Reincarnation Gone Wrong - SandMars (2024)

Chapter 1: Cublike curiosity

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(Its weak spot is the shiny crystal behind it, cub.) growled a monstrous yet feminine voice. (Follow your gut and don’t let your guard down, I won’t interfere unless it’s necessary.)

In front of her imposing figure stood one of the few monsters bigger than her, a stone talus, fighting on equal footing against a young and daring silver-maned lynel. This wasn’t his first fight, he had defeated several groups of moblins and lizalfos before, but he never had fought anything like this before. Seeing a bunch or rocks move and fight without rhyme or reason just felt wrong in some way.

The cub aims his mighty lynel bow [since he isn’t strong enough to effectively use a savage one yet] and shoots without hesitation. Only the left arrow hits the ore deposit, causing the rock giant to fall over, leaving itself vulnerable.

(Finish it now cub! Unlike you, these things don’t get tired!)

The young lynel quickly gallops to the ore and begins a flurry of strikes with his mighty lynel crusher, he can feel the stone talus twitching and about to retaliate, it feels like it’s about to launch him several meters into the air, when he finally destroys the deposit and the stone crumbles leaving behind all sorts or gems and minerals. Rubies, sapphires, topazes, opals, ambers… Her mother sometimes crafts elemental arrows out of them but she dislikes the whole process for being too intricate and she just prefers to use normal arrows anyways.

The adrenaline quickly dissipates and becomes exhaustion, the cub folds his legs under his body and sits like horses do. (Mother, did I do well?) He says, while catching his breath.

(You did well, cub. Soon you’ll be ready to claim your own territory and live by yourself.)

(I though I was too young for that.)

(You’re a silver-maned lynel, you’re different. In just a year you’ll be able to defeat even white-maned lynels.)

(I’ll be able to defeat you?)

(Yes, cub. You’ll be able to defeat me, now let’s go back to the mountain.)

(Yes, mother.)

The walk back home was somewhat interesting, they lived somewhat close to a village so at some point they could hear the sounds of townsfolk gossiping, the sounds of several kinds of farm animals, the smell of truffles becoming stronger after being unearthed. Things only noticeable thanks to the heightened senses of a lynel, sometimes he wishes he understood what hylians were saying. (They look so much smarter than us.) he though. Lynels only know 3 things: hunting, battling and making weapons for themselves. He can’t imagine himself building a home, cooking, trading or farming. He admires some of the qualities of hylians and their inventions. It saddens him that they are their enemies.

He almost trips on a rock, a sign that he should stop thinking about hylians and return his focus to his hooves. The sounds and smells of the small town grow distant as the two start ascending through the mountain path until the path splits in two. He takes the upward path, knowing that his mother is taking the other one to go hunting.

(I’ll be back by tomorrow morning, cub.) She growls while inspecting her gear on the way down, she is wielding a savage lynel spear, which is her favorite weapon, and a savage lynel bow which fires arrows faster than average. Lynels usually craft their own weapons so that they fit their weight, size and preferred combat style. They struggle when fighting with other weapons because most of the time their hands are to big for the handles or because the blade is too fragile to endure the powerful blows of such a powerful monster.

He nods and continues forward, soon reaching the peak of the mountain her mother claimed as their home. The light of the evening sun striking the calm waters of the would be heart-shaped pond, if it weren’t for the stripe of ground that broke the shape in two halves. It’s the home he knows and loves, yet something seems… off.

(Was that rock always there?) he said to himself as he cautiously approached it, last time he saw a rock that seemed suspicious he became the unfortunate victim of a rock octorok and after that the victim of a huge scolding. He grabbed his mighty lynel crusher and poked the rock with it, nothing happened, he poked it again just to be sure and he got no response. Finally he grabbed the rock and pushed it aside, for a moment he could hear a weird sound, like acorns hitting a thin plank of wood, followed by a cheerful laugh and a language he recognized but did not understand: hylian.

"Ya-ha-ha! You found me!" said. A creature he had never seen before, a tiny green creature with a leaf on its face, or is that it’s actual face? It smelled like a plant and looked like a plant yet it moved and talked.

"You can see me? I though monsters couldn’t see us! Only good people can see forest spirits! Does that mean you’re good?"

The young lynel stayed silent, he couldn’t understand a word.

"Can you talk? I’m a korok, can you say that? K-o-r-o-k?"

The way the creature pointed at itself and started to speak slower made him figure out what it was trying to do, the creature wanted to see if he could speak like they do. He tried to replicate the noises it was making, he took several attempts to replicate the k and r, he was forcing himself to create sounds that simply weren’t meant to be made by him, but he finally got it right.

"K-o-r-o-k" he finally said with a raspy and deep voice, he felt his throat burning and his vocal chords felt sore. It wasn’t a pleasant experience but he was willing to continue, the more he talked the sooner he’ll get used to it and the less it will hurt.

"Great! So you can talk! I am Hetso, H-e-t-s-o." Hetso said, pointing at himself. "What is your name?" Hetso said again, this time pointing at him.

The gestures were easy enough to understand, the creature is Hetso, but him? Lynels don’t have names, he has always been himself and his mother has always been his mother. There wasn’t anyone else to talk to so names weren’t needed. He never though about it.

"I guess monsters don’t have names," said Hetso, who is scratching his head thinking on a way to address to the lynel. "You’re a lynel so… hmmmm… oh! I got it! Your name will be: Lynk!" Hetso repeated that name while pointing at the newly named until he made sure Lynk had understood.

Lynk seemed like a good name, it felt natural and even a bit familiar. (This language is interesting) Lynk thought, (Hetso has been also repeating "name" over and over again, I assume "name" means name… Well, there’s one way to find out.)

"Name, Lynk." Lynk’s throat burned again, and his pronunciation was way off, but it was understandable enough. He saw Hetso praising him, so he assumes he used the word correctly.

Lynk continued to speak with Hetso, slowly learning a few words some of which he recognized since he often heard people say them in the nearby village, for example: "Hi", "Thanks" and "Goodbye". Communication was hard and slow and the sky was becoming darker and darker. Lynk could feel his eyelids growing heavier, his legs still weak due to the massive effort of the previous battle, eventually he fell asleep just a few seconds after the sunset.

Lynk woke up when sunlight shone in his face, he opened both eyes and took a deep breath. It smells like flesh and blood, he turned his sight to his right and observed his mother taking huge ferocious bites out of the animals she had hunted for both of them.

(Finally you woke up) She said while devouring the torso of a fawn. (it’s late in the morning, you slept a lot.)

He wondered if the events of yesterday were all a dream, but the soreness of his throat and the lonely rock besides him proved him wrong. He couldn’t see Hesto anywhere though and he couldn’t remember the last moments before falling asleep, it’s safe to assume that he returned to his home wherever that is.

Lynk’s stomach rumbled loudly, so he soon joined his mother and started devouring his breakfast, which today was a whole deer.

(Mother, have you ever encountered creatures made of plants?) He asked while taking huge bites, getting his mane dirty with the juices.

(Creatures made of plants? I have never seen one, I don’t think a creature like that is possible. Did you dream about one or something, cub?)

(Something like that, yeah.) Lynk didn’t feel like explaining what happened yesterday, it was too awkward, what is he going to say? Hello mom I spoke to a plant creature in hylian language and he gave me a name? It’s better if he stayed quiet and act like it never happened.

The two finish their meal without speaking much, Lynk was too immersed in his own thoughts, he felt something, he felt curious. He wanted to learn more about the hylian language and their lifestyle. He trained everyday with his mother but he still had plenty of spare time. When he’s not training he stealthily gets as close to the village as possible and starts listening to what they’re saying. He sees and hears people walk into what seems to be a store, he hears words like "apples", "pumpkin", "carrot" and then he sees people coming out with fruits and vegetables of different shapes and colors. Some other times he sees people walking to the shop in front of the previous one, where he hears people saying things like "hood", "shirt", "trousers", "cloth". And rarely, just rarely someone goes to the weird colorful home next to the first shop, it looks like it was built just a few weeks ago. He hears words like "dye", "red", "green", "yellow" and the people that walk out have their clothes with a different color than when they walked in.

After a week or so, he’s able to make short easy sentences in hylian. "I is Lynk.", "Apple is red.", "price is ten rupees.". His vocabulary was locked to the most common words spoken in the town and his development was starting to become sluggish, he also had trouble with verbs and verb tenses. At first he learned around 4 or 5 new words every day, but now he was lucky if he learned 2 the same day. He was stuck learning the same lesson over and over again, he needed something new. Perhaps other towns could teach him more words but he doesn’t know where to find one, and he can only travel so far before it’s time to return home, not to mention that mother wouldn’t approve it due to her past experiences with hylians.

Lynk sighed and though going back to the mountain for today. He hadn’t learned anything, all the words they used were used very little and he couldn’t figure them out just by hearing or even watching, and the verb tenses were too complicated to learn by himself. He had just turned around when he heard a new voice coming from the front of the village, it wasn’t the voice of any villagers, he was sure of it.

"Aw yeah! Check it! Brand new lab coming up!" Said the voice, a girl in her teens who was accompanied by several people with eyes painted in their clothes. Lynk had never seen anyone like her, her clothes were unlike any he had ever seen, her hair was white but with a red stripe and her eyes were filled with excitement. They walked through the town and all the way up to the top of a hill where the people that accompanied her started laying the foundation of something. It looks like they are building something.

(I wonder what will I learn from her.) Lynk said to himself as he begun his way back home.

Chapter 2: Strange words

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Two weeks had passed since those men, who people called "sheikah", started building the lab on top of the hill, there were two types of men, ones that looked like experienced warriors who were doing the hard work building the structure and then the more intelligent looking people who are handling some sort of complex equipment, they finished building yesterday and Lynk can already hear two people talking inside. It would be hard to listen to the conversation since it is built in a bad spot and he can’t be as close as he would like without people noticing him. But it didn’t ended up mattering because the ones inside the lab were pretty loud. He tries to listen in to see if he can learn something new.

"Check it! A whole lab just for myself! Are you jealous, Robbie? I’ve got a new lab and you’re stuck with the old one underneath the castle, it’s so humid and hot there, I almost feel bad for you." said one of the voices, it undoubtedly belonged to the white-haired girl he saw 2 weeks ago. People call her "Purah." over and over again so that must be her name.

"Very funny Purah. Are you gonna tell me why this awesome new lab is located so annoyingly far away from castle town? It took me 2 days to arrive here by horse." said a more masculine voice, it had a certain kind of energy in it but he couldn’t find the right word to describe it. Lynk was unsure whether his name was "Jealous" or "Robbie", he’ll have to pay close attention to those words at the same time he tries to figure out what they’re talking about.

