The Wolf and The Bird

[Illidan Stormrage]

The core of Link thrummed with volcanic heat. His vision stung with white light, splashing over everything, leaving shadowed outlines of the objects it struck. The light intensified with the inferno within him, until he was sure he was cooking from the inside out.

<It's almost done, Link.> He heard the Hero's Shade, but it barely registered.

Link went numb. The strength that kept him conscious bled from him, his hand finally coming unstuck, and he collapsed. He peered out through heavy eyelids, and white consumed the world. His cheek slapped the cold wooden floor, and darkness chased away the light.

A crack of thunder rumbled overhead. The crash of waves rushed into the fading boom. A sprinkle of water landed on his face, putting a sharper edge to the cold winds gusting over him. Link opened his eyes. Dark clouds filled his vision, turning bright grey as a streak of lightning snaked through them. The earth beneath him rocked, but it wasn't an earthquake; it was gentle and rhythmic, almost like a rocking chair.

Link found his feet. He stared out incredulously over a vast, choppy ocean. Storm clouds replaced the sky, and the smooth contours of the tree cell gave way to rough wooden boards. Where exactly was he? Only moments ago he struggled in duress in the forest, and now he was daring a stormy sea?

<Calm yourself,> a familiar voice echoed in his mind. <Don't focus on how you got there. Pay attention to where you are, when you are, and who you are.>

What?" Link said in his mind. Why are you playing these mind g-

He stopped. His voice, even inside his head, was distinctly higher than normal, even more so than before he claimed the Master Sword as a ten year old. He examined himself. He wore the same garb as he always did, except now he realised he was closer to the ground.

I'm not even me anymore! Link cried. Tell me what's going on here or-

<Link,> the Hero's Shade interjected forcefully. <Stop your thoughts from spiralling and relax. Look at where you are, and let the knowledge come to you.>

Link was about to decry the advice as ridiculous when he felt a firm hilt in his hand. A sword. Not the Master Sword, but it resembled it to a large degree. The blade and the shape of the crossguard were almost identical, save that the yellow crystal imbedded in the Master Sword changed to an hourglass. The chiselled insignia of the Triforce was also gone; in its place, a symbol Link hadn't seen before, although it looked similar to a rounded Spiritual Stone of Fire. What was this sword? He couldn't understand why his future self threw him into this mirage and told him to -

And then he knew, as if he'd known since the day he was born. This is the Phantom Sword.

<Good,> the Hero's Shade responded. <Now you're focused. Tell me about the rest of this place.>

Link probed out with his mind. He felt as if dispersed, his spirit flowing through the air like a wide blanket, tethered to this short stranger in his clothes. He wondered if this was what psychic power entailed, but whatever it was, it was beyond anything he had experienced in his already eventful life.

<I'm ... in Hyrule. But not my Hyrule,> Link thought as a fount of information flooded into him. <This is Hyrule ...> the thought chilled his blood, but he knew it was true, < ... hundreds of years after my time, and the land I knew is deep beneath this ocean.>

<Yes,> the Hero's Shade said. <Tell me more.>

Link stretched invisible tendrils to the wind and melted. <The world was drowned by the gods after a Hero failed to appear. A Hero like me.> He paused momentarily, forcing himself to focus before his mind ran out of control again. <It was to trap Ganondorf, who somehow escaped the prison that the Sages locked him into. Yet it wasn't enough.>

<Indeed, but that is not the story that's playing out before you now,> his guide said. <What is happening right now?>

It took a supreme effort to withdraw, but he managed. His fleshless eyes met the scene before him. <This is ... this is the Hero that saved the world from Ganondorf in this time. His name is ...> Link couldn't believe what he was about to confirm, <... this is Link, the Hero of Winds.>

A flurry of lightning bolts exploded through the clouds. A massive black beast, tentacles flailing, hovered over this Hero of Winds as rain fell in sheets from the sky. A teeth lined maw snapped open and shut, providing glimpses of a yellowed eye within. <That is Bellum, an evil god awakened. L-> It felt too strange to call him by his name, <the Hero of Winds holds in his hand the Phantom Sword, the only weapon still remaining in this world that can slay the monster. Just like the Master Sword can only be Ganondorf's defeat.>

<And what happens now?> the Hero's Shade prompted.

Link breathed deeply without lungs, released, and stared out of the Hero of Wind's eyes once more. Now he fights.

