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chosen-zero-of-the-goddess · 8 years ago

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Chapter One: A Zillion Year Old Ghost Is Haunting Me Because We Have The Same Name

Once upon a time this land was blessed by courageous heroes and wise princesses that fought against the power hungry demon king. When darkness crept across the land, the princess would call upon her hero. One day, darkness crept across the land, but there was no princess to call upon a hero. Darkness had consumed her first, sneaking upon her and springing his trap. The princess lay slain at the feet of the demon king. The hero never awoken.

Years have passed. The demon king was replaced with a new ruler, the old bloodline faded away, and the heroes faded to mere legend. Magic has faded, as have belief in the goddesses, but darkness remains.

I feel him creeping, my old foe. This land is in danger again. It’s time for a hero to awaken again.

Groggily Link looked up at the ceiling. He had fallen out of bed, the bump on his head from landing on the floor made him both wake up and feel even more tired.

“Liiiiink!” He heard his little sister call from the other side of the door. “Grandma says it’s time to wake up for school.”

With a groan Link sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked over to his desk. He had a history project due today, he had spent all night working on it. His best friend was going to help him add the finishing touches to it in the library this morning and look it over to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. He was quite proud of his poster depicting weapons of the first Hylian Civil War.

He threw his blankets off and headed to the door. His sister Aryll was headed to the bathroom. She was two years younger than him. He wasn’t exactly happy to be spending his last year of middle school in the same building as his sister, but the three grades were separated into separate halls. For the most part she stayed in the 6th grade hall, and he stayed in the 8th. They had separate lunch times, his was first, then the 7th graders, and then hers. It was an unwritten rule, they went to school together, separated for the day completely ignoring each other unless he felt like being nice enough to warn her about what was for lunch that day, and then walked home together. He walked downstairs to pour himself a bowl of cereal. His grandmother was there reading a paper.

“Well look at you sleepy head.” She smiled. “So any big plans for today?” Link yawned in response and sat down with a bowl of cereal. She chuckled. “Good luck with your project today.” Link smiled and focused on his cereal.

“Liiiiiink.” Aryll whinned. “You ate all the marshmallows again!” His little sister was holding a box of Lucky Charms, that only had the cereal. Link downed the rest of his cereal and dropped his bowl off in the sink, rushing upstairs to the bathroom. “Link! You do this all the time!” She continued to pester him while he brushed his teeth. “Link!”

“Farore please stop!” He pushed her out of the bathroom and slammed the door. He finished brushing his teeth and splashed cold water on his face, trying to wake up. He dried his face and looked up into the mirror. Staring back was a face other than his… They looked similar… But this face had bright yellow, almost greenish hair and tanned skin, as if he lived in a swimming pool, and black-green cat eyes. Link blinked several times. He was staring back at his face, messy blonde hair in desperate need of a comb and tired blue eyes. He was up too late working on his project. That was it.

“LINK!” Aryl pounded on the door, jolting him back to reality. “Hurry up! You’re the one who wanted to go to school early!”

“Yeah yeah.” Link threw his towel into the sink and returned to his room to change and grab his bag. “Come on twerp.” He grabbed his key from the hook and stuffed it into his pocket, eager to get to school to meet with Zelda.

The two had known each other since kindergarten, but their friendship really took off when they were in 3rd grade. On the bus ride back from a trip to the zoo she had kissed him. It was like a jolt of electricity. She claimed she fell and “No I didn’t kiss you you weirdo!” He knew he liked her, but he wasn’t sure how to tell her. He didn’t know if she felt the same way, and he would rather remain friends with her than take a chance of ruining everything.

Link arrived in the library, the poster sticking out of his bag. Oddly enough Zelda was nowhere to be found, she was usually sitting on the couches reading something… Passing it off as nothing Link plopped down and examined his poster one more time. Before he knew it the first bell rang, and Zelda was still missing. Confused Link took out his phone to check it, she’d have told him if she was missing school. There were no messages, but a library aid scolded him and told him to put his phone away. Hastily Link flipped it closed and stuffed it into his bag and hurried to his locker.

Zelda didn’t show up at all that day.

While waiting for Aryl at the end of the day he decided to text her and see what was going on. No response. Link chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. Normally she’d text him back right away, especially if she was sick.

“Hey! Wanna ask Grandma if we can go to the ice cream shop?” Aryl asked. Link nodded.

The next day Link was called down to the office to show around a new student. “Hi I’m Sheik, I just moved here from Kakarico.” Sheik was rather soft spoken. His skin was dark, while his hair was just blonde enough to not be white and he had red eyes.

