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Wind had been the first to run out of the portal. He stumbled to a stop a few paces away and put his hands on his knees as he tried desperately to catch his breath. His companions quickly followed after him to the new time period—hopefully one without angry hordes of monsters in the immediate vicinity.
He nearly collapsed from relief when the only sounds he heard right away were from a few birds flying overhead. They’d been running from a very large pack of monsters when they’d been lucky enough to come across the portal. If it been normal monsters, it wouldn’t have been an issue taking them all on. But they were infected ones, and there was no way they would have been able to fend off all twenty or thirty of them at once, not when they’d gone two days without rest. Fortunately, the portal was quick to close behind them so nothing was able to follow through it and they could actually take five seconds to breathe.
Panting still, Wind lifted his head to see if he recognized the area. His heart fell slightly when he didn’t. It’d been a long time since they traveled to his time period and his heart desperately longed for the ocean. He loved traveling with the other heroes, don’t get him wrong, but the land beneath his feet was too stable and a lot of the time, the weather was too cold for his liking.
He missed the sunshine—recently, they’d spent so much time wandering through thick forests that he thought for sure he was beginning to lose his tan for the first time in a very long time—and cloudless skies where during the nights, he could see an endless number of stars. Wind still wasn’t sure how Tetra could use them to navigate when he could barely tell them apart from one another.
I wonder what Tetra’s doing right now? Wind sighed quietly at the sky above them. He’d gotten so used to always having his best friend by his side that he sometimes forgot that she wasn’t adventuring with them. The first few days of their adventure through time, Wind had to constantly stop himself from turning to the side and asking for Tetra’s input because she wasn’t the one standing beside him anymore.
He shook his tired head. They had more important things to worry about than being a bit homesick. He took another look around to make sure he didn’t recognize anything. It might not have been his home, but the place was breathtaking in its own way. Beautiful rolling hills with snow-covered mountains in the distance.
Sky had been the one to ask the standard ‘where are we’ question. Wild took a quick look around and his face lit up like a fire rod. Wind had to do a double-take, he hadn’t actually seen the hero that excited or relaxed before. Well, aside from when he was either cooking or setting something on fire.
He laughed so brightly. “Ah! This is my Hyrule!” A huge grin broke out on his face as he took off for a fairly large hill in front of them. When he reached the top, he called down joyously to the others. “We’re not far from the castle! Come on! I wanna show you around!”
Even though they weren’t back on the Great Sea, excitement built up inside him and he ran after Wild to take in the sight of his vast and beautiful...Hyrule…
Dear, Hylia…
That excitement he’d felt just seconds before had turned into cold dread the moment he met Wild at the top of the hill. He looked out and saw the kingdom Wild grew up in before him—a view that had been hidden by the hill.
Wind had expected to see majestic cities to accompany the beautiful landscape they’d been surrounded with, not destruction and ruins. He heard the others gasp behind him and he knew they’d all thought the same thing as him. Wild either ignored or didn’t hear them as he ran down the hill in the direction of the broken castle.
There was an odd sort of pain in Wind’s chest as old memories of his first adventure filled his mind. Memories of the old kingdom at the bottom of the sea. He turned his head to look up at Twilight who’d stopped right beside him. Horror was written all over his face.
Wild had always been so nonchalant about his adventure, they never imagined…
Wind shook his head and swallowed his thoughts. If Wild wasn’t going to be all mopey and depressed about the state of his home then who was Wind to insult the other hero by pitying him? He followed Wild again—slower that time. A few monsters popped up here and there but none were infected, thankfully.
The closer they got to the castle, the more and more ruins they came across and, no matter how hard he tried to stay as positive as Wild, his heart ached more and more with each rusted blade sticking out of the ground.
The whole way to the castle, Wild talked non-stop. It was a little unnerving at first to hear the normally relatively quiet hero not pause for breath in between sentences. He told them more about his adventure and his Zelda in the span of an hour than he had during the whole time they’d known him.
