusual was about to occur at all.
The sun had just begun to peak over the horizon, painting the trees above their quiet campsite in shades of gold and shadow. Most of the clearing was taken up with the still forms of his snoozing companions; only those used to rising with the daylight were awake at this hour.
He almost felt bad for what they were about to do. Almost
His fingers twitched with building anticipation as he clamped his mouth shut in an effort to stifle his giggles. Acting had never been one of his talents, but he couldn’t risk giving away Wild’s plan too soon.
Hylia, but he was so excited!
One minute
It was no use, he had to do something to dispel this nervous energy inside him. Casually, so as not to draw attention, he got to his feet and moved towards his bag on the other side of camp. That’s right, slow and steady; completely nor-
Wait, why was Legend looking at him like that?
30 seconds
He finally reached his bag and knelt down to rummage inside. He’d been on his best behaviour since entering this world, so why was he being treated with suspicion? It was like they expected him to pull something and run off on his own.
...
Well, they weren’t wrong, but he was sure they wouldn’t predict this.
Twenty seconds
He caught Wild’s eye and had to hold back a grin. Maybe neither of them were very good actors, as the champion’s rigid form was clearly growing tenser with each mental tick of the clock. The cook’s finger hovered innocently over a button on his magic slate.
Completely normal.
Ten seconds
He quickly replaced the cover of his pack and grabbed the straps, energy thrumming through his body, as he prepared to make his escape. He risked a glance to the side and saw Legend staring between him and Wild with furrowed brows.
It was too late.
Five seconds
Twilight groaned and sat up in his bedroll, stretching and popping his joints as the sun’s rays finally broke through the treeline of their camp.
He looked at them and smiled sleepily. “Good morni-”
BOOM!!!!
A shockwave rippled throughout the clearing.
Bright flashes of light engulfed the area as the deafening crash of trees striking the ground mixed with the echo of the initial blast. The weak light of the rising sun was drowned by twisting flames that sprung up behind the treeline, sending tall shadows over the rising chaos of their camp.
Startled yelps and curses filled the air as the others clambered for weapons or ran to investigate the explosion. None of them were paying any attention to him.
Perfect.
His ears were ringing as he slung his pack over his shoulder and sprinted out of the camp away from the yelling. Bursting through the foliage, off the path they had followed earlier, his feet raced in time with his pounding heart until the smoke and noise faded into the distance.
The others had probably realised something was up by now. He could imagine them examining the melted remains of those fire arrows or sensing the lingering touch of Wild’s sheikah magic. His adrenaline fueled imagination saw them racing after him, Wolfie leading the pack, to cut off their fun before it had even begun.
A grin wormed its way onto his face as he pushed his burning muscles even harder. He wouldn’t make it easy for them.
A solid form barrelled into him from the side, sending both of them tumbling down onto the dew covered grass. Hyrule scrambled to push himself up, muscles tensed for battle, before a hand grabbed his arm and dragged him onwards.
“Sorry! Plan’s changed, no time to explain! Tw- er, Wolfie caught on quicker than expected!” The champion’s voice called back to him as they both stumbled and hurried through the trees.
As if on cue, a loud howl pierced through the air behind them. It was a warning, a challenge, a promise that they wouldn’t be running for much longer. Hyrule’s blood sang and he pushed his feet to soar faster over rocks and logs, guided by Wild’s tight grip.
“He’s so dramatic!” Wild laughed breathless. “Not much further! I know how we can lose him.”
The champion glanced back at him, wilderness and adventure in his eyes, and Hyrule knew the same expression was reflected on his own face. Together they ran, faster than he had in a long time, and before long the treeline opened to reveal the pale morning sky.
And a cliff.
Hryule immediately dug his heels in and they both stumbled to a halt. Wild didn’t stop for long, grabbing his hand with both of his and forcing him closer to the edge.
“Don’t worry, just grab onto me!” He said, glancing frantically behind them. Hyrule was certain he could hear the faint crack of sticks and leaves as something tore through the underbrush.
“What- that’s a two hundred meter drop at least !” Hyrule exclaimed, risking a glance over the edge but immediately pulling back as a wave of vertigo hit him. The crashing behind them grew louder.
Wild grabbed his shoulders and forced them to face each other. “Do you trust me?”
Hyrule swallowed and stared into the other’s eyes, bright and wild and maybe just a little crazy. He’d watched the champion light trees on fire then ride them into battle, break his arm shield surfing down mountains and narrowly avoid getting mauled while riding a bear.
