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The camp was wonderfully silent.
It was a drastic change compared to the atmosphere last night, the group loud and boisterous as they chattered. But now, everyone seemed to be in a state of peace and relaxation. Everyone was attending to their things as Time went to scout out the area. They had been ambushed earlier in the week and had not moved to another time yet, so it was routine to check the outskirts of camp until they packed everything up. Everyone who was left behind were doing things to keep themselves occupied.
Wind had suffered a nasty cut to his forehead in battle and, after Hyrule had healed him, both of them were exhausted. Hyrule had laid back against a tree and was passed out. Wind was writing a letter to his sister while resting on his bedroll, yawning every so often. Wild went to wash dishes near the stream after packaging leftover curry for Time to eat when he got back. Twilight, Warriors, and Four were playing some sort of card game, and Twilight and Warriors were a little too focused on beating the other for their good (Four was cheating). Sky, as always, was napping.
And, after an hour of quiet, Legend broke the silence. “You know, after all this time, there is one thing that I don’t understand about the Old Man,” he piped up after turning a page in his book.
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” Four raised his eyebrow and glanced over at his companion.
“How did he lose his eye?” That got everyone’s attention. Twilight and Warriors gave up on trying to beat each other and just let Four win (he was going to anyway, the two of them were clueless to the five cards he had put up his sleeve when he dealt the hand). “I mean, think about it. He’s got so many secrets, but this one is quite literally staring us in the face. Aren’t you even a little bit curious?”
Everyone glanced at each other nervously. Of course, they all wanted to know what happened to their leader to receive such a gruesome injury, yet, none of them seemed to want to elaborate on the subject. Finally, after about 2 minutes of silent contemplation, Wind spoke up, “Well, how do you guys think it happened?” Everyone looked at each other, hesitant to speak.
Four cleared his throat, “Well, I think it went down a little bit like this…”
Link rode atop his horse as he reached the gates of Castle Town. Talon was away on business for the ranch so he was tasked with selling milk at the market while he was gone. The market sales were always interesting to him, even if it was the same old routine every day. Wake up, get dressed, get the horses ready, pack the milk, kiss Malon goodbye, and ride off. He smiled and greeted every customer who came up and bought some milk and was very thankful whenever someone made a purchase.
The simple life, it seemed, was the best life.
As the market died down, Link went to work selling the rest of the supply and giving whatever was left over to the orphanage down the road. He took down his stall and started back on his way home.
Evenings in Hyrule Field were always dangerous, a peahat could always attack out of nowhere, and stalfos were always on the lookout for prey. Link kept one hand on his sword and the other on his horse’s reins as he scanned the area. The sudden increase of weight on the back of the horse took him by surprise.
Bandits. Link was thrown off his horse and slammed onto the ground. Stars danced in his vision as he could see the thief escaping with the horse and the dismantled booth. He tried to get up, but every time he tried to walk his left ankle screamed. Link only had the warning of the sound of a blade before he managed to parry the dagger with his sword. Two more bandits surrounded him as he surveyed his attackers. Both were of Hylian size, big and muscular with faces obscured by black masks.
The battle continued for a long 5 minutes, a constant pattern of attack, dodge, parry. Somewhere along the way, Link must have slipped up and the bandit with the dagger managed to get a lucky cut along his face. His eye screamed in agony, causing him to drop his sword and hastily cover his eye with his hand. The bandits must have thought that was enough and disappeared. Thankfully, he was only about 5 minutes away from the ranch, so Link hobbled until he made it home. That night, Malon tended to her husband’s wounds, and the two were grateful that he was not harmed any further.
Everyone hummed in thought, all considering Four’s answer. After all, everyone had been confronted by bandits at some point in their adventures, it wasn’t too much of a stretch. It was a very logical answer.
Everyone awake had abandoned their spots throughout camp and gathered around the fire. “I mean, it’s a good answer and all, but there’s no way that bandits would be able to one-up Time. Have you seen the man wrestle the cows back on the ranch?” Warriors said.
“Ah, good point. Well, even if there’s the possibility that he didn’t let a bandit get him, in arguing my case I believe I’ve made a very good point.”
“Right you have, Smithy. Well, my turn!” Legend cracked his knuckles, ready to weave his tale.
Dungeons sucked.
Well, most of them did at least. Link walked through the dungeon with the utmost care, his eyes and ears on high alert as he scanned the walls and the path ahead for any sign of danger. He took care as he gazed upon the carvings of the wall, appreciating their beauty but not allowing himself to get distracted.
