Falling Worlds; Zelink, Modern Magic AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Dream and Welcome (44)

Zelda held tightly to Link as they flew. With each second they got closer and closer to the end. With each wing beat they neared the center of Hyrule.

Memories, images, flashbacks to days before... Whether it was the sleep deprivation, emotional turmoil, starvation, or physical pain that had gotten to her... Zelda eventually spoke up. "I'm not sure I can hang on much longer... I haven't had a proper night's sleep in... in awhile..."

While they were all loathed to stop, they agreed it was necessary to be well rested.

As they touched the ground with tired wings, Zelda dropped.

She looked around, and her eyes widened as she recognized the sight of an oddly familiar looking clearing...

Invee was the first to speak up. "This is... this is the dream clearing."

"I think you're right," Zelda said, half expecting a bed to be sitting somewhere around them. She smiled at her own thoughts and then shook her head. "It must be that we were supposed to stop here for the night."

Now that her adrenaline had completely faded, her body felt poisoned. Exhausted; just done. She laid down on the moss and closed her eyes. So much has happened, even in the last few days... Or was it weeks?

"Link, how long was I-" Zelda stopped as she opened her eyes to an empty clearing.

"Link? Fairies?" she called as she stood up. "Where'd you go-" her voice died in her throat as a light appeared in the center of the clearing, and three glowing figures stepped out of it.

She blinked and they were gone. The clearing had vanished, and she was standing at the base of a large yellow stone. It was dark, but Zelda knew that at one time that stone had glowed as brilliant as a star. Yet didn't know how she knew it...

As she stared at it, voices started to speak one after another.

"What has been given to you,"

"Was an act of necessity,"

"The stone saved you,"

"The stone used you,"

"As you have used the stone,"

"It is time to fulfill your purpose."

Zelda turned around to face the three voices but saw only the light. The only question she could think to ask, she did, "And what is my purpose?"

"That is for you to understand."

As the light began to fade, Zelda held out her hand, "Wait, please!"

The fade halted.

"How do we get inside the throne room? I don't know how to use transcendence!"

"You must use the stone's power."

Isn't that... "Wait, so I'm not the stone? The stone is separate from me?" Zelda asked.

"Is that not already answered?"

"The stone's power is within you, and you may use it to fulfill your purpose."

But what is my purpose?!

Zelda's eyes flashed open, and she saw Link hovering over her.

"We've gotta go," he said.

Zelda stood up and shook off the sleep. Shook off the dream. She felt restored, more rested than she may have ever felt before.

"It'll take another day to reach the castle city, and then we'll-" Link started.

"No," Zelda interrupted. "I can get us there."

Invee frowned. "You said that you don't know-"

"I do now," Zelda said, the confidence she was feeling a mystery to her. That dream had left her more confused than anything... But now there was this assuredness that she could 'fulfill her purpose,' whatever that would be.

She pressed her lips together. "Are we ready then?"

"I guess we are," Link replied.

Zelda grabbed his hand, and Invee's hand, and then closed her eyes.

"This is it. The end of the story... May it be a happy one." She focused all the energy she had awoken with into one action... Transcending into the throne room of Hyrule Castle.

Everything is going to change in just a few minutes. It will be the final battle... I never really enjoyed boss battles in games... Is that irony? I never did understand the definition of irony... By Din what am I thinking?

A golden light flashed through her closed lids, and then there was nothing but a sudden, gloomy darkness.

She opened her eyes, and they focused on a long red rug. Following that, she saw a man standing before a throne.

Beside the throne was a large glass case, holding that dusky yellow stone from her dream.

"Welcome, at last, I was wondering when you would arrive."

Zelda froze.

She knew that voice... And she knew it well.

The mysterious speaker walked into a beam of light and revealed her horrified suspicion correct.

The face behind the voice.... was that of Kaebora.