Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Link’s having a strange dream, where there is a castle amongst the clouds, drawings of figures and stars, and children with wings. A voice calls to him, telling him that he must bring the lost stars home.

When he wakes up, he’s in a brand new world.

It’s soft and gentle, the sand against his back cool to the touch. He’s laying on a small patch of dry land, right between a cave and the ocean. Brushing himself off, Link slides his Sheikah slate out from its spot and opens the map. He might be near Akkala or Lanayru, maybe just washed up on one of their beaches.

Static greets him instead of the familiar view of Hyrule.

He frowns, scrunching his face a bit, before closing out of the map and walking into the cave. Exploring was fun, and he hadn’t explored without a map in a while. This would be refreshing.

It’s dimmer than outside, but still suffused with the light from the still-rising sun. Link hops down some ledges, before turning to stare at one of the walls.

Glowing lines etch their way down the stone walls, drawing out small figures not unlike the ones with wings Link saw in his dream. In their hands they hold something that looks kind of like the star fragments that would occasionally fall in Hyrule.

Link enables the camera rune, and takes a picture of the drawings. He might be lost and a tad confused, but he wasn’t going to forget anything this time.

He crosses a small, watery puddle and another easily manageable ledge before finally making it to the other side of the mountain and-

He stumbled out of the shrine, the tight-fitting clothes he’d found in the chest doing little to keep out the fresh morning chill, and what he sees takes his breath away.

The sun was just rising next to a volcano with a thick plume of smoke in the air, as a green forest stretched out beneath him. There were mountains and trees and ruins all around him, in sharp vivid definition as Link drank in the huge landscape. He felt like he could fly away if he stepped out further into this new land.

...Another memory. It was more recent, being one of the first he had made when he woke up, but recalling it still startled him.

The whole island, surrounded by clear blue water, was the same soft sand only interrupted by stone formations jutting out. Yellow butterflies and flocks of white birds flew around, their soft tittering blending with the chimes of the temple in the clouds.

It’s beautiful, and Link is so mesmerized that he takes a step forwards and falls straight off of the ledge.

He tumbles down the cliff, something he’s done a disproportionately large amount of times, and smacks face first into the sand. 

No injuries. Strange. His face and arms are sore, but his nose and bones aren’t broken as they should have. Oh well. Stranger has happened.

Getting up, Link sees he’s now on the lower ledge of whatever land the desert sand is on, and there’s a large ramp that was close to the temple (if you counted roughly ten yards as close.)

He grips the stone, butterflies fluttering around him as he climbs. There’s more sand, but the stone structures he saw from the cavern now dot the dunes.

Sprinting to the closest one, Link sees that there are clumps of small white candles at the base. They’re deformed and shrunken, but the sand isn’t completely mixed into the wax and the wick is still visible. Link pulls out a fire arrow and brings the ignited tip to the candles.

He gasps when the weathered stone suddenly glows like the walls in the cave, and this time it’s the figures holding the stars in boats that float above clouds. He snaps the images again. Who knows, this might be important later.

He climbs the stone and hops off, paraglider deployed and drifting onto the higher platform. The walk up the ramp is easy, but when Link gets to the end he stops. There’s no way his paraglider can bring him up that high, even with Revali’s Gale, and he doesn’t see any updrafts he could use. 

He sits and contemplates. Maybe he could set some wood ablaze while he’s flying, toss it down, and use those updrafts? Remote bomb himself up? Try and stasis an object?

He soon realizes all these would get himself killed and Link isn’t particularly eager to test whether Mipha or his fairies could come aid him here.

There’s the sound of something scraping on stone behind him, and Link instinctively reaches for the Master Sword.