Chapter Text
"Open your eyes…"
A voice calls to them, are their eyes closed? Why would they be? Can’t they see all?
"Open your eyes.” it calls again, sending confusion through theirself.
"Wake up Link…"
It was louder now, clearer than ever, were they Link? And why would they wake up? Weren’t they awake? Awake within every river, within every wildflower. They, he?, feels a pull and suddenly they are pulled back and locked into a body, a body he knows. The voice calls out again, just a name, his name. It dubs him Link and he accepts, his heart sings to the name, it was his before and it is his now, he is Link. A chill enters his bones, his body breaks out in shivers, his skin reacting to the water draining around him, and within moments he hears. His breath is loud, so loud it seems to echo around, he opens his eyes to a strange structure above him, something about seems wrong, it chills his bones, something inside him whispers wrong as he looks at it, it feels like death. He moves his body, away from the strange structure. He rises and looks around. What a strange room it is, so cold and dark, an unnatural fog hanging in the air, full of strange little particles. He moves again, stretching his arms, his legs, adjusting to what was once his, it feels right, the body that it, just as it should? It was his after all.
The voice calls into his mind again, it asks him to look at the pedestal, holding a strange device. He obeys, walking forward and taking the strange device from where it was held. It was a strange little thing, its weight seemed familiar within his hand and the name whispered into his head resonated with his heart, was it his? No, something within him whispered and he froze, looking at the device. He shouldn’t trust it, it felt wrong, it was wrong. He went to throw it but froze once again. He needed it, why would he need it? A door opened and his head snapped up, he walked forward as if in a trance, stepping into a corridor of blue light, like a fake sky it glowed above him. A smell of rot filled the room, oozing from the boxes and barrels, Link grimaced as he continued on, coming to a stop in front of some fabrics laid out, strangely cut. They seemed relevant, but he ignored them, he wanted out of this place. As he walked the smell of rot seemed to transform into one of fresh soil, he let his lips curve as he walked on, bare feet on the cold stone till he reached the next pedestal. He looked at it, raising this slate to meet it and watched it glow before the wall to his right groaned, Loud machines screeched into life after years of stillness.
"Link, you are the light - our light - that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now go…."
A voice called at light entered the room. Sunlight, He felt it fill him, he smiled and breathed a deep breath. He walked on moving quickly into a jog, through the poodle before leaping onto the small cliff, and there he stops.
Sunlight greets him, a warm breeze, and the joyous song of birds and he smiles. He looks at the trees around him and walks slowly forward letting his hands run through the tall blades of grass, until he comes to a stop at the ledge, looking over, well everything, and with everything looking back at him, he smiles, he feels at home here, in the wild, among the grasses. A soft sound snaps his attention to the side, and his eyes follow the moments of a figure, who seemed to have risen to meet him, yet upon being noticed turned back towards a small alcove. Link doesn't move, something about the man seems…vile almost. Minuets pass and he doesn't move, not until a bird lands on his shoulder to sing a worried song.
Link raises his hand to cress the little bird's chest before he steps forward, eyes never leaving their mark. It doesn’t take him much to reach the old man, who doesn’t look his way, seemingly too taken by the fire in front of him. Eventually link takes another step forward and kneels by the fire looking at the old man, turning his head to try and see his face
“Careful, or you might burn that hair of yours.” Link jumped, eyes widening at the sudden volume of the voice. The old man laughed.
“It has been a while since I've seen you Link.” The old man’s eyes found his, and Link quickly looked away.
“Who are you?” he muttered back.
“I’ll spare you my life story boy.”
Link looks into the fire and changes his position to sit more comfortably.
“I must say, when I heard the commotion above I didn't expect you to come down dressed as you are.” the man said, hiding a smile behind his hand, Link looked down at himself, he was still dressed in nothing but what he woke up in. He shrugged, although the way the old man’s eyes travelled around his body made his skin crawl. His stomach rumbled and the man laughed once more before gesturing to a fruit laying by the fire. Link looked at it for a moment before reaching out and picking up, looking over it in his right hand before passing over to the next at which he let out a shocked noise, the apple was warm. His eyes travelled back to his right hand. It was covered in millions of white cobwebs, like tree branches they travelled all around his palm. It was strange, he decided as he flexed his hand, his other wasn’t like this. He bit into the apple as he kept looking over his body, noticing a similar damaged tissue that covered his left side, down his leg till about the knee, across his hip and up his side, and all the way down his elbow. It made him wonder if his face was the same, did it have the same beautiful glossy branches glowing all over it?
A voice breaks him out of his mind, he looks around, the old man appearing oblivious to it, could only he hear it? Calling him over to a point marked in the slate? He took it out and looked at it, it had a glowing yellow dot, it seemed to point him...East? He stood up and started heading down the mountain, eyes away from the ruins to his right, as something deep inside him seemed to cry out to them, he didn’t understand it. Link froze as a red creature walked onto the path in front of him, cutting him off, without a moment’s hesitation he turned into the forest, his footsteps falling silent as they reached the grass and stepped further into the wild. It greeted him, the wind, the animals, the wildflowers, they all greeted him like a sibling long lost, like a mother returning home after a harsh day’s work, like a soldier finally back from war. The wilderness greeted him home, with warmth and peace and he smiled, for this was home, wasn’t it?