"The farmers dug up another ancient artifact, it produces the blue flame that seems to power some of the ancient contraptions, the device that produces it can’t be moved and the flame dies quickly if placed on a regular torch, so the only way around it was to built the whole lab here. I suspect that I’ll be able to power those stubborn terminals with that." Said Purah.

"A blue flame?! I knew it! I knew it had to be it!" Robbie is over the moon right now, he yelled so loudly that he startled Lynk, who jumped back and almost crashed into a tree. "I suspected it for a long time but I couldn’t actually prove it, a source of fuel that can burn for centuries in the right conditions, a super-combustion! It was the only thing that made sense! Oh it feels so good to be right!"

"The sheikah researchers are transporting the flame from the source to my artificial generator now, the work has been grueling. How about you Robbie? What has been going on around castle town while I’ve been here." Said Purah.

(So his name is "Robbie") Lynk mumbled to himself, pronouncing hylian words still hurt a bit but considerably less than last time.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot, two of the four divine beasts have been found, some sort of healing chamber has been dug up in the great plateau and the young princess is still trying to awaken her powers." Said Robbie, with a way more serious tone. It’s clear that this is a very important matter. "And the sword that seals the darkness hasn’t been claimed yet."

"That’s mostly good news, now that two divine beasts have been found I’m guessing that the other two will follow soon, and I know the king and princess have already thought about potential pilots for each one of them. But the fact that the princess still hasn’t awakened her powers and that the wielder of the Master Sword hasn’t appeared yet disturbs me quite a bit." Said Purah, also with a more serious tone.

"Yes, it’s unnerving. It should have been found by now, if he’s anything like the princess then he should have the triforce symbol in his hand. The king has set up many many tournaments among his knights to see if any of them were strong enough to be considered the legendary hero but to no avail. I have two theories about him: either he’s a coward, which doesn’t make much sense considering that the hero is someone courageous by nature. Or that he has been born recently or maybe he hasn’t even been born yet, which is very very concerning. Imagine sending a toddler to fight the calamity." Said Robbie.

"Yeah, I’ve also been thinking about it and I also have a couple theories, maybe he lives in a place hard to reach with very little information about the other regions. There’s a couple cabins near hebra summit, and Lurein village is pretty isolated because the Farone region isn’t easy to navigate through. But its unlikely… very unlikely. I was also wondering if the princess could wield the Master Sword herself, since the blood of the goddess runs through her veins, but she’s not a natural fighter and her father would never allow her to touch a weapon." Said Purah.

"Well, let’s leave that subject aside for now and focus on getting this flame going, you wanted me to help you with the terminal, right? Let’s wait until the other sheikah researchers come with the blue flame and we’ll quickly calibrate the power input before resting for the night." Said Robbie, and Purah just nodded.

It was getting a bit late, Lynk begins walking back home while thinking on what he has learnt today. He recognized some of the more basic words like "Blue", "Flame", "New" and "Burn". And he could actually figure out the meaning behind some of the new ones. "Lab" for example, was easy to figure out, since they mentioned "new lab." like three times and the only "new" thing there was the building, so that place must be a "lab". But there were words that felt special to him, "Triforce", "Princess" and "Master Sword" made him flinch when he heard them for the first time.

(I wonder what a "princess" is, it sounds like a name but it’s not a name… is it? And the "Master Sword"? "Master" is what kids called their teachers and "sword" just means sword, is the sword a teacher in some way? They also said something about "Triforce symbol in the hand", "hand" just means hand, "symbol" is like a drawing I believe… because one of the hylian mothers said something about "children" and "bridge" and "symbols" and then I saw the bridge covered with spirals, lines, doodles and hearts. So someone has a drawing of a "triforce" in his hand? And that makes them important? Most people don’t have anything drawn in their hands and mine only has this weird triangle birthmark…)

Thinking on all that just made his head hurt, so he just walked while practicing hylian on his way up the mountain path. "Lynk is lynel.", "Mother is lynel", "Lab is in hill.", "Purah is and Robbie is talking in lab.", "Flame very red and is hot." He was making good progress, his primary interest was just to understand the hylian language but being able to speak it is a pretty nice bonus. He made sure to stop practicing before his mother could hear him since she won’t be happy to know what her son has been doing in his spare time.

His mother was patrolling the mountaintop as usual, it’s what lynels are the best at, protecting their territory. (I don’t know what you do in your spare time, cub, and I won’t pry. But if you need help with something it’s my duty as a mother to help you.)

(I’m fine, mother.) Lynk realized soon enough that he simply couldn’t ask her about the "triforce" and the other words that bothered him because he doesn’t know how to translate them and he simply can’t spell them in hylian to her. (Mother, have you seen what the hylians in the town were doing?)

(Yes, I have seen them cub, there’s a weird blue flame and there’s new and even weirder people there. The ones with the eyes drawn in their clothes feel different. They aren’t regular hylians. When I was young my own mother told me about a whole village of people like them, she told me they could be dangerous and that they’re particularly good at sneak attacks and that they’re very very perceptive. Don’t go near them, you can defeat one, two or three without much issue but if you let them call for back up… An easy battle against an opponent can become a fight against 20 or even 30 men.)

(Are hylians really that dangerous?) Lynk said, a bit flabbergasted. His mother doesn’t like to talk about hylians at all, she simply says to stay away from them but she never told him why.

(Look cub, hylians stay out of lynel territory and lynels stay out of hylian territory. I don’t like to admit it but they’re smart, they don’t take risks. If they decide to fight you it’s because they are going to win, even if they have to bring an entire army to do so.) She said, with quite a bit of anger. (No more talking about hylians. Besides I wanted to tell you about something else.)

(Huh? What is it, mother?) Lynk has some idea of what his mother wants to talk about, but he asks anyways.

(You’ll be 14 years old soon, cub. You know what that means, right? that’s the age at which lynels must leave their mother’s side and live on their own. I want you to be ready when the moment comes. You should also change your mighty lynel equipment for the savage one, you’re much stronger than before so you’ll be able to wield it without much trouble.) She said

(I’ll be ready mother, I trained very hard with you. I’m ready for anything!)

(That’s the spirit. I’ve saved you the work of gathering materials to craft your new weapons so you can get to it tomorrow morning, now go to sleep, cub.) Mother point to large chunks of iron ore behind her. She had collected more than what Lynk needs just in case he messes up while forging.

Lynk does as his mother says and he goes to sleep, he likes to sleep next to the pond laying on his right side. It takes him a while to sleep since his mind is all over the place, the words he heard from those hylians made him feel strange, like if he had heard them before in a dream. Then there’s the whole living alone thing, lynels leave when they’re 14 years old but they aren’t fully grown until they’re 16 or 17, he’s sure he can make it like any other has done lynel but it still makes him nervous, who wouldn’t be nervous? He had seen a hylian teen go through a similar thing not too long ago while he was trying to learn something observing the house of a guy they called "major". His last moments of consciousness before falling asleep were dedicated to hylians, he wonders how different will they be in other places.

(I’ll travel north, past the village… very north… and I’ll learn lots…)

His birthmark on his right hand glows dimly for a split second, unnoticed by both mother and son, as he finally falls into a deep sleep.

Chapter 3: Grown up

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Lynk woke up slowly when the morning sun illuminated the mountaintop, he yawns loudly and stretches his limbs. He looks around but his mother is nowhere to be seen, she has left him a whole boar for him to eat which he does swiftly, devouring flesh, guts and even some small bones, getting his mane and face stained with blood in the process. Lynk cleans himself in the pond while thinking on what weapon is he going to make for himself since he has outgrown his previous weapon set. He had always wanted to try to make a weapon that returned after throwing it, like the blades that lizalfos make, but he had no idea how they worked or what shape it would need to have, so he just decided to make himself a savage lynel sword, a shield and a bow.

(Mother collected quite a bit of ore… If I do everything right on my first try I should still have enough iron to try and make that weird flying blade. I wonder what word hylians use to name it.) he says to himself, dissatisfied with the limited vocabulary of the lynel language.

Lynels are capable blacksmiths, they make all their weapons and armor by themselves without any help. With the use of their fire breath they are able to soften the metal and then use their natural fire resistance to shape the metal with their bare hands which grants them a greater control over its form than using a hammer or other tools to do it. However the whole process is quite demanding even for silver-maned lynels. Breathing fire continuously at a constant temperature is not only painful for their throat but it also overheats their bodies and may lead to a heat stroke, and their fire resistance isn’t strong enough to be able to grab red hot metal for long amounts of time without hurting themselves.

Lynk gets in a comfortable position, grabs a big piece of iron ore and he starts breathing intense fire to it. The forging of a weapon takes lynels several days of constant working, most of the time they stop patrolling their territory altogether in order to get their weapon done as soon as possible. Lynk does more or less the same, he stops his daily combat trainings with his mother and he also doesn’t go near the town as much as he used to despite how much he wishes to learn more about hylians, since making his equipment is vastly more important for him than that.

He spends 3 whole days to make the savage lynel sword, and 1 extra day to sharpen and polish it, it’s slightly smaller than a regular one because he isn’t big enough to comfortably wield a regular one yet. During this time Lynk has noticed that his mother isn’t around that often anymore, she comes around to bring some food and to sleep every now and then but most of the time she’s just gone, maybe she wants to give him some room and not bother him while he’s forging? Or maybe she’s not around to make him get used to being on his own? That would make sense considering lynels leave their mothers side at just 14 years of age, and Lynk is rapidly approaching that milestone.

The cycle repeats for the next few days, he makes progress in creating his bow and shield, which are almost done although they are taking him more time to make than the sword, and in some occasions he manages to sneakily approach the town while his mother is sleeping. The man "Robbie" isn’t around anymore but "Purah" remains in her "laboratory", a place whose name doesn’t have a translation to lynel, most of the day. He learns a few words every now and then, but what interested him the most were the glowing artifacts around her and outside the "lab". They released a blue or sometimes red glow and did small beeps which reminded him to the sounds keese use to make. Lynk also couldn’t avoid to feel in danger when he saw the machines, sometimes he feels like they can see him with their blue pulsating eyes. One night the construct somehow saw him lurking in the darkness and started following him with its gaze and releasing high pitched beeping noises, even though the artifact couldn’t move its metallic tentacle legs at all, his instincts told him it was dangerous, that it could and will kill him. He ran for his life galloping as fast as his hooves allowed him to, hoping he had escaped its line of sight, which he did. He could hear the beeping noises diminishing in volume not because of the growing distance between them, but because the sentry was returning to its calmed state, although the noise was soon eclipsed by the rough and fast opening of a door and the voice of a recently awakened scientist.

"What the HECK was that?! Why did it activate so suddenly in the middle of the night? Was there a monster around?" Said Purah with an annoyed voice, she is still in her sleeping clothes.