“I’m Link. If you see a girl with blonde hair and pigtails who’s super annoying that’s probably my sister.” Link smiled. “Come on, I’ll show you to the eight grade hall.” Together the two climbed up the stairs. “Your eyes are really cool by the way.” Sheik blinked and then smiled, revealing a set of silver braces.

“Thanks!”

“That’s the library, I usually hang out there in the morning with my friend Zelda. The librarians are really picky about putting books back in their right places.” He pointed down the hall. “All the way down there is the sixth grade hall, that’s where your Goron language class will be. The teacher is from Death Mountain, his accent is really weird. He called me Lank.” Link frowned at the memory.

“Which language do you take?” The middle school offered three basic languages, Korok, Goron, and Zoran. The high school offered three additional languages, Sheikahn, Gerudan, and Ancient Hylian. Link’s ears turned red.

“Korok… It was Zelda’s idea. Why are you taking Goron?” Link tried to change the subject.

It was Sheik’s turn to turn red. “I, kinda know a lot already… like half the people in Kakarico speak it. My aunt wanted me to take Sheikahn but…” Link nodded.

“Come on, let’s get back to homeroom.”

Zelda didn’t show up to school again that day. Nor did she come the day after, and she still wasn’t answering her phone.

That night Link tossed and turned as different scenes flashed before him. The was a tall man on a horse, a room where it rained so hard it seemed like the ocean was crashing in, a talking green hat, someone urging him to wake up.

No that one was real.

“Wake up you lazy child!” Groggily Link rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up to turn the light on. Standing in his room was a see through man. Link yelped and hid under the covers. “No. Get out of bed!” The ghost ripped the blankets away. Link’s eyes widened.

“You-you’re…” He was shaking.

“Yes. I am dead. I am a ghost.” The man rolled his eyes. “My name is Link.”

“That’s my name.” Link cocked his head to the side, confused. It’s not like his name was common…

“Yes. I know.” The ghost Link seethed. His patience was running thin…

Link looked around the room. “Is uh… Is that why you’re haunting my room?”

“I am not haunting your room!” The ghost smacked his forehead with his hand. “I am Hylia’s chosen hero, as are you. It is time for your quest to start, you have to save the princess.”

Link blinked. “I’m pretty sure I’m still asleep.”

“She is in danger.” The ghost was frustrated. “Your friend needs to be saved.”

“Zelda?!” Link’s eye’s widened. “But!”

“Hurry up, get dressed. You have to go on a journey to save her!” This kid was moving too slow for the ghost’s taste. Link stayed in the bed, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

“If she’s in trouble… We should get the police…. They can help her…” He said thoughtfully.

“No! That’s not-“ Link was already out of bed and headed next door. His neighbor Rusl was chief of police. He could help. “Kid! Hylia why this one?”

“Rusl!” Link frantically knocked on the door. A very tired man answered the door.

“Who? What?” He was still half asleep. “Link? Kid what-?”

“Zelda! Zelda’s in trouble!” Link stopped himself. How was he supposed to explain that a ghost told him that his best friend was in trouble…? “At… at least…”

That woke Rusl up. “How did you know?” The disappearance of Zelda Harkanin was supposed to be a secret to everyone.

“She… she hasn’t been in school… or answering her phone… she…” Link stammered. Rusl knew? “What happened to her?”

The man shook his head. “I cannot give you any details Link.” The child’s face fell. “But know this…” He knelt down to his level. “I will do everything in my power to find her. Now, please, keep this a secret to everyone, we don’t want to worry anyone needlessly. I will find her.” Rusl smiled warmly. “Go on back to bed okay? You have school tomorrow morning.” He patted the child’s shoulder and stood up, waiting for the kid to return inside. Slowly Link turned and went back into his grandmother’s house. The trek up the stairs seemed to go on for hours… Finally Link reached his bed and flopped onto it.

“Hardly appropriate behavior from a hero.” Oh great. The ghost was still there.

“I’m not a hero I’m a kid. A kid whose best friend is missing.” Link retorted back.

“Well I agree with you on the hero part.” Oh great. The ghost was still there and he was being insulting. “But she is more than a friend to you.”

Link sat up with a start. “How?!” The ghost chuckled sadly and looked out the window.

“Because. I was in love with her too.” Link stared at the ghost. A ghost? Was in love with his best friend?

“Erm…”

“When I was alive, she was too. She was not a human though; she was…” The ghost shook his head. “Unimportant. You have to find your friend. That is important.”

