Linktober 2023

Day 8, Constructs

Link woke up alone again. At least it wasn't a dead king to help him on his way this time.

Tags: Gen, Angst, TotK spoilers,

When Link woke up alone in a cave with a pounding headache, he wasn't greeted by a dead king in disguise or bokoblins. He was greeted by robots.

When he jumped from the cave he found himself in, he was above his Kingdom. He jumped for a pool of water, taking in the world around him that he knew, yet... didn't. And that dragon over there, it was different from the three he was used to chasing. It was beautiful, and familiar. He wondered if she had a name.

He landed in the water and swam to the shore. An alarm blared, setting his head pounding again. His mind was spinning. He couldn't keep his thoughts straight until he was attacked. Like a machine, he grabbed a stick and swung at the attacker, sending the being whirling and crumbling at his feet. He kicked at the green ceramic creature, curious. He crouched and picked through the parts.

What are these things? Zelda would like them.

Zelda. Where's Zelda.

Link continued walking, exploring, looking for something to make an elixir for this pain coursing through his body with every step he took. He'd lost everything in the transit from the depths of the castle to here. He had nothing but these odd sandals he took twenty minutes to put on. It didn't help that his fingers hardly worked.

Walking further along the path, he found another one. The grip on his stick tightened as much as it could with the weakness in his limbs. But this one was curled up, docile. Link walked up to it cautiously, and as if sensing his approach, the thing whirled to life. Link took a defensive stance, but the creature did not advance. It regarded him curiously. And it looked different from the other, bigger, almost friendlier. It was held together by some sort of green energy. It reminded Link of... something. Something he'd seen recently. The recent events before being shot into the sky were mostly a blur.

"Link. I have waited for you."

Link practically jumped a foot in the air at the robotic voice that escaped the creature. It took a moment for the words to even register. Link was struck speechless.

"Princess Zelda left something for you in my care." A drawer-like thing slid from the creature's chest, revealing a device that was certainly familiar to Link. So familiar, it was staggering to see it without its usual holder. "This is the Purah Pad. I am told it is an invaluable tool that will help you with direction."

Link took it from the creature. He flipped through the various features, making sure the thing worked. He never knew when it came to Purah's inventions, when they could go haywire. But really, he was slowly processing what the creature said. How could he have spoke to Zelda? Where was she? How did he have the Purah Pad, when Zelda had fallen with it...

Zelda had fallen. He didn't save her.

"I received it from Princess Zelda. I have now passed it on to you," it said, as if confirming this fact for his records. His task was accomplished. "My records indicate Princess Zelda is waiting at the location marked on your map. My message has been delivered."

Link's head whirled with questions and realizations and memories surfacing from the hours before he blacked out. It was so much all at once the only thing he could force from his mouth is, "Where am I?"

"We stand in the Garden of Time," the creature said. Link tried to actually listen to its words. The creature turned to something in the distance. "The Temple of Time is visible from here." Temple of Time. That was familiar. There was one on the surface. Many terrible things have happened there. Link didn't like that Temple. "It was used in the distant past. Many rites and ceremonies of the Kingdom were held there." What kingdom? Link couldn't even be sure he was still in his Hyrule. The creature turned back to him. "But no more. Now it is a lonely place. No one visits."

The creature seemed to disappear. Link took out the Purah Pad and held it up, hoping the identification feature Zelda once showed him still worked.

Construct

Interesting creature. Link liked them. He bet Zelda would, too.  

I love constructs oml. They're so precious.