Chapter Text
“Alright, sound off, who’s not dead?”
“Not dead, almost wishing I was,” Four’s muffled voice responded to Legend from where he lay, face-down on the ground. Twilight was inclined to agree. That Shift had been a particularly nasty one. He felt as though he had been stomped on by the Stal-Lord and then spat into the Twilight Realm for good measure. He was barely able to stand upright, and it was a battle to keep down what little food he’d eaten. Nearby, the other members of the Chain were all in similar states.
“Ugh, the next time we Shift will be too soon,” Warriors muttered. There were scattered moans of agreement as everyone caught their breath.
“Alright,” Time straightened up and looked around. “Anyone recognize where we are?” Twilight took a moment to examine their surroundings. They were in a wooded area, a canopy of leaves casting dappled shadows on the ground, the smell of damp earth and pine filling the air.
“Well it’s not mine, that's for sure,” Wind said, noting the distinct lack of an ocean or even the scent of salty sea air.
“Oh really, I never would have guessed,” Legend drawled, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
“Well unless you want to claim it, you don’t get to say it,” Wind snarked and jabbed a finger at Legend.
Legend squinted at the woods around them for a minute, then shrugged. “Not mine either. No woods like this that I know of, and the magic feels different.”
“Same here,” said Hyrule. “It’s way greener, and the magic feels… heavier?”
“Not mine,” Warriors spoke up. “What about you Twilight? These look like your woods.”
“Nope,” Twilight sniffed the air. “It doesn’t smell like Ordon or my Hyrule. Too much old forest, not enough lingering black smoke. Sky?”
“Na, it’s nae the Surface o ma time.” 1 Twilight would admit he still sometimes had difficulty figuring out what Sky was saying, but after spending several months together, understanding his much older incarnation had become a lot easier. Being the oldest (chronologically) among them, Sky’s speech was also the most different, particularly from those later in the timeline.
“Alright, it looks like this might be a new Hyrule,” Time said, hoisting his travel pack. “We should be on alert. We don’t know what types of monsters might be present here. Hyrule, since you’re experienced in going off-trail, you take point.”
“Do you think this means we’ll get a new Link?” Wind exclaimed, bouncing with energy.
“Settle down, Sailor,” Warriors ruffled Wind’s hair, which got him a yelp and an elbow for his troubles. “Ow… but it’s been like, two months since the last of us joined. If there was going to be another Link, they probably would have gotten here already.”
“Hmph,” Wind made a face, but let the matter drop. The group gathered their gear from where it had been dropped following the Shift, and after a final survey of their surroundings, they set off. Hyrule, who was the most experienced among the Chain when it came to navigation in the wilds without a map or road, led them on a winding path through the forest, following the narrow game trails left by wild-animals. Fortunately, within half an hour they emerged onto a beaten-down roadway.
Unfortunately, the sight that met their eyes was not a happy one.
Ahead of them was a scattering of ruins, weeds sprouting from among crumbling walls and rotted wooden beams. A few old wagons sat abandoned, metal frames almost completely corroded by rust, with the remains of canvas drapes flapping in the breeze.
“What… what happened here?” Four breathed, afraid to break the silence that had descended upon the Chain. Most of them had seen ruins, but those had been old temples, long forgotten dungeons, or things lost in the middle of deserts and ocean. This… these were the ruins of a town, the wagons of farmers or merchants.
Warriors bent down and then stood, revealing a rusted sword that looked like it would break with one strike. “Whatever happened… it was a long time ago, decades at least.” He gestured to where more swords and spears lay, rusted and broken beyond repair. “With these weapons, this was probably some sort of guards’ post.”
“And something attacked them,” Twilight affirmed, looking over the ruined buildings and discarded weaponry. “These buildings didn’t just fall apart from age, they look like someone took a battering ram to them.”
A somber silence descended upon them with the realization that they were most likely standing in a graveyard.
“Let’s go,” Time said after a moment. “Whatever did this, it was long ago. We can find out what happened later, when we get to a town.”
They walked for nearly an hour, which is when Hyrule alerted them to their next obstacle.
