#malice link

He could see light coming from one end of the tunnel, so he made his way over, crawling out of the small cave entrance into a small woods lit by the slowly rising sun, the sky still pink with dawn. Looking down at himself in the light, he noticed that his veins were outlined in the same shades as the malice he’d seen, softly glowing in the fading shadows as they crept away from the sun. He could see patterns across his skin as well, like fresh bruises, but when he pushed down on them, he didn’t feel pain— he didn’t feel anything at all, the skin they covered being numb to his touch.

He spent some time just wandering around the forest. It somehow felt familiar even if he couldn’t actually remember it. Part of him wanted to head back to the cave, back to the malice, but something else was pushing him to explore. At some point, he ran into a camp of small red monsters, and immediately tensed, expecting an attack. Instead, they welcomed him in, offering him food and chattering at him in a language he couldn’t understand. He could pick up on the emotions behind it though, and they seemed happy to have him, cheering when he accepted their offer of food. He didn’t know why he’d expected them to attack when they were being so nice.

The sun was high in the sky when he decided to move on, leaving the monsters— bokoblins, his scattered memories had eventually told him— despite their welcome. He had started to feel restless the more he stayed in one place, like there was something vital he was meant to be doing that he’d just forgotten about. Checking the angle of the sun, he decided to make his way… south? Yes, he thought it was south, following a river.

As he walked, the trees gradually fell alway, until he found himself on a sandbank surrounded by water. Off in the distance he spotted what looked like another monster camp, this one much larger than the one he’d been in before. It seemed to be getting late, so maybe he’d head over and see if they’d let him stay the night. As he walked past the water, he took a glance in. Hovering above the sandy floor of the lake, he could see his own reflection, blurred by the rippling of the water. His eyes weren’t blue, was the first thing he thought. They looked pretty cool though, bright yellow slits staring into themselves, and he wondered if they’d glow in the darkness.

He was almost to the monster camp when he ran into the fish person— Zora! That’s what they were called. He’d been happy to see them, wondering if they’d be as friendly as the monsters, but instead they’d pulled out a spear and thrust it at him, shouting at him to get back. He jumped back, hissing in pain as the spear grazed his arm. Glaring at the Zora he felt a foreign anger burn in his chest, as he rushed forward, knocking them off balance with a hit to the legs, before grabbing their spear right out of their hands. It felt familiar to have a weapon in his hands, to be ready for battle. The Zora froze, looking like they were about to run, and he wasn’t going to just let that happen. Throwing the spear to the side, he pounced at them, instincts he never knew he had triggering, as he sunk his teeth into their arm, their sudden sharpness piercing through the tough scales as a sweet taste filled his mouth.

A moment later he was shaken off, loosing his hold on the arm as he was thrown to the side, his body rolling to a stop on the wet sand as the Zora fled. Holding a hand up to his mouth, he pulled it away coated with malice. Giving it a lick to check, he confirmed that it was the sweet taste in his mouth. Pulling himself up, he noticed the graze on his arm had already healed over, only a faint line of malice left where the blade had sliced through his skin.

He made it to the monster camp over the lake soon after, and was welcomed in by the Lizalfos that lived there. They showed him how to hunt fish by leaping into the water and grabbing out out with his hands, and offered him some of their sharp metal weapons, much better than the crude wooden ones he’d seen before. He decided to accept a few, sure that the Zora he’d met before wouldn’t be the only enemy he’d have to fight.

As he got ready to sleep that night, leaning against a lizalfos who’d already dozed off, he felt something… shift in his mind, his awareness of the world changing. He could feel something towards the east, up in Zora’s Domain. It felt like himself, but different and with a start he realised it was the Zora from before, the malice in their wound connecting them, spread from one to another. It wanted to spread he realised, tugging on the newly formed connection, overriding the panicking mind of the Zora. He’d help it.

As he slept that night, he saw images in his mind. A giant shark-like Zora surrounded by glowing stones. A young and awkward Goron wearing a scrap of blue. A white Rito, holding a bow. A small Gerudo girl wearing a golden headdress. An old Sheikah woman, sitting in a wooden house. With the images came one request, one command he knew he would follow.