Linktober 2023

Day 13, Spirit/ghost/phantom

Link was sure he saw ghosts. He was positive.

Tags: Link/Zelda, Ghosts, Linked Universe, Angst

Link was sure he saw ghosts. He was positive.

He saw them over a century ago, when he was a child the best. They seemed to linger because nobody would believe him if he said anything, so they stayed longer and wandered closer. One was a little boy no older than Link himself, in a green tunic and funny green hat. Link drew pictures of him. His mother thought it was an imaginary friend. His father thought his son was a prophet. Years later they figured it might've been a vision.

He saw them in the halls of the grand palace, floating down darkened corridors with their heads down. Some wore armor with broad shoulder pads and purple hues, some wore green tunics and silly hats. Some didn't look like Hylian, or Zora, or like any of the other races. They looked like a species he might have studied in school, long extinct.

He saw Zora ghosts walking through the halls of the Domain. They look different from the ones that dwell there now, although how they looked different he couldn't quite tell. They were there and gone before he could study them. They all were. Now that he was older, and had the sword, he thought he saw them more often, but they were gone before he could get a good look.

When he pulled the sword, he saw visions of other men, the sword situated on their backs, waring armor or green tunics. It was then that he realized that's who he'd been seeing from the corners of his eyes. They were ghosts of previous heroes. Why they bothered to stick around and spook him, he couldn't say. Perhaps they were there to help him. Perhaps they were his conscious voice, telling him when there's danger. Perhaps they're here to make sure he succeeds in his task, like they once had to do. Perhaps they were messengers for the goddess. Or perhaps they just wanted to watch.

Mere days before Calamity struck, Link asked Zelda about them.

I thought I was crazy, she said. I see Zeldas of the past, too.

Link was glad to not be alone in his insanity.

When Link was on the brink of death, that's when he saw them the clearest.

They were panicking nearby, the oldest and tallest ones frantic, trying waving their hands around. He saw other Zeldas, too, most of them with either looks of horror or acceptance.

He can't die, one of them said. Link could hear them. The veil between the living and the dead was fading. He hasn't completed his task. This can't be possible. But they have a plan, remember? He's not dying tonight. Link didn't know which one was speaking, or if it was all of them. They all sounded like him.

When they noticed Link looking at them, and they stopped. One knelt before him, telling the others to stay behind. The rest watched with worry on their brows. The one that knelt looked kind, with blue eyes like his and blonde hair cut short and windblown. He had freckles on his nose, and a small, pained smile on his face. His Zelda came up next to him, young and pretty with ribbons braided into her hair. Her dress was pink, one of the most vivid things in this hazy space in-between.

You will be fine, Link. You're not ready to meet us yet. You have to complete your task. The man spoke, with a kind and comforting voice, and smiled like he meant it. It put Link at ease.

The next thing Link knew, he was awake in a cave. Although he didn't know that. He didn't know anything. He was alone and naked and clueless to the weight on his shoulders.

But he could sense he wasn't alone. Although he couldn't see them, he knew someone else was there.

He didn't know the others stood in that room with him for nearly a century. How they kept watch over him as his broken body was being mended, as his memories were being taken from him, as his identity was being stripped away.

Then he began his journey again. The others were working on overdrive. They were the reason Link didn't die within the first hour of emerging from his nap.

After that, they helped him. Hero of the Wind provided him with a breeze on warm nights in Hateno, or a gust in his sail. Hero of Time provided knowledge, little bits at a time to get him through. It was a team effort, getting him back to Zelda.

And Link didn't seem to notice them until a few months into their journey. He began to acknowledge them, like saying thank you. It was odd for him, but it made the others rest easier at night.

And it made it all the sweater when they won.  

This is my first time dabbling in Linked Universe and it was so much fun.