gekle-the-gremlin

[gekle-the-gremlin]

Reunited with Family - Chapter 1 -  A Trip into the Lost Woods

But, as he made his way closer and closer, the tree opened his eyes and, in a deep yet quiet voice, he spoke. “Link, it has been a long time. How have you been, my child?”

Years after his adventures has supposedly ended, and he had passed the time where he never thought he would return to them. Millions or Billions of years after he would have died, the lost woods called out to him. Begging him to come home. To return to his family and friends.

As they stepped out of the portal, the chain saw that there was almost nothing around them. Per standard protocol, Wild took out his Sheikah Slate to see if his usual map would show up on the slate. Thankfully, it did.

“We’re in my time,” he called out to the rest of the group, a smile creeping onto his face. 

Some groaned, others stayed silent, but all of them were thankful that at least one of them knew where they were. 

They were standing just to the side of a path, there was a river next to them. Looking around, the group were able to see a wooden bridge, and, in the distance, stood Hyrule Castle in ruin.

The calamity had gone, being beaten by Wild shortly before his current adventure. 

“We’re by a stable,” Wild continued. “Since it’s late, we should probably head there to sleep. It’s 20 Rupees for a normal bed or 40 for a soft bed.” He stayed looking at his Sheikah Slate. “Or, we could set up camp, but we risk getting attacked by some Yiga that are still out for my blood or stal-monsters, out for everyone’s blood.” 

“I think it would be nice to sleep in a bed for once,” Sky yawned. 

“I agree,” Legend answered. “20 Rupees is pretty cheap for all of us to spend the night sleeping on a bed, also, my back is starting to hurt from sleeping on the floor.” 

“Then that settles it,” Time said. “Wild, how far away is this stable?” 

Wild stood there for a moment, looking at his Sheikah Slate before pointing away from the wooden bridge and along the river. “It should only take us an hour to walk there at most. The next time we come here, I should teach everyone to ride horses.” 

“Pup, some of us already know how to ride horses,” Twilight said, putting a hand on Wild’s shoulder.

“I know,” Wild complained. “But others don’t, and they should learn.” 

Time subtly nodded in agreement with Wild, thinking about the next time that he could return home to Malon. Maybe there, he could teach them all. 

Despite it being dark, the chain set off on their way towards the stable. As they made their way towards death mountain, Wild followed a split in the path that led the group towards a tower that glowed blue in the distance. 

“The stable is just before the tower, you should be able to see it when we get to the top of the hill.” Wild continued directing them, making sure to stop to make sure that the others were following him the whole time.

It was about an hour before they all arrived at the stable. It was a miracle that they all had a bed each. Some even chose to pay more for the soft beds. 

Once the group had settled down, Wild started cooking, as usual. In the pot, he threw in a large handful of mushrooms and a few herbs before throwing in some rock salt and finally finishing the dish off by pouring in 9 bottles of fresh, Lonlon milk. 

Within what felt like seconds, Wild was handing out bowls of a creamy mushroom soup. It was a miracle how much food he was able to keep in his Shieka slate, it seemed like it was able to hold almost anything. 

There was a moment of silence as the group sat around the fire and ate their dinner. It had been a long time since they were able to have proper food cooked in a pot, rather than just food that was cooked straight over the fire, or even, in some cases, eaten raw.

It didn’t take long for the first few in the group to head off to bed. Sky was the first, starting to fall asleep while he was eating his food. Then it was Wind, being forced to bed by Wolfie, after denying that he was tired. Something that he had been almost complaining about for the past few days. 

Next, surprising both everyone and no one at the same time, was Legend. He had been up, watching the chain for the past few nights, refusing to take watch duty in shifts. 

This continued until it was just Time and Wild left. 

“It’s lovely, isn’t it?” Time looked up into the sky. 

“What are you looking at?” Wild walked forward to stand next to him. 

“The sky, but, more specifically, the moon,” He said, sounding melancholic in his words. 

“I thought you hated the moon?” Wild sat on the floor before laying down to continue looking at the sky.

Time joined him on the ground and chuckled a little. “I never said that.” He smiled

“But you said that you went to war with the moon.” 

“I fought the moon, but I never said that I hated it.” He put his hands behind his head, as he got into a more comfortable position on the ground. “In fact,” he continued. “I find it quite… beautiful.”

“Oh,” Wild replied, with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “I don’t think anyone believes that you've fought the moon.”