The Hero of Winds, courage beyond his years, shouted as he charged forward, Phantom Sword in hand, and leapt towards the mighty Bellum.

Link's breath stilled cold in his lungs, and he awoke in the tree cell once more. His heart thudded like a Goron playing the drums. His eyes stung, and an unexplained chill suffused his skin. The Hero's Shade stood vigilantly outside the bars. "W-what ... what did you just ... do to me?"

The Hero's Shade tilted his skull. <I will explain soon, I promise. First, you must listen to me and act. Do you remember the Phantom Sword?>

He could still feel the weight of it in his hand. "Yes."

<Do you remember how to summon objects in this world, like you did the Ocarina of Time and your Loftwing?>

The art of shaping Omnilium. He checked his stores. There was much more there than he remembered. He didn't know what a Loftwing was, but assumed it to be the bird he accidentally formed. "Yes, I do."

<Now that you know what the Phantom Sword is, you need to craft it with Omnilium. Once you have it, cut yourself free and we will move on.> The Hero's Shade flickered, as if a mirage. <Hurry. Time will resume momentarily. You won't have time after this to recall me, but I will guide you.>

Before Link could respond, his skeletal copy vanished as quickly as he came. The frozen shards of flame flared again.

Link wanted to ignore the advice. He wanted to know more about what just happened to him. How did he travel through time to watch events unfold hundreds of years from now? How did all of that unknown knowledge suddenly enter his mind, as if it was there his entire life? It was fascinating and euphoric and scary, and he wanted to know more.

Yet the Hero's Shade hadn't steered him wrong yet. If something was urgent, and Link had to act now, then his curiosity would have to remain unsated until later.

Link glanced once more through the bars. The guards hadn't noticed a thing, their backs still turned to him. Link closed his eyes and hovered his open palms over the ground, focusing on the weapon. His eyes chased the sharp, silver edge of the blade, the unusual device engraved into the steel, the curled wings of the crossguard, the amber hourglass, the solid hilt, and pronged pommel.

It took time to channel Omni's version of magic, and this was no exception. He waited patiently, coaxing the omnilium from its unknown places into the form of the sword. Injecting the Phantom Sword with the same might as the original meant that the crafting time was extended. Link was glad he never had to build the Master Sword in this realm.

Finally, the sword was complete. Link opened his eyes and gripped his new sword, tearing it free of its sheath. The firelight echoed dimly in its steel. Link knew that the sword wasn't at full strength yet, however; there was more to the weapon than he had time to steal from his foray into the future, but that would have to wait. Link strapped the new sheath to his back, crossing it over where the Master Sword sheath would go, and attacked the cage.

The Phantom Sword was extremely sharp. The edge parted wood with only a few delicate strikes. Link tried not to swing too hard in fear of alerting the guards, so he chiselled a ring large enough for him to squeeze through, and pushed out the separated bars. He slipped out of his prison, bumping his torn shoulder as he went, although it was mostly healed now. Some sort of strange regenerative aura in this world? Link certainly didn't do anything to speed the recovery of the wound.

Link was out! The guards still didn't notice his escape, but Link wasn't sure of his next move. His future self said that he would guide him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

A howl. Link looked up, but that didn't make sense. Why was there a howl in the treetops? Then a shriek followed it, and a bright red flash exploded from the canopy. His bird! The guards turned at the huge crash of twigs and branches and charged back towards him. Link sheathed the Phantom Sword and his crimson ride fluttered down to him. An oblong parcel was tied to its underbelly, and it squawked with apprehension. Link hurled himself from the walkway, arms outstretched, and fell onto the soft red feathers.

He gripped his mount tightly. "Let's go!"

With another screech, the bird shot into the sky like a flaming arrow, perfectly piercing the hole it made when it fetched him. The night sky above stretched on forever, peppered with glimmering stars. The forest rushed beneath them, an emerald blanket covering the eyes of his captors. For some reason, the normal air sickness accompanied with flight did not claim his stomach this time.

"Thanks, boy," Link said, stroking the fine feathers behind the bird's neck. "But where are we going from here? I've got no idea what was so urgent or where it might be."

Even from their height, another howl reached his ears. The bird squawked again, veered sharp to the left, and increased speed. Link slapped his head to stop the cap from flying into the night and ducked as low as he could.

He didn't know what his destination was, but his bird did.