After all, distraction meant an untimely demise. He traveled down a dark pathway lit by torches. The dungeon was cold and dank, and a chill swept through him whenever he entered a new room. After defeating several skulltulas and a few lizalfos, he came across a large door. Link knew without a doubt that there was some sort of treasure in there. There had to be. He couldn’t leave without finding her. Link pushed with all his might against the doors as they creaked against the unexpected force.
Eventually, the doors flew open and Link was inside. He crept forward to see a tall, domed room with sunlight piercing through the grates on the top of the ceiling. As he moved towards the center of the room, a large treasure chest came into view. Bingo. He moved toward the chest with care, as to not disturb the many monsters that roamed the halls. You never knew when something could take you by surprise.
And taken by surprise Link was. A massive thud knocked Link out of his concentration, and he looked behind him to see two darknuts looming over him, their heavy steps pounding against the stone tiles and echoing throughout the room. Link whipped out his sword and shield and turned to face his enemies. The first darknut swung his sword, but it was met by Link’s shield with a loud clang. The other armored soldier whipped his sword to meet Link’s body while he was vulnerable holding off the other monster’s attack, and Link shoved the two enemies away by pushing them both with his sword and shield. Link fought with ferocity as he was constantly thrown onto the defensive, parrying and blocking and dodging left and right as he frantically searched for a weak spot on either of them.
By some sort of miracle, he managed to stun one of the darknuts with an arrow. With a quick swing, Link decapitated the darknut and it poofed into smoke. The second one, however, did not give him any time to recover, and Link barely managed to raise his shield to block the attack before it could hit him. He managed to perform a spin attack and knock the darknut off its feet, proceeding to defeat it with a helm splitter. He let out a shaky laugh, relieved as the darknut fizzled away into smoke. He crossed the remainder of the room and planted his feet in front of the chest, a burning feeling of desperation coursing through him. He lifted the chest to find nothing but a small pendant in the shape of a moon. He lifted the pendant out of its box and gazed upon the little jewel that was his one and only hope.
He held it with reverence and grasped the pendant, wishing to come face to face with the one being who could save his precious love. For a few seconds, anxiety and dread coursed through him, doubts plaguing his mind. Then, all of a sudden, tendrils of wispy smoke burst forth from the pendant and gathered Link into its embrace, whisking him off to meet the divine creature. When the smoke cleared, Link came face to face with a woman of divine beauty. There was an ethereal quality to her as she gazed upon him. Her eyes glowed with a heavenly light and her presence screamed at him to not look her in the eye.
“Welcome, hero. Come, I do not wish to do you harm.” She raised a hand and invited him to step closer. He had faced countless dangers, faced many a foe, and yet, he had never felt such terrifying power all at once.
But, who was he to say no to a goddess?
He stepped forward and immediately felt the intense strength of the deity’s power. He gathered his courage and spoke, “Do you have what I am searching for?”
The goddess nodded, “Yes, dear hero, I do. However, I require a price. You must give something that you have, for the power you seek is a force that does not go willingly.”
“Name it, for any sacrifice will be worth giving.”
“To rescue the one you love, you must give something to see the truth to heal them. The power of sight is a fickle thing. It can reveal, yet it can veil just as much. Are you willing to give this up? Is this the gift that you seek?”
“...I would relinquish this and more if it meant saving her.”
“Then go dear hero, and walk through the mist. When you do as such, your love should be waiting for you with open arms. Yet, know that I do this with much remorse for you. It is with a great burden that I carry out this task.”
“I understand. Thank you, for everything.” The deity nodded her head. With a wave of her hand, the mist surrounded him once more. He closed his eyes, hoping and praying that his sacrifice would be well worth it. And sure enough, when he opened his one eye, Malon sat up in her bed, awake and aware for the first time in weeks. And to Link, the love that he felt was something that did not need to be seen to be felt.
Wind let out a disgusted groan, “Ew, why did you have to make it so sappy? Go back to the darknuts, those were cool!”
Legend let out a chuckle, “Unfortunately Sailor, that’s not how it works.”
Wind crossed his arms and groaned, “Okaaaaay.”
“So, who’s turn is it now?” Warriors spoke up from across the fire.
“Ooh, me, me!” Wind’s hand shot up into the air, and he waved it around for emphasis.
“Sailor, with all due respect, you look exhausted. That injury looks like it took a lot out of you.”
Warriors ruffled the kid’s hair. “No, I’m fine! I can--” Wind let out a huge yawn, “I can stay up for a little while longer...”
“Yeah, I think you should go lay down, bud. Get some rest.” “Ok, I’ll--” He yawned again, “I think I’m gonna take a quick nap and come back over here later.”