In other circ*mstances Lynk would have stayed hidden to listen and obverse her, but with that machine nearby… He doesn’t feel like approaching that "lab" again any time soon. He’ll just go back home and continue making his equipment like nothing had ever happened. He walks up the mountain path, still agitated and with adrenaline pumping through his veins but he manages to calm down before reaching the top where his mother is still laying asleep, snoring somewhat loudly, and completely oblivious to the danger her son had just been in. Lynk sits besides her, he lays his upper body against her lower body and closes his exhausted eyes.

When he woke up, he was surprised to see that his mother was still there, not only because she hadn’t been around as often lately but also because she always goes hunting early in the morning. She speaks before Lynk can begin to mutter a question.

(Cub, I can see that you’ve already made a sword, are the shield and bow ready too?) She said with her usual stern voice.

(The shield just needs the blades to be sharpened and the bow just needs the string.) Lynk replied.

(Let me know when you’re done.) She said as she turned around and sat facing the pond. She is looking a bit different than usual, maybe she’s sad because her son is ready to leave her side? No, that can be it. He has never seen his mother sad, just neutral, angry, proud, and just rarely with visible happiness.

Lynk grabs the unfinished bow and shield and gets to work. Attaching the string to the bow is not hard and he manages to do it in just a few minutes. Sharpening the shield is more time consuming since there are so many blades in it, it takes him 3 whole hours to sharpen all 5 blades. He feels a wave of satisfaction and confidence, he feels proud of himself, but he doesn’t have time to pat himself in the back. He can do that after whatever his mother has planned for him. He grabs his brand new set of savage lynel equipment and he stands in front of his mother.

(Mother, I’m have all my equipment ready. Is there something I need to do before I leave?) Lynk said.

(This is more about me than you, I need to check if I have done a good job raising you, cub. I want to see if I have succeeded as a mother.) She said as she got up and picked her savage lynel spear. He could feel her fighting spirit growing by the second. (This will be your first real fight against another lynel. Whoever bleeds first, loses. And let me be clear, I don’t expect you to win. Now prove me wrong! Cub!)

That wasn’t what Lynk expected at all, now he must face a white-maned lynel who was bigger, older and had way more experience that him, not only that but she also knows him from horn to hoof. It wasn’t all disadvantages though as he is a higher rank than her, proven by his silver colored mane, he is more agile and he also knows how his mother fights quite well.

Lynk unsheathes his sword with his right hand and wields his shield with his left. Mother lets out a terrifying roar before going for an attack, swinging her spear aiming for his legs but he manages to jump over the attack. He tries to end things swiftly with a clean hit of his sword but it is blocked by the spear’s handle. His mother is an excellent fighter, she fakes a blow just to strike his face with the other end of the spear, which miraculously didn’t make his snout bleed, and then she jumps back to regain the distance at which her weapon is the most dangerous. The fight continues but Lynk is completely unable to close the gap and his stamina is diminishing rapidly, he needs a way to get close to her and then he needs a way to break through her defense. He isn’t fast enough to attack her right after a parry, since she recovers her balance too quickly to do so, so he has to plan something else before the exhaustion comes. The peak of the mountain isn’t that big but she moves in a way that avoids being cornered, he has to force her to move somewhere where he can trap her. Lynk now fights defensively, he doesn’t attack, he just parries her blows. Slowly moving her towards an ideal position, just before the edge of the mountain. He rushes towards her before she can reposition herself, she strikes with her spear faster than any other time before he can get dangerously close to her but he dodges it by just few centimeters, it was a very very close call.

Then time stops, or at least that’s how it felt. He was still in the air after dodging and his mother was still in the middle of her attack. Everything moved so slowly except him, his mother was still wide open and he could easily deliver 5 or 6 slashes now, but he only needs to strike once, leaving a shallow cut in her arm, which gently drips just a few drops of blood as time soon sped up again. Lynk is as surprised as his mother is.

(What the!?) She growled, unable to comprehend the speed at which her cub had moved. She regains her composure soon enough, she is angry to have lost the fight but also happy that she had done a good job raising her cub. (Well done, I’ve never seen anything move as fast as you just did, not even lizalfos go that fast… you’re more than ready for anything, but I have something for you before you go.)

(Something for me?) Said Lynk, who was now even more surprised than just a few seconds ago.

(Wait for me here cub, I need to retrieve it first.) She said before leaving. Lynk is now waiting with excitement but also a bit of sadness. This next interaction will probably be the last time he sees his mother in a long time.

Mother soon returned carrying something unexpected, a hand-made leather pouch, way to big for a hylian but just the right size for him. Lynels don’t like to do stuff like that at all. Leatherwork is too intricate for most lynels, it’s hard and annoying and having such big hands and claws doesn’t help at all. Yet, his mother had made one just for him, but it must have taken her weeks to do it. And she did it to gift it to her cub.

(Is this why you’ve been gone so often? T-thanks… I love you mom.) Lynk said, feeling a bit emotional.

(I love you too, cub.) She said.

The two lynels hugged, he felt his face brushing against her mane one last time before she broke the hug.

(It’s time for you to go now, you want to go north, right? Good choice there are few lynels in that area, you’ll be able to claim your own territory easily enough. You’ll also find people different from hylians on your way there, but they’re just as dangerous if not more. So be careful, cub.) She said.

(I’ll be careful mother, you raised me well. Goodbye.) Lynk said, fastening his new pouch to his belt.

(I did raise you well. Goodbye.) She said before watching her cub finally leave her side. Overtaken by a massive feeling of pride, and a small feeling of lingering sadness. Both feelings merge into a sense of confidence. She had raised the strongest lynel she had ever seen. She had raised the strongest lynel of all.

Chapter 4: Feathers for the Princess & Scales for the Cub

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It was a cold day in the Hebra region, winter was approaching swiftly. Snow gently fall in the area around the flight range, slowly accumulating in the floor and tree branches. The golden haired princess goes through dronoc’s pass riding her white stallion, accompanied by two knights who are also riding on their own horses. After the first two divine beasts had been found, the other two followed quickly, now they only needed to find the right people to pilot each one of them, they already found 3 of them, and now she believes she has already found the last one.

Zelda watches as the gentle snowflakes are carried away by a burst of wind, a powerful updraft which a daring rito tries to ride but gets thrown away after a few seconds, luckily his fall was cushioned by the snow.

"Not enough… I must stay in the eye of the whirlwind for longer… I need to push myself harder." Revali said, exhausted after what probably was one of many many many failed attempts. But his exhaustion seems to disappear when he hears the sound of someone getting off their horse, jumping with both feet into the soft snow below.

"You know, your highness… it’s rude to eavesdrop." Said Revali, annoyed that someone had seen him fail.

"My apologies, I went to the village and they told me I could find you here." Said Zelda.

"You’re here because my skills are essential to defeat the calamity, are they not? I will gladly take the role of champion to slay the beast once and for all." Said Revali, each word carrying more and more co*ckiness.

"Thank you Revali, with the help of the other champions I’m sure we’ll be able to defea-" Zelda wasn’t able to continue her sentence, as Revali interrupts her.

"However!" Said Revali, before turning around and preparing yet another updraft. He flies into the air, this time successfully riding the powerful updraft until he was dozens of meters above the targets that are all around the range, and then dive in at great speed quickly observing the location of each and every target as he pulled his bow and three bomb arrows at a time. Each time he shot he hit three different targets, after just what felt like an instant, all the targets where blown to pieces and Revali was already standing again in front of the young princess.

"The wielder of that little magic sword hasn’t appeared yet, and if he doesn’t end up appearing, I will be the one to face Ganon’s wrath and save Hyrule myself!" Revali said, overflowing with confidence in his abilities.

"I like your confidence, Revali. But I have faith that the chosen one will soon show himself." Said Zelda.

"Hmpf, I’ll just let you know that I don’t plan to be a side character even if he does end up showing. Now please leave, I won’t be able to concentrate when you inevitably gasp in amazement when you see my skill during my training." Said Revali.

Zelda chuckles, she opens her mouth to say goodbye but Revali is already flying through the range and shooting down the targets again. She just smiles and gets on her horse, turning back the way she came.

She spent one more day in the rito village making sure Revali understood the basics behind Vah Medoh, she wanted to assist him further but he was too proud to let her do that. After that it took her two days to go back to the castle, it wasn’t quite winter yet so it wasn’t hard to travel through the cold mountainous region. She would have liked to stop near the forgotten temple and explore it but she had more important matters at hand, that being awakening her powers and helping each champion with their respective divine beast. And then there was the issue of the missing hero, Zelda thought and thought how to resolve the issue but she couldn’t figure out a way to fix it. She had spent far too many hours in the library reading legends of past heroes and they always showed up to wield the master sword and strike down evil. That’s when she had an idea, if the hero couldn’t reach the master sword then maybe the master sword could reach the hero. The books say the master sword is sentient, and that it creates a bond with the current hero so maybe they can use the sword to locate it’s supposed wielder. The problem is that in theory only the hero is able to hold the master sword, however Zelda is a descendant from the goddess and since the power of the goddess is the one that allows the hero to grab the master sword, then this must also be true for her, she could be able to grab the master sword and use its bond to find the lost hero. Zelda immediately goes to his father’s private chamber to discuss the matter with him.

"I see…" Says Rhoam who is using a far softer tone than the one he uses when on the throne or in public. "It is a clever way to locate the hero, and our current methods have proved to be fruitless. Its worth to try it, however you’ve traveled across all Hyrule in just 2 weeks, you need some rest. And the champions will need assistance with their divine beasts and you, thanks to your research, are the most suitable person to assist them. Only when the champions become capable of controlling their beasts without fail I’ll allow you to pull out the master sword and search for the hero."

"Yes father, understood." Said Zelda, before exiting her father’s room and returning to her own chamber. Her father was right, she was one of the few that understood how the divine beasts worked. Purah and Robbie also knew how they worked but they’re busy with their own experiments on guardians and terminals. Purah is in her own lab in Hateno researching a sheikah terminal that can transfer data in liquid form, but apparently she lacks a device that can hold said data. And Robbie is taking down the broken guardians to see if he can make powerful weapons out of their components.

Zelda took out one of her notebooks and began writing things that could help the pilots understand and control better their divine beasts. She was mostly concerned about Vah Medoh and Vah Rudania, they are the hardest to control and on top of that they are pretty defiant. Divine beasts have their own unique personalities and those two are the most complicated of the four. Urbosa and Mipha had little to no problems with their respective beasts, through letters carried by messengers they told her that it was difficult at first but they quickly understood how the beasts felt and what they liked. Daruk on the other hand had trouble controlling Vah Rudania who is very very stubborn but it likes when Daruk is just as stubborn and tries to pilot it anyways. And Vah Medoh just likes to do it’s own thing, it doesn’t like people piloting it at all, like if it thought it could pilot itself better than anyone else could.

