Blood Moon: A Story Before the Calamity

Five

Zelda's POV

     It's coming back. It's all coming back. The most welcome pain in the world.

     His eyes. His lips. His smile. His voice. Him. Him. Him.

     I felt again, all the emotions, all the love, everything. It was almost daunting, the amount of feelings that had hit me suddenly, all at once. I had awakened, somehow, with him. 

     He was different. He smiled more, laughed more, seemed curious about everything around him. I was glad. To be completely free from the ghosts that haunted him for so long must have been a good thing, right? ...Right?

     Something was amiss, I knew. When I looked at him, I could not feel that precious connection tingling. We were now linked only by our Triforce, the thread entwining us faded away to time and forgetting. It didn't matter, at least not right then at that moment. He was back.

     For the first time, my world was alight with hope. 

Link's POV

     Finally. Answers.

     I had just finished my final shrine. The Old Man showed up suddenly, as though he had known, somehow, that my task was complete.

     Every time I woke up, I reached into the deepest corners of my mind, hopeful that I could recall some part, any part, of my past. Every time I was disappointed. It didn't matter anyway. I didn't care. I couldn't care. If I did, I would get swallowed up, lost forever into questions I couldn't answer. Who knew how much depended on me?

     Already I had started placing expectation after expectation upon myself.

     Hyrule was my salvation. I only had to look out over the horizon, watch the clouds drift over the twin peaks, or listen to a bird shriek in the distant lands, to restore my motivation. I was fighting for Hyrule. There, much better.

     He told me to meet him at the Temple of Time, the Old Man. He had said... that it was time to tell me everything. Everything. I couldn't help the hope that coursed through my veins.

     My family? My friends? My life? My LAST NAME?

     I scrambled onto the broken tiles on the roof of the Temple of Time. I could see the Old Man with his lamp, waiting for me. I had all four of the treasure awaiting me in the Shrines, and the sense of accomplishment and the prospect of finally being able to explore the world was satisfying. Why was he glowing like that?

     When I finally made it, he laughed.

     "Well done there, young one. Now... it's time for me to show you who I truly am."

     There was a blinding flash of light, exploding out of the Old Man, tearing through his disguise, and I flinched back, covering my face with my hands.

     When I looked back, my eyes widened. 

     A man with a flowing, white beard and wearing extravagant clothes edged in gold, flickering blue flames swirling around him, appeared in the place of the old hermit. 

     King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. 

     Some part of me wanted to bow before him, instinct telling me so. After all, I was in the presence of a King. However, I didn't.

     Why should I have? I didn't know this man. 

     Hyrule was destroyed one hundred years ago. Possessed Guardians tore up the structures and buildings, nearly everyone who stood in their way was killed without mercy. The King had lost his life in the battle, as had the "Champions" that were the pilots for giant killing machines called "Divine Beasts".