#hidden hero

ALONE 

 In the midst of Hylia’s grasping, earth-shattering agony, the sheer might of her grief left Zelda weak-kneed. 

ALONE

THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY

With her hands braced stubbornly on her hips, her breath rattling through a closing throat, Zelda fought to recover her senses. Shadows echoed in her chest as she clawed for something to hold in the emptiness, emptiness, emptiness. 

MY SISTERS

Swirling clouds glowed a little brighter at Hylia’s word: a plea, a declaration of love, a wish. Three beings shimmered, ghosts made of motes hanging timelessly in the air. A single ray illuminated them, breaking through the clouds. Zelda's knees buckled. White swallowed her vision, replaced by Hylia’s memory. She knew them too from the Sacred Springs: Din, Farore, and Nayru. Her memories and Hylia’s joined as one. Their comforting words raised Zeld and Hylia both to celestial heights. Zelda knew them now as so much more than myths. Beyond description, each exceeded the glory of exploding stars, of endless patterns shifting and adapting, of the fierce desire to grow and create and protect. Through Hylia’s eyes, she loved them as much as she loved her father, her mother, her soulmate, and her dearest friend. Her love for them boiled, hot as the melting stones.

The flash of Hylia’s memories strained at Zelda’s mortal limits to hold: the foundations of the world, the majesty of magic, their endless calculations and breathtaking hopes for the future of life; then fiery rage at the forces of darkness that rose to consume, to claim for themselves all that the goddesses had done, forcing Hylia to desperately reach for the light they had left behind. Hylia shifted inside her again, a mountain scraping the edges of her small awareness, dizzying and blinding. Bitterness and grief even deeper than the world itself enveloped them. Those damned demons!

HOW DARE THEY

It burned! Zelda’s head throbbed. It needed to stop! Nails dug into soft palms, and at last Hylia recoiled from the vision. 

Air filled her lungs at last. Zelda caught herself on wobbling legs, shifting into a simple blocking stance. The water remained still as glass.

“That hurts us both , Your Grace,” Zelda hissed at the goddess. She honed in on her reflection, tracing the lines of her own eyes, her own hair, her own mouth, and dragged in a slow, thin breath. Then again, and again. She was still herself. She was not yet erased. Zelda rubbed her temples and took a few careful steps forward. 

When she’d visited each of the Sacred Springs, the emergence of Hylia and meeting the goddesses so rapidly had taken a severe toll on her, both in body and mind. If not for Impa holding her up in those sacred, healing waters she might not have survived the experience. 

She wobbled a few moments more, then steadied at last. 

Chest aching, Zelda cleared her thoughts and scanned the endless horizon again. She knew it was endless—a millennia spent wandering here made that clear. The Sacred Realm. The world of Goddesses. This marked her fourth visit. But where was Fi? She’d said to come here…

A thundering roar resounded in the clouds, far in the distance. 

That was… new. There had never been another living creature here besides herself and the goddesses. She searched the skies, but nothing appeared, no matter how hard she looked. Was it her own worry, manifesting in sensations that weren’t real? Was there some monster here? Perhaps some guardian like Link had—

“Pardon me,” said a woman. 

Zelda turned, fast as a whip, and found the speaker close at hand: a tall woman with purple ribbons braided over brown hair. The long wrapped locks framed her face, much like Zelda’s own. Shining gold pauldrons extended over her shoulders. Their stunning metalwork was so elegant that her silk gloves and gown did not look out of place in the refined regalia. A purple overdress split in front over a white gown. She reminded Zelda of the sunset breaking under a rainy sky. She was older, too, with a face as placid as the water where they stood.  

Zelda gaped. Was this… the goddess Hylia in her divine form?

NO, SUNBEAM, the goddess whispered. SHE IS OURS

THEY ALL ARE 

All? Zelda looked around, confused. There was no one but them two, and whatever beast awaited in the distant skies. 

BUT I DO NOT RECOGNIZE THEM ALL

“May I ask how you also came to be here? I wasn’t…” The woman hesitated, one gloved hand gesturing around at the sacred realm. “…expecting company.”

…YET THEY CARRY MY BLOOD. HOW DID THEY COME TO BE? THE TAPESTRY OF TIME…

Gold light filled the world, surrounding them both. 

The others appeared.