“Do you hear that?” Hyrule asked, and the group stilled. Twilight strained his ears, and… there! The clanging sound of metal on metal, interspersed with guttural grunts and squeals.
“Monsters!” Time warned, and the group unsheathed their swords. They moved off the trail, jogging through the ruins as they followed the sounds of battle. Twilight scanned the fields, then spotted the source: a dark-haired Hylian swordsman battling several monsters, one a tall red-colored thing — a moblin perhaps? — and a couple blue-colored smaller ones that looked akin to the bulbins of his era.
“Hey Uglies!” Legend roared, briefly catching the monsters’ attention as they turned to the source of the noise. The Hylian swordsman took the opportunity to stab the tall monster, killing it, and brought up his shield to block a blow from the club of a bulbin-look-alike.
Sky jumped in, slashing at the monster, which had to stagger back to avoid the blow. This proved to be a fatal decision, as Warriors moved in to cut it down. Twilight engaged the other monster, sword whistling as he struck. The monster caught the sword in it’s club, then wrenched it downward, forcing Twilight to stagger to the side as he tried to keep hold of his sword. He managed to get it out, but had to swiftly retreat as the monster swung it’s club in a vicious arc.
It caught my attack? Twilight thought in surprise. And it’s actually using the weapon… that’s not good. Twilight parried the monster’s downward strike, and then Wind stabbed it from behind, finishing it off.
The victory was short lived though, as the dark-haired Hylian let out a shout of alarm. The group turned to see several more of the species of taller monster emerge from the trees, colors ranging from red to blue and hoisting massive clubs. Twilight charged onto the battlefield, jumping aside to dodge an overhead strike, before lunging forward to slash at the monster. It roared in rage, hauling it’s club back up and forcing Twilight to duck backwards to avoid being struck. He shot a brief glance at the battlefield, seeing the rest of the Chain engaged in fighting the beasts, and surprisingly, the dark-haired Hylian from before was holding his own.
Twilight rolled aside to avoid another blow, coming to his feet and stabbing upwards. Now in close-quarters, he hacked at the monster which staggered under the assault. But he was too close to avoid the kick the monster sent his way, and he was thrown back, the air leaving his lungs in a pained wheeze. Twilight lay dazed for a moment, head hammering as he tried to push himself upright. The monster loomed in front of him, club ready to bring down, but then there was a slight hiss of air, and it faltered and collapsed. Twilight took the reprieve to stagger to his feet, blade brought to bear, but it was unnecessary. He blinked in confusion, until he spotted the feathered shaft of an arrow buried in the front of the monsters’ skull.
Twilight didn’t linger, and he spun back to the rest of the battle. He took note that several of the other monsters had collapsed, arrows sprouting from their bodies, and that another Hylian was charging into battle with them, a sword at the ready. The next several minutes blurred as they battled the monsters, but soon they had all been defeated.
“Anyone injured?” Hyrule asked, examining the group as the Chain began to congregate together.
“Bruised, but I’ll live,” Twilight replied, rubbing his side from where he’d been kicked.
“I’ll say,” Legend muttered, rolling his shoulders. “Those things packed a hit.”
“Any of them infected?” Time asked as he wiped the monster blood off his blade.
“Nane,” Sky replied, casting a furrowed glance over the battlefield. “But that swuirdman haundlet ‘imself pretty guid.” 2
“And he’s no knight,” Warriors said. “He doesn’t move like he has formal training.”
“Enough about that, did you see those arrows?” Wind held up a broken arrow shaft. “They came out of nowhere! Took out the monster I was fighting, and like, three others!”
“I think those would be from the fighter who joined late,” Twilight said. “He’s most likely our archer.”
“Well, let’s go speak to them,” Time decided as he moved towards the two Hylians, who were engaged in a conversation. “We can ask for directions to Hyrule’s Castle Town, and if they have any information on there being a Hero.”
