The Song of Hyrules Heroes | (BoTW fic)

Chapter 1. Boy turned Hero

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Twelve year old Link miraculously pulls the Master Sword from the temple of time, and is fated to face the destiny set before him.

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Calloused fingers and a trained eye glazed solemnly over the blade, drinking in it's unfortunate destiny, masked in a hero's sheen. The idle, boyish grin had been struck from his young cheeks, leaving only a feverish cloak atop his paling face. Moments earlier, his laughter had laced and entangled itself throughout the woods, effortlessly clearing a path through the thick trees without even the slightest care of losing his way. The temple of time seemed such a distant and faraway place in the tales people told of it, and yet, as he stood within its walls, nothing had ever seemed more real. Now, as the daunting blue glow licked and loomed at his fingertips, he wished it hadn't been.

So, this was it. A jesting confidence, and a stroll over the hills had decided his fate. The goddess was cruel, he thought, to take the life of a boy. For now he would serve her until her last wishes had been fulfilled, and her bitter sentence left no time for a frivolous childhood. His father had made that clear before he'd ran off.

❅

Be proud, be proud, be proud, he'd muttered to himself over and over on the journey home, but only fear seemed to breach the surface of his father's expression as he loomed over him. An incomprehensible fear, as though his son had been returned to his door a corpse.

The child braced himself as his father hesitated, feeling his nails finally puncture the skin of his palms in their tightened, bloodless fists. Rather than a blow, however, he was greeted with the warmth and sincerity of open arms. His father scooped him from the floor, holding him tight with a sense of irrefutability, allowing his son to bury his face tenderly in the crook of his neck - the way he'd been hugged the day his mother died.

"I'll send word to the King."

The old knight announced breathlessly, his eyes hovering over his son's shoulder at the sword said to seal the darkness. It no longer glowed, but continued to hold a tense air of solemn tragedy. As though glancing at it too long might end your own destiny, then and there.

"I suggest you begin packing your things, boy. You'll be gone by morning, and poor punctuality doesn't fare well with Royals. You'd do well to remember that."

Link nodded mutely. Even if he had found the words for his father, his throat had constricted itself much too tightly whilst holding back tears for him to speak. He was a hero, now.
The hero. Such a title seemed painfully futile in reference to a boy with grazed knees.

❅

The grandeur of Hyrule Castle was one of few things Link seemed unable to grow used to. He'd gazed up at its striking red banners, blazoned with their famous triforce emblem an innumerable number of times while accompanying his father to knightly ceremonies. A thing of such pride seemed only to trigger a sickening anxiety in his gut. Perhaps if he stared long enough he'd throw up and be sent home, he thought. They could replace the sword, and then wait for another, better soldier to come along and pull it out. For a true hero to take his unfortunate place.

To his dismay, Link's breakfast stayed quite stubbornly down in his stomach, and he was marched promptly into the entrance hall. Standing tall at it's gates was King Roham himself, a man arguably as grand-looking as the castle itself, with a great, well tamed beard, and a shining crown positioned quite perfectly atop his large head. Despite having dressed in his best clothes, Link's evidently pitiful outfit was instantly put to shame by the splendour of his robes. His bashful, almost apologetic expression received a round of hearty laughter from the King. It was warm, but not in a comforting, jovial way. It seemed to shrink the boy even more.