08-03-2015, 07:01 AM
Link soon embraced the fire that came with his spirit shifting. He kindled it willingly as he sped through the veil of time, silently observing the worlds of his spiritual kin. The more he shifted, the more he grew accustomed to it. After a few jumps, it felt more like the burn of an aching muscle, pulsing and warm with fatigue than with pain.
And the more he travelled, the more he learned. He soon mastered the technique he stumbled upon when residing in the Hero of Winds's body; time string, he named it. Whenever he found a pivotal battle in a Link's life, he slipped into his skin and witnessed the entire encounter from his point of view. As he watched, he noticed a faint white collection of lines that both Link and his enemy followed unwittingly, as if they were pulled along by the mischievous whims of fate. And as the action took place, Link absorbed those movements, attacks, parries, dodges and tactics. This time string seemed to make him more aware of battle, of the small nuances that afforded both combatants a better chance of victory that the Hylian warrior had never noticed on his own.
Once he started, Link found it hard to stop. A hunger took over him. He knew if he kept sailing the currents of time, he would return a stronger and more capable warrior, perhaps strong enough to finally best Ganondorf and any other threat that the Omniverse might face.
And a small part of him hoped he might find the Hero's Shade again.
Link slinked into the realm of the Hero of Twilight, and discovered the eerie world of the Twili. He watched as that Link battled Ganondorf, this time roaring into combat right off the bat as his giant, demonic boar form. As the Hero of Time settled into his descendant's skin, slowly reeling in the strands of fate that guided the two in their eternal conflict, he wondered how many other timelines the Gerudo king had infiltrated. He had made an appearance in Link's own time, but then he was sealed by the power of the Sages. Yet the Hero of Winds clashed with him, and the Hero of Twilight was doing so right before his eyes.
Indeed, when Link pressed through the boundaries that separated the drowned world of young Link and the world where Twilight invaded, he felt something different. At first he just put it down to the inexperience of a teenager, barely a man, forcing his way through time. Now he wondered. It was like a shiver cut through his celestial form, like a cold wind chilled his spirit. It was over as quickly as it began, and time travelling wasn't exactly something he was familiar with, but the more he focused on it, the more it tugged at his curiosity.
Were the two points related? Probably not. But the fact that Ganondorf, or someone that looked strikingly similar to him, threatened Hyrule in different eras couldn't be a coincidence. Yet even if it wasn't, how could a man live that long? Link couldn't know for sure, but he estimated that each of his descendants and ancestors were separated by hundreds of years, far beyond the lifespan of any mortal man.
Perhaps there was a clue to this mystery earlier in the timeline. Link thought back to the earliest time after his own era, but the first thing to come to mind was the Hero of Winds. There was something that irked him about his story though; when Ganondorf somehow broke his seal, no Hero arose to confront him. Why? In that specific timeline, why did the goddesses have to intervene to stop him when in every other instance they didn't?
Link left the Hero of Twilight and melded into the stream of time, flowing backwards. He shot past hundreds of years at a time, probing outwards for a spiritual resonance identical to his own. He felt the dull presence of his kin, growing stronger as he continued backwards. He was almost there.
"What?"
Link floated in a white void, being somehow squeezed back into his ghostly state. He didn't want to stop. He didn't want to reform yet. What was going on here?
<Link.>
The Hero of Time spun. Shade stared back at him, his golden fur shimmering with its own light, his single red eye glaring, unblinking.
"Shade!" Link shouted in surprise. "You're ... you're here! What happened to you?"
<I should've expected you would eventually decipher this skill on your own,> Shade said without moving his muzzle. <I - you - were always resourceful.>
"What are you doing here?"
Shade titled his head for a moment, then straightened it. <You survived the dragon, didn't you? I am glad to see it. I worried for you, but there was nothing I could do.>
Link furrowed his brow. "Shade? What's going on here?"
<I'm sorry. You cannot go any further.>
"Why not?" Link said. "Whatever it is, I can handle it."
<That assurance ...> Shade said. <You cannot. I forbid it.>
"You forbid it?" Link said.
<I am your future self. Please accept that I know better than you, and I know what's best for you. Here is an opportunity for a future instance to help his younger self.>
Link didn't know what to make of this. Why would Shade prevent him from travelling further back in time? Was he trying to hide something from him?
Link's heart dropped like a stone into his stomach. No. Surely he wasn't protecting ... Ganondorf?