The group made their way over to the two Hylians, where the individual they had rushed to save was conversing with the newcomer. Twilight took a moment to examine the man. The first thing he noticed was the man’s long hair, the color of wheat. The second was his scars. They looked like burn scars, crawling up from under his blue tunic onto the left side of his face. He wore some leather armor and had a long black cloak, and judging from the bow on his back, he must be the archer who had brought down many of the monsters.
“Hello,” Time said, as he nodded to them. “Could you point us toward Castle Town?”
The scarred man blinked. “Nanda? ”
Time paused, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Say again?”
The scarred man stared at them for a moment, before shaking his head. He turned to his dark-haired companion, speaking in a strange language that Twilight, nor any of the others had ever heard before. “You have got to be kidding me,” Legend hissed. “You mean to tell me they don’t speak Hylian?!”
“Looks that way,” Warriors lamented. Twilight was fairly concerned as well. This meant things just got a whole lot harder.
The two Hylians turned back to the group, and the scarred-one spoke a series of words. They all sounded a little different, from what Twilight could parse. One was short and clipped, another far more guttural. At the groups’ lack of recognition, the man frowned and launched into another conversation with his friend.
“Are we e’en in Hyrule?” Sky asked. “That daesna so’nd like ony Hylian I’v haurd.” 3
“Hard to say,” Legend said. “We could just as easily be in another country, or kingdom. Or in another timeline entirely.”
“Does anyone know any magic that might help?” Time asked the group, but there was a collective shaking of heads.
“I know healing and protection magic,” Hyrule said with a shrug. “That’s very different from any sort of translation magic or other mental-type spells.”
“What about you, Vet?” Warriors asked, eyeing Legend. “You hoard so much, you must have something!”
“I told you when Sky showed up,” Legend sneered, “I don’t have anything that does translations. Or is your memory that fallible?”
“Please, with all that you carry, you probably lost it!”
“Shut up Pretty-boy!”
“Konnichiwa.” The argument was interrupted by the voice of the scarred archer. The group turned to the pair of Hylians, and the scarred man gave them a shallow bow. “Rinku,” he straightened, putting a hand to his chest, before waving at the dark-haired individual next to him. “Brigo.”
He repeated the words and accompanying gestures, when Four snapped his fingers. “Names! Those must be their names. He’s Rinku and the other guy is Brigo.”
“Let’s try it!” Wind ran forwards, and pointed at the scarred man, “Rinku!” and his dark-haired companion, “Brigo!”.
Rinku gave Wind a soft smile and a nod, before he gestured to them, evidently asking: And what are your names?
“Time,” the man himself said, before he pointed at the rest of the group in turn. “Twilight, Hyrule, Legend, Wind, Four, Sky, and Warriors.”
“Doko-ey iku? ” Rinku put one forearm level in front of himself and ‘walked’ the fingers of his other hand across his arm. “Iku,” he said again, repeating the ‘walking’ motion, and then he swept an arm at the land around them. “Doko ?”
Iku… that seems to mean movement… doko… a question? “I think he’s asking where we’re going,” Twilight offered.
“We’re leukin for the Hero,” Sky exclaimed. “Eh, ye knaw… the Hero.” 4 Sky mimed swinging a sword, but it was a rather half-hearted attempt. Rinku pricked his ears forward, but his only answer was a shake of the head.
“We’ll figure out where to look for the Hero later,” Time spoke up, eyeing the sky. “We should see if there’s a town or inn where we can stay, then we can look to heading for Hyrule Castle and finding this era’s Hero, if there is one.” Time turned to the pair. “Where can we sleep?” He asked, then frowned. “Uh… sleep,” Time folded his arms in front of himself, then twisted his body so that his head was sideways on his folded arms. “Place…,” Time straightened his forearms, and touched his fingers together, forming a triangle with his arms, which he then raised over his head. “Where… uh, doko? ”
Rinku’s brow furrowed as he frowned, mouth moving slightly as he watched Time’s gesticulations. Then his eyes lit up and he turned to Brigo, speaking excitedly. Brigo blinked, then huffed a laugh before nodding and speaking further. “Umayado,” Rinku said as he turned back to the group. Rinku repeated Time’s earlier motions, adding in a snoring effect for good measure.
