The Legend of Zelda: the wilds of Ilsingrose

Wild's Calling

"Hey.... Kiddo wake up."

"Young Wild, please."

"Hey shh, I slept for 100 years, Time, I know what to do."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine Twi. But really though, kiddo, you gotta wake up."

Huh? Voices? Everything remained dark, but I could feel myself being pulled into consciousness. Wake up, they said? I could feel my eyes flutter open. I sat up and gasped. Pain shot through my body.

I felt sore, dizzy, and cold. Weakly, I looked around trying to find the source of the voices but found nothing. Then it struck me.

'I'm in the hospital?' I blinked a few times, trying to gather my bearings. 'Why am I here?' the dull throbbing in my head and sharp pain in my shoulder swiftly reminded me. I thought back to the night before.

Zelda and I had been attacked after she'd insisted on going for a walk. I told her to run and she complied, whereupon I'd gotten injured. Then I began to hallucinate, probably from blood loss. I saw a young man, the spitting image of the Hylian Champion, back in the era of the wild. He spoke to me, saying he'd see me later. After which I lost consciousness. I sighed, turning my attention back to the matter at hand. Slowly, I took in the room.

Lit only by a few candles, eerie shadows flickered across the walls. The room was tight, holding only one bed, a wooden chair, a bedside table, and a large trunk. Spread across the wooden trunk was the pelt of a snow-coat fox, fur so white it was nearly blue. There were no windows, most likely to keep in heat.

The table by the bed had several things placed on it. A mirror, a vase of cool safflina, and a hearty elixir. Such an elixir, I presumed, was used by the doctor for treating wounds.

I laid back down, groaning as pain ebbed at my remaining strength. Reaching over to my throbbing shoulder, I found it bandaged. Startled, I pulled the blanket off my upper body. My shirt and tunic were gone, replaced with bruises and bandages.

Pushing the blanket down further, I noted the tan trousers of my uniform were also absent. Instead I wore grey capris. My left ankle was dressed in splint, though I had no recollection of it being injured. My cheek itched, but when I went to scratch it I felt it was also bandaged.

Confused, I sat up and grabbed the mirror from the nightstand. Sure enough, a gauze patch was secured to my upper right cheekbone.

'Weird, I don't remember my cheek getting scraped.' I thought as I ran my fingers along the white dressing, examining how the crimson had bloomed over the gossamer surface.

"You nicked it when you fell." a voice spoke. I felt a chill run through me. It sounded like the hallucination I had in the pass and in my dream just now. The one of the Champion.

My gaze snapped up, searching frantically around the small room. Finally landing on the wooden chest, My eyes widened in shock. Sitting with his legs crossed on the trunk was the Champion of Hyrule, just as I had seen after being stabbed.

He was leaning over, elbows placed on his knees and resting his chin on interlaced fingers. He had the same look in his eyes, like one should never trust this man with matches or sharp objects, though he had a mischievous smile instead of a crooked grin.

Wheat blonde hair framed those ultramarine eyes, making him seem childish in a way. He hardly looked over 20 at the most. I tried tearing my eyes away, hoping that if I ignored him the hallucination would end, but I couldn't look away. I just sat there, shocked.

"Wha..." my voice trailed off. The other boy gave a sympathetic smile, then rose and crossed the room. He came to a stop beside the bed and placed a hand on my uninjured shoulder. I jumped, I could feel his touch. He laughed.

"You feeling alright kiddo?." I looked over, confused. He continued. "You took a nasty fall there while we were talking the other night." I gaped at him, still reeling from the shock.

'Wait so last night, I wasn't seeing things? Am I going crazy?' I started tugging on my hair, a nervous habit I developed during the royal guards training. My finger drifted across my scalp, which stung like hell. I winced, but continued to pull at my hair. It ran almost midway down my back, longer than Zelda's but still a lot shorter than Sheik's.

"Hey come on, stop that!" the champion's worried voice snapped me back into the moment. I looked back over at him, painfully away tears were springing up at the corners of my eyes. His brows were knit together and a pained expression etched into his features.

He ruffled my hair, making me wince. He quickly took notice and pulled his hand away, apologising. Blood tipped his fingers, I glanced down at my own and sure enough, mine were bloodied as well. I groaned, mirroring the champion's sign.

"Don't tell Time okay. I thought something like this might happen, so I borrowed this." he quickly produced a cloth from his pocket, holding a finger up to his lips which were once again spread into a cheeky grin. He took my hands, using the cloth to clean off the drying blood.

"Are you real?" I spoke hesitantly, catching the hylian's attention. He nodded, still grinning wildly.

"I am to you and that's all that matters to me." the door handle began turning, making the champion sigh. "Well it looks like I've got to go again, but don't worry Kiddo I'll be back." he flashed a grin.

I nodded, turning to face the door, when I heard the other hylian speak again.

"Oh and kiddo?" I glanced over. He wore a broad grin. "Call me Wild." and with that, he vanished.