Blood Moon: A Story Before the Calamity

One

     My name is Zelda. I am seventeen. I am the daughter of Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. 

     My name is Zelda. I am seventeen. I am the daughter of Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule.

     I repeated these words in my head over and over again as I turned away from the place where Link vanished. They kept me sane. They were solid facts, real, uncomplicated. They grounded me, took some of this terrible feeling that couldn't be described with words away. 

     My name is Zelda. I am seventeen. I am the daughter of Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule.

     Link is gone. He's gone. My protector. My friend. My confidant.

     My name is Zelda. I am seventeen. I am the daughter of Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule.

     And then my knees finally gave out and I fell. 

     The rain kept on pouring down all around me.

     I found that I didn't have the strength to get back up.

     So there I lay for what seemed like eternity and a heartbeat at the same time. The soil was so warm, damp. It was almost like being embraced by Hyrule itself, the land I had failed.

     No tears came to my eyes. I was hoping that I would cry. At least I would be releasing some of the crushing weight on my chest.

     Was it wrong that I didn't cry? Did it mean that I didn't care for Link enough to even cry for him? A detached, insignificant fear rose in my throat.

     Sit up, Zelda. A voice that later I recognized as my own called to me, its gentle whisper tickling my ear. I sat up, a weary numbness in my bones. I just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again. Would that be so big of a request?

     Link made you swear to do your best to keep living.

     Link. Did he know all this time? Was that why he had made me promise what I did?

     Very slowly I heaved myself back on my feet, stumbling a bit as my body shrieked in protest. A wave of sheer exhaustion swept over me, and I almost gave up and curled up on the ground again. Instead, I took an unsteady step forwards. The crushing feeling on my throat intensified tenfold.

     I took one breath. Then another. Closed my eyes. Imagined Link's warm hand in mine as he led me forwards.

     Another step. I was so tired. I knew what I had to do soon, but just the thought threatened to overwhelm my feeble strength, so I focused on the next step.

     Somehow I made it to Hyrule Field. Mechanically, I lit up my hands, my power responding to my will as easily as breathing. I felt no sense of accomplishment, no pride at finally unlocking what I had dreamed of since as far back as I could remember. It had come with a price too heavy.

     No Guardian stood in my way. I felt a dim, furious joy at destroying any enemy that opposed me, releasing the grief by causing as much damage as possible. They felt a minuscule portion of my pain that night.

     I could see the Great Plateau in the distance. Suddenly something clawed up my spine, something suffocating, something like grief, but not quite so simple. At that moment, my greatest desire and fear was to stop by, to see Link, to look upon his sleeping face for possibly the final time. 

     I couldn't. It would break me, steal away the last of my resolve. However, I could talk to whoever had place him into the Slumber. I told myself that it was purely necessary business, because there was no reason why Ganon couldn't have taken over the Shrine of Resurrection as well, but I knew I couldn't fool myself, the real intentions behind my detour.