<No,> Shade said wordlessly. <I would never protect the Dark Lord.> His red eye narrowed. <Unlike you, it seems.>
"How...? Oh, of course. You can see my memories."
<As clear as a summer sky, unfortunately. And it's precisely for that reason that you must turn back.>
Link shook his head. "No, I'm not allied with him! He was-"
<A means to an end. Yes I can see that. But you are not revealing the whole truth, are you? You feel conflicted. He helped you survive. He displayed hints of decency. You feel a loyalty, an obligation, no matter how flimsy or weak the foundation may be. You know - know - that you may abandon your holy quest. You are leaving it up to fate to see how you react when you next meet.>
Link wanted to rebut, but it was pointless. No secrets were safe from his future self. And the worst part was that it was all true.
"And that's the reason why you won't let me pass? Do you think I'm going to use this knowledge to benefit Ganondorf?" Link yelled. He waited for Shade to read his thoughts and see the truth.
<You may say that now, but you may change your mind. Your sympathies are too easily manipulated.>
Link's eyes rounded. He was getting pretty mad with himself. "You're speculating. I haven't forgotten my destiny. Ganondorf needs to be stopped." The Ganondorf that ruled Hyrule, anyway.
<And you doubt that the same Ganondorf who conquered your - our - world is the same one in the Omniverse!> Shade returned. <Your convictions are weakening, Link. Perhaps the goddesses were wrong to choose you as the Hero.>
Link's ethereal fists balled. He had risked his life to save Hyrule! He sacrificed his childhood for the sake of everyone else! How could his future self talk to him like that, to doubt his sincerity? He was him, after all! How could he question what was essentially himself? He should know that -
It hit Link like a tonne of bricks.
Shade lowered his snout. <I had hoped your anger would overtake your reasoning.>
"No, no, no," Link muttered, shaking his head. "You didn't ..."
Shade's face snapped back up. <No. I never allied with Ganondorf. Never.>
"But you did something, didn't you?" Link said, following the train of thought. "Something happened after I - er, you - returned to our childhood. Something I don't know about. It's why you question me now. It's because I'm you, before you made your mistake. You think I will make the same choice as you, but in a different world." Link narrowed his eyes. "What ... what did you do, Shade?"
<Enough, Link. Return to the Omniverse and never return to the time stream.>
"Oh no," Link returned. "I'm not leaving here until you tell me what you did." Then it dawned on him. "Wait ... that's it. What you did ... it's beyond this veil, isn't it? I was heading to your life, the era of my time when I was a kid. Before you stopped me."
Shade's red eye burned with a horrible intensity. <Go, Link. Do not return.>
Link stood his ground. Shade was hiding something big, and he had to know what it was. Maybe it would unravel the mystery of Ganondorf.
<It won't. There is nothing for you in my time. Now, leave!>
His last word boomed in Link's head like an avalanche. "No! Let me through! We are one and the same, and you will let me see your past!"
Shade stood on all fours and snarled, baring his teeth. The golden fur on his back arched. He grew, slowly at first but in a few seconds he towered over Link. When he spoke, his voice grated and echoed with the ferocity of a wolf. <Leave! And never return!>
Link's head flung backwards as a powerful shockwave slammed into him and hurled him backwards. Shade's erratic growling and shouting consumed his ears. He felt his body dissolve against his will back into the time stream; he fought it, but his mental strength bled away beneath Shade's furious assault. He drew thinner as he was forced through the river of time, feeling as though his consciousness would disperse into particles and detach forever.
Link's eyes shot open.
He thrust himself to his feet and stumbled backwards, tripping over the tree trunk behind him and landing flat on his back.
What just happened? He hauled himself atop the shorn trunk and stared at his hands. His own future self wouldn't let him see his past? Why not? What did he do? And how could it be so terrible that it caused him to accuse Link of something he hadn't even done yet?
Link curled his fingers around his swords' hilts. He wheezed in breath into hungry lungs. His eyes burned, as if he'd been staring at a campfire for hours without end. Muscles pulled and strained as he shifted his weight on the trunk. Time travelling may have affected him worse than he first realised.
The Hylian warrior looked to the sky. The sun had long since fled, having been relieved by the moon and a concert of twinkling stars.
Grabbing his sleeping bag rolled up against the tree trunk, Link unfurled it, unbuckled his equipment and slipped in. There was simply too much to consider, and his fatigued body and mind couldn't handle the herculean task right now. He closed his eyes and set the questions aside for tomorrow.
