Lost in Time- A Zelink Story

Chapter One

The floor beneath my feet is crumbling. Chunk after chunk is falling away, somewhere I know they are not coming back from. The world seems to move in slow motion as the one I'm standing on finally falls away, and my stomach flips inside me. Looking up and reaching out, I see Link, his arm severely injured, dive off of the cliff after me.

He reaches out his hand, and I reach out mine, grasping for anything to hold onto in this dark void. His fingertips brush mine, and we just manage to catch hands in midair, holding fast as we tumble through space and time, plummeting to our unseen deaths.

There's a warm feeling in my other hand, a golden glow behind my eyes, and suddenly, I'm simply not there anymore.

__________

My senses come back slowly and one by one, in a very disorienting manner. The first thing I regain is touch, like a tingling sensation on my skin. I feel sun on my face, not too hot, but warm. I feel stone underneath me, cool against my legs and back. There is also a sharp pain beneath me, as if I've landed on something that has broken. Then I feel a hand in mine, holding on for dear life.

The next sense I regain is smell. I inhale cool and fresh air, like the air in spring, and I smell flowers, grass, and dirt. Then I can hear. There are birds singing, wind through the trees, and the voice of someone nearby, speaking quickly in an alarmed tone.

I suddenly open my eyes, blinking in the soft evening light. Kneeling before me, among brightly colored flowers and holding a wicker basket of what must be strawberries, is the owner of the voice. She is a medium height for a Hylian, and she has the longest white-blond hair I have ever seen, cascading in waves down her back and glinting in the fading light. Her skin is olive toned and covered in markings of criss-crossing symbols in white paint. On her head she wears a beautiful headdress of leaves and golden symbols. Her eyes are soft, and she looks kind.

"Are you two alright?" she asks in a crystal clear voice.

Behind her, a group of soldiers in uniforms that seem similar yet different stand behind her, weapons drawn. I glance to my right, where Link is slouched against a low stone wall, still grasping my hand tightly. I start to worry about him, but my head explodes in a burst of pain, and I squeeze my eyes shut. The warm feeling in my hand returns, and I look down to see the small, golden stone that I found in the castle dungeons before... before what? What has happened to me?

"Are you okay, miss?" the woman asks again. One of the soldiers- who seems to be someone important- leans in and whispers something to her, but she brushes him off.

"I- I don't know," I say slowly, struggling a bit, "where are we?"

"We're at Hyrule castle," she says softly, concern tainting her voice, "in fact, in my personal garden."

"And... who are you?" I stutter, trying to take in my surroundings through my splitting headache. I shift a bit, and am reminded of the pain underneath me. Gingerly moving off of it, I see the Purah Pad, the screen smashed and the buttons broken. I move it out of the way and sit dejectedly back down.

This doesn't look like my Hyrule castle, although it's somehow similar. The castle looms large and beautiful in the distance as usual, but the entire eastern wing is missing, and there's a western wing that I don't recognize at all. Everything about the castle seems to have a shiny and new quality, rather than the dignified wisdom that I'm used to. The entire castle town is missing, I realize with a start, and this garden is usually a sandy pit used by guards for training. I look around again, taking in everything, my eyes widening.

"I'm Sonia," she says slowly as if waiting for recognition, "the queen of Hyrule."

Something clicks in my brain, from history lessons a long time ago. Queen Sonia and King Rauru. They were my ancestors, the very first rulers of Hyrule. I slowly connect that with the differences here; the missing left wing on the castle, the strange looking technology that is scattered around the gardens, the subtle difference in the way Queen Sonia speaks... I stand up, my head spinning, and very quickly sit down again.