"Alright, this isn’t as hard as I thought. I should be done with it in just a month or less…" Said Zelda before yawning, she loses track of time with ease when she is writing in her study. She puts on her sleeping clothes and gets in bed.

The young and now independent lynel was already past the town and he had found his way into a cold and icy clearing. to his left laid a path of stone slabs made by hylians and to his right laid possibly the highest mountain he had ever seen, crowned by ice spikes like a massive spear ready to pierce through the skies. When the clouds clear he sometimes can see a statue of a beautiful woman standing near the peak. This would be a great place, but he wasn’t used to the cold and it was too close to hylian paths so he just kept going north. He planned to continue walking during the night and sleeping in caves during the day, that way he would avoid hylians and, more importantly, other monsters.

Most hylians believe that lynels don’t attack or are attacked by other monsters but that isn’t entirely true, lynels only care about their own territory and they will attack whoever tries to live there, that’s why there are never bokoblin camps near those areas. And naturally when other monsters look at a lynel approaching their camp they may believe that he’s trying to take over their territory so it usually ends up in a fight. Only lynels don’t attack other lynels on sight, in fact they’re capable of feeling pity and even show compassion, they even let 'homeless' lynels walk through their home to make their travels in search of a new territory easier, and very very rarely they’d let them stay for a short while.

Lynk continues walking forward, theres still plenty of night left, he continues going north for a good while but he is forced to stop when he sees there’s a huge bay in front of him. He groans in annoyance, there’s no way he can swim across, not while carrying his weapons on his back, so he’ll have to border the whole thing. It really looked exhausting and he was getting hungry, the good thing is that he has spotted a cave on the other side of the bay which motivates him to keep going. It takes him a while to reach the cave and the sun is already coming out. The cave is humid and it smells like the sea, he sees a soft blue glow a bit deeper in the cave that comes out of weird fish living in a small freshwater pond, there’s like 8 of them. Lynk has never hunted fish before, they’re so fast and so small, it usually isn’t worth it to hunt and her mother agreed with him. However the pond was really small and they have nowhere to go.

Lynk grabbed his bow, he prepared to shoot a single arrow at the nearest glowing fish. With a calm expression he pulled the string back and then released it, the arrow making a whistle for just an instant as it soon sank into the water and then sank again into the head of the fish. He repeated that 7 more times before sitting down and eating each one of them. Their meat was extremely soft but it had some harder spikes which weren’t too pleasant to eat, he ate all of them either way, he still preferred to eat deer but this wasn’t too bad either. He finally laid on his side to sleep, it wasn’t comfortable to sleep on the rocky floor at all but the gentle sounds of waves echoing around the cave was relaxing and helped him greatly when sleeping.

He woke up much later, the sun was still up but the sky was already getting orange, there shouldn’t be many hylians on the nearby paths. Lynk shook off his remaining drowsiness and got out of the cave. He keeps going north, through the rivers and mountains. There’s a lot of rivers and lakes in this area, it’s also very wet in general. The cliffs around him are made of stones he has never seen before that release a soft glow sometimes, and new exotic plants he has never seen before, but what shocked him the most was when he looked to his right and he saw it in the middle of the lake. A huge creature made of the same stuff the machine of the "laboratory" was made of. Lynk was immediately struck by the most intense and pure sense of dread he had ever felt, he couldn’t even lift his hooves of the ground or stop looking at its massive silhouette, bigger than a stone talus, bigger than a hinox, bigger than… than anything he had ever seen! He stood there for a minute until he understood that the titan wasn’t going to do anything, it didn’t even move an inch, maybe it was asleep or maybe it was dead or maybe it didn’t even perceive him as a threat. He slowly continued forward, this time looking at his left where he saw deep below a huge city carved out of blue glowing gems, a city populated by people who spoke like hylians but they were taller and looked physically stronger, not to mention they were all fish!

(Are those the people mother told me about? People different than hylians? They must be it, she also mentioned they were just as dangerous so the plan is still the same.) Lynk growled to himself. Now he needed to stay away from paths and rivers to not risk being spotted by them, luckily he’s pretty high compared to them so he can see them without them seeing him. She spots another one of them who is tinier and has a different coloration. She looks important and is practicing her spearmanship with a shiny ornamented trident. Her movements were graceful and her moves were very different from those that his mother makes while fighting, they both fight with spears but the little lady’s movements were so precise and refined. She could definitely stand her own against mother and maybe even defeat her, which means she could also defeat him. Lynk observes her for a little longer until she stops training and leaves in direction of the biggest building in the town, probably because it was getting late and she needed to rest. With nothing left to do here he continued going north, there was still a lot of time before the sun comes out again, but he wants to find a good territory soon before he completes messes up his sleep schedule, he walked down the mountain and he couldn’t see any more glowing stone, instead there are now wide grasslands that could be a great spot, however he had just found one that was absolutely perfect. It looked like a stone island rising out of a lake, with a singular natural bridge, it had trees it had rocks it wasn’t claimed by hylians or monsters, he wonders why hylians hadn’t built a town there, since it looks like such a great location. On his way there he found a curious spiraling peninsula, what looked to be a small fortress crowning a nearby mountain, and a huge ornamented plant with a pond on the middle, he didn’t go to inspect it right away though it wasn’t at the top of his priority list. He walked through the stone bridge, he marked the nearest tree to the entrance with a cross, which is a sign to let other lynels know the place has been claimed, and he finally lays against the grass. He hadn’t realized how tired his legs were, they were already wobbling and now they refuse to hold his weight, not that it matters since he doesn’t plan to move anywhere soon, not while he’s still exhausted. His stomach is empty but he can hold out until tomorrow, for now he just looks at the starry sky, enjoying his first night in his new home.

Chapter 5: At long last

Chapter Text

Lynk woke up when the morning sun hit his face, he had been sleeping for just a few hours and his legs were sore from all the walking he did during the night. His body begged him to go back to sleep but if he did he wouldn’t be able to regain his usual sleep schedule so he reluctantly got up. That’s when he felt how hungry he was, painfully hungry. He immediately started walking to the nearby forest with his bow in hand, finding prey was easy enough, the deer was peacefully eating some herbs while he readied his shot, slowly pulling the string back to not make any noise that can warn the unsuspecting animal and suddenly releasing it, the deer stops eating the moment it hears the characteristic whistle of the arrow but it’s already too late as the arrow goes through its neck killing it instantly without suffering. Usually Lynk would take the body of his prey to his territory to eat it without fear of any surprise attack while he was distracted, but he was so hungry he immediately started devouring the fresh meat leaving his back vulnerable. After a while the only thing left are the bones and tiny stubborn scraps of meat that refuse to separate from what once was a complete skeleton, his hunger was satiated and he could feel the pain in his stomach replaced by a sense of satisfaction.

On his way back he could really feel the few hours of sleep taking a toll on him, his pace was getting slower and sometimes his eyes refused to stay open, the only thing keeping him awake was the soreness of his legs but soon the exhaustion will become too much for that. Suddenly his ears catch a familiar buzzing, he had heard it plenty of times before. When he was little and he got tired his mother would always grab a beehive and give it to him to lick the honey it had, and after eating the sweet treat he always felt full of energy. He heads towards the buzzing and he carelessly grabs the beehive, the bees try to sting him but his fur and skin are too thick to feel any of it so they quickly give up. Lynk holds the hive above his mouth and eats it with a single bite instead of simply licking the honey off, he could feel his drowsiness slowly fading away, not only that but the pain on his legs was also disappearing which was a nice bonus.

With this newfound energy he walks around the area near his home, he wants to grow used to it as quickly as possible, there’s a place that interests him greatly, the fortress on top on the nearby mountain.

He approached the fortress with even more stealth than usual, there were plenty hylian guards and soldiers around it so he doesn’t go as near as he did previously back in that village. He sees hundreds of armored soldiers sparring with one another, honing their skills and also practicing drills and formations, people with complex banners riding on horses occasionally yelling orders that even Lynk could hear from his hiding spot. They move in unison and never fail to obey the imposing man with a badge on his shoulder, who seems to be their leader or perhaps their teacher. Seeing this, Lynk can’t avoid thinking (what kind of monster is so dangerous that hylians have to make whole armies to stop it?) it didn’t make much sense, he couldn’t even fathom something strong enough to defeat them, or maybe that’s the point, simply going overkill to ensure safety in any possible scenario. Once the fascination wore off, he was left unimpressed by the skill of most of their fighters in armed combat, their movements were too rigid and predictable, they learned a standard fighting style instead of developing their own. That’s actually one of the reasons why lynels don’t give their cubs the same type of weapon they use, so that the cubs don’t copy the movements of the parents.

Eventually Lynk got bored and began walking back home, on the way there he saw a bokoblin camp sitting out of the way, it isn’t even a threat but he immediately charged towards it and got rid of every bokoblin inside, then he collected all the arrows he could find that had been scattered across the stone skull in the middle of the fight. There are 2 things that Lynk hates above everything else, which are rock octoroks and making arrows. He had no issues when making actual weapons, but arrows? He could barely make 5 before getting sick of it, so everytime he saw that other monsters had plenty he would fight to get them. Lynk filled his quiver completely and he placed the rest of the arrows inside the pouch his mother had made for him. Just thinking about making arrows made him angry.

(Stupid little stone with stupid little stick and stupid little feathers.) He muttered quietly as he resumed his walk. He felt the breeze becoming colder as the day went on, it was winter already although it’s definitely warmer than he predicted and definitely warmer than in his old home. Lynk wasn’t really fond of winter, it has always been a boring season for him, longer nights and less animals to hunt, less hylians too. He doesn’t even want to imagine how boring will that be now that he’s alone.

Answer. Mostly boring, he repeated the exact same routine for around 3 weeks: hunt, train, eat, sleep. Although he had found a couple ways to entertain himself, he started experimenting on making other kinds of weapons, a trident and a boomerang, both of them maintaining the characteristic aggressive design of a lynel-made weapon. He had plenty fun with the boomerang, although it took him a whole 2 days to learn how to throw it properly, he ended up using it more as a toy than a weapon.

Meanwhile in Hyrule castle, the golden haired princess gets ready to go in search of the lost hero. She has already fulfilled the rest of her duties as the leader of the champions, except awakening her powers something she desperately tries to not think about. She isn’t making any progress with her powers and it makes her feel useless, so finding the one that’ll help her seal the calamity makes her feel like she’s not a failure, the feeling of moving forward and getting closer and closer to the goal.

The preparations are all done, she sets off towards the great Hyrule forest, accompanied by 2 of the most capable royal guards to ensure the safety of the princess. Zelda is quite happy with this arrangement, she hates being surrounded by a bunch of knights that behave like if they were transporting a relic instead of a living person. It’s not like this is her first time going to the lost woods, she used to go every 6 months to see if the Master Sword was still there and to ask the great deku tree if someone had tried to pull it out. But the answer was always the same. This time she won’t be asking, she’s determined to find him, no matter what it takes.