Link stared at the back of his eyelids in darkness, but sleep wouldn't come.
And the more he travelled, the more he learned. He soon mastered the technique he stumbled upon when residing in the Hero of Winds's body; time string, he named it. Whenever he found a pivotal battle in a Link's life, he slipped into his skin and witnessed the entire encounter from his point of view. As he watched, he noticed a faint white collection of lines that both Link and his enemy followed unwittingly, as if they were pulled along by the mischievous whims of fate. And as the action took place, Link absorbed those movements, attacks, parries, dodges and tactics. This time string seemed to make him more aware of battle, of the small nuances that afforded both combatants a better chance of victory that the Hylian warrior had never noticed on his own.
Once he started, Link found it hard to stop. A hunger took over him. He knew if he kept sailing the currents of time, he would return a stronger and more capable warrior, perhaps strong enough to finally best Ganondorf and any other threat that the Omniverse might face.
And a small part of him hoped he might find the Hero's Shade again.
Link slinked into the realm of the Hero of Twilight, and discovered the eerie world of the Twili. He watched as that Link battled Ganondorf, this time roaring into combat right off the bat as his giant, demonic boar form. As the Hero of Time settled into his descendant's skin, slowly reeling in the strands of fate that guided the two in their eternal conflict, he wondered how many other timelines the Gerudo king had infiltrated. He had made an appearance in Link's own time, but then he was sealed by the power of the Sages. Yet the Hero of Winds clashed with him, and the Hero of Twilight was doing so right before his eyes.
Indeed, when Link pressed through the boundaries that separated the drowned world of young Link and the world where Twilight invaded, he felt something different. At first he just put it down to the inexperience of a teenager, barely a man, forcing his way through time. Now he wondered. It was like a shiver cut through his celestial form, like a cold wind chilled his spirit. It was over as quickly as it began, and time travelling wasn't exactly something he was familiar with, but the more he focused on it, the more it tugged at his curiosity.
Were the two points related? Probably not. But the fact that Ganondorf, or someone that looked strikingly similar to him, threatened Hyrule in different eras couldn't be a coincidence. Yet even if it wasn't, how could a man live that long? Link couldn't know for sure, but he estimated that each of his descendants and ancestors were separated by hundreds of years, far beyond the lifespan of any mortal man.
Perhaps there was a clue to this mystery earlier in the timeline. Link thought back to the earliest time after his own era, but the first thing to come to mind was the Hero of Winds. There was something that irked him about his story though; when Ganondorf somehow broke his seal, no Hero arose to confront him. Why? In that specific timeline, why did the goddesses have to intervene to stop him when in every other instance they didn't?
Link left the Hero of Twilight and melded into the stream of time, flowing backwards. He shot past hundreds of years at a time, probing outwards for a spiritual resonance identical to his own. He felt the dull presence of his kin, growing stronger as he continued backwards. He was almost there.
"What?"
Link floated in a white void, being somehow squeezed back into his ghostly state. He didn't want to stop. He didn't want to reform yet. What was going on here?
<Link.>
The Hero of Time spun. Shade stared back at him, his golden fur shimmering with its own light, his single red eye glaring, unblinking.
"Shade!" Link shouted in surprise. "You're ... you're here! What happened to you?"
<I should've expected you would eventually decipher this skill on your own,> Shade said without moving his muzzle. <I - you - were always resourceful.>
"What are you doing here?"
Shade titled his head for a moment, then straightened it. <You survived the dragon, didn't you? I am glad to see it. I worried for you, but there was nothing I could do.>
Link furrowed his brow. "Shade? What's going on here?"
<I'm sorry. You cannot go any further.>
"Why not?" Link said. "Whatever it is, I can handle it."
<That assurance ...> Shade said. <You cannot. I forbid it.>
"You forbid it?" Link said.
<I am your future self. Please accept that I know better than you, and I know what's best for you. Here is an opportunity for a future instance to help his younger self.>
Link didn't know what to make of this. Why would Shade prevent him from travelling further back in time? Was he trying to hide something from him?
Link's heart dropped like a stone into his stomach. No. Surely he wasn't protecting ... Ganondorf?
<No,> Shade said wordlessly. <I would never protect the Dark Lord.> His red eye narrowed. <Unlike you, it seems.>
"How...? Oh, of course. You can see my memories."
