Sword of Destiny [The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild]

four

When Link turned fifteen, he enlisted in Hyrule's army.

Leaving home felt more permanent than ever. His mother's usual tears seemed more like waterfalls, and his sister refused to let him leave. When he and Epona finally left his childhood home in Hateno, Link's jaw was nailed shut and gaze steady forward. He couldn't bear leaving them, but he would do anything if it meant he could protect them from Calamity Ganon.

He didn't know it at the time, but he wouldn't see them again for two years.

This trip he was to make alone. If he was old enough to enlist, his father said, he would be fine traveling by himself. Especially with his skills--the Captain of the Guard was not worried about his son. Besides, he would be riding straight from Hateno to Castle Town, stopping only to spend the night at stables.

The journey was long, but it gave Link time to breath. The wilderness when you were truly alone was like a different world. He could hear all sorts of sounds he couldn't when he was with his father.

Though his father had forbidden him from riding after nightfall, Link hovered outside the stables with Epona when the sun disappeared. His body was sore from riding all day and his eyes were drooping, but the stars were too beautiful to miss.

On the way to the castle, Link encountered only a few bokoblins, one moblin, a sleeping Hinox, and a million chuchus. It wasn't much for the length of his trip, but it was more than it would have been a couple years prior. As the days went on, the monsters appeared closer and closer to Hylian settlements. Link heard at the stables that it was getting worse for the other races, as well.

A Rito stopping at one of the stables was mentioning an increase of ice taluses in the area near Rito village. Link listened in but didn't join their conversation.

Link made it to Castle Town safely. His father's last letter told him to approach the barracks and ask for him. He did just that, but when he asked for the Captain of the Guard, the soldier scowled at him. "And who's asking?"

Link frowned. His hair was long enough now he had to brush it out of his face to see people clearly. He thought about tying it up. "His son."

The man cleared his throat, nodded, and rushed off.

Link shook his head to himself and waited.

The barracks were to the castle's right, just outside the enormous structure. Soldiers and guards went in and out with permission from the gatekeeper. Just across the tall stone wall surrounding the buildings, Link could hear shouts and clangs as the army trained. His heart started beating faster. He wanted to be in there, training with everybody else.

Ever since he could defeat monsters by himself, he'd wanted to become a guard like his father. He'd been waiting for his fifteenth birthday eagerly. His mother knew the day was coming, and his father told him he would be proud no matter what Link decided to do.

Despite wanting to be like his father, Link knew head to train to become stronger. It didn't matter how much natural skill he had--his father said he could hurt himself and others if he wasn't trained properly.

When Link argued that he got his training from the Captain of the Guard, his father shook his head and said it wasn't the same as training with the army.

So Link would do it.

The Master Sword, sheathed in a plain cover and much closer to fitting to his size than two years ago, lay strapped at his side, unnoticed.

When Link had gone to sleep that night in Zora's Domain, the story about the boy with the sword who seals the darkness spread across Hyrule like wildfire. Link continued to hear nothing from the King, though he supposed the King had no intention of hiding Link considering Link had been the warning they needed for Ganon's awakening.