“Okay mister, judging by that get up you’ve been dead a really long time.” Seriously, a red cape? “But people don’t go off on quests and save damsels in distress. There are rules, procedures. The police are looking for her, if I get in the way then she may never be found and I’ll get in trouble.”

The old hero was shaking his head. “You have to go find her. You have to bring magic back to Hyrule.”

Link snorted. “Magic? Pfft.” He turned over and tried to sleep, silently praying that he get no more nightmares.

“I am not leaving you. This is exactly what happened before. The princess was killed before the hero could be awoken and Hyrule was cast into darkness. It is why the magic is gone now.” The hero crossed his arms.

Link swallowed harshly. Zelda? Killed? “You can’t follow me to school. People will see you.”

“If you do not start your quest soon Zelda will be killed.” Link bit his lower lip. Could the ghost be on to something?

“What do I need to do?”

“Awaken the magic in this land. There is a temple nearby, in the woods inside of an old mansion.” The ghost tried to quell the rising relief he felt. This kid was still not ready to be a hero.

“That place the high school used as a haunted house for a fundraiser?” Link raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t it get condemned or something last year?”

“I do not understand what that means.” Oh great, the ghost was still there and he was not with the times at all. Link sighed heavily.

“Listen, I’ll figure out a way to get there tomorrow night okay? But I have school in the morning.” The teen looked over at his alarm clock. “Actually I have to get up in two hours…” He groaned.

“What is this “school?””

Link sighed again. “It’s, it’s a place where you go and you learn things. Like tomorrow I have my Korok language class, and science, and mathematics, and history, and lit and lang, and gym class, and geography, and a study hall.”

“History is a good thing to learn. It will help you on your quest.” The ghost nodded. “Yes you must attend that one.”

“Okay, well I’m gonna end up sleeping through my history class if you don’t let me go to sleep.” Link yawned. “Tomorrow night. We’ll go to the haunted house tomorrow night.”

The ghost said something, but Link was too tired to figure out what. It didn’t sound like normal Hylian.

Link awoke to Aryl pounding on his door. “Link wake up!” Sleepily he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned.

“Good morning.” Link screamed. The ghost was still there. “What is this?” He was looking through a comic. “What are these characters?”

“Link are you okay?” Aryl asked.

“Yeah! Just uhm… Leave me alone!” Link shouted to the door. “What are you doing here!?” He hissed to the ghost.

“I am guiding you on your quest. What is this writing, I have never come across it before?”

Link crossed the room and snatched the comic out of the ghost’s hands. “It’s a comic book. And it’s written in plain modern Hylian.”

“The Hylian language has changed?” The ghost furrowed his brow.

“Yeah, it got simpler.” Link shoved the comic into his book bag and began to get dressed. “Are you gonna follow me around all day? What if someone sees you?”

“I am only seen by those who need to see me.” Link guessed that meant the ghost was coming to school with him…

“Okay… Just… don’t cause a scene or anything.”

The moment he stepped into his history class things started going wrong.

“Um….” Sheik was staring at Link as if he had chu chus climbing all over him. “Link are you…?”

“That boy is a Sheikah, he can view the dead.” The ghost said.

“There’s something weird about you today.” Sheik furrowed his brow, something was off, but he couldn’t tell what.

“I just didn’t get much sleep last night.” Link yawned and laid down on the desk. Could Sheik really see the dead hero?

“If he is loyal to the royal family he will be a valuable asset.” The ghost said. Link tried really hard not to roll his eyes.

To his left Midna, a short girl with orange hair, sat down. “Umm?” Link shot her a questioning look. “Don’t you usually only talk to Zelda?”

“Yeah well, Zelda’s been a no show all week and I have a sneaking suspicion that we’re getting a group project and I don’t exactly have great choices in this class.” She tied her hair up into a ponytail. “I looked at the lesson plans.” Link and Sheik groaned. “Three or four people in a group.”

“What is a lesson plan?” Link bit his lower lip, trying to contain a frustrated growl.

“I’ll be right back I gotta pee.” He hurried out of the classroom and into the bathroom. “Please! Shut up! Just don’t talk while I’m in school! There will be plenty of time for that later!” Link half shouted at the ghost. “Just, hide in my backpack or something!”

“You aren’t alone in here.” The ghost pointed behind Link. With a look of horror Link turned to find Zant standing behind him.

“It’s okay. They talk to me too. Maybe they should hide in my backpack too.” Zant walked out. Link sighed in relief. No one really believed Zant. The bell rang and Link hurried back to his classroom.

