Chapter Text
The world was swallowed in a purple haze that frayed the edges of reality. Fields and forest floors ended abruptly, dropping off into swirling voids that emanated a pervasive sensation of nothingness, with no end to be seen. Chunks of odd, ancient ruins were interspersed amongst trees that'd been laid askew as if by a careless hand. They stood suspended in space or hovering over thin air, and they were dissected into parts that failed to show their internal components, instead only revealing more nothing. It was like the missing pieces of some puzzle had been forgotten elsewhere, and the loose skeleton of what was meant to be this world remained attached just enough to form a loose sort of path.
The monsters inhabiting these scrambled, unfinished lands were much the same: globs of swirling black energy that only seemed to find their identity when they first struck the sword of a hero. It was as if they were jogging free the memory of what they should've been the moment they found their target. Keese and chuchu spawned from most blades, but Hyrule had been given a moblin for them to fight. Time, meanwhile, had spawned a deku baba from his blade, Wind a bokoblin, and Legend an armored soldier, much to his chagrin. It was a troubling realization, to say the least, that they'd each been met with some of the first enemies they'd ever encountered, and there seemed to be no potential end to the masses of unrecognizable darkness prowling this unfinished environment.
For as much as they explored this desolate space that they'd been so unceremoniously dropped into, they hadn't yet uncovered why they were here. If there was an exit to be had, they hadn't yet found that, either.
Usually when a place like this emerged, Legend had some idea of what it meant or why it existed. Not this time, though; not without the forces or people who'd guided him through past adventures and similar experiences.
Warriors turned back to Legend from where he'd been investigating the odd writing along a stone pillar tilted haphazardly on its side. "And you're certain this isn't some sort of Dark World?" he asked, echoing the musings that'd been voiced before him by the others.
Legend pressed his lips into a thin line, his brow furrowing as he ruminated further on what this place meant. The question didn't annoy him, despite being asked already; it was more that he was frustrated in not knowing, and he found himself questioning his own knowledge as a result. Never a good sign. "Well, it is a world separate from what we know, and it is dark. But it's not the Dark World," he reiterated. "I don't understand the magic that makes this place the way it is, either. It's... it's more like a dreamscape, but it's not that either..." He would know if it was. He was certain. He hoped so, anyway – he hated having room for doubt.
Twilight chipped in with a green rupee's worth of knowledge. "It ain't no Twilight Realm, neither. They had a bunch o' floating platforms and buildings hovering in empty space, but there were still full lands – not that I saw much of them.”
“I'm not sure if these lands can truly be called inhabitable,” Time pointed out. He pushed aside some tall grass with the tip of his sword to reveal a rabbit hiding in its midst. It was petrified, gray as stone, with its small body frozen in a run. Time frowned down at the small animal, no doubt pitying its fate here.
Four crouched down at Time's side with a forlorn sigh. “Vaati could do this. Turn people into stone, that is. But this isn't his handiwork. This isn't like the Dark Hyrule Castle I once explored.”
Sky walked past them both, his eyes roving the strangely arranged landscape a bit too intently. He'd been oddly quiet since they'd been dropped here. “Whatever this is, it's not a sacred place. The light does not touch this land. That much is certain.”
Legend suppressed a shudder and tried not to think about it too hard. An innermost thought told him that he can't keep ending up in these sorts of places.
A call brought their collective attention to a cliff face high above their heads. “I found an entrance! It looks like some old ruins!”
Legend squinted up at the cliffs above him, where a cluster of bisected trees crowded a ledge. From this angle, he never would've been able to discern that there was anything more up there – though he was always willing to check. No stone left unturned and all that.
“Hyrule? How did you even get up there?”
A mop of brown hair appeared over the edge. “Wild found a place to climb up, and I followed him,” Hyrule said, leaning back on his heels.
Twilight fell in at Legend's side. “Ya say he's up there with you?”
Wild's voice could be heard clearly from behind Hyrule. “These ruins go in quite a bit – I think they might still be in use!”
Legend and Twilight shared a glance. It was best that they didn't let those two get too far ahead of them, lest they run into trouble.
Time must've had a similar thought, already reaching for his hookshot. “Hold on, you two! Wait for us to catch up.”
With the exception of Four, who hitched a ride with Twilight, the procession of heroes dutifully equipped their array of hook and clawshots to latch onto the trees positioned on the cliff above. The space on the shelf of rock became quickly cramped, and the heroes filed into the dungeon entrance with little hesitation. It was the most promising landmark they'd found in this space. Which was just as well, because they'd been running out of places to go. If not for this, then Legend would've started to wonder if the goddesses had finally left them stranded.
Surely not, he rationalized with a shaky breath, dragging his hand along the side of one wall to feel the engravings etched there. They were completely foreign to him. Outside, when exploring the fractured lands and fighting shadowy foes, he'd felt as if it should've been familiar to him. But here that feeling was challenged in a way that left him cornered.