"Your highness, may I ask a question?" Said one of the guards, which snapped Zelda out of her thoughts. His name is Magnus and he is usually the one doing the night shifts around the castle. Since he works during the night Zelda doesn’t know him very well yet. The other guard is named Bernard, he doesn’t talk a lot.

"You may ask, Magnus. The path is long and there’s plenty time for small talk." Said Zelda.

"Why do you think the hero hasn’t appeared yet? Because he can’t or because he doesn’t want to? In all the legends I’ve read, the hero has always been young, I was timid when I was little and I would have been scared of being the hero." Said Magnus

"That’s a fair question. The hero is supposed to be courageous and brave, with all the hero-like qualities, so I find it hard to believe that he would refuse to become our savior because he’s afraid. I think it’s more probable to think that the hero simply hasn’t realized he is the hero yet, I don’t know how that is possible but I think that’s the answer." Zelda did a small pause before resuming. "Would you mind answering my question as well? It’s nothing serious, it’s just for the sake of talking, these trips can become monotonous if it gets silent."

"Of course your highness, I will answer anything you ask me." Said Magnus.

"Do you read on your free time? You said you’ve read legends and judging by the way you said it, you didn’t read just one or two." Said Zelda.

"I did read most of the legends I could get my hands on but I read way more than just them. I’m currently reading a book about monster anatomy, which is quite fascinating." Said Magnus.

"Would you mind telling me about the book more in-depth? I enjoy greatly learning new things." Said Zelda.

"Of course, your highness." Said Magnus.

After a couple hours of horse riding and much much more talking, they reach the foggy forest. Probably the most inaccessible place in all Hyrule.

"Entrance to anyone besides the hero and the royal family is forbidden beyond this point, I will return with the Master Sword in a short while." Said Zelda, getting off her horse and leaving behind her two guards. The princess disappears in the smoke as she guides herself with the use of a torch, each time hearing the laughs of the spirits of the forest becoming louder and louder. When the princess enters the korok forest, she’s immediately greeted by all the korok and the great deku tree, who is still as huge and imposing as ever. The sword that seals the darkness lays in the pedestal, waiting for someone worthy to claim it.

"Princess Zelda, it’s a pleasure having you here. If you’re here to check on the Master Sword, I regret to inform you that it hasn’t been taken yet." Says the Deku tree, with a deep but gentle voice.

"That’s… that’s not why I’m here for, great Deku tree. It has become apparent that the hero is not coming to claim the Master Sword. I don’t know what’s his reasoning behind it but Hyrule needs him. I intend to find him using its bond with the sword." Zelda’s voice showed genuine care for the people of Hyrule, she’s not sure if the great Deku tree will be happy with her actions.

"Zelda, the master sword belongs to you as much as it belongs to the hero. And I know that if you take it, it’ll be in good hands. Take the sword and find the final champion."

Zelda nodded and placed both her hands in the handle of the sword, she pulled upward and the sword came out clean. The Master Sword glowed blue twice, transmitting some sort of message to the princess.

"Yes, I hear you. You’ll mark the way and I’ll take you to him." Replied Zelda, who was already rushing towards the exit, almost getting lost in the fog for going too fast and too carelessly. You can understand her haste though, she’s so close to find him, she finally has a lead. She almost completely forgets of her loving horse and the two guards, who were guarding the entrance to the forest although she never gave them that order. They open their mouth to greet her but she doesn’t leave them any time to even produce a sound before Zelda begins to talk.

"Magnus, please give me the map and the compass." Said Zelda.

"Yes, your highness." Said Magnus as he opened the saddlebag of his stallion and took the two requested items and promptly handed them over.

Zelda grabbed the sword with one hand and extended it forwards pointing it at the north, and began turning slowly to the right. The Master Sword’s glow increases from a dim glint to a bright light-blue light but quickly starts to become dimmer and dimmer again. It takes Zelda just a few seconds to point the sword in the direction it glowed the most, and with the help of the compass she was able to roughly estimate where it says the hero is.

"It points in the direction of the Akkala citadel… how could he possibly go unnoticed by all the other people? No matter, it’s not time to think about that now." Zelda said. After a few seconds she spoke again. "Are they fast?"

"What do you mean, your highness?" Asked Bernard, this was probably the first time he opened his mouth in the entire trip.

"Your horses, are they fast?" Said Zelda.

"They’re the best of the best." Bernard replied.

They arrived to Akkala during the afternoon, there wasn’t much in this part of Hyrule. Compared to the surreal scenery of the Zora domain and the almost inhabitable sharp cliffs around Death mountain, Akkala seemed like an unremarkable place, and the only big structure was its citadel. There were no other villages or settlements and there haven’t been attempts of building anything here yet. For Zelda this is not her first time in Akkala, she had been here a couple times in the past, and it surely won’t be the last either since her father will probably make her pray in the spring of power with the hope that she’ll awaken her powers. A hope she was starting to lose in herself.

Zelda returns her focus to the sword, the closer they get the more precise it is, they’re close enough to realize that the sword is not pointing where she thought it would be pointing. She stops her horse and pulls out the map without getting off it. She checks the map to pick a different route past the citadel and continues forward. The hero isn’t in the citadel… so he isn’t a soldier. Right now she might as well throw all her previous hypothesis out the window. If he wasn’t a soldier then what was he? What has he been doing? Has he been here all the time? Was he a traveler? A merchant? Someone from outside the kingdom perhaps?

She and her two companions kept following the gleam of the sword, they bordered a cliff above a lake until they reached a natural stone path that connected a tall island in the middle of said lake. That was the only entrance to the place so the hero must be there. They dismounted the horses, Zelda’s heart begun pounding with force, like if it were pretending to escape her ribcage, her breaths were becoming short and fast and her mouth felt unnaturally dry, she spared a second of her time to calm down before stepping onto the bridge, also feeling some nervousness in the behavior of Magnus, but calmness in Bernard’s.

They we’re almost reaching the end of the bridge when they saw him, the hero of Hyrule, the savior of the kingdom, the true wielder of the sword that seals the darkness, the man that will assist her in sealing great calamity, the… the… the…

"T-that’s… t-t-that’s not…" Zelda trembled with pure fear, not able to finish even one sentence. She stood immobile, almost unable to breath. She wants to run but her legs won’t move, she wants to scream but she can’t make any sounds, she wants to look away but her neck won’t turn. Her eyes slowly accumulate more and more liquid. After just a second she was only able to see the backs of the two guards that now stood in front of her, ready to protect her with their lives. They slowly walked backwards while brandishing their royal guard swords and shields. But Zelda noticed that the Master Sword was still glowing brightly, pulsating blue. One ridiculous idea went through her mind, one that she wouldn’t even consider in her most strange and feverish dreams. She steeled herself and took a step forward…

Lynk was surprised to see hylians approaching, he was too occupied grooming his mane to notice them until he heard their steps as they were halfway across the bridge. He had grabbed his bow and was getting ready to shoot at their feet as a warning, but the look of that important looking girl whose hair was golden like the sun… he had never seen her before but he had a feeling she knew her. The look on her eyes was the one of someone feeling pure dread, like he felt when he saw the colossal machine in the lake. He was more concerned over the two that were with her, they look capable but they don’t have bows so the plan is to threaten them with it since they don’t have a way to fight back at that range. He drew his bow but just as he did the girl took a step forward, a short and doubtful step, but a step nonetheless. When she did, the birthmark of his arm became a golden color, it looked like it was shimmering weakly. She had stepped in front of the men and was looking at him with those eyes, still dreadful but with the slightest hint of hope, the gaze of someone who doesn’t wish to harm him.

He dropped his bow to the grassy floor which startled all 3 hylians, and he took a step closer to her. She stepped forward a little closer, then him, then her, then him, then her… until they were right in front of one another, he sat in order to be at the same eye level, although he was still a little taller than her when sitting. When he sat and they saw his birthmark, the guards calmed down significantly, but they kept their swords unsheathed.

"C-can you speak?" Asked Zelda with the tinniest of stutters, she usually was pretty good at keeping her composure, but this situation was putting her to the test.

"Speak… yes." Lynk replied, he had kept practicing hylian so his throat didn’t hurt at all when speaking anymore, although his pronunciation and vocabulary was still decent at best. He could tell that the girl expected the opposite answer.

"O-oh… and do you have a name? My name is Zelda, what is yours?" Said Zelda.

"I name is Lynk." He said. It was the second time someone had asked him if he had a name, but this time he did have an answer. Instead of waiting for Zelda to speak again, he asked the next question instead. "Why Zelda here?"

She thought for a few moments, sure hylians know perfectly what a hero is… but this lynel? How will she explain him what he needs to do? Does he even care about hylians or the kingdom? And she can’t simply bring him back to the castle with her without a warning, chaos would be ensured. Perhaps she should let someone else do the explaining.

"I’m here to bring you this sword. This is the Master Sword, and it has chosen you as its wielder." Said Zelda as she gave him the sword. Lynels don’t use weapons from others, but when Lynk saw that the sword had the same symbol as his birthmark he instinctively took it. He could barely fit 4 of his fingers in the handle but that was the only bad thing about it. The edge was sharper than anything he or her mother had ever crafted, the sword was polished to a mirror sheen, the blade was perfectly straight with no imperfections, the guard was wide enough to comfortably stop any slashes from reaching his hand and finally, the weight balance of the sword was just perfect.

When he stopped admiring the sword he noticed that it was glowing, it spoke no words yet it was giving him a message, a warning. The arrival of a great evil that plans to take over Hyrule and destroy all hylians, forcing monsters to do his evil deeds for him, treating monsters like his pawns. The calamity is a ceaseless void seeking to swallow all life regardless of their species and intentions.

"How can Lynk help?" Lynk asked.

"In a few days I will return to bring you to the Hyrule Castle, there you’ll meet very strong people that’ll help us seal the calamity. You will train with them and protect the kingdom from those who want to aid Ganon. But I can’t bring you with me now, I need to explain things to my father, the king. I am sure he will let you live among hylians in the castle…" Said Zelda, trying to figure out how will she give her father the news.

Living among hylians, that’s like a dream come true. Lynk wasn’t your typical lynel and he was aware of it, he didn’t like being alone as much as her mother did, and he found the lynel lifestyle very repetitive and monotonous. He will accept gladly living in that "castle" she mentions.

"Lynk wait here for Zelda." Said Lynk as he saw Zelda bow in respect and return where she came from with the two guards still behind her, she looked relieved while Lynk was ecstatic, but also nervous. Now he can’t avoid to ask himself, what has destiny prepared for him now?