Hyrule trusted him more than his own life.
“Okay.” He nodded and gave Wild what he hoped was a confident smile, but which felt wobbly and not a little bit terrified.
The champion grinned back, but before he could say anything more a dark shape leapt from the shadows of the trees and bolted across the narrow plain. Their smiles melted into looks of twin panic before they both scrambled towards the edge.
“No time to think, just grab on to me and jump!”
Hyrule didn’t need telling twice, the sight of Wolfie charging towards them wiping any doubts from his mind. Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around Wild’s shoulders and kicked off the edge.
For a few, heart stopping seconds, they fell. He let out a strangled yelp and shoved his face into the back of Wild’s neck, arms clutching tight as he tried to block out the world rushing past them in a twisting blur.
Then it stopped. But not in the violent end he would associate with hitting the ground below.
Instead, with a rustle of cloth, they jerked and slowed. He didn’t dare look up from where he had buried himself into Wild's hair, heart hammering a mile a minute in his ears, almost drowning out the champion’s strained chuckles.
“As happy as I am that you haven’t fallen, could you loosen up a bit? I can’t breathe.”
It took a few seconds for the words to process, but he suddenly became aware of his iron grip around his friend’s shoulders and neck. He took in a calming breath and tried to relax his arms, shifting so that he was more secure on the cook’s back.
Shock having worn off, he braced himself and opened his eyes-
-and his mind was wiped of all thoughts.
The world below was bathed in shades of gold and ruby as the sunrise bloomed fully above them, setting grassland on fire and making the tips of mountains burn bright. A fresh wind whipped at his hair and bit into his cheeks, which were already sore from the massive grin straining his face.
He almost didn’t hear Wild speak as he took in the breathtaking landscape stretched before them.
“I think we made Wolfie mad.” The words broke through the spell that had captured his mind. He somehow managed to tear his eyes away from the sunrise to follow the champions gaze behind them.
Hyrule hadn’t known it was possible for a wolf to show exasperation, but there was no other way to describe it. Wolfie paced up and down the edge of the cliff, staring daggers at them as they flew away. He had to suppress another bubble of laughter; they were going to be in so much trouble.
As if sensing his amusement, Wolfie huffed and threw his head back in another howl of challenge, before he began hightailing it back into the woods.
“How long do you think it will take him to catch up?” Hyrule asked.
“It takes a while to get down this mountain on foot, but Wolfie is fast and knows his way around my world.” Wild shifted the paraglider to sway more to the right. “So this will only delay him by an hour or so. But an hour is all we need!”
The excitement in his voice was infectious. Hyrule didn’t think he could smile any harder as he hugged closer to Wild and squeezed. This was exactly what he had needed.
The others had been getting stricter with the ‘no-one wander off’ rule, maybe because the black blooded monsters had been appearing more often, and he had tried his best to follow their wishes.
He tried his best to follow their wishes. Really, he had!
It just wasn’t him. Adventure was in his blood, exploration in his heart, and he couldn’t ignore the siren call that beckoned louder with each new world.
The others didn’t understand. Except for one.
Wild had pulled him aside not long after landing in his world. By that point he would have jumped at the chance to do anything, as long as it was off the silly dirt path. So, he had laid low, stifling the voice in his head that crooned with a desire to leave the chains of the group, until they could put their plan into action.
The others hadn’t known what hit them.
“I’m not sure how much longer I can support both of us. We’re almost there, but…” Wild trailed off and seemed to debate something, before grinning and yelling, “Hold on!”
“Wait, wha-aahh!” Hyrule’s stomach shot into his chest as they began freefalling through the air. He once again clutched onto Wild and buried his head into the champions hair before a voice called out to him barely audible over the wind.
“Open your eyes! Look!” The laughter and confidence in Wild’s voice somehow gave him the courage to force his eyes open.
Colours blurred around them as they plummeted to the earth below, wind whipping at his hair and pulling at his limbs. Someone was screaming- wait, that was him -as the ground came closer and closer. Laughter mixed with his yelling until they had almost reached the earth below, when Wild pulled open the paraglider at the last minute and they both hit the grass, tumbling from the impact.
He lay on the damp ground unable to feel his legs as his heart raced in his chest. His dazed mind began to clear as the frantic energy left his veins.
Hylia it was true: Wild really was crazy.
A bubble swelled in his chest as he let out a small chuckle. Once he started he couldn’t stop, and soon his entire form was shaking with delirious and relieved laughter.
