Fan Fiction Friday: Fates Out of Time – Part 1

“‘A Royal Recipe’ has been registered to the Quest Compendium,” rang a feminine, electronic voice. It was accompanied by a slight series of vibrations.

A fitting name, I suppose, thought the young — if you exclude one hundred years of slumber — Hylian. “No promises, but I’ll be sure to get those recipes to you as soon as I can.”

“Are you sure? I mean, you do look like the type to handle himself, but I didn’t expect you’d actually –” responded the plump Gotter in astonishment. 

“I’ve survived a lot worse than a trip to Hyrule Castle, sir. Trust me, you’ll have your recipe,” the young man assured Gotter.

“Well, you do seem quite sure of yourself. Alright, then. Just don’t die. And, I don’t believe I got your name.”

“Link.”

“Link?! Like the legendary hero who fell in battle, protecting the princess?”

“Yes…I suppose you could say that he and I have a lot in common,” Link replied with a smug confidence and slight touch of ego. 

“Well, I certainly see the adventuring knight in you. A fitting name, for sure. I’ll see you around, then. Farewell, Link.”

“Farewell to you, my friend. I’ll get you those recipes as soon as I can.” 

Though few knew it, Link was indeed the legendary hero that Gotter spoke of. One hundred years prior, he had fallen in battle defending Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. Once a great Champion, he was now just an adventurer. He would be lying if he said that he didn’t miss the attention that came with being the Champion of the Hylian race; though to have carried that title was an honor enough. In the end, Link was happy to have the responsibility — no, the chance — to save Zelda and slay Ganon once and for all. Yes, this was a second chance to save Hyrule. A chance to atone for his failure a century prior. 

Of course, that was not always at the forefront of his mind. Still, whenever someone brought up the events of one hundred years prior, or mentioned a resemblance between himself and the fallen Champion, a slight twinge of pain — or was it nostalgia? — slipped up Link’s spine. However, now was not the time to mope. 

Let’s see…I don’t want to waste a trip to Hyrule castle on a full inventory, Link thought, as he leaned against the inside wall by the door of the stable. It was raining out, so he didn’t want to become a soaked rag when he didn’t have to. I suppose I’ll go back to Korok Forest and have Hestu increase my inventory. I’m due for an upgrade as it is. Decided, he whistled for his horse, which he admittedly may have parked just a bit too far from the stable. 

At the call of his whistle came a pristine, white horse. It’s hair was as soft as silk. With a loud, yet elegant neigh, and the kicking of some mud, he came to a stop just outside of the stable door. Storm. An ironic choice of horse for the current weather, he joked to himself. 

Without wasting a further moment, he dashed out into the storm to mount his horse. “Lets go, boy!” he shouted. “Off to the Lost Woods!” 

Storm neighed, reared his front legs, and dashed off into the gray ahead.  

---

The rain had ceased. After a short ride of about five hours, Link finally made it to the Lost Woods entry arch. His journey had involved navigating around a few Guardians, a brief stop to save a couple of adventurers from some Bokoblins at the Rauru Settlement Ruins, and a quick dispatch of a pesky Yiga assassin. The battle with the Yiga assassin was quite a one sided effort, requiring but two swings of the Master Sword whilst riding Storm.

“Let’s see if I can remember this, shall we?” Link said to storm, not knowing if his companion actually understood what he was saying or not. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have you stay here this time. Don’t want you to get spooked and trample over me again, now do we? I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.”

I sure do make a lot of promises, don’t I? Link thought to himself as he set off into the murky forest. He seemed to be making his way through the forest pretty well, until his vision began to cloud up. Realizing that he was about to be swallowed by the woods, Link made a mad dash back to his prior location. Taking a moment to catch his breath — not from the running, but from the shock — he leaned against one of the trees that had an expression somewhere between agony and wanting to eat you as a gift from the forest. 

Just as he had calmed down, Link heard a laugh. Jerking up to a plank position against the tree, he steadied his breath, his eyes darting from side to side. A small sweat began to break out on his forehead. He may have been the hero destined to save Princess Zelda, but that didn’t make him immune to spooks. 

All of a sudden, he heard it again. His breathing amplified to a slightly rapid rate this time. “Who — who’s th-there? Sh-show yourself!”

“Te-he-he-he!”

“I’m not kidding! I have the Master Sword, you know! I’ll- I’ll make quick work of you!”

“Te-he-he. No need to be so hasty, Link! Look — come here!”

“N-no. H-how can I trust you?”

“Are you really sure you’re the one to save Princess Zelda and defeat Calamity Ganon? Were you really the Hylian Champion?”

“I still a — wait, what? How did you know?”

“Silly boy, I know everything about you!”

“No, no, no. Who — what are you? An apparition of Ganon?”

“In these sacred woods? I think not, my friend! Please, don’t be scared. Just follow my voice!”

“Al-alright. But…how do I know I can trust you?”

“How can you trust yourself? How can you say that you’ll defeat Ganon, when you could hardly stand up to a couple of Guardians before?”

“I–” a low growl let out from the back of Link’s mouth. 

“Touch a sore spot? Sorry, but I’ve got to get you over here somehow. If you really are the hero you claim in your head to be, then cease this waste of our time and get on over here!”

“Indeed. My apologies. Where are you?”

“My, no need to be so formal! Or so glum. Now, just follow my voice. I should be just to your left.”

“All I see are these old trees. Wait!” Link pulled out his Sheikah Slate and activated his Stasis rune. 