Chapter 6: The chapter that is not in chronological order

Chapter Text

She ran, she was hurting but she ran. The sky was crying like never before, thick droplets with so much force that they resembled the spit of a lizalfos and winds that pushed rocks and gravel faster than any rock octorok could swallow. Occasionally the clouds hitting the earth with pure electric anger leaving behind a fiery wound in the landscape, but the storm itself was merciful enough to put out the flames with its tears, sparing the life of the nearby vegetation which was already struggling to stay upwards with 2 elements against them.

The soil was wet and her hooves were sinking more than usual, probably due to her added weight. She needed to get out of the storm or at least get as far as possible from its raging eye. Ignoring hylians, monsters, plants and everything in between she kept galloping, indiscriminately crossing through natural land and hylian made paths, even crossing a bridge that was being guarded by a single guard who wisely decided to hide under the bridge rather than place himself in the way of the white-maned lynel. She didn’t find any more hylians although she was finding more and more hylian paths, she deviated to he nearby forest where the storm was calmer and she was mostly protected of the cascade by the lush branches. It was a good place to rest but it wasn’t safe for her… or rather, them. Moving, kicking, completely unaware of what’s going on outside as he floats in the bubble that almost couldn’t fit his size anymore. His mother keeps going forward, this time she couldn’t just tough out the pain, moving any faster than this was torture. In the end she ends up deciding to go up the mountain path, the higher the safer since you can see anything approaching your location. All she could do was hope that the mountain were empty, for she didn’t have enough time to choose a safer place.

In the mountaintop, the raging storm was now a light harmless drizzle, the wind had become significantly weaker and the lightings were few and far between. She walked to one end of the top and planted her spear on the ground, then she removed all the metallic parts of her light armor, a task that was much easier 6 months ago. She left the armor on the ground and walked back to the center of her new home. She feared a lightning strike, being this high up it definitely becomes a possible threat, she could easily survive one, but the one she was carrying could not.

She stood there, under the rain, for a few minutes which felt like long and torturing hours, the whole process was unimaginably painful, even lynels, who barely flinch when an arrow pierces their skin, suffer the horrible pain of giving birth. Eventually, he fell headfirst against the pasture, his short silver mane and his fur still not fully grown, he lays beneath her mother whose body is protecting him from the rain. It was uncommon for a lynel to be born silver maned, the gene that determines whether a lynel is silver maned or not is recessive. Of course Lynels are completely unaware of this so they just think it’s random, or somehow connected to their soul, the moon phase, the season or even what the mother ate the day it was conceived. Each lynel has their own theory, or simply don’t care at all, like in this case. She’s just happy that her son will be stronger than her.

The newborn cub tried standing on his hooves, he fell to the pasture 2 times before being able to stand up on his wobbly legs and 4 more times trying to take a step forward. She just watched her cub with tender eyes. After a while, the cub was able to take a step without tasting the wet floor, he took one short step after another until he hugged one of his mother’s front legs either for balance or comfort. He growled out of happiness, despite the drizzle and the occasional boom of a thunder, he wasn’t afraid, he hadn’t cried once, not even when three whimsical lightning bolts decided to strike the resting spear in less than a few instants, as some sort of deafening welcome message sent by the sky itself. Also destroying the spear in the process which tore apart a tiny piece of her heart.

The cub kept growling, he was still grabbing his mother’s leg, he wasn’t afraid but he was reluctant to step into the rain. She had to forcefully remove him from her underside and gently place him beneath the raindrops, he was startled at first, eyes wide open and looking straight at her, before happily giggling trying to catch the water with his yet uncoordinated hands. He was… adorable. Her heart was melting and her maternal instincts kicked in full force, he took her cub into her arms, hugging and nuzzling him which only made him giggle louder. Lynels are known for being brutal monsters capable of killing without even flinching, but when they’re little they need just as much love as any hylian does.

Eventually the cub ends with his very very limited stamina and falls asleep cuddling with his mother. Holding her sleeping cub, she thinks on how he came to he. 9 months ago she found the father of her little creature. He was a blue maned lynel, but he felt stronger than one. Whatever training he did, she’s sure it was painful and arduous, he was almost as strong as her! Lynels have a very specific mating ritual, the male and female fight barehanded and whoever wins decides whether to mate or not, she barely won and she decided that he was a worthy companion. After mating the male lynel has no obligation of staying with the female and in most cases he ends up leaving. This is less common on red maned lynels, who tend to team up with their mates to compensate their lack of strength.

A year passed. She was calmly making arrows, masterfully attaching feathers to the ends of the sticks, occasionally looking away to check on her cub who was happily rolling around the mud. He loves to play and get himself dirty. After a while he stops playing for some reason and goes straight to her, he’s scratching his head and he seems to be in a little of pain. She notices two little nubs in his head, he’s starting to grow horns.

(Don’t worry cub, I know it’s painful but you’ll see how good your horns will be. You will look majestic.) she says as she pats her son’s head. She gently caresses the side of his face which makes him purr cutely, like a house cat.

Her cub was so cute and also a handful at times. He was constant getting dirty and galloping all over the place, it was hard to keep track of where he was as he sometimes tried to leave without even thinking on where he was going or if he could even the way back, he was a explorer at heart but he was still too young, he didn’t even know how to talk yet. He was defiant, he refused to clean himself in the pond, sometimes it was hard to tell he was silver maned because the color was unrecognizable, covered completely in dirtiness. She had to wrestle him to get him to bathe, he growled and kicked and flailed, throwing tantrums left and right, but she always won those arguments.

Fortunately those times would soon end as he grew out of that dreadful phase. Around that time he had finally growled his first word ,which was hoof, and he was soon able to make short, and many times nonsensical, sentences. Also he had already grown fully used to moving, he could confidently sprint and jump without fear of falling or slipping. He began trying to hunt, under her strict vigilance of course, with futile results. One day he approached a deer who was protecting his young, the cub couldn’t understand that deer don’t run away when their children are threatened, they locked antlers to horns and luckily he was able to just barely overpower the animal. As expected he later got scolded and grounded for being so reckless.

She enjoyed her new way of life. She sees her cub running after a butterfly that had set on his snout a few moments prior. The daring insect effortlessly dodges his attempts to grab it, flying erratically and challenging his hand-eye coordination. While he was doing his own thing she was peering into the village below, with her vantage point and her keen eyes she could see everything happening there. She despises hylians, more specifically she hates the hylian knights, who hunt monsters not for food but to get rid of them. What had she ever done to them? She wouldn’t have tried to fight them as long as they had respected her territory but hylians came and tried to kill her anyways. That’s why she hates hylians. But looking to the village again, seeing their children happily running around, being chased by a worried mother… it reminded her of herself.

Perhaps hylians and lynels not that different.

Chapter 7: Champions

Chapter Text

Zelda had never seen her father’s eyes as wide open as they were just now. To others it might look like a mild surprise, but she could see past the serious face he puts on when sitting on the throne. Rhoam was beyond shocked.

"The Master Sword chose that talking lynel, Lynk, as it’s wielder… He’s undoubtedly the chosen one if he wields the sword that seals the darkness…" said Rhoam. He was happy when Zelda said he had found the hylian champion, but now his feelings were conflicted. Could he let a monster be their savior? Hylia chose that lynel and he can’t oppose the wishes of the goddess. He trusted Hylia’s decision, but will the people of Hyrule be as trusting as him?

"My daughter. The situation has become quite delicate. This is not something we can be careless with. My main concern isn’t the hero itself, but rather the reaction of the public and the other champions. We can hide the news from the people, but the champions must know who they’ll be aiding or they’ll lose trust on us." said Rhoam.

It was hard to find solutions to all these issues. For starters, hero or not, a lynel is still a lynel. A monster that regardless of their intentions cannot understand the point of view of hylians. There will be differences between them and that will be detrimental. Will he understand why they’ll hide him? Why had he been given such task? Why he must save the people that fear and hate his kin?

The second problem is to keep the news of Lynk’s existence inside the castle walls. It hurts Rhoam’s heart to think this, but spreading misinformation is the safest course of action. They’ll need a fake hero, the people will grow concerned if the savior doesn’t show up. They need a symbol that will make the people of Hyrule feel safe. There are a few promising swordsmen applying to be part of the royal knights, one of them could be the symbol the people need.

The third problem, and perhaps the most delicate one, are the champions. Will they be willing to fight alongside Lynk? That’s something Zelda pondered on her way back. Daruk and Urbosa will probably accept the hero as he is. Daruk doesn’t judge a book by its cover and Urbosa trusts Zelda’s judgement. On the other hand… Mipha and Revali will probably not be as willing…

The Zora have been having a lynel problem for over a year now. Their expanding domain clashes with lynel territory often, which leads to many fights. The lynels there usually have topaz at their disposal, which they use to craft shock arrows. Many zoras have died against those monsters… how will Mipha react when she’ll have to aid the same species that have murdered many of her people?

Then there’s Revali. There’s no way he’s going to accept Lynk. His ego won’t allow him to stoop as low as to help a monster in saving Hyrule. The only thing Zelda can think about to make him compliant is to take advantage of the fragile confidence he constantly hides. If every other champion accepts then he will have no choice but to accept as well. He doesn’t want to be left out. It’s a cheap and cruel tactic, but the situation requires it.

"Father, I think it would be wise to bring the hero here as soon as possible. And for him to meet the champions. I already told him I would come for him." said Zelda. "If I were to look for him right now it would take around a day to bring him here, if lynels are as fast as they are strong."

Rhoam stood silent for a couple seconds. Thinking on the best course of action.

"In two days you will bring him here, he will enter the castle at night and meet the champions. They will be informed of Lynk’s existence but they mustn’t know what he is until they meet, we cannot risk a messenger being captured by the yiga while carrying such compromising information." Said Rhoam. "The only people allowed to see the true nature of the hero will be all residents of the castle, the champions, and both sheikah scientists. That is all."

"Understood, father." Said Zelda before turning away.

Lynk waited like Zelda had told him. He spent minimum time hunting. Instead he patrolled his territory and played with his boomerang, practiced hylian or admired the Master Sword. He was still fascinated by it, but also fascinated by the vision it gave him when he held it for the first time. Lynk had so many questions. His curiosity was flourishing again. It had been a while since he felt like this. Who is Zelda? What exactly is this calamity they need to stop? What is this castle she will bring him to?

He was also excited, he had talked to a hylian! A real hylian! That’s like a dream come true! Even after Zelda left, his tail kept wagging for the whole night, he was a bit ashamed of it, but his tail just reflected how ecstatic he felt. He could barely wait. Each time he heard something remotely similar to a horse galloping his tail wagged and his eyes started to scan the whole area, only to go back to whatever he was doing after realizing it wasn’t Zelda. He repeated that cycle more times that he could count for the span of a couple days, until finally, when he was about to dismiss the sound yet again, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a familiar white horse. Her horse.