When had he last felt like that? For a few seconds, all of his worries had been pulled away with the force of the wind; distant, unimportant, in the face of the ground hurtling up from below.
A shadow blocked out the rising sun and he squinted at Wild’s form above him.
“Have fun?” The champion teased.
He had to take a few seconds to catch his breath before answering, giggles still interrupting his words. “We have to do that again!”
Wild’s laugh was like the first rays of summer. “I’m glad you enjoyed it! The others always say I’m reckless for always jumping off places, but it’s…” he trailed off, biting his lips in uncertainty.
“Freeing?” Hyrule supplied, stumbling on his weakened knees and grabbing onto Wild for balance. The champion gripped his arms securely and smiled gratefully.
“Exactly. Although, I wouldn’t have guessed you enjoyed it so much from all the screaming.” Wild chuckled and ducked out of the way of Hyrule’s swipe.
“Anyone would scream!” He tried to defend himself, but he couldn’t hide his heated face. “You’re the crazy one for being so casual about plummeting a hundred metres to the ground.”
“Then what does that make you, since you obviously enjoyed it so much?”
They glared at each other, frowns on their lips, willing the other to stand down. Then the corner of Wild’s mouth twitched a fraction and soon both their masks crumbled into conspiratorial grins.
Wild’s eyes widened suddenly as he glanced up at the sun, which was now almost completely out from behind the mountain.
“We need to hurry!” The champion took hold of his hand again and pulled them along without waiting for an answer. Soft grass crunched underfoot as the two of them ran across the field..
The area they had landed on was obviously not a normal travellers path; a raised grassy plain with sheer cliff drops on most sides and wild flowers of dazzling colours poking up from the ground.
If he squinted to the side, he could make out the vague shapes of ruins in the distance. It was odd, how similar this world was to his own, but so intrinsically different at the same time. The air here was fresh, the grass a lush green and goats lazily grazed a hundred metres away. And yet, this was a world left in ruin by Ganon.
There was so much to do and explore here, he didn’t know how the others could just stay on the paths. Surely, they would miss all this wild beauty.
“What are you thinking about?” asked Wild, bringing them to a halt at one of the cliff edges.
“I was just thinking how beautiful this world is.” At these words, the look on Wild’s face softened into fondness and understanding. “It was almost destroyed by Ganon, but somehow it’s still managed to flourish like this. My world…” He trailed off, not wanting to bring down the mood.
“Here.” Wild pressed a few buttons on his magic slate and his paraglider phased into existence in a shimmer of blue light. Hyrule prepared to grab onto the champion again, but stopped short as the tool was handed to him. “Do you want to try?”
“Can I?” Hyrule gasped.
The champion just laughed and guided his hand to the handle grips. “If you want to drop, just fold it in like this. But since it’s your first time, maybe stick with gliding down...”
Within a few minutes they were standing on the very edge of the drop, paraglider in hand, with Wild’s arms wrapped tight around his shoulders. He would normally hate anyone grabbing onto him like this, but excitement and terror drowned out any other feelings he might have.
“Do you see that strip of beach down there? We’re aiming for that.” Wild pointed into the distance. “Just jump when you think you’re ready.”
Hyrule swallowed and gripped tighter onto the handles. The champion gave an encouraging nudge and a squeeze. Steeling his nerves, he took a leap of faith and kicked off.
Unlike Wild, he unfolded the paraglider immediately. The cook’s weight suddenly became a bag of rocks on his back and his arms already ached with the strain of supporting both of them.
But who cared about that.
He was flying.
Wind washed softly past his face as they travelled forward, rustling his hair, adding a chill to their journey that he hadn’t noticed in their initial awe filled flight.
He tried to adjust his hold, which sent them lurching to the side. “Sorry!” He yelled and tried to bring them back on course, but overcompensated and caused them to spiral the opposite direction. “Wild!”
“It’s okay.” The champion soothed, voice calm and- was he laughing at him? This wasn’t a laughing matter! He was going to send them both to their deaths. His thoughts were cut off as a strong breeze blew them backwards. “Try to balance your weight on either side. If you end up somewhere else it doesn’t matter. But you’re doing great!”
Wild’s arm squeezed in what could only be classed as a mid-air hug and then he reached up with one hand to place it over his own. Then the second hand followed when he had a decent grip.