“Yeah!” Wind exclaimed, nodding vehemently. “That’s what we want!”
Rinku smiled, but it quickly dimmed as his eyes swept over the group and then looked out across the landscape. He turned to Brigo, speaking softly, who himself turned pensive. Rinku gave a sharp whistle, and after a few moments they heard the galloping of hooves as a black stallion wearing a saddle trotted towards them. It approached Rinku and he stroked it as the horse nibbled his hair. Rinku took the reins and led his horse a few paces away from the ruins, then turned back and waved at the group. “Tsui-te kīte!”
“I… think he’s saying he’ll take us there,” Hyrule said, watching their apparently self-appointed guide.
“I don’t really want to say this, but are we sure this guy is trustworthy? I mean, we barely know him,” Four cut in, eyes flashing red as he examined the scarred stranger.
“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Warriors said. “But it is eight on one, so he shouldn’t be so stupid as to attack a fully armed group.”
“Let alone a group of eight Heroes,” Legend pointed out, and the group hummed assent.
“Alright, everyone have everything? We’re heading out now.” Time said as he moved to follow their newly acquired guide.
“Sayōnara! ” Rinku called to Brigo, who smiled and waved at the other man.
“Ki-o tsukete! ”
Link had been a little concerned when he hadn’t found Brigo at his usual location on Proxim Bridge. He knew the man was a capable fighter, anyone who decided to brave the roads had to be. “What do you think? Am I worrying too much?” Link asked Zephyr, who gave a huff in response. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Still… let’s go a little faster.”
It turned out to be a good decision. As Link approached the Outpost Ruins, his ears flicked forwards at the distant sounds of clanging metal off the trail. “Hyah!” Link spurred Zephyr into a gallop and his horse charged forwards, leaping over the low walls and onto a battleground. Link’s eyes swept the field, seeing a large group of Hylians — very large, a caravan? No, too heavily armed — including Brigo, and a horde of monsters whose numbers were beginning to dwindle.
Link jumped from Zephyr, time slowing to a crawl as he focused . One, two, three, four, five… He let loose a volley of arrows from his bow, and each buried itself in the head of a monster, killing them instantly. Time slammed back to its regular speed as Link hit the ground, and he rushed forward with a sword to cut down a lingering moblin about to strike one of the travelers. Within another few minutes, the battlefield was cleared, and Link let out a breath as the adrenaline left his body.
He walked to Brigo, who was wiping the blood off his sword. “Brigo! Didn’t expect to find you here, don’t you usually stay at the bridge?”
Brigo shrugged. “Needed to clear the roads again after the Blood Moon last week. I’d finished the camp directly below Proxim Bridge, so I thought I’d try and clear this area as well.”
“Little big for you alone, isn’t it?”
Brigo gave Link a dry stare. “A few moblins aren’t that much trouble. Besides, I take them on a few at a time. Though the noise of those travelers probably attracted the rest of the mob, so we ended up taking out more of them at once. Worked out though.”
As if summoned, the group of travelers started making their way towards the two. It was one of the most eclectic groups Link had ever seen, between the tallest one’s full plate armor, a couple of teenagers, and… Good Goddess, why did that one have no pants?
Though I’m one to talk , Link thought, remembering that one time he shield-surfed down the foothills of the Dueling Peaks in nothing but his underclothes. Interrupting Link’s mental fashion monologue, the oldest-looking stepped forwards. “Harō, kōuda-yu pointo-asu tawādo kasaru taun? ”
Link blinked. “Sorry, what?”
The other man paused, then frowned in confusion. “Saī agein? ”
Link looked at Brigo. “Do you know what they’re saying?”
Brigo shook his head. “No, that’s not a language I know. If they don’t know Common, maybe they know one of the other Hyrulean languages?”
Link looked back to the group of Hylians. “Hylian? Goron? Zora? Rito? Gerudo?” He asked, saying the names in their respective language. The looks of confusion of the group didn’t lift. “They must be foreigners from outside Hyrule.”
“Foreigners?” Brigo murmured. “That’s a rare thing. You sure they aren’t from some isolated region of Hyrule? The dialects and accents can get pretty thick in Faron.”
