Chapter 1: Ruins of Winter

Everything seemed so dull, but so harsh at the same time. The light from the barely visible sun underneath the heavy snow that fell, the deathly freezing cold, even the wind that gently pushed the snow along to the ground where it would lay to rest. Much like himself.

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The young boy had been surfing along the snowy banks of the Hebra mountains to see if he could get beat his best time in a race down a path in the mountain, and despite there being a blizzard, he still went out anyways. He should have known that it was silly to do such a thing. 

Despite going down this trail many times, he had gotten himself lost in the mountains due to the thick snow that clouded his vision, alongside of getting lost in his own thoughts while surfing down.

He had been so tired lately from the amount of fighting and lack of rest he was getting, that he didn't even notice that he had been lost until he finally snapped out of his thoughts. He looked around and groaned at the freezing weather, hugging himself tight to attempt to keep himself warm. Which wasn't helping very much, unfortunately.

He couldn't even see his own hand 3 feet in front of his face, let alone his surroundings, so he was stuck. In the freezing cold. With nothing to light a fire with. He did stumble across some trees after a while of treading through the snow, so he managed to get a little bit of firewood after cutting one down with the axe he had carried with him. 

Though firewood is no use without anything to light it. 

He quietly cursed under his breath in annoyance as he stumbled through the snow, tripping every so often with how thick it had gotten on the ground. He audibly swallowed to soothe some of the dryness of his throat even through the loud sound of the wind howling in his ears, though it didn't help much. 

The wind was so cold and he had been breathing heavily due to having to use every ounce of strength he had to push through the strong wind and to trek through the thickly packed snow. Everything felt like it was either numb or on fire due to how cold he was. His lungs, eyes, nose, everything. 

When he finally reached a cavern in the mountain, he shakily sighed in relief on being granted a break from the harsh cold. He stepped inside and set the wood he had been carrying down, his muscles throbbing lightly from the strenuous activity. 

He sat himself down to think, hugging his legs to his chest and burying his nose deep into his legs as he trembled from the cold seeping through every fibre of his being.

He just wanted to be at his cozy little house he had made for himself while staring at the picture of him with Zelda and the other champions while he sharpened his blades, or even trekking through other parts of Hyrule and just having fun. Being free. This was quite the opposite of what he was hoping was in store for him. 

He was starting to regret ever even coming here. To regret waking up in that dreaded dark room. To regret having those horrible and soul-eating nightmares that he would have every time he attempted to sleep. He regretted so much, and yet, he couldn't even help but feel sad for himself at this point. He thought he could get away with ignoring his duties for just a little while so he could enjoy being young. Being a kid. But the Goddess had other things in mind, apparently. 

He could already hear the Champion Revali laughing in his face if he ever heard of this. The way he would smirk and look down on him like he was a nobody. The way he doubted his every choice and movement. 

He hated it. He never once spoke his opinion ever since he was but a mere child. 

He was told his duty was to be a knight from birth, and he never questioned it. At least, until now. 

Why had he just let everyone get their way with him? Why did he have to spend his life being this miracle beacon of hope for everyone else? Why couldn't he just be looked at like any other traveler passing by instead of..this? 

He shook himself out of his thoughts with a shudder, not liking to delve too deep into the abyss of his train of thought. He knew how dark it could get.

He picked himself up after thinking for a while and drug himself out of the cave with a loud and drawn out sigh, soft grumbles falling from his lips as he hugged himself and treaded once more through the storm. 

He eventually came across a large hunk of ore, his face brightening up a bit with relief. 

He took out his axe from its holder and swung. 

Once. 

Twice. 

It broke open after the third hit, spilling out a couple of hunks of Flint and Amber. His usually stoic expression upturning with the creases of his small smile. 

He picked up the hunks of ore, and treaded off to attempt to find his way back to the cavern. He was confident he knew the way back, so he continued on. And on. And on..and on. 

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Until he finally could barely see the entrance to the cave. He was fairly proud of himself for finding his way back, humming contently as he shuffled through the snow to hurry back into it since he was starting to get a bit too cold again. 

As he came in, he noticed something different about the cave. It didn't have the same ridges, nor was it as small as the other one. He felt a chill go up his spine on seeing something move in the darkness at the back of the cave, hearing deep growls and snarls coming from the dark figure. It was a big creature, and it was obviously not happy that Link had interrupted its sleep. 