Time stays there in silence for a moment before laughing. “Not even Malon believed that I fought the moon when I first told her. I didn’t expect anyone to believe me.” He smiled at the champion. “You can choose to believe me, or you can choose to not believe me. Only I know the full truth about that story. Oh, and so does a skull kid, two fairies and a creepy mask salesman.” He continued smiling at Wild. “As well as Malon, of course.” 

“Skull kids are those wood-like creatures that we saw in your lost woods, right?” 

“Correct! They aren’t much harm, but most of them tend to not like adults. I can’t blame them. If you were a child and you ran into the lost woods, you would probably have a dislike for adults, too.”

Wild hummed in agreement, as Time got up and started walking to the entrance of Minish woods. He stood there for what felt like hours, just touching the rough bark of the almost ancient trees. 

Time took a deep breath with his hand still on the tree. It was as though something was calling out to him further on in the woods.  

The wind blew stronger as Time was standing there. It was as though it was trying to pull him deeper in. Much like it did years before. 

Wild, holding his Shikha Slate to his chest, followed Time to the edge of the woods. “Where are you going? I don’t think that it’s a very good idea to travel through here alone, especially not so late at night.” 

“Champion, I think that I know where those woods lead to.” He took a deep breath as he removed his hand from the trunk of the tree. “Do not worry about me getting lost in there, alright?”

Wild just stood there in silence. “I should go back to the others, I’ll see you in the morning, old man.” 

Time chuckled, “Night, kiddo.” 

With that, Wild walked back towards the stable, while Time stayed looking deep into the woods. 

He started thinking. 

Thinking about everything that could happen, if he were to make his way into the lost woods. The worst thing that he could think about, was somehow, finding his way back to Termina, but he quickly shook that thought away, before it consumed him, and the masks, too much. 

He knew that, if he left the group, they would be safe, at least for a few hours, but he also knew that the rest of the group would worry about him if they found that he had disappeared during the night. 

It took him another few moments to finally make a decision. He took one step, then another, and then a third. They were slow and silent, but he made them. Wanting nothing more than answers, he continued on with a fourth step. 

Before long, Time had walked so far into Minish woods, that he found that the air around him had started to feel off, and the wind started blowing in a number of different directions. But there was something inside of him telling him to go deeper in. 

The air around him started to feel familiar, as what appeared to be cliffs slowly appeared from the ground, acting as some sort of wall between these mystical woods and the outer world.

As Time continued forward still, he saw a stone wall with an archway. Within this strange and abandoned structure, there was a singular lit torch, showing the direction that the wind was blowing. North. 

Time followed the wind, as though he was being pulled in the wind’s direction. As he did so, he came across yet another torch, blowing in the very same direction. He decided to continue following the torches. 

North, West, West, South and then west. 

Eventually, he found two lit torches, blowing south, with an unlit torch next to the first lit torch, just resting.

He stood there, looking around at the trees. Many of them had been mostly hollowed out and had evil faces carved into the bark. “Likely a deterrent for anyone that wishes to venture into these woods. ” He thought to himself and the wind continued to push him South.

He continued in that direction until he felt the wind change directions quite suddenly, pushing him west. 

The change in the wind’s direction happened twice more, blowing North, and then West again, until he reached a clearing, with lots of odd looking creatures surrounding him. 

There was something familiar about the clearing that he was in. Though he wasn't sure what it was, exactly. It could have been the sounds of the forest, or the fact that he had to walk through what felt like a maze to get there, he didn’t know. But he did know that he was supposed to be there. 

He looked around at all of the strange creatures that had started to gather in front of him, all standing at his feet, looking up at him with their leafy masks covering their faces, being held up by what he could only describe as a long branch where their noses would be. 

Bending down, Time picked up one of the strange creatures and held it out at arms length. “Well, aren’t you a strange one.” He said, almost to himself. 

The odd creature looked on at Time in disbelief. “You can see us?” It asked, almost in confusion. 

Time, quite simply, just nodded. 

“You can see us!” Another one of the creatures exclaimed. “The only other person that can see us is Link.” it said, seeming happy enough that another person could see it.

As he finally looked up from the place where he stood, Time saw a large tree sitting right in front of him. Memories came flooding back to him. Memories of his childhood filled his mind with fear, sadness and loss, but also a sense of longing for his family. 

He decided to put the creature down and, as slowly and as silently as he could, he made his way towards the tree. It appeared to be asleep when he entered. That made sense, it was around 3:57 in the morning by the time he took his first steps towards the tree. 

But, as he made his way closer and closer, the tree opened his eyes and, in a deep yet quiet voice, he spoke. “Link, it has been a long time. How have you been, my child?”