It was a really tragic tale when Wind thought about it. They’d known about his hundred-year sleep—he’d told them almost right away after explaining how he’d gotten his scars—but hearing the full story behind it was so heart-wrenching.
Wild had been hailed as a hero since he was a kid, the people of Hyrule had placed so much responsibility on both his and his Zelda’s shoulders. Wind couldn’t imagine knowing for years that a great battle would take place one day and that he’d be the one responsible for defeating it. That would have driven him insane from just the waiting and anticipating alone! And all of that buildup and faith the people had put in the two teenagers…he couldn’t imagine how Wild must have felt—how he must still feel—after failing them.
They reached a town full of ruins long before they made it to the castle.
“This was the garrison,” Wild said with a small nostalgic smile as he ran his hand over the broken stone buildings. “I think this place is next on the list for repairs. After Castle Town of course. Zelda’s excited to get people back there in shops and to rebuild the marketplace. It’s been too quiet for anyone’s liking the past one hundred years. And now that guardians aren’t crawling all over the place it shouldn’t be much longer before people can live there full time too.”
“Is...is all of Hyrule like this?” Four hesitantly asked the question they all were thinking. Wild shrugged as he continued on through the garrison ruins.
“For the most part, yeah. I mean, there were villages that survived the calamity, and that’s where the people fled to.” He turned around and gave them another bright smile. “Hyrule’s alive because of them. Even when the cities fell and the buildings turned to dust, the people lived and thrived for a century.”
Wind had fallen to the back of the group a while back. He really wanted to share in Wild’s hopefulness but walking through the ruins put a bad taste in his mouth. Something moved out of the corner of his eye again. He tried so hard, but it was getting difficult to ignore them. He’d noticed them almost immediately from the moment they entered Wild’s Hyrule. They were everywhere: walking through the meadows and along the trails next to them. They sat at the few tables that miraculously still stood in one piece and on top of the broken walls. Invisible and mostly mute. Wind was sure the others weren’t able to see or hear them, but he could.
The people of Hyrule from one hundred years ago.
Occasionally, some would let their hands pass through Wild’s shoulder. Wind could see in their ghostly faces the longing to touch him. It didn’t seem malicious to him so, maybe it was their way of trying to comfort the hero that had lost too much.
Once they reached Castle Town it was impossible to ignore them any longer. They walked the streets alongside the unaware living. Children ran past, playing and laughing. Elderly couples walked arm in arm with warm smiles on their transparent faces. And that’s what unsettled Wind the most.
There were dozens and dozens of ghosts all across the land but none of them acted like ghosts! They weren’t afraid or crying or angry. They all went around smiling so cheerfully like they were celebrating something. It was so unnerving and he didn’t understand why until they made it to the castle at last.
That’s where most of the ghosts were, gathered around the front courtyard mixed in with the living people of Hyrule. The people were covered in sweat and dirt but were smiling as brightly as the ghosts were.
Wild pushed his way through the crowd to where a blonde girl stood over a large table filled with blueprints and maps. The way she hugged Wild made it clear to them that she was Zelda. It was a brief hug, but they held each other like they were the only two people left in the world. Well, in a way, they kind of were. At least, they were really the last people in their world. Two people out of time. Relics from another era.
The ghosts cheered so loudly when they witnessed their princess and hero embrace. There was no blame or anger in their eyes, only joy and relief that they had survived after all that time. A little blonde ghost girl around Aryll’s age pushed her way through the crowd. Her smile—thought it was no different than all the others—felt far more heartbreaking for some reason.
When the two parted, Zelda cleared her throat and addressed the crowd.
“People of Hyrule! Our hero has so kindly decided to finally grace us with his presence!” There was a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. “Maybe we should put him in charge of making sure the new sewage system is fully functional?” A round of laughter rang through the crowd as Wild’s face turned red and he rubbed the back of his neck. Even the ghosts joined in on teasing the blushing hero.
That was when Wind realized how right Wild had been. Sure, the land was littered with ruins—Ganon sure did a number on Hyrule—but the people were alive. They were alive and rebuilding. And maybe that’s why the ghosts were so happy too.