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The first thing Link remembers is waking up.
He remembers a blue glow - remembers it being cold, and wet, waking up in a dark room with nothing else to him. An existence that was as much alive as it was dead, with no memories attributed to it. Ironically, he thinks this was the time where he was the most alive since a long time.
Then whereever there is nothing, there is something that longs to be filled. He remembers his wonder when seeing the world, remembers his desire to explore and discover and he thinks that this is who he was meant to be. He thinks that, maybe, this time was good. That he had enjoyed himself, even with the tentative grip he has on emotions even still. That, were he someone else, this is who he should have been. Was destined to be.
After that came a voice. He thinks that it might have been there even before then, vaguely remembers strange sounds and meaning he could feel, but not ever sure why he knew. Though, in the beginning he remembers not being very good with language either way. He cannot use it instinctively, like he was told he was supposed to be able to. It did not seem like it belonged to him and, in the end, it hadnt.
And still, somehow, somewhere, he could understand the Voice. This might have been the biggest indicator, that this time was over.
He thinks that the Voice recognized that he was finally able to understand it, though he never managed to ask. It told him about who he was, what he was supposed to do, how he had failed.
And suddenly, his time was over.
-
At some point, there was supposed to be a child. This child would befriend the princess, and when she was kidnapped, come and help her. When both of them won and returned home, they were supposed to continue living. One of them would suffer a great injury and eventually become a smith. The other one would become a fair, though in the grand scheme of things unremarkable, ruler.
It was not a happy ending as one would think, but it was fair.
This did not happen.
-
He remembers meeting new people, discovering new places. He thought he would be able to explore the world anyway, do what his some part of his existence demanded he do. He thought he could go just go back to the people, help the Voice, just wait one more day. Surely, just one more day.
He has never known why exactly he had this desire. His mind could only tell of helping others, of fighting, of what he later found out was duty. His body would sometimes refuse to continue walking, it reminded him of an anxiety he did not remember learning about and, by all accounts, did not have.
In the end, there was no other way it could ever have gone.
-
Even millenia past any records of their time, there are still people aware of the gods. They say how Hylia is the creator of the world and humanity, how She will lead you to your proper place. This is only half-correct, in the way humans tend to be about most things regarding the gods. In truth, the fates of every single human is determined long before they are actually born, the history written down before it the point of it happening.
These fates are what make a person and what tells their story. It is what a person fundamentally is and can not be changed, not matter what they do.
There have only ever been three exceptions to this.
-
He remembers talking to people and remembers people he was supposed to have talked to. He remembers remembering.
There is a difference between people he is supposed to remember and people that seem important to him.
What he wants to remember is this:
A zoran princess with a statue of herself and an important gift, so that the people who knew her will not have empty expectations, so that her brother will be happy, so that he knows what he is supposed to do after it is over.
A rito warrior, whose only rememberence is a legend and a place to fly from, so that he can see how good he was, so he can tell his people about his talents, so that he has a way to improve himself.
A gerudo chief, who is honored yet left alone, so her people could come to her, so that somebody would help the princess, to that he could watch someone else do what he is supposed to.
A goron leader, who is commemorated in the foundations of his community, so that his grandson would have their idol, so that there would be more people managing the volcano, so that there was some who would talk at him about trivialities.
In reality, what he remembers is fragmented and meaningless, distinct and somthing he feels should not be told, is not allowed to be talked about. He feels vague familiarity with some places, some monsters, some creatures. The koroks feel more familiar than any other beings, save for the Voice.
-
By now, he feels nothing significant. He remembers lifes he has not lived, remembers emotions he barely felt and supressed even more, remembers meeting gods and serving his own. More than anything else, he remembers duty and what he will do, has done, for it.
He thinks this is who he is meant to be, and he feels nothing.
-
Rewriting fate is something only known to be possible by the universe because it has happened. It should not be possible, yet in this instance the gods have set themselves above their own existence and have created something. If these creations serve as representations of Themselves, as the next generation of Gods, as pure punishment or entertainment out of pettiness and the ability to do so, as purposful marytyrs or pure accidents, is not clear, even to the universe.
With their fractured left-over existence, even the gods have lost sight of this fact a long time ago.