“I doubt it. I’ve been all over Hyrule, and even if they were isolated and theirs was an offshoot language, there would still be some similarities. Besides, I haven’t seen any group of travelers this large and heavily armed.”
“True,” Brigo frowned. “Think they might be Yiga?”
Link made a face. “Yiga would usually have attacked by now, especially if they were in this large of a group. Anyways,” Link looked back to the probably-hopefully-not-Yiga group. “Let’s see if we can figure out what they want.”
“Hello,” Link approached the group, who quieted from where they had been talking — arguing? — amongst themselves, and gave a short bow. “Link,” he said as he gestured to himself. “Brigo.”
One of the shorter ones with a four-colored tunic muttered to himself before he snapped his fingers and spoke to the others. Another, this one appearing to be a teenager with a blue-colored tunic, excitedly ran up and pointed at Link and Brigo, parroting their names back at them. Link smiled and nodded at him, then looked back to the main group and gestured to them. What are your names?
“Taime,” the oldest-looking, Taime, said. He then gestured to each of his companions. “Towaraito,” he wore a wolf-pelt. “Hairyū,” he had the feeling of fairy magic on him. “Legando,” the pants-less. “Wuīndo,” the blue-tunic teengaer. “Fuaū,” the four-colored teenager. “Skkai,” the one with the cape. “Waiāza,” the one with the scarf.
“Where are you going?” Link asked, as he mimed walking and then swept a hand over the landscape. The foreigners talked among themselves, then Skkai —the caped one— stepped forwards. “Hiro,” Skkai said, making a motion as if he was using a sword. Hiro… does that mean sword? Does he want a sword? Link thought, but he only shook his head in confusion.
Taime, the apparent leader, spoke to the group, then turned back to Link. “Surīpu,” He put his head on his arms — resting? — then made a sort of roof with his arms, “Purēsu. Waeru… Where?” Resting… roof, so some sort of shelter? Resting, shelter, where…
“The Stables!” Link looked at Brigo. “They must be looking for a place to spend the night. Like, the Stables or an inn? Which Stable is closest to us? Riverside?”
Brigo nodded. “Yeah, Riverside’s the closest. It’s within a day’s walk from here, if you cut across the field and head directly towards Owlan Bridge.”
“Stables,” Link said, as he turned to the group. Link repeated Taime’s motions, and snored to emphasize the beds available. Wuīndo nodded excitedly, and Link grinned. He liked this kid’s energy. Wait…
“Brigo,” Link looked over at the man, scars twisting on his face. “If they’re foreigners… they won’t know any of our dangers, much less how to navigate.”
Brigo frowned, and surveyed the group in front of them. “I’ve heard stories from some of the merchants that it’s a rare outsider that can fight a bokoblin, much less a moblin. They do look like seasoned fighters, and they did help with that monster horde, but…”
“But what if they run into a Guardian,” Link finished. “It’s hard enough trying to tell them where a Stable is, let alone all the locations they need to avoid.” Link looked back over the group then nodded resolutely. “I’ll guide them over. It’s not like I had a fixed destination anyways.”
Link gave a sharp whistle, and within a few moments Zephyr had galloped up to him. The stallion nibbled at his hair, eyes silently judging Link. Silly Hylian, next time take me along. Link smiled and stroked his horse, taking hold of Zephyr’s reins and leading him a few steps away from the ruins, in the direction of Riverside Stable. He turned back and waved to the group. “Come on, I’ll be guiding you!” The group talked amongst themselves for a minute, before they gathered their gear and moved after him. “See you, Brigo!” Link called.
“Be careful out there!”
- - -
Sky's Speech:
1. "Nah, it's not the Surface of my time." Back
2. "None," Sky replied, casting a furrowed glance over the battlefield. "But that swordsman handled himself pretty good." Back
3. "Are we even in Hyrule?" Sky asked. "That doesn't sound like any Hylian I've heard." Back
4. "We're looking for the Hero," Sky exclaimed. "You know, the Hero." Back