“Trying to attack me now, are we?”

“No. I merely need to find you — Oh, a chest!”

“Getting a bit off track, aren’t we?”

“S — Sorry.”

“No, I kid. Come, open the chest.”

“Alright. Come? Are you — don’t tell me your inside that chest!” Link couldn’t help but chuckle at this, whether it be from disbelief or anxiety, or both. Nevertheless, he approached the chest. “Alright, here goes nothing.”

Opening the chest, Link found a green leaf about the size of his face. “Is this…is this you?”

“Yes! Yes, indeed! Now, put me on. Put me on!”

Odd, Link thought. Pulling the mask closer to the light for further examination, he discovered eye slits and a mouth. However, to Link’s dismay, the eye slits weren’t exactly even or proportionate to his own eyes. Still, he put it on as directed. 

“Ya-ha-ha! You found me!” shouted the jovial mask. “You tickle!”

“Wha–?” In spite of the confusion, Link found that he could see. 

“Oh, don’t you know? I can feel you…kind of. More like, I can sense when you put me on, almost as if we become one.”

“Become one? Just what are you? What is all of this?” Link could only assume that whatever was possessing this mask that he now wore upon his face, was feeding him vision. 

“Why, don’t you know? I’m a spirit, trapped forever in this mask!”

“Forever? And you were in that chest…and had it not been for me to come along, you would have never been able to come out…”

“Very true, very true. But, I don’t need to be stuck here forever. You see, that’s where you come in. I’m trapped in this mask because I have unfinished business, and once that business is complete, I’ll be free!”

“Oh, so all I need to do is complete a task and you’ll be free? Well, that doesn’t sound too hard.”

“Well, it depends on if you call finding nine hundred Korok Seeds hard or not.”

“Oh — oh.”

“Not to worry, I’ll guide you! You see, whenever a Korok is near, this pinwheel will twirl and you’ll hear me laugh! As of now, it seems you’ve managed to find eighty-six Koroks. Not bad — we’ll work on it.”

“Link chuckled, “Well, that does make things a lot easier. I suppose it’s kind of convenient that I should find you on my way to give some seeds to Hestu. Hey, why didn’t you call out to me when I came through here before?”

“Well, somebody didn’t have the Master Sword back then, now did they?”

“I see. Oh, and what should I call you? I’m Link, obviously, but what about you?”

“Makar, please.” 

“Alright, Makar. I’m not sure why, but something about that name seems vaguely familiar.”

“Hm…who knows? Now, let’s go to Hestu!”

“Indeed,” Link said as he turned to make his way to the Great Deku Tree, thankfully encountering no further derailments in the forest. 

---

Some time had passed and the stars had shown themselves. Link, Storm, and the mask, self proclaimed as “Makar”, were making their return to the Hyrule mainland via the same route that Link had taken to the forest. 

“I know I told you the purpose of our contract was to let me aid you in collecting all nine hundred Korok seeds hidden throughout the land of Hyrule,” Makar restated to Link. “But there’s one other request I have for you. Well, there’s two, technically.”

“Oh? Lay it on me,” Link offered, kindly. 

“Thank you. Somewhere to the east, I think there’s a piece of treasure. I almost feel like it calls to me. I can’t say if it does or doesn’t, but I know that I need to find it.”

“Alright, I’ll gladly help you find it. It should be a fun little excursion. But before that, I’m afraid to say that I’ve already taken on a quest. You see, we must first venture into the castle here.” Link gestured up to the right a bit, and turned his gaze to the massive, foreboding castle just to their right. “Though I do intend to stock up on some equipment, my main purpose for coming here is to acquire two recipes for a friend I made at one of the stables. Once we’ve done that and given the recipes to Gotter, we’ll embark on our journey to find that treasure of yours; I promise.” Again with the promises, Link criticized himself. 

“Oh, thank you, Mr. Hero! Thank you!”

“Mr. Hero?” Link chuckled. “I guess I shouldn’t be too surpri-”

Storm reared to a halt and let out a gigantic neigh of fear. 

“Guardian!” Link shouted. “We’re being targeted! Drats, with all the excitement of meeting you, I’d forgotten about the Guardians here. Hold on tight, we’ve got to make a run for it!” Telling a mask to hold on tight! What am I saying? Link thought as he signaled Storm to blitz forward. 

He felt every gallop, felt the wind barrage his face, felt the flipping of the mask in the wind. “We’ll get through this, we’ll –”

A crashing sound, plume of dirt, a loud neigh, and a sudden stop.

“Wha–?!” Link jerked his head to the right. “Stalnox, ten o’clock! This is bad!” he said through gritted teeth. 

Quickly, Link steered Storm around the massive boulder that had just made impact. He tried to return Storm to his dashing blitz before coming to a halt again as another Guardian made its way to block the path, staring straight into Link and Makar’s eyes. Before he knew it, Storm had thrown them off his back. Link landed with a painful thud, his back near breaking against the boulder that had nearly crushed them. He reached for Storm, trying unsuccessfully to get back up, when a beam of hot, red energy shot past him and exploded on Storm’s back. With a shrieking neigh, Storm was jettisoned, flailing through the air.

Struck with a devastating shock that he had never before experienced, Link screamed his companion’s name into the night. He reached out against all of the pain in his body, as if to grab on to his friend and pull him to safety. 

 

John Piland is a guy just trying to make his way through life and not be consumed by his chronic addiction to memes. Feel free to talk with him about Zelda and Nintendo on Twitter.