Unseen Hero (2019)

Chapter 6

   When Tallia woke up, she found herself in the room that Link had booked for them in castle town. Beside her, Link was fast asleep sitting on a chair.

   "Link?" Tallia said quietly. She was unsure how to feel now. The dream she'd had felt like memories. It was all so real…

   "Huh?" The blonde began to open his eyes. As his body adjusted to being awake, he slowly perked up. "Oh! Tallia!"

   "I'm glad one of us is well rested," she smiled, giggling.

   "How are you feeling?" Link dismissed her comment and gave her a worried look.

   "I think I'm alright… I had the strangest dream."

   "What was it?" Link asked, still worried.

   Tallia briefly explained her dream and Link's anxiety only deepened. "Is that everything you remember?" He said quickly.

   "What? Yes, of course. I don't know what happened after I left the inn. Why are you so worried?" Tallia frown, Link's attitude was beginning to scare her. He sighed and began to calm down.

   "It… it wasn't a dream." Link said as though he were revealing a deeply guarded secret.

   "What do you mean 'it wasn't a dream'?" Tallia asked, trying to contain her bewilderment.

   "When I was a boy I helped princess Zelda open the gate of time and retrieve the Master Sword in order to defeat Ganondorf." He said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "That's to put it simply."

   "I'd remember something like that-"

   "I wasn't finished." Link interrupted Tallia's disbelief, then continued, "I used the Master Sword to travel through time, becoming older and defeating many a foe. However, once my mission was completed, Zelda used her ocarina to send me back in time to be a child in a world where the tragedies never happened… in other words, grow up with the knowledge of what I'd done and what I'd learned, in the body of a child in a world that had no idea of what I'd done for them."

   Tallia's jaw hung open as she stared at Link. She felt awful for him, he'd saved everyone and yet nobody knew, he was an unseen hero…

   "I am so sorry" the small girl began to feel tears burning in her eyes.

   "Please don't apologize Tallia…"

   "We were best friends." She held her hands to her face as she began to cry. "And I abandoned you"

   "No." Link said quickly, "you didn't once abandon me, Tallia. You were like a sister to me until the very end!"

   "What do you mean until the end?" Tallia asked.

   "Until I turned back to a child I mean" Link frowned, looking away. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when Galvant got sick. He was your father and I was a bad friend."

   "Link… we never could have known. I never would have known."

   Before their conversation could continue there was a knock at the door.

   "I have a letter for a 'Link'?" The voice on the other side called out.

   Link retrieved the letter and sat back in his seat. "They said it just arrived by owl?"

   "Open it then!" Tallia pestered, sitting up on the bed.

   Link opened the letter and found a hastily written note inside. He took a few moments to read it, his face becoming increasingly worried as he did so.

   "It's from Impa. She says that she can feel something dark in the air, coming for me...something unnatural." Link frown, holding the letter tightly.

   "What could it be?" Tallia was also concerned.

   "I don't know. But if Impa can feel it, then whatever it is, it's strong." Link said, packing the letter into his satchel. The two turned and looked at the night sky out the window.

  "We should get some sleep. We'll head back to Kakariko first thing tomorrow." Link said, sitting next to Tallia on the bed.

   Tallia didn't mind him sleeping next to her that night. Despite her fears, she slept easily knowing her best friend was protecting her.