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Link fell to his knees and coughed out blood.
Stabbing his broken sword into the ground so he could steady himself, he looked at the dead Lynel in front of him. The rain poured down from the sky, slowly rinsing the mix of the Lynel’s and Link’s blood off of his skin. His Champion’s Tunic was drenched in blood. Of course, some of the blood could have been from the four other lynels that he had fought that day. He even had some burns from a Guardian.
There were rips along the back of his tunic, corresponding with cuts from the Lynel’s spear. In tremendous pain and slowly bleeding out, he gasped heavily for air. Broken ribs made each breath agonizing. He didn’t care though. He was used to this kind of suffering. There was an arrow lodged in his arm. Link grabbed it with his opposing hand and shut his eyes tightly. In his head, he counted to three before ripping it out. Blood began spurting out of the wound.
The Champion did not have any bandages with him. Instead, his bloodied and battered hands shakily held up his Sheikah Slate as he pulled out a Hearty Elixir. It was his last one. Usually, he would look for other options but he didn’t have a choice with the state he was in. Mipha’s Grace had already been used right before he fought this last Lynel and he could not activate it.
Chugging down the elixir as fast as he could, he immediately felt his body slowly being soothed. His wounds began to disappear and his body began to heal. Link fell backwards and let himself lay on the ground in the rain. It was refreshing, he had grown hot and tired from the fighting. Laying there for a few minutes, he closed his eyes and took a moment to relax. It had been a tiring day, fighting all sorts of monsters and making his way to the Great Hyrule Forest. He could always warp to another place in order to rest but that would erase the progress he made already.
After a few minutes, he sat up, fully healed. While he was healed physically, he still felt extremely fatigued and sore. But at least the pain wasn’t unbearable. He stood up and looked around for shelter. Luckily for him, he found a small grove of trees. Thank Hylia.
Link slowly but surely stumbled towards the grove and began gathering wood. Using his axe, he cut down some big branches with the little energy he had. After gathering enough branches, he attempted to make a lean-to. However, Link could not muster up the energy to put it together and simply sat by a tree and leaned on it. It was good enough for shelter. He decided that he would rest here for twenty minutes before going further. Link did not want to waste any time saving the princess.
Princess Zelda. Closing his eyes, Link couldn’t help but smile as he thought of arguably his closest companion. Everything about her was beautiful. Sure, she hated his guts before he saved her from the Yiga Clan but eventually they grew closer. They were each other’s support system, each other’s motivator. And he was determined to defeat Calamity Ganon. If Link wasn’t doing it for Hyrule, he would do it to save her. It was all worth it if he could save her.
“You’re worth fighting for.” Link said, hoping it’d somehow reach her.
Slowly drifting asleep, his eyes began to flutter. But rest and dreams of the aforementioned princess would have to wait. The large and unmistakable sound of a Lynel’s footsteps filled his ear. Adrenaline kicked in and Link jerked back up and grabbed his sword.
From within Hyrule Castle, tears began to fall from a certain princess’ face. As she held back Calamity Ganon from wreaking havoc on Hyrule, Zelda watched as Link continued to struggle and break himself to save her. To save Hyrule. She saw every agonizing blow that he took. And she saw how he never rested despite the fact he was barely clinging to life. Every day she found herself wanting to shout at him to take a break. To warp back to town. To get healed.
Calamity Ganon sensed the princess’ concern for Link. “YOUR HERO CONTINUES TO SLOWLY DIE AS HE MAKES HIS WAY TO YOU. IF YOU LET ME LOOSE, I’LL KILL HIM SWIFTLY AND PAINLESSLY. YOU CAN REST AND STOP FIGHTING BACK. YOU’LL BE FREE FROM A HUNDRED YEARS OF HOLDING ME BACK. YOUR FOOLISH EFFORTS SIMPLY DELAY THE INEVITABLE. HE WILL DIE IN AGONY AND HYRULE WITH HIM.”
Zelda grit her teeth. “I refuse to let you kill him! I am not going to sacrifice Hyrule just to confirm his death! My effort is worth it. I may be suffering as well but I will not stand down! The safety of Hyrule is worth my pain! He is worth my pain!”
“THEN SUFFER ALL YOU WANT LOCKED IN HERE WITH ME. YOU THINK IT IS WORTH IT BUT I WILL SHOW YOU THAT ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE IS FOR NOTHING.”
With renewed resolve, Zelda continued to hold Calamity back, determined to hang on. She would not die here.
Link and the rest of Hyrule were worth fighting for.