Haunting Shadow of the Past

Part 4

"Link, Link, wake up. Come on, wake up. Dad sent me to wake you up. Link, wake up!" Link opened his eyes and groaned slightly. He turned his head and saw his eight year old sister, Liliana, staring at him, her hands on her hips. "Finally, you're awake. Dad told me to come and get you. Were you really so tired that you fell asleep still wearing your sword and armor? Wasn't that uncomfortable? A trip to a weird forest shouldn't leave you that tired."

Link rolled out of bed and stretched. "It wasn't just the forest, on my way back I was attacked by a group of monsters."

Liliana's eyes widened. "Did you tell Dad? Are you okay? Is Epona okay?"

Link held up his hands to calm her. "Me and Epona are okay and I didn't have a chance to tell father, I was hoping to tell him along with the King."

"And Impa the royal adviser."

"She's here?"

"Yeah," Liliana smiled, "She arrived yesterday to help watch over the Princess while you were away."

"Why are you so happy about that?" Link asked while fixing his hair.

Liliana's smile broadened. "I got to spend time with Princess Zelda and Impa. The Princess kept talking about some stuff she did before you were appointed her person knight which, by the way, she isn't happy about."

Link rolled his eyes. "No need to remind me."

"Why does the Princess even need an appointed guard?"

"Because," Link started, "more and more monsters have been appearing and we don't want anything to happen to the princess."

"Wow, that's a big responsibility."

"You have no idea." Link mumbled.

"Enough complaining, Dad wants to see you. Comeon, I'll show you where he is."

Link followed Liliana out of his room and they both walked to the exit of their wing. They left their home area and the Link following his younger sibling. They walked for about 5 minutes before Liliana stopped outside of the library. "We're here."

"The library?" Link asked, confused.

"Yep!" Liliana beamed up at Link, "Have fun talking with all the important people. I have some stuff to do so I won't be here when you're done."

"Oh okay, well have fun with your stuff, Lily."

Link then opened the door and walked into the library and the four people in there turned to look at him.

"Link," Lian said with a smile, "I'm glad to see that you are awake."

"As am I," King Rhoam stated, "we are all anxious to know what happened."

Link swallowed and turned to close the doors. After the doors were shut he walked over to the four people sitting at one of the tables.

"So," Link's father encouraged, "what happened?"

Link couldn't think of any way to respond to this except for just showing them. He removed the Master Sword from its sheath and again that awakening feeling washed over him.

"The sword to that is to seal the darkness," the King observed.

"You really are the chosen one." Zelda mumbled glumly.

"Incredible." Impa breathed.

"I can't believe it," Link's father started, "my son, the one that is destined to seal away the calamity."

Link opened his mouth to speak when the library doors swung open. Liliana ran in tears streaming down her face. She ran over to Link and wrapped her arms around his waist and Link raised his arms awkwardly. "No, tell them you don't want to, Link." she sobbed. "Tell them you don't want to go."

Lian pulled Liliana away. "What do you mean, Lily?" he asked, concerned.

"I-I don't want Link to go. I don't want him to get hurt."

"Lily..." Link started. Liliana swiveled to look at him, her sadness replaced with wet anger.

"Tell them you don't want to go. Tell them you will put the sword back. I don't want you to get attacked by monsters like you were yesterday."

"Lily," Link crouched to look her in the eye conscious of all the eyes watching him, "I can't just put it back this is my responsibility."

Liliana's lip quivered. "Why are you so selfish!" she shouted before running out of the room sobbing. Link watched her leave, he wanted to chase after her, he wanted to comfort her.

"Monsters attacked you yesterday?" Link's father asked, concerned.

"It's nothing." Link mumbled. "It wasn't even a large group."

"Still, now they know you have the sword."

King Rhoan cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention back to him. "Link, you now hold the responsibility to help my daughter, Zelda, seal away calamity Ganon. Are you prepared for that responsibility? If the enemy knows you have the sword it will not be an easy task." Not trusting his voice Link just gave a sharp nod. "Good," the king continued, "now all that is left is we need to find pilots for the divine beasts. That will be Zelda's responsibility."

"Do you want Link to accompany her?" Lian asked.

The king thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Although he is her appointed knight I think we should give the young man a few days to let this new responsibility sink in. Impa can go along with Zelda to protect her and we can also send some of your best men."

Lian nodded. "I will assign some men as soon as possible." He then turned to Link who had sheathed his sword. "What are your thoughts?"

"I suppose a day or two to myself would be nice."

King Rhoan nodded, "It's settled then. Tomorrow Zelda, Impa, and a few guards will head out to find pilots and Link can have some time to adjust to his new responsibilities." Everyone around the table nodded and the king dismissed them. The King, Link's father, Zelda, and Impa all quickly left to start on their tasks leaving Link alone. With a sigh he collapsed onto one of the chairs and buried his head in his hands. He couldn't remember the last time he had "free time" but he could remember he wasn't this stressed. He didn't even know what he was supposed to do with free time.

After a few long minutes of sitting in silence an idea suddenly occurred to Link. The Princess of the Zora, Mipha, came to the front of his mind. He had met her a few times before when he was younger and he couldn't help but wonder how she was doing. He looked up, maybe that's what he would do tomorrow, he would head to Zora's domain and check on how everything was going. It would be a nice way to take his mind off of things and it would be nice to see Mipha again.

He didn't have much memory of Mipha except for that she was really kind to him and was always willing to heal his injuries that he acquired from rough housing. That when he remembered Liliana running out of the library in tears. He should probably go and try to find her so he could talk with his younger sister. The sadness and fear in her eyes had left Link kind of shaken. He got up and walked out of the library. While he was walking he passed by a large window and saw that the sun was setting, soon the sun would be gone and Link, Liliana, and their father could sit down, together as a family, for dinner, hopefully. 

Happy New Year everyone! Lets hope 2021 is better than 2020.