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

Chapter 24: Goddesses also get bored

POV Zelda

My gaze jumps from one Link to the other, still struggling to cope with the presence of several of them. It's unsettling how they resemble the Link I know so well... and yet are so different.

"Should we head back to the Castle then?" I ask.

"Eventually, yes," answers the Link who introduced himself as Time. "But first, you need to hear the end of the story."

"While Sky's adventure triggered the cycle of chaos and destruction cursed by Demise, mine had... slightly more confusing ramifications.

"During my mission, I was sealed in the Sacred Realm for seven years before I could claim the Master Sword. I was lucky: most who are unprepared to wield it die; I was merely... put on standby. The details of my journey aren't relevant to the topic at hand, so let's skip to the end. Once everything was resolved, the Zelda of my incarnation, seeing that I had lost my childhood in exchange for saving Hyrule, took pity on me and sent me back to the time when I was a child, using this Ocarina.

"The problem was that by doing this, she created several branches in the timeline. One housing the scenario where I returned to being a child and prevented the destruction of Hyrule in the past. Another, housing the situation where I saved Hyrule in the future. And the cosmic chaos at that moment was so great that a third timeline emerged as collateral, housing a parallel reality where I died in battle and couldn't prevent Hyrule's downfall."

I stare at Time, bewildered, as this makes no sense.

"Yes, it doesn't make sense," he sighs. "But that's how it happened, so let's not waste energy debating how plausible it is."

"And... which timeline are we in now?" I ask. This discussion is very interesting and distracts me from the worries that have flooded my mind over the past two months, so I indulge in the story they're telling me.

"In all of them," answers Time, succinctly.

Seeing my puzzled expression, he continues.

"You see... the goddesses are primarily responsible for creating worlds. But another function they have is managing the timeline of said worlds. And, as a rule, such a line is usually singular. However, as you may have noticed from Hylia's memories, the goddesses sometimes get bored with the redundancy of mortal dramas. So, a triple timeline was like a gift to them. And, for hundreds of thousands of years, they enjoyed maintaining the three parallel lines. Until that, too, became tiresome."

"And what happened then?" I ask, intrigued.

"Tired of keeping the lines separate, they simply decided to unify them again. That way, everything that happened in the three separate lines occurs in a single past—even if some things stop making sense. In the process of unifying the lines, they also ended up destroying the original Hyrule. The inhabitants of the land were preserved, but the energy released by no longer having three parallel lines allowed them to finally introduce a new mortal race. Unfortunately, they didn't remain long; but during the period they were active, they achieved great things. The goddesses eventually offered them the option to go to another plane, more suited to their intellectual capacities. Most chose to leave, and the few who remained died after a few generations. The tribe in question became known as the Zonai."

I'm surprised and excited by this information, and I feel eager to share this new fact with Purah and Tauro.

"Alright... all this is very interesting, but what impact does it have on us?" Link asks, disturbed.

"When the goddesses did the... let's call it a timeline reset, they also tampered with the Triforce. After so many Ages with mortals fighting over this relic, they decided it would be better to remove it from the land and keep it out of everyone's reach. Today, only the Zeldas can use it; from this moment on, when they manipulate Hylia's power, they also channel the Triforce—further amplifying their abilities. You must have noticed, Zelda, that its symbol shines on your hand whenever you use Hylia's power to its fullest."