Wind stood up from the group and stumbled over to his bedroll. As he laid down, faint snoring could be heard. He fell right asleep. With a small smile, Warriors turned back to face everyone else, “I think it’s my turn. Although, you probably won’t like what you hear…”
Times of war were always difficult to deal with.
Sure, there was always the possibility of a blade running you through, but sometimes whatever wasn’t visible was the most lethal. A sickness could start out small, infecting one person and sweeping through the masses until there was nothing left. In the army, it was one of the things that you feared the most. And, if Link could choose between a swift or slow, painful death, well, he’d take the sword to his gut any day.
Instead, he was unable to move as his body was laid flat along with the cot in the makeshift hospital tent set up a mere 10 minutes away from the camp. The captain in charge of the unit had given orders that anyone showing any signs of the safflina sickness be escorted out of the camp and quarantined with everyone else who had fallen ill. The safflina sickness was not well known, it had shown up one day and then spread through the troops like wildfire, infecting one after the other without remorse.
The disease was remorseless, killing all but a few who were infected. And those that survived, well, they were a shell of who they used to be. Link had been fortunate enough to survive when the illness hit its peak in his body, but it had spread to his head. Even worse, his eye. The doctors said that the only way to ensure his survival was to remove it. And who was Link to say no to survival? With a little anesthesia and a ton of bandages, Link was one eye less in number and a whole lot more healthy. He was given an honorable discharge and was sent home to be reunited with his wife, reunited and ready to live out the rest of his days in peace, that is until 8 young men knocked on his door asking for him to join them...
Everyone sat there taking in the silence after Warriors had finished telling his tale. As much as they didn’t want to believe it, their leader very well could have fallen ill with sickness. No matter how much armor you put on to protect yourself, a virus could always find its way through the cracks.
“Shit, I didn’t even think about that.”
“Think about what?” Wild was walking back from the stream, dishes all clean and stored in the Sheikah Slate. He glanced over to his companions around the fire.
“Oh, we’re trying to figure out how Time lost his eye. Have any thoughts?” Four asked as Wild made his way over to one of the logs and sat down. After 5 minutes of contemplation, an idea came to him.
“Oh! I bet he fought a bear!”
Silence.
“What.” Four said, eloquently.
“You heard me. He fought a bear. Imagine the spectacle it must have been! Although considering why we’re talking about this, It’s probably a bad thing he did it…”
“You’re speaking as though that’s what happ--” Legend was interrupted by Wild. “Well anyway, that is what I think happened! What about you Rancher?”
Twilight was lost in thought and at the mention of his name he startled. “Me?”
“Yeah! How do you think it happened?”
An image of a long-dead skeleton with a flashing red eye wormed its way into his brain. He shuddered. “I don’t know,” He lied, “Not the imaginative type.”
“Ok then, as long as you’re sure.”
“...I still think the bear is a good choice.”
“Wild, for Hylia’s sake, Time did not fight a bear!”
And from then on, the tension rose as everyone began talking over one another.
“I mean think about it, magic is tricky! I would do the same thing if I were in that situation!”
“There’s no way it would be something physical. It’s gotta be something else!”
“Both of you are being childish. Logically, someone could have attacked him by surprise!”
“I don’t think that all of you have thought about the bear option enough!”
The argument lasted for another 10 seconds before a new voice joined in and silenced everyone.
“I do hope that you’re arguing over who won in your game of cards instead of eating the last helping.” Everyone’s head swiveled toward Time, who stood at the edge of the greenery just on the outskirts of the camp.
Legend sputtered. “Time! We were--ah--just--”
“Wondering how you lost your eye?” Everyone looked at Wild, eyes wide.
He shrugged. “What? He already heard us arguing. Might as well just tell him."
Time removed his armor and sat down to begin eating his leftover curry. After a few bites, he shrugged. “Hunting accident. I came across a bear den and I got too close to the mother’s cubs. I had to fight her to get away and she clawed my face. I was able to dodge one of her attacks and escape back to the farm. I was unlucky enough to walk away with more than a few scratches. Unfortunately, there is not much more to say on the matter.” He stood up and thanked Wild for dinner, then stretched his arms above his head. “I think I shall retire for the night. Good night, boys.”
Time retreated to his bedroll to stunned silence. The eight of them stared at each other, trying to think of what to say.
Their leader, losing his eye, to a bear of all things. No one had anything to say, yet Wild’s smirk said all that he needed to.
Legend would be the one to break the silence and as a result, wake the rest of the group up with his shout. “Oh, for Hylia’s sake!”
As all the rupees were passed to the Champion, Time smirked to himself as he pretended to sleep. He would let them think it was a bear who caused his injury.
Turns out, you should never wake up the farmhouse cat before breakfast.