“Maybe we should have done this from the start. I’ll help guide us, okay? Then next time you can do it by yourself.” Hyrule nodded and, despite the panic that had enveloped his mind, felt a flicker of warmth at the promise of a next time.
With Wild guiding them, the rest of the flight went a lot more smoothly, and soon they were touching down onto soft sand.
The sun was still very low in the sky; had it really not been that long since they left the camp? It couldn’t have been more than half an hour, judging by the position of the sun. The paraglider made travelling so much easier. He would pay all the rupees in his pocket to be able to fly around his own world like this.
He walked forward to get a closer look at the clear water (he still couldn’t get his mind around how little pollution this land had) and stumbled as his foot hit a rock half buried in the sand. He would have ignored it, but something buzzed on the edge of his senses, a type of magic that was barely noticeable unless he focussed intently.
He crouched down and poked at it. No, it felt as solid as any rubble. Was he imagining things?
“Why don’t you try lifting it?” Wild urged.
Hyrule sent the champion an odd look, but only received a cryptic smile in response. He huffed, hoping he wasn’t about to make a fool of himself, and heaved the small boulder over his head-
-then promptly dropped it in shock.
“Yahaha! You found me! Wait, you’re not Mr. Hero!” A leaf? No, a spirit cried out from nowhere. It slumped for a second, before noticing Hyrule’s dumbfounded stare. “You can see me?!”
“Of course he can.” Wild called out from behind him, though Hyrule was hard pressed to tear his eyes away from the odd, happy little creature.
“Mr. Hero!” It jumped up and bounced excitedly towards the champion, who opened his arms ready to catch the spirit as it jumped into his embrace. “We missed you! Who’s your fairy friend?”
Wild’s brow furrowed in confusion and glanced his way. “Fairy friend?” he seemed to mutter under his breath, before he shook his head and smiled at the korok. “Oh, you mean Hyrule? He’s a hero too!”
Thank Hylia for Wild’s sense of privacy; he wasn’t sure how he felt about being outed by a sentient leaf. “Oh, I’m not a hero-”
“Another Mr. Hero?!” The korok gasped, then leapt from the champions arms. Hyrule scrambled to catch it, but the korok didn’t seem to mind. “Other Mr. Hero, we’re so happy you’re here!”
“I- thank you.” Hyrule said, not knowing how else to respond. He shot a bewildered look to Wild, but the champion seemed to be hiding his grin by searching for something in the distance. “What are you looking for?” he asked, balancing the vibrating spirit on one arm to follow his gaze.
“You’ll see, I’m pretty sure we haven’t missed him yet.”
He bit back his curiosity and spent the next few minutes chatting with the little korok, sending the occasional searching glance into the distance.
Then he felt it.
A numbing chill that buzzed at his fingertips, spreading through his veins until a cold mist gripped his mind. He recognised the touch of magic; something otherworldly that caused his own power to spiral to the surface in answer.
Only this was different.
His eyes widened as his gaze was drawn in the direction of a majestic and ancient presence the likes of which he had never felt before.
The korok in his arms giggled, jumping up to whisper in his ear. Or the korok equivalent of a whisper. “You can feel it? You’re a special one, Other Mr. Hero!”
He would have nodded, if he had the presence of mind, and when he spoke his voice sounded like it was coming from far away. “What is that?”.
“Can you sense him? I should have known.” The champion grinned and gestured grandly to the sun tipped mountain before them. “Allow me to introduce the Great Dragon Naydra, Servant of the Goddesses and Guardian of the Spring of Wisdom.”
Crystals shining with colours of the arctic descended from the mists above, crowning glacial scales that sparkled in the light of the rising sun. Eyes, old and wise beyond comprehension, bared into his soul as the spirit prowled gracefully through the frigid air.
He stood wide eyed, all thoughts wiped from his mind, unable to do anything except stare in wonder at the ancient being fast approaching them.
A warm hand slid into his own. “Amazing, isn’t it? But there’s one thing I might have forgotten to tell you.”
“What?” Hyrule asked distantly, eyes still focused on Naydra.
“Dodge!”
“Wha-”
Wild yanked them both to the side as the first blast of ice shattered onto the ground.
Wolfie found them twenty minutes later, laying on the ground with snow in their hair and ice on their clothes, laughing breathlessly as the adrenaline trickled out of their system.
The beast huffed and nudged Wild with his nose until the other looked his way. Leafs and brambles stuck to the wolf’s thick fur as golden eyes pinned them an expression of utter exasperation and disbelief.
They were going to be in so much trouble.