Among Legends
In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend. A legend held dearly by the Royal Family that tells of a boy. A boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that had made him a legend.
Done with the battles he once waged across time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey. A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend. A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled his heroic destiny and took his place among legends...
Dipping and ducking between each branch and tree trunk, Kotake looked frantically for her sister as fast as her feeble legs could manage. Koume had been attacked and left for dead by a malevolent imp a few days ago and was no match for the power of the mask he adorned. Upon hearing of this, Kotake had sent a young boy to find Koume but a day had passed and she knew the situation grew dire. Wrought with grief and worry, the elderly shopkeeper had no choice but to look herself.
The two sisters had a bond so powerful that they could feel one another’s presence but the trail waned by the minute so Kotake had to focus intently. The noise of the bustling swamp they called home were bitter distractions and she did her best to drown them out in her mind. Every twig snapping under foot was irritating, to say the least, yet she pressed on.
A shrill voice cried out with every last bit of strength it could spare and immediately Kotake recognised it. Her head snapped in the direction of where the voice came, her bulbous eyes scanning the woods and could just make out the frail figure of her sister lying in a glen only a short distance away. Kotake made a dash, clutching a precious bottle of red potion tightly to her chest. Reaching the clearing, she rolled Koume over and nursed her head gently, pouring the boon upon her chapped lips. Koume sputtered but took most of the potion in. Kotake could only watch and wait, her own breath shallow in anticipation. Moments passed and Koume showed no sign of improving. She is too far gone, Kotake thought. Then Kotake’s mind flickers back to their youth when the two ninety-eight-year-olds had learnt of a special technique. A technique they had never used but in this instance may well save her sister’s life. Kotake allowed Koume’s life-force to merge with her own and they both formed a single being; a mighty giant of a woman. A much younger looking version of their former selves known to them only as Twinrova, both terrible in power and magnificent in beauty. Koume had indeed been saved but one thing still remained; a single furious desire to find the boy that had forsaken them.
We see that the boy has grown old and in time was able to settle down, sire a boy of his own and carve out a life for himself and his family. Defending the land that he loved took him to the many borders of its territory. He kept up his search for his dear friend but looked in vain. He had saved two worlds now but none knew of his deeds. His later achievements paled in comparison to those lost in time and he could only feel a yearning for those days to be known so that he may gain the recognition he knew that he deserved.
Retiring to the ranch his wife had inherited from her father were happy years indeed yet he found many moments of himself morosely roaming the halls and fields of their home. Rolling fields served only grim reminders of places not truly visited, of a life not truly lived, of tasks not truly realised. Strong wooden beams became perches in lonely, restless hours. The boy who became a hero who became a man became a ghost in his own household. As days passed, he became more distant. There but never there. These changes hadn’t gone unnoticed by his loved ones and yet even their words could not bring him back. He entered a deep depression from which he could not be roused.
Until one day, at the last light of dusk, when he was sat gazing over the Hyrule plains from his favourite rocking chair on the porch, he heard what he had longed for. A voice he had not realised had been taken for granted uttered a single word;
“Listen.”
He sprang to his feet in exasperated breath almost calling out her name. He stared off into the distance searching, listening expectantly for her to speak again. Certain that the voice came from the east where a great forest lay and, as if in a trance, saw a pale figure of light at the forests edge. He turned about and raced back into his house, gathering his things in a hurry and speeding back out again, without even bidding his family a farewell. He threw on his old armour in the front yard like a man possessed. It was quite snug, particularly across the midriff, but it still fit him quite comfortably.
Our hero sprinted to the stables and feverishly fastened a saddle to his favourite horse. He secured the knots tightly and leapt onto her back, commanding her to gallop over the gates and out into Hyrule field towards the Lost Woods.