A breath near his ear made him pause. “You can feel it, right? There's no light here, though the grass and trees remember it.”
Legend felt the hair raise on the back of his neck. He rolled his shoulders and took a hurried step forward to create distance, feigning indifference as he glanced back at Sky, who'd been bringing up the rear. He held up his lantern pointedly.
“Dunno what you mean. We have plenty of light, and Rulie's leading with his candle. Isn't that enough?”
Sky's expression fell with a flicker of disappointment, and Legend's own response was to smother the irritation burning beneath his skin. Don't look at me like that.
“That's not what I meant and you know it,” Sky pressed, lowering his voice to a harsh whisper.
Legend came to a complete stop, forcing Sky to stop with him in the narrow corridor. He kept his own voice low as the others drifted further from them. “Yeah. Yeah, I know. The goddesses… they don't see this place. I can't feel them at all.”
Sharp eyes turned back to stare at them, glittering black by the light of the lantern clipped to his belt. “You two comin’ or what?” Twilight asked, unwilling to let them fall behind.
They took their time catching up. Rejoining the others took more effort than he cared to admit, his mind clouded by overlapping thoughts as he tried and failed to comprehend this place once more. When Legend finally started paying attention to his surroundings, it was to listen to the others voicing their own thoughts again.
“We haven't seen any of those weird monster-things in a while,” Wind said. “Think they'll be in here, too?”
“I'm certain of it,” Warriors grumbled. “What strikes me most is that we can't pin down what era, if any, this is meant to be imitating. Each enemy we've faced has been a reflection of what we know, but there's been no sign of something truly native. At least, not that I've gathered thus far.”
The corridor finally came to an end, depositing the group of heroes into a spacious room sparsely lit by torches of petrified fire. They all stopped just beyond the entryway, taking a much-needed moment to assess their surroundings.
Legend once again found himself tracing the ancient cucco-scratch embedded in the walls. The formation of the ruins and the placement of ancient stones… maybe that held answers to the questions that bothered him. Maybe these ruins did reside in his era, and he just had yet to find them. Or maybe he was just reaching because he couldn't stand not knowing why this should feel familiar.
Around him, the stances of his fellow heroes shifted.
"So then what do you make of them?" Wild asked, a challenge to Warriors that was addressed to them all.
Legend tore his gaze away from the odd inscriptions and focused on whatever trials awaited them ahead. He found unwelcome familiarity in a pair of glowing red eyes, narrowed balefully in their direction. He could feel the darkness emanating from the newest foe to bar their path, hate-filled and foreboding. He could see the twitch of magic-made muscles as it readied itself into a battle stance, raising an odd sword in its left hand. The distinctive blonde hair and green attire of a boy who couldn't have been much older than Hyrule dictated what kind of person this was supposed to represent.
The watery blue light cast by the Master Sword loomed in the corner of his vision as Sky edged his way forward. "I'd say it looks like another Dark Link situation, but..."
Two more sets of red eyes blinked into existence from the shadows, stepping forward to reveal two more cloaked figures garbed in a hero's tunic.
"More of a Shadow Link, if I had to guess," Legend surmised, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "But even then..."
No. There was definitely something off. The enemies staring them down didn't reek of darkness in quite the same way – in fact, he couldn't even rightly place if they were made of any sort of magic, despite the decisively mystic nature of their origins. It was as if they'd been fabricated out of nothing. But... that didn't make sense, either. Everything had its source, and all that was evil had a maker.
More than that, though, these apparitions squaring up against them... looked awfully uncanny. They weren't a perfect match to any of the heroes present here, the way other evil iterations of doppelgangers would be. However, there was a similarity present there that was undeniable to Legend: it looked like he was staring at a younger version of himself.
These darkness-driven Links – or however they were made – didn't give him enough time to ponder those thoughts further, nor did they stay still long enough to match the details of his face to theirs. But the similarity was there, even if the others had yet to notice beyond the specters' youthful cheeks and blood-red eyes – two traits which he noticeably lacked.
The trio of foes moved in on them, each wielding their own weapons: a bow, a bomb, and a sword respectively. In response, the heroes raised their weapons.
"It doesn't matter what they are," Time decided, leveling his sword towards them. "I can't imagine we'll be allowed to leave until we defeat them."
That much, at least, was decided. Any further exploration or pondering could wait until after these heroic phantoms were dealt with.
From the back of their ranks, Wild loosed an arrow. And then the opposing sides jumped into action.
Link raised his head wearily to the sounds of combat breaking out beyond the bend in the corner. His forehead throbbed at the movement, protesting when he no longer had it resting upon the cool metal bars of his prison cell. His throat was impossibly dry from crying out earlier in his period of capture, and his water supply had long since run out. He'd known, of course, that nobody would be around to hear him. And even if they had, well... he hadn't exactly been calling for help, so why would anyone venture towards wordless screams in the first place?
