Chapter Text
Link scrambled up the nearest tree-like plant (it was hard to see what it really was, considering that he couldn’t see for shit past a few yards, but the texture under his hands wasn’t like any tree-bark he knew), heart pounding as two stalkoblins threw rocks from below and just narrowly missed his ankles. He’d fight them if he had anything to use as a weapon, but he’d woken up without anything but the clothes on his back. And, hell, those were in tatters anyways. He looked like he’d been put in a sack of dirt and coal then dragged across a long road behind a horse with bowel issues. At least dead bokoblins didn’t have good fashion sense. It’d really suck if he was getting pummelled to death and made fun of for an ugly outfit.
He finally pulled himself up to a flat surface— was this an overgrown mushroom? Sure looked like it--- and looked down at his thwarted-for-now fiends, still stubbornly throwing rocks despite not being able to reach his new perch.
Link knew he’d get nowhere in hand to hand combat with these guys. What was he gonna do, punch bones? Well, maybe, but they were also covered in gloom goop and giving off some nasty looking evil smoke stuff or whatever that was. But he was nothing if not resourceful, and looked around to see what he could use. There were frond looking things just above him, hanging down from the next mushroom-branch on the mushroom-tree, and while they had surprising tensile strength, they were too bendy to use as anything. The bark at the trunk was pretty smooth, and any pieces he could get off of it were too light to use as a blunt object. He winced, nodded to himself, and decided on the plan he knew he was going to use. This was about to suck.
He tied a few fronds together to create a rope, tied one end of the rope to the branch below the mushroom cap, and sent a silent prayer to Hylia that his tempting fate would not garner consequences before walking to the other side of the mushroom cap and swinging off.
Link landed feet-first onto an incredibly shocked stalkoblin and they both crashed to the ground, the monster crumbling as its bones flew askew across the grasses and fungi covering the ground. Before it could reassemble itself, he snatched up its arm (somehow mostly still in one piece) and used all the force he could muster to send it crashing into the second stalkoblin that fell apart similarly. Link stood up on his wrecked ankles to chase down the rolling skulls and smash them in with a combination of adrenaline and the monster’s own arms. They died with an unceremonious fading of red light from their eye sockets.
He gasped in the dusty air after the fight was over and took inventory of himself. He was fine physically, though his ankles and knees hurt like crazy from that stunt off the mushroom-tree. Mentally, he was preoccupied with exactly one question: How the hell did I get here?
Well, the only reasonable way to figure that out would be to start from the beginning.
—
They were in the Lookout Landing and Zelda was poring over soldier’s reports; had been since she got them handed to her. Link was by her side, leaning over her shoulder to read them as well, and both were reasonably concerned. Without fail, soldiers going into the deeper parts of the castle would get sick the longer they stayed in there, symptoms ranging from fevers, weakness of the body, passing out, and some respiratory issues, especially from those who already struggled with the state of their lungs. Most cases went away after sunlight exposure and a good rest, but severe ones could only be relieved by sundelion and often led the patient bedridden. This phenomenon was being unofficially referred to as the gloom effect.
It was now one of those times that Link and Zelda had to fulfill the roles of their jobs as leading scientist and foremost knight of the kingdom. Both of them preferred those roles, anyways, being one that they had chosen and earned throughout their lives instead of thrust into whether they liked it or not.
Zelda rolled her fountain pen between her fingers, an unconscious habit that she’d grown pretty skilled at. It spun around without dropping, a trick with no real purpose but certainly a nice one to do with a distracted mind.
“It seems to be worse directly under the antechamber. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if it was simply the magical leftovers of Ganon fighting there for a hundred years. He did spend quite a lot of energy, and I couldn’t absorb all of it, so much of it was deflected. I observed in those years that some of his most concentrated energy had a tendency to pool instead of float, so this may confirm my hypothesis that it has a lingering mass that is heavier and more physically substantial than that which comes from Hylia, at the cost of being less potent.”
Link nodded along, although he couldn’t say he understood all of it. “You think we could chase it off,” he started, signing rapidly to her, “using our own energy? Or would it have nowhere to disperse?”
Zelda chewed on her lip. “I can’t say. It may even be something entirely unrelated, given that these symptoms are a bit off from what I experienced. Sunlight had little to no effect on it all, even when I was having feverish symptoms for the last few decades.”
The knight furrowed his brow. “I guess the only way to know is to find out for ourselves. I can get some vials of sundelion tea for us to bring just in case. Should we ask for anyone else to come with us?”
Zelda shook her head. “If my hypothesis is right, us two have the best chance of resisting the effects of the gloom, being creatures of Hylia. If that proves to be untrue, or we find too much danger, then we’ll retreat.”
“That makes sense. When should I be ready?”
“As soon as you can. I don’t want to waste any daylight.”
Link stretched for a second before stepping back and opening up the door. “I’ll go grab those vials, then. Meet you at the stables?”
Zelda nodded. “I’ll be there in a bit, sunshine.”