<As clear as a summer sky, unfortunately. And it's precisely for that reason that you must turn back.>
Link shook his head. "No, I'm not allied with him! He was-"
<A means to an end. Yes I can see that. But you are not revealing the whole truth, are you? You feel conflicted. He helped you survive. He displayed hints of decency. You feel a loyalty, an obligation, no matter how flimsy or weak the foundation may be. You know - know - that you may abandon your holy quest. You are leaving it up to fate to see how you react when you next meet.>
Link wanted to rebut, but it was pointless. No secrets were safe from his future self. And the worst part was that it was all true.
"And that's the reason why you won't let me pass? Do you think I'm going to use this knowledge to benefit Ganondorf?" Link yelled. He waited for Shade to read his thoughts and see the truth.
<You may say that now, but you may change your mind. Your sympathies are too easily manipulated.>
Link's eyes rounded. He was getting pretty mad with himself. "You're speculating. I haven't forgotten my destiny. Ganondorf needs to be stopped." The Ganondorf that ruled Hyrule, anyway.
<And you doubt that the same Ganondorf who conquered your - our - world is the same one in the Omniverse!> Shade returned. <Your convictions are weakening, Link. Perhaps the goddesses were wrong to choose you as the Hero.>
Link's ethereal fists balled. He had risked his life to save Hyrule! He sacrificed his childhood for the sake of everyone else! How could his future self talk to him like that, to doubt his sincerity? He was him, after all! How could he question what was essentially himself? He should know that -
It hit Link like a tonne of bricks.
Shade lowered his snout. <I had hoped your anger would overtake your reasoning.>
"No, no, no," Link muttered, shaking his head. "You didn't ..."
Shade's face snapped back up. <No. I never allied with Ganondorf. Never.>
"But you did something, didn't you?" Link said, following the train of thought. "Something happened after I - er, you - returned to our childhood. Something I don't know about. It's why you question me now. It's because I'm you, before you made your mistake. You think I will make the same choice as you, but in a different world." Link narrowed his eyes. "What ... what did you do, Shade?"
<Enough, Link. Return to the Omniverse and never return to the time stream.>
"Oh no," Link returned. "I'm not leaving here until you tell me what you did." Then it dawned on him. "Wait ... that's it. What you did ... it's beyond this veil, isn't it? I was heading to your life, the era of my time when I was a kid. Before you stopped me."
Shade's red eye burned with a horrible intensity. <Go, Link. Do not return.>
Link stood his ground. Shade was hiding something big, and he had to know what it was. Maybe it would unravel the mystery of Ganondorf.
<It won't. There is nothing for you in my time. Now, leave!>
His last word boomed in Link's head like an avalanche. "No! Let me through! We are one and the same, and you will let me see your past!"
Shade stood on all fours and snarled, baring his teeth. The golden fur on his back arched. He grew, slowly at first but in a few seconds he towered over Link. When he spoke, his voice grated and echoed with the ferocity of a wolf. <Leave! And never return!>
Link's head flung backwards as a powerful shockwave slammed into him and hurled him backwards. Shade's erratic growling and shouting consumed his ears. He felt his body dissolve against his will back into the time stream; he fought it, but his mental strength bled away beneath Shade's furious assault. He drew thinner as he was forced through the river of time, feeling as though his consciousness would disperse into particles and detach forever.
Link's eyes shot open.
He thrust himself to his feet and stumbled backwards, tripping over the tree trunk behind him and landing flat on his back.
What just happened? He hauled himself atop the shorn trunk and stared at his hands. His own future self wouldn't let him see his past? Why not? What did he do? And how could it be so terrible that it caused him to accuse Link of something he hadn't even done yet?
Link curled his fingers around his swords' hilts. He wheezed in breath into hungry lungs. His eyes burned, as if he'd been staring at a campfire for hours without end. Muscles pulled and strained as he shifted his weight on the trunk. Time travelling may have affected him worse than he first realised.
The Hylian warrior looked to the sky. The sun had long since fled, having been relieved by the moon and a concert of twinkling stars.
Grabbing his sleeping bag rolled up against the tree trunk, Link unfurled it, unbuckled his equipment and slipped in. There was simply too much to consider, and his fatigued body and mind couldn't handle the herculean task right now. He closed his eyes and set the questions aside for tomorrow.
Link stared at the back of his eyelids in darkness, but sleep wouldn't come.
![[Image: illidansig2.jpg]](http://www.cytokineindustries.com/chevereto/images/2017/07/07/illidansig2.jpg)