He immediately got up and walked across the natural stone bridge that separated his home from the rest of the scenery. Eager to talk again, to see her again, to go with her to the castle and live among hylians. She rode until they were just a few meters apart and she did not dismount her horse. Lynk saw her expression was a bit different, but he wasn’t experienced reading emotions.

"Lynk." She called. "I’m glad you remembered what I told you. I will guide you to the castle, like I said… but we cannot be seen by anyone until we arrive there."

Lynk didn’t quite understand, if he’s going to live among them why would she want for them to not be seen? He’s sure she has her own reasons, so he didn’t really question her. He just nodded slowly and followed her. Besides, there were other questions that had a higher priority.

"How Zelda find Lynk?" He asked.

"The Master Sword has a bond with its fated wielder, you, so I used that bond to find you. That sword is the sword that seals the darkness and it’s key to stop the calamity. Only the hero is able to wield it and any other person, except me because I’m a descendant of the goddess, would be rejected by the sword." Said Zelda.

Lynk didn’t understand quite a few words, goddess, descendant, seals, fated. All new words he would like to know the meaning off, there’s so much he doesn’t know. He continues asking for a good while and Zelda answers all of his questions like a teacher would to a student. Until…

"Why Lynk hero?" He asked what he though was just like any other question.

Zelda got silent real quick. Looking annoyed, maybe even angry. Why did that annoy her? Maybe he’s not the hero she wanted? Or is she bothered because she doesn’t know? She pretended not to have heard him and changed the topic.

"There will be people who will fight alongside you. They’re the champions and you’ll be meeting them as soon as we enter the castle. They’re not hylian and they stand out because of it, you’ll recognize them quickly." Said Zelda, who didn’t bother to explain their races. Maybe she erroneously assumed Lynk knew more races besides hylians or maybe she was a too annoyed to realize.

They kept going, now in silence. Lynk feared that he would make her more angry if he asked anymore so he just followed after her with his jaws shut. The sun was about to set and a structure on the distance was getting bigger and bigger, just above a city that at the very least tripled the size of the town he had lived next to all his childhood. That must be the castle she referred to.

Zelda took a turn to the right, approaching the castle from behind. Around the castle flows a wide river that looks like flowing silver thanks to the reflection of the moonlight on its surface. It’s beautiful but also makes it impossible to surmount, not without a bridge, a boat, not even swimming. She stopped in her tracks without saying a word and he almost ends up bumping into her horse because of it. Finally she spoke, she didn’t sound like she was still annoyed, but she didn’t sound fully happy either.

"Normally we wouldn’t be able to enter from here without a boat, but there’s an old mining tunnel that has been repurposed as a hidden passage directly into the castle. We will use that." Said Zelda as she grabbed and lighted a torch and pushed away vines that hid the entrance of a crude tunnel. It was big enough for Zelda to pass without dismounting, but for Lynk it was… a bit claustrophobic.

When he entered he immediately felt oppressed, no natural sunlight, his sides scraping the cold rock at the slightest deviation and his horns sometimes hitting with the ceiling. Zelda looked calm but for him it was a bit hard to breath and it almost looked like it was getting longer and longer, it did not feel right to be in such small space, he couldn’t even turn around and he couldn’t discern how close he is of the end. He felt unsure whether to voice this out loud or not. He was about to do so when he started hearing voices on the other end of the passage, which meant they were near the exit. He tried to shift his focus away from himself and towards the voices but Zelda’s own voice soon brought his attention back to her

"Before we arrive I must tell you a couple things, you must call me princess or your highness. That’s a very important thing. And one of the champions may not like you at all, do not fight with him no matter how bad things get." Said Zelda, to which Lynk just nodded, accidentally making his horns scrape the ceiling once again.

After a few more steps, Zelda opened the door that connected the tunnel to one of the castle’s training grounds. He could hear at most 4 different voices on the other side, voices that grew silent as Zelda revealed herself to them. Due to the awkward position of the passage, only the princess was visible from their point of view so the champions greeted the princess like they would normally.

"Tiny princess! Is it true what the messenger said? You found the hero?" Said a strong voice.

"So the hero did end up appearing huh? I though he was going to keep hiding." Said a particularly co*cky voice. The other two voices also briefly saluted the princess, not wanting to extend this moment with the hopes of receiving news as soon as possible. She gave them a short greeting before dismounting her horse and moving out of the entrance, allowing him to finally get out of the tight space.

A couple seconds passed with nothing but pure silence, as all four were registering what they saw. After that muted instant, the sounds started to manifest. A quick, perhaps panicked, step back and the sound of ornaments clanging came from the fish-like woman, a species he had only seen once in his life before as he remembered seeing some while in search of his new home. The sound of exactly three arrows being removed from a quiver and a string being tensed to the extreme came from the bird. The sound of a sword sliding out of its scabbard came from the red haired warrior. And finally, the sound of a hand reaching, but not unsheathing, a heavy weapon came from the man built like a boulder.

"N-not harm." Lynk said as well as he could. Trying to show he wasn’t going to fight.

"It… it talked?" Whispered the finned woman, her voice was gentle but also showed traces of panic. She was the only one that didn’t make an attempt to grab her weapon, a beautiful yet familiar trident that was strapped to her back, instead she had backed away and by pure instinct.

"Zelda, there are many questions I want to ask, one of them is: what the hell is that monster doing here?!" Said the bird, infuriated. It was loud and sudden enough to make Lynk undo one of the steps he had taken.

"His name is Lynk, and he is the wielder of the master sword." Said Zelda. "There’s no easy way of explaining it, just put down your weapons. Regardless of what he is, he has been chosen by the goddess."

"I refuse to believe that this beast will help us deal with the calamity!" Said the bird.

Lynk can only watch as the bird keeps ranting, he understands almost none of his words, maybe because he’s going way too fast for him to comprehend. That was for the best because none of the words sounded pretty. Eventually the tall woman also joined the argument and taking Zelda’s side. He kept witnessing the scene until he felt a hand giving him a friendly bump on the back. It was the strong man.

"This ain’t really what I expected, but it’s nice meeting ya, Lynk! I’m Daruk, the goron chief." Said Daruk.

"Nice to meet, Daruk." Lynk replied. At the same time, Daruk was making signs for the fish lady to approach, which she was reluctant to do so.

"Come on Mipha, if he were dangerous he would have attacked already." Said Daruk.

The Mipha approached cautiously, she looked like she was ready to run away at any second. While she was making her way, Lynk recognized the trident on her back which was the exact same trident he saw being wielded when he had to go through near that domain. Now that he was face to face with her he realized it was the exact same lady.

"Hi… my name is Mipha, I am the zora princess." Said Mipha.

"Princess too?" Asked Lynk, thinking Zelda was the only princess. "Princess of blue glowing town?"

"H-how do you know the zora domain?" Said Mipha, a bit more loudly than she wanted to, she had to repeat that first word as she was too startled to complete it on her first attempt.

"Lynk see while walking. See you training too, Mipha really strong." Lynk replied.

"Ah, t-thanks…" Said Mipha, she didn’t quite know how to react to a compliment made by one of the enemies of her people.

At that point, it seemed like the other three had stopped arguing. The bird was looking annoyed and disgusted, while the warrior looked serious and proud. She kinda reminded him of his mother actually, strong, strict and proud.

"Ugh I can’t believe I’m doing this. My name is Revali. I’m a rito, in case you were wondering why I looked so majestic." Said Revali.

"My name is Urbosa, I am the proud ruler of the Gerudo." Said Urbosa.

"Nice meet you." Said Lynk for the second time tonight.

"Alright." Said Zelda. "Now that everyone has been introduced, why don’t you tell them about yourself?"

Chapter 8: The chapter that is not a full chapter

Chapter Text

Lynk woke up in the training grounds, he doesn’t remember a whole lot but he does remember talking a lot because the champions were asking him questions, a lot of questions, many of which he couldn’t explain properly because of his lacking vocabulary. He did his best to tell them what he could tho, his age, the things he likes, the things he dislikes, where he’s from, his family. Basically, the stuff needed to get to know each other.

After that he and the others, grew tired since it was pretty late, and all of them had also traveled long distances just to get there so everyone went to sleep. Zelda had invited him to sleep inside the castle, but he feels much more comfortable in the open, not to mention he doesn’t want to feel like if he were in that corridor again.

He turned around smelling something delicious, someone had left him breakfast in the form of an entire cooked boar, just set there over a piece of wood, waiting to be eaten. He has never tried cooked food before, he tried to roast meat in one occasion but he ended up wasting a perfectly good meal, so he never tried cooking again. He took one of the boar’s rear legs and gave it a huge bite, effortlessly separating flesh and grease from bone, it was juicy and tender, not to mention delicious. He ended up eating it in record time, leaving just the bones.

Only after finishing the meal he noticed he began to look around. Zelda had told him he could walk around the castle grounds so he did. The training grounds where he was sleeping was completely empty, maybe because they wanted to let him sleep or maybe because they didn’t feel comfortable around him.

He could hear the sounds of swords clashing, people grunting and others talking, so there was probably another training grounds near. Lynk navigated his way around a couple corners until he found it. There were a lot soldiers practicing alone or sparring against each other with one important looking person in heavy armor monitoring all of them. Urbosa, Mipha and Daruk were also there but there were no signs of Revali.

He approached, his hooves hitting heavily against the ground, he felt the gaze of a couple soldiers on him, a couple gazes became many. The soldiers looking at Lynk with a fair amount of fear, some of them averted their eyes and some others couldn’t stop looking. Before he could notice, everyone had stopped training, it felt a bit awkward and he didn’t quite know what to say. He was starting to feel nervous when Urbosa started speaking.

"Good morning Lynk. Are you ready?" Said Urbosa.

"Something happening? Not remember." Said Lynk.

"Yesterday you promised to spar with me as soon as you woke up. Maybe you don’t remember since it was pretty late at night." Said Urbosa. If it were any other person she would have surely scolded them for forgetting.

"Spar? Spar mean fight, yes? Lynk always ready to spar." Said Lynk, to which Urbosa lightly chuckled in amusem*nt.

"Perfect, I’ve been looking forward to this. I don’t fight lynels often." Said Urbosa. Then she turned around and told the captain. "I hope you don’t mind if you interrupt your training for a moment and make some space so we can spar without worry."

"Ha! Don’t worry, spar as much as you like. It’ll serve as a good example for the soldiers. Nothing like a good battle to motivate and raise the morale of the army." Said the captain.

A couple minutes later, the soldiers had formed a big circle around the two combatants and some of them were already making bets on who will win. The army veterans all wear a straight face and focused eyes while most rookies just enjoy the break they’re having. Among the crowd Daruk and Mipha stand out, Daruk is on the back so he doesn’t block the fight to the people behind him, and Mipha is also on the back but because of a different reason.

No member of the crowd notices a hooded figure with a prominent white beard watching the entire scene unfold as he stands among the veterans, somehow blending in despite their more than prominent differences.