No, there was no help to be had in rifts. Link had learned this long ago, when his adventures in these perilous spaces had first begun. Only he had been able to move through these fractured voids without succumbing to the petrifying effects that claimed everyone else unfortunate enough to fall here. Though, in retrospect, perhaps there was a sort of mercy to being a frozen statue in a world that offered no safety. The way he was now, he'd likely just end up rotting in this cage until dehydration got the better of him.
So close. He had been so close to rescuing Princess Zelda and gaining a better understanding of the rifts that had plagued these lands for so long. The only hope Link had now was that the last arrow he'd shot had been enough to free Zelda from her crystalline prison. Otherwise... all of Hyrule was in trouble, and he had not the means to save it. His weapons had all been taken from him in his dazed and injured state after falling through this rift, with the echoes that'd adopted his face serving as his wardens. What point there was in keeping him around, he wasn't sure. Either way, he wouldn't be around much longer in this current state.
Link sighed and leaned his head back against the bars. His thoughts came in and out of focus, and he was slow to realize that the sounds of combat had come to a stop. What'd caused them in the first place, he wasn't sure. Maybe the echoes had actually turned on one another and slain each other. Could they do that?
Link slumped further in on himself. Probably not.
A sound echoed down the corridor, registering faintly in his ears, and he perked back to attention with a frown. The echoes never spoke – they were mockeries of him, so they had no words to say. Why, then, did it sound as though an entire conversation was coming towards him? And not only that, but the sounds of boots treading the stone path and armor clinking together?
Link had nowhere to run or hide. Whatever foe he had next to face, there was nothing to protect him from. All he could do was scooch back into the furthest corner of his cell and reach for the sharp spur of rock he'd managed to chip free from the ruin wall – his weapon of choice should one of the echoes try to come inside his range. Not that he had the means of fending off all three of them, with his own weapons turned against him, but it was better than nothing.
The tip of a sword dipped into view, and his next breath hitched in his throat. The blade revealed more of itself, followed by the hand that held it, and Link inched further back until he was flush with the wall, his makeshift weapon hidden in shadow. His eyes darkened, and a scowl spread across his face in anticipation for the danger he was about to face.
When a face peered around the corner, he wasn't met with the glowing eyes of the echoes, however. No, instead he matched gazes of blue. Furthermore, this person – though they shared some similarities with him – was very much not a mirror image of himself, manifested from the dark powers responsible for the rifts. And yet he still couldn't fully believe that it was a young hylian teen with golden hair and foreign attire peering around the corner at him. This must be some sort of trick, even dirtier than the last; a way of lowering his guard or getting him to break.
The boy's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him, but only briefly. The odd apparition with the face he didn't recognize turned towards where it'd just come from while never truly taking its eyes off him.
"Time! There's another one of those weird shadows over here. They got it locked away in a cage, though!"
Another person came to stand behind the comparatively small figure, closely followed by another. And another. And there was still the shuffle of movement behind them that signified the existence of more.
Oh, Golden Three, I can't fight them all!
His hand tightened around the rock clutched behind his back.
But I'll still fight to my dying breath if I have to.
The older man stepped into the room, followed closely by the young boy in blue, and took in the small cell room with a quick sweep of his one eye. The sharp markings decorating his face made him seem otherworldly, and Link felt unease ripple through him. Even still, he met that one-eyed gaze, unfaltering, and raised his chin in defiance. Link was determined not to be a fish in a barrel, easily picked off by this armed entourage.
The armored man sucked in a sharp breath, as if realizing something, and spoke evenly as more swordsmen gathered at his back.
"That's not one of the enemies we just fought. That's a hero."
Link jolted at the certainty in his voice. He hadn't thought he'd look like much of a hero, filthy and blood-crusted in this dingy little dungeon with no sword and negligible dignity to be had. But when this person, who he was starting to see less and less as a figment of someone else's cruel imagination, stared at him, Link felt himself so thoroughly seen.
Another individual stepped up behind the one-eyed man, and Link's attention skimmed the features of an emerald green tunic and dirty blonde hair before settling on the hilt of an ornate, faintly glowing sword resting on his back. He swallowed hard, his dry throat protesting at the scratchiness that preceded it.
This man, too, gazed upon him oddly. "In a place like this? Are you certain?" Then he shook his head, as if to banish such thoughts. "No... no, it would be here where we'd find another, when none of us know where we are."
The voice of someone else, hidden from view, mumbled something about a dropped key, and then a different figure stepped forward.
"Yeah, I got it right here."
Then that person came into view, brandishing the key to his prison as he wove between the ranks of his brethren.
And Link, he knew this person. Somewhere deep inside, from an upbringing heavily rooted in retellings of grand stories and fantastical fables, he saw this individual with his red tunic and pointed cap and understood exactly who he was meant to be.
A hero.