Sure enough, they were assigned a group project. “We just got finished with a project. Why are we getting another one?” Link whined.

“Hush.” Midna rolled her eyes. “At least it’s just about the legends.”

“Okay but, there are like a zillion legends in Hyrule, that doesn’t narrow it down at all.” Link pointed out. “And everyone knows like, the same twelve.”

“Well, do we want to do one of the heroes?” Sheik offered. “It’d be easy. There’s so much written about them.”

“Okay the heroes did literally the same thing over and over again.” Midna argued.

“Do the Temple of Hylia.” The ghost suggested to Link.

“What about a place instead of a whole legend?” Link raised an eyebrow. “It’ll narrow things down a bit to make it easier.”

Sheik nodded in agreement. “Yeah I like that idea. Where though?”

“The Temple of Hylia.” “The Twilight Realm.” Midna glared at Link. “Where even is the Temple of Hylia? It only appears in one legend. It’s lost.” Link slumped in his chair. He should have known that listening to the ghost was a bad idea.

“Okay but the Twilight Realm is a made up place to make children feel better about where they sent criminals.” Sheik pointed out. “And it also only appears in one legend.” It was Midna’s turn to slump in her chair.

Link stared off at one of the posters. “The desert…” In the legends the bad guy usually came from the desert. Maybe this project could help him learn more about it?

Sheik shook his head. “No. We are not poking that deku baba. Don’t you know what’s been going on?”

“But there’s always unrest at the border.” Link pointed out.

“Sheik’s right. No.” Midna shook her head. “There’s too much bad blood with the desert.”

“Okay well we need to pick something before we get stuck doing an entire legend.” Link huffed.

The three got stuck doing an entire legend. The legend of the hero of the winds.

“Okay, well my grandma used to tell me and my sister the stories of the hero of winds.” Link leaned back into his chair and stretched.

“My aunt probably has a book that has the legend in it.” Sheik suggested.

“Coolio. I’ll see what I can find online. We should meet up this weekend and figure out how we’re gonna present it and work on the written portion.” The boys nodded in agreement. Link couldn’t help but think about how Zelda would have handed the project. She’d probably do all the research, he’d make the project, and she’d give something to the other two. She’d also hover over them and make sure that what they were doing was right… There was a reason why she had the best grades… She had always said that he could be just as good if he did the work.

“Hello? Earth to Link.” Midna was waving her hand in front of his face. Link blinked and batted her hand away. “Were you even listening?”

“Yes.” Link pouted. “We’re meeting up this weekend to work on the project.”

“Yeah but where? And when?” Sheik raised an eyebrow, grinning. Link stared at him blankly. “My place. Early tomorrow. You can sleep over tonight. I’ll tell my aunt to order pizza.” Midna muttered something about boys and pizza.

“You have to go to the forest.” The spirit reminded. “If his aunt is a Sheikah as well, and if she is trained she will see me. They may have served the goddesses once but much seems to have changed.” Link waved his hand dismissively.

“Yeah yeah I know.” Sheik stared at him. Link blinked and realized he had been talking out loud. “Um…” He reached over and scribbled his number and address onto Sheik’s notebook. “Meet me here after schoolish. That’s my address.”

“How romantic.” Midna rolled her eyes. “But good idea.” She scribbled her number down on a slip of paper and slid it to Sheik. “You still have mine right?” Link nodded.

“I uh.. Don’t have a phone yet.” Sheik clicked his tongue. “And I don’t remember my aunt’s house number. But I will give you a call or shoot you a text as soon as I can.”

The bell rang and the class hurried to collect their things. “Okay so…” Link turned to Sheik. “I will talk with you in gym class and Midna,” he turned to the petite girl. “I’ll see you in science.” He hurried out of the classroom, hoping to get an extra minute or two before his next class to organize his thoughts.

“Is he always that weird?” Sheik asked.

Midna nodded. “He’s always spacing out. Probably thinking about Zelda.”

“Who is she? I’ve heard her name a few times but I haven’t met her.” He followed her into the hall.

“That would be because she’s been absent for a few days.” Midna sighed. “If you were listening earlier you would have heard that. Link said yesterday she hadn’t been answering her phone either.”

Sheik chewed on his lower lip. “Well I hope she’s okay…”

“Yeah.” Midna sighed again and headed down the hallway to her science class with Link. The smell of the room made her gag. Glancing around she saw dissection trays and dead frogs. Link wasn’t at his normal spot. “Oh Link if you make me dissect a frog I will dissect you instead.” She sat down next to his spot and set her stuff down. It wasn’t the dead frogs that bothered her, it was the dead frogs who were dead and preserved so they could be cut up. The bell rang and Link rushed into the class just before it ended.