Both Urbosa and Lynk draw their weapons. Scimitar against Savage sword. Shield against Bladed shield. The master sword remains in its seath, which Urbosa already expected. Not only the handle is way too small, but also lynels are prideful creatures and usually only use weapons made by themselves.

"Are you ready?" Asked Urbosa with a smirk and a pinch of anticipation.

"First time Lynk fight around so much peoples… but Lynk fine! Lynk ready!" Growled Lynk who was already showing his fangs and ready to pounce.

"In that case. Come at me!"

Chapter 9: Duel

Chapter Text

Maintaining their distance, Lynk and Urbosa began approaching one another while appraising the other. None of them had the advantage in experience, since Lynk has never fought against a gerudo (nor anything resembling an hylian) and Urbosa has barely ever encountered any lynels since they never step hoof anywhere near the desert.

Lynk diverted his eyes to her weapons, a curved sword and a round ornamented shield, both of them looking majestic and deadly. He isn’t completely sure how the curve will affect the performance of her blade, but he does know that the blade seems to have most of her weight near the tip. If he remembers what his mother taught him correctly, this would mean that it will hit a lot harder but also that it will be harder for her to initiate and stop her attacks… is she so strong that the downside doesn’t affect her? Or is there something she has to compensate the weight?

Her shield is pretty, but it doesn’t feel as unfamiliar as her sword. It is completely round, unlike his own, and looks thin and light. It’s probably sturdier than it looks, he will need to remain vigilant.

Besides her two weapons, she’s wearing next to no armor. She must be fast and agile, like a lizalfos, and her strength will surely not be inferior to a silver moblin’s. His instincts are telling him that she’s really really dangerous and he’s so eager to fight someone as strong as her.

Urbosa smiled while observing him. The gerudo respect raw strength and he is a powerhouse, he could surely bring a tree down if he tackled it. The weapons he is wielding were crude but high quality, the sword in his hand with a curve that almost makes it look like an hatchet, and with gaps that make easy for other blades to get stuck on. She wonders if lynels know the proper technique to disarm an opponent whose blade is stuck on a serration or gap. She doubts, but she will assume they do just for safety.

His shield also looks like trouble, the blades are just asking to get stuck on an attacker’s sword, and last lynel she fought used the shield to attack simultaneously from left and right, basically making the attack unblockable. She must treat his shield like if it were a second sword, luckily she has grown accustomed to fight dual wielding opponents ever since the yiga decided to update the training regime of their new recruits.

With that aside, he seems to be wearing the same armor all lynels wear, although maybe calling it armor is too generous. The “armor” consists of a couple pieces of metal here and there, and a belt around his shoulders to carry his bow and quiver. Additionally, from his belt are also hanging the master sword in its scabbard and a leather pouch.

After that silent standoff, Lynk started the offensive. Galloping towards her at great speeds and suddenly stopping right outside her range, this was a common tactic that lynels use just before throwing their pincer attack. However, being against a strong looking opponent like her, Lynk opted for a single horizontal slash and kept the shield up in case she manages to counter attack.

His cautiousness was rewarded as Urbosa had easily dodged the attack and was already swinging back, but instead of recoiling back when her blade hit his shield, she continued attacking in a way he had never seen before.

In every fight he has even been in there has always been a cycle. Attack and then defend, dodge or follow up with another attack. In between each attack there’s always a small timeframe where his weapon returns to a readied position at which point he can decide whether to attack or defend.

Urbosa was nothing like that.

He dodged her second slash by stepping backwards but when he expected her to finish the swing and return to a neutral stance, she spun with her heel and continuing the motion more fluently than any river could manage.

A single swing had become two, three, four. There’s no way to differentiate when she’s ending an attack and when she is starting another. He was being overwhelmed and if he didn’t find a way to slow down Urbosa, he’d definitely lose.

He tried to stop her sword with his, the curve of the scimitar allowed it to slide and continue its path. He tried to catch her blade with the blades of his shield, but once it got caught she almost yanks the shield out of his hand. He tried to lunge at her while she spun to slash at him again, but she hit him with the side of her shield.

She had also started to take advantage of their differences. She was way too close to him, he didn’t have a way to properly fight at this distance. He kicked her with his forelegs and she managed to block the hit with her shield, but she still recoiled backwards giving him the precious distance he needed to try and change the tide of the combat to his favor.

Lynk began gathering heat in his mouth, leaning his head backwards and then released it all in three consecutive bursts. She shouldn’t have time to do anything except blocking the first one and if she blocks the first one she’ll have to block the other two aswell.

He was wrong.

She blocked while moving sideways, rolled out of the way of the second fireball and weaved through the third one. Urbosa was right in front of him yet again.

She slashed at him with her blade and when he blocked it with his shield it completely broke, the handle had separated from the plate and it fell to the floor with a ‘thud’. Urbosa once again did a spin attack and he had no other option but to dodge at the last possible instant. As he jumped backwards he felt a familiar sensation of time suddenly slowing down around him, which he had only experienced once in his life. For a moment he believed he had the upper hand as he landed on the floor and prepared to defeat her in the same way he defeated mother. By slashing faster than her eyes can follow.

In the middle of his attack though, he felt wrong. He heard a quiet yet unnerving buzzing and his fur and mane felt itchy. His uneasy eyes landed on Urbosa who was smirking and had left her side completely unguarded, as if she had already won.

Urbosa snapped her fingers.

He was blinded by light. Followed by a deafening roar of pain he could barely recognize as his own as he fell sideways hitting the cold floor.

It took him a few seconds to regain his sight, and a few more to comprehend he had lost. The first time he lost to anyone that wasn’t mother, he felt a little ashamed of himself. Had this been a real fight Urbosa would be finishing him off by now.

He pushed himself off the ground, managing to stand up. He wasn’t heavily wounded, but he felt numb and he couldn’t move his legs well. There was a pretty lengthy list of things that didn’t feel right but there was so much noise on in his head that he couldn’t notice most of them. He barely even noticed Urbosa talking to him.

"You are way stronger than any monster I’ve ever fought. Im glad to have sparred with you."

He only understood small fragments of the message, but he understood enough. He felt slightly better when she acknowledged his strength. It helped to distract him from the bitter taste of defeat.

"And sorry about your fur." Added Urbosa with a small chuckle she clearly didn’t try to hide.

(What?) Growled Lynk tiredly, not even realizing he used lynel language.

He looked at his arms and body, his fur had shot out in every direction. He promptly grabbed the broken plate of his shield off the grassy floor and looked at his reflection. Even his mane and tail was like that, he looked like a ball of pure fluff.

Without growling a sound, he picked up his sword and sat on the corner of the training grounds that was the furthest from the other two champions. Daruk was at the verge of losing it and Mipha looked at him with an expression he couldn’t identify.

While he desperately tries to get his fur back to normal he feels glad that neither Zelda nor Revali is there to see it, especially the latter.

Chapter 10: Birds of a feather

Chapter Text

Rohan sighed as he wrote his thoughts on his diary, a practice he had been doing more and more ever since the passing of his wife. Whenever he needed to clear his mind and for a moment forget the burden of carrying the whole kingdom on his back, he just locked himself inside his hidden chamber and write.

A small little room underneath the stairs that exit the royal library, the only exit being a sliding metal door that impersonates one of the many bookshelves. There’s not much here, just a rack where he hangs his own personal weapon, the royal claymore, and an old chest filled with an old cloak he just used and some other possessions from the late queen.

Only he, his family, his advisors and the royal guard know about the existence of this room. Which is more people than he’d like but he is wise enough to understand that a king cannot just disappear on a whim, not when there’s a kingdom that needs him.

Today’s diary entry shows how one of his worries has been replaced with another. The hero of hyrule is with them, which takes them one step closer to complete the prophecy and vanquish the evil that threatens the kingdom. But at the same time, even if he understands his fate, even if he is willing to help… he is still a lynel.

Lynels are proud monsters, they don’t respond to authority, they only respond to strength. Sure, he has agreed to come here and has agreed to stay for who knows how long, but none of those were orders. What will happen when his interests don’t match theirs?

That’s the only reason why Rhoam decided not to introduce himself to Lynk. He doesn’t know how the monster will react to his authority. It’ll be best if they treat this as an alliance and not as a recruitment.

He won’t be comfortable with Lynk until he understands how he thinks and how he acts.

“Just as I expected. Your archery skills are as raw and unpolished as that massive chunk of metal you call a bow.” Said Revali.

Revali can travel across most of the kingdom freely in short amounts of time and on top of that he doesn’t have any big responsibilities like the other champions have (who are either the chiefs or leaders of their respective kingdoms). So he decided to stay a bit longer to ‘train’ Lynk, although Zelda suspects it’s only to show how superior he is.

They were both standing side by side at one end of a training field, drawing their bows and shooting against the many targets spread in front of them. Lynk hasn’t missed any of his shots and his arrows landed on the inner circles more often than not, but Revali hasn’t missed a bullseye yet.

“Hmpf.” Lynk grunted.

The more they go on, the more frustrated Lynk gets.

“Argh!”

“You thought you could match my bowmanship? A wild beast with a chunk of iron and string will never reach the same level as a majestic archer wielding a bow made by the best rito craftsmen.” Said Revali. “But just in case you still think you can beat me, let’s keep competing.”

They keep shooting at the targets for an hour more. With each minute, Lynk’s aim begins to falter more and more. At some point, he begins to miss half the shots he makes.

“This isn’t even funny anymore. This is infuriating!” Said Revali. “Stop shooting mindlessly and steady your breath!”

“Already steady!” Growled Lynk in response.

“No, it’s not! And the more tired and frustrated you are the worse it gets! If you can’t even breathe right then just don’t do it.” Said Revali. “Only beginners do this and you should feel ashamed for doing it, but you should hold your breath before, during and after you shoot. You can thank me later.”

Lynk grunted, he doesn’t want advice from him, he doesn’t need advice from him. He drew his bow and shot again like he has done until now, the arrow barely landing on the very edge of the target.

“Stubborn animal…” Muttered Revali before flying away.

The more he shoots the more he misses. His mind is so clouded he might as well be completely blindfolded. Blinded with frustration, anger, and maybe a pinch of humiliation.

He is a lynel, he is supposed to be strong. He knew there were others that could be stronger than him, but actually competing against them, losing against them. It’s… it doesn’t feel right, it burns his insides. It shouldn’t happen, he should be strong, he should be stronger!

He reaches for the next arrow on his quiver, which turns out to be the last one.

Better make this one count.

(I won’t miss. I don’t miss.)

He firmly planted his hooves on the ground and raised his bow.

He steadied his breath, checked his aim, checked the distance.

He pulled the string backwards, took a deep breath, and let go of the arrow.

…

Lynk stormed out of the training grounds leaving a big circle of incinerated grass behind him.