He smiled and darted back in to give her a light kiss on the head. Zelda laughed with a smile that lit up a cozy joy in Link’s heart, and they parted ways for just a moment. Link’s spirits were high– of course they were. Zelda was with him, he was with her, they were working out the problems of Hyrule one day at a time, and life wasn’t so scary anymore. Fate wasn’t always kind, but he’d like to believe they could do this forever. Waking up each day had the sun shining just a little bit brighter, even in the rain, even when there were setbacks and problems and miscommunications between people groups that they had to manage and everything else that was hard work because they did the hard work together. No longer was Zelda trapped, alone, without hope and fighting every moment not to become overwhelmed by Ganon’s power. No longer was Link confused and fighting and hurt without memory or a companion. They were both displaced from time, both still hurting from their separate journeys, but somehow life had never been better.
Link quickly found the supplies garrison and grabbed a few small vials of lukewarm sundelion tea, a potent brew that was more efficient than any other way they’d found to transport and ingest sundelion. It wasn’t the most commonly used since the taste was strong with a bitter tang and it was easier to just cook it into a dish anyways, but it was the most portable and potent version. He tucked it into a small satchel around his belt, signed his thanks to the woman managing the area, and headed off to meet Zelda at the stables.
Their short ride to the castle and exploration started off, well, not necessarily boring, but he had certainly seen crazier things in his days. The gloom presence was palpable, though, and the ruins around them were older than Link had ever seen. The Zonai structures around them were foreign and confusing, but the gloom itself wasn’t terribly unfamiliar. It felt strikingly similar to Ganon’s aura, although, if possible, more menacing. From what he remembered, the castle under Ganon’s influence held an active fear of immediate danger, whereas this invoked a dread of something more… ancient feeling. He didn’t write it off, but continued on down the steps nonetheless as the gloom grew thicker. They had to find out what was causing this, because the further they went, the less it felt like remnants from a dead being: it was a pulsing energy. It felt alive.
Link, walking ahead, got down to the open cavern first. What he found was horrifying, and he didn’t have time to warn Zelda before she made it to his side, equally shocked as a green-ish arm slid off of a preserved corpse. A stone, that of a misshapen teardrop, fell to the ground at their feet and Zelda moved to pick it up. A light shone from it and grew brighter when it made contact with her skin, but both hylians were quickly distracted at the noise from the corpse.
It was moving.
In horrific jerking motions that Link had never before witnessed in animal, person, or monster, it bent forwards before dropping back again, its skull twisting to make eye contact with the pair. And, clouds above, its eyes, glowing and malicious, were the worst pair he’d ever had the misfortune of being seen by.
He felt terror bone-deep. Despite knowing his feet were on the ground, it felt as if he were in complete freefall, cold horror wracking his body and making every small hair stand on end. Link would have froze, but writhing and oily darkness burst from the corpse and his love for his beloved was stronger than his fear and he drew his sword with urgency and stood in front of her. If they died, he would go first, always.
The monstrous energy hit his sword and didn’t even falter. It twisted up his sword and a searing fire lit up his right arm, holding him tight and not letting go, the pain worse than he’d experienced since the battlefield a hundred and four years ago. Link gripped the affected arm with his good one, not even sure what he was trying to do but needing it to stop. He grit his teeth through the first wave of pain then couldn’t contain gasps of agony through the next ones.
It was hard to sense anything, but he felt as a presence joined his own; Zelda’s left arm joined his right. In her fist was clenched the glowing stone, and her face twisted in pain as she took on an even share of the evil energy wreaking havoc on both of their arms. The pain, still terrible, decreased in intensity. It held on for eternity, a vice grip of torture, before leaving as quick as it came. For a second, Link could see both of their arms, charred black and riddled with burns.
Would we both lose our arms? Would I have died if it weren’t for Zelda?
But the onslaught was not over and before he even knew what he was doing he lifted up his dying arm to defend another attack— he cannot let more damage happen to Zelda— and his sword shattered into a million horrible pieces.
That isn’t possible. That isn’t POSSIBLE. THAT CAN’T HAPPEN.
Who is this?
A small piece of the shrapnel grazed the cheek of the corpse, drawing one measly drop of whatever passed for blood in that abomination.
Zelda cried his name from behind him, but the corpse spoke and they could do nothing but listen.
“Was that the sword that seals the darkness? A sword that shatters so easily cannot save you from me.” Its gravelly voice spoke with a frequency that set something primal within him shaking in fear. “Zelda… you, who carries that fragile sword, are Link. Rauru places his faith in you, and that was all you could do?”
Zelda spoke the question that was burning in Link’s mind (be that as it may, not quite as much as the horrific burns running up his arm). “How do you… know our names?”
The corpse never answered, only began gathering a dark energy from around him into a concentrated ball. Link tensed, readying himself to jump in front of Zelda, but the power was shot upwards towards the cavern ceiling. Rocks came tumbling down and the floor under the corpse collapsed first, the glow of its fiery pupils fading into the void below. The ground below them began to shake as well, and before he knew it, the rocks just underneath him crumbled and he pitched forwards. Zelda jumped after him without a second thought. Her hand was so close— their fingertips brushed for the quickest of seconds, but Link was falling too fast.
The last thing he saw was a green hand saving Zelda from her death, then black, a light blue flash, and nothing.