“Cutting it close there Link.” He muttered a quick apology before sliding into his spot next to Midna.

“So this is the second time you were practically late for class.” Midna raised an eyebrow.

“Actually it’s the umpteenth.” Link covered his nose with his shirt. “Why does it smell so bad?”

“You’re dissecting a frog.” Midna wrinkled her nose.

“Right before Lunch? What?!” Link groaned. “This blows.” The two barely listened to the directions the teacher had given them. Midna refused to do any of the dissection so Link was stuck doing the whole thing. “They could have at least given us gloves.” He muttered.

Midna wrinkled her nose. “We shouldn’t be dissecting frogs at all. They’re endangered.” Link snorted. He was almost positive these frogs weren’t endangered. Just smelly. “Zelda would have warned me that this was happening…” Midna said absentmindedly. “I hope she’s okay…”

“She will be.” Link set the scalpel down. “Look I don’t want to dig around a frog right before lunch, let’s just fill out the worksheet.”

“Good idea.” Minda pushed the tray away with her pencil while Link went to wash his hands.

“I don’t understand, why are you mutilating those frogs?” The spirit asked.

“Later.” Link hissed.

The rest of the day was uneventful. As Link walked home with Aryll he kicked a pebble.

“What’s got you down?” She asked. Link shook his head, unwilling to talk about it. Aryll picked up on the hint and sighed. The walk home was mostly silent.

When they arrived home Link headed straight up to his room and began to pace.

“You have to start your quest tonight.” The spirit reminded. “The longer you wait the more danger she’ll be in.”

“I know.” Link sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s just… This is a lot for me to take in. I’m still a kid.” He looked up at the spirit. “I…” He trailed off and sighed again.

“There are heroes younger than you. The hero you’re studying was your age when his quest started.” The ghost pointed out.

“The hero of winds was thirteen?”

“Eleven.”

Link groaned.

“When is the age of manhood now?” The spirit mused. “You say you’re still a child. Have you not gone through a rite of passage into manhood?” Link rolled his eyes and took his school stuff out of his backpack, replacing them with some clothes.

“That’s not really a thing anymore.” Link paused. “You said you were Hylia’s chosen hero, when did your quest begin?” The spirit’s expression hardened.

“My quest has started many times. I was cursed to be reborn, so while this spirit is that of the first hero, I remember all the lives of all the heroes.”

Link blinked. “I don’t really get it… You’re…? But…?”

“Know that I would not wish any of my lives upon anyone.” The spirit looked out the window. “Your friend is here.” Link spared a glance out the window to see Sheik heading up his path.

“Okay, so here’s the plan.” He turned his attention back to the spirit. “You’re gonna hide in my back pack. When Sheik is asleep I’ll sneak out with you and we’ll go to the forest and do whatever it is you want me to do and then slip back in before he wakes up.”

“You’ll need a weapon.” Link chewed on the inside of his cheek. The heroes always had a weapon…. Or several… He grabbed his slingshot and pouch from inside a shoe box in his closet and stuffed it into his bag.

“Link you have a friend here!” Aryll called. Link slung his bag over his shoulder, happy to see that the spirit had disappeared, and hurried down the stairs.

“Grandma I’m gonna spend the night at a friend’s house, we’re meeting up with a girl from class in the morning to work on a project.” Link waved into the kitchen.

“Which friend?” His grandmother peered up from above her glasses. “And I don’t remember you asking.” She raised an eyebrow.

Link shuffled his bag. “A new kid named Sheik, it was kinda a last second thing.”

“Have I met his mother?”

“He lives with his aunt. They just moved here.” Link winced as the elderly woman stood up, assuming he was about to get a lecture. Instead he found a plate of cookies being pushed into his hands.

“Welcome them to town for me. I’ll have to invite her over for tea sometime.” His grandma smiled warmly. Link smiled in return and turned to leave. “And don’t eat them out of house and home!” She called.

Link closed the door behind him and hurried out to Sheik.

“Since when did Link have a cute friend?” Aryll furrowed her brow.

“Oh you hush Aryll…” Her grandma shook her head.

“Can I invite Romani for a sleep over?” Aryll asked. “Since Link’s away at a friend’s house?”

“Is your room cleaned?” The elderly woman raised an eyebrow.

“It will be?” She asked. If granny was gonna say no there was no point in cleaning it.

“Clean it first then ask again.” She chuckled.

#gbhp #gbhpch1 #rosie writes

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