Linktober 2023

Day 7, Sky/sky island

"Is Sir Link up there?"
"He might be. Link does like to explore."

Tags: Gen, TotK spoilers, Angst

The sky islands certainly weren't on the Hyrulian's bingo cards for unfortunate events to befall the kingdom. Of course, it wasn't as unfortunate as the events that followed after the sky islands appeared – or descended, depending on who you asked.

Things kept happening after that. The castle ascended. The ground opened up. The blood moons returned. And Hyrule's most important protectors and rulers went missing.

"Where is Sir Link?" The Hateno children asked at school. "Where is miss Zelda?"

"It's missus Zelda now, kids. And... I don't know where they are," Symin would have to say. "But I am sure they will return."

Meanwhile the Lucky Clover Gazette spoke of nothing more than the missing Hero and Princess. The people talked of little else than the Calamity-like symptoms of the Kingdom.

So they began to prepare.

They gathered weapons, however rusty and dull from the events. They named the sudden return of evil the Upheaval. They gathered food and supplies. They worked out of Lookout Landing and Hateno, and they were so grateful Zelda ordered all the Sheikah tech destroyed.

"What are the islands in the sky?" the children asked Symin.

"I don't know, kids."

"Is Sir Link up there?"

"He might be. Link does like to explore."

"Sir Link's been everywhere."

"I bet he'd like it in the sky."

The kids didn't know Link often had dreams of the sky. Images from past lives, Zelda once told him. He enjoyed them until memories of Calamity tainted the picture. But the rare nights the dreams were pleasant turned to the days he was happiest. It was like he'd returned home, if only for a moment.

Link woke up in a cave, in pain and without Zelda. The only real difference this time was he only seemed to be gone about a week, and he remembered everything. But that almost seemed to be a curse of its own.

He woke up in the sky. When he emerged from the cave, he was blinded by the views. The sky and his Kingdom laid out before him like a map. There was a dragon in the distance, one he couldn't quite recognize, but one that still looked familiar.

It was a miracle. One of the Links that watched him jumped for joy. And for once he felt that special sense of home he only got while dreaming. He only wished Zelda were here to feel it with him.  

Whoop, one week in! To be honest I wasn't super happy with this one but I couldn't come up with something super fantastic so I had to work with something simple, but here we are. Comments and votes give me life.