He took a moment to adjust himself before he ran out as he heard the sound of large paws hitting the rocky ground behind him. And it was speeding up rather fast too. 

He had been out of weapons for a while, so he was stuck with his axe and a flimsy bokoblin shield he snatched from some unlucky bokoblin on the way up the mountain. 

He was screwed. 

He attempted to swung it at the creature when he turned around and had ducked, just barely missed getting his head torn off his shoulders by the force of the swing the creature took. He then finally opened his eyes to see that it was a bear. A rather large one, at that. Probably a male judging by its size. But that wasn't important right now.

He swung again, this time hitting the bear in the side, causing it to let out a horribly deep snarl as it took another swing at him. This time he couldn't dodge in time, its claws tearing at his face and throwing him to the ground with enough force to knock what remained of his breath out of his lungs. He wheezed for air, finding himself on the top of a rock as he tried to catch his breath. 

The bear didn't relent, lunging at him and bending down before it sunk its teeth into the skin of his shoulder and pulled its head back, causing a loud and horribly pained shriek to fall from Link's lips as he tried to free his trapped limbs. Tears were already rolling down his face as sobs fell from his lips, unable to handle the pain. Especially due to the cold piercing through his exposed muscles as blood gushed out of the open and very jagged wound. 

The creature dipped down for another bite, this time at his leg. It ripped its head away yet again, tearing a large portion of his muscle out and ripping another loud wail of pain from the boys lips. He just wanted it to be over with. He wish he never left the cave. Tears spilled down his bloody face as he attempted to see through the blood seeping into the eye that hadn't been cut into with razor sharp claws, blinking away the tears and blood as his vision blurred red. 

He sucked in a sharp breath on seeing the creature dip down yet again, but towards his face this time. He shut his eyes tightly as the creature dug its horrid teeth into his neck and for the last time, ripped the flesh away from his body. His loud cry of pain got silenced by the gurgle that followed through afterwards of blood spilling into his airway. He was desperately trying to breathe, but it wasn't working. He frantically clawed at the bear, but his limbs soon went limp due to the lack of oxygen and energy, and fell to his sides as his head lolled back against the ground with his back arching over and resting against the rock. 

The creature stood by for a while and sniffed him, waiting to see if he moved. After a little while of watching and noticing him not moving, it finally left back to its cavern. 

He felt his vision blur out as he slowly succumbed to the darkness that overtook his consciousness, tears mindlessly flowing down the expanse of his temples and into his hair. He finally felt at peace, his lungs not breathing in the painfully cold air around him. His limbs feeling weightless as he stared at the sky, the snow falling into his eyes as he slowly blinked the snowflakes away. 

His consciousness finally dissipated, leaving him with a seemingly endless room of darkness. He didn't feel the weight of any weapons or even of his limbs. He felt so free. 

But then, suddenly, after being pulled very quickly into what seemed to be a very bright beam of light that hurt his eyes, or whatever he was seeing with, he laid gasping awake as he quickly sat up and clutched at his chest. He quickly felt up his throat and shoulder. Nothing but torn fabric and smooth, but definitely still cold, flesh.

So it wasn't some kind of dream as he had suspected while he was laid in the expanse of the dark realm of death. The pain he had experienced before he jolted awake had him reeling with adrenaline, but afterwards now that he was fully conscious, the pain almost felt like a distant dream. As if he hadn't just had a bear on top of him ripping him apart.

A soft sigh fell from his lips as he stood, his legs lightly trembling beneath him, but he moved anyways depite the trembling in another direction since the blizzard had calmed for the moment and he could see for the first time in what felt like hours. He thought to himself that he should be happy that he was healed and alive, but he felt so off about it. Almost annoyed at the fact that he was awake. As he walked, he suddenly remembered he had Mipha's grace actively watching over him and very faintly hearing her voice in the back of his mind just a split second before he had been pulled into the beam of light. 

Another drawn out sigh fell from his lips again, his fingers carding through his hair in an attempt to calm himself. He thought for a few moments before hugging himself tightly again as he tread through the snow, thinking to himself.

He just wished that he hadn't been pulled back to life this time.

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