The courage to find me - The fate of us: Part I

Chapter 9: Enough of shrines!

POV Link

My heart is pounding uncontrollably in my chest. I feel the anxiety gripping my throat and paralyzing me when I see Zelda sitting, with her back to me, on a rock at the top of the hill. My arms ache with longing, propelling me to run toward her.

She doesn't hear my approach. I stop a step away from her, unsure how to proceed. I take a deep breath, gathering courage, and call her name. But when I open my mouth, no words come out. I feel the temperature drop suddenly, the cold seeping into my bones. I stretch out my arm and touch her shoulder, trying to get her attention, and realize her skin is freezing.

The air seems to become thinner with each passing second, as if something is sucking all the oxygen from the atmosphere. My breathing becomes shorter, labored, painful. The lack of air starts to panic me, and then Zelda slowly stands up. I watch, unable to move, as she walks away. When she's just a few steps from the edge of the cliff, she turns to me, her eyes cold and lifeless. Her face, expressionless.

"You caused this," she declares, and without hesitation, she lets her body fall backward into the void.

I try to lunge toward her to do something, but my feet are glued to the ground. In the next second, the sky turns red, a horde of Ganon's demons surrounds me, and the ground collapses beneath my feet.

I wake up with a start, terror still coursing through my body. The windows of the room are wide open, and the sun beats down hard on my bare torso. It must be past noon. The strong smell of sea salt hits me, bringing me back to reality. I hear the waves breaking on the beach, and their slow, steady rhythm helps me control my breathing. Only the anxiety, my eternal companion in recent years, doesn't abandon me completely.

This morning's nightmare is not new. Since I left Hyrule, I've had it multiple times a week. Over time its frequency has decreased — though it has never disappeared. The words of the Deku Tree, saying we would have "just a few more years of peace," echo in my brain constantly. Countless times I've wondered if I should just return. But I was also told to "seek to understand the past."

The problem is, I have no idea how to do that.

It's been just over five years since I left, and I've made zero percent progress. I've discovered nothing about the so-called "Past" — I don't even know whose or what history I'm supposed to find. A few months after heading into the unknown with Kass, he decided to return to Hyrule. "Almost half a year and we found nothing," he said. "I believe we won't find any information, Link. I suggest we go back, and let the scientists there decide what to do next."

But I refused and said I would continue searching; which was, partly, true. I didn't specifically focus on ancient technologies, but on anything that could teach me more about the Past. In the first months, I crossed many lands. Initially, I spoke with all the travelers I encountered. I listened to their stories, learned about the place I was in, where they came from, where they were going. I joined expedition caravans to explore new destinations.

It was on one of these adventures, about a year after parting with Kass, that I ended up on Koholint Island. Some enthusiastic young people I met told me the island was named after a popular legend in the region where I was that week. They said the story was about an island created from the dream of a supernatural creature, and that both it and its inhabitants were made of pure imagination. This fable was born long ago, so they couldn't tell me its origin. The only thing they knew was that, one day, in a distant past, a young shipwrecked boy dressed in green appeared on the coast talking about magical flying fish, musical instruments, dreams and nightmares, and the island that disappeared as magically as it had appeared.

For centuries, this was passed down orally, becoming folklore. I'm sure the story became more fantastical each year as it was retold by new people.

However... for some reason, it resonated with me. So, when the group invited me to join the expedition to the island named after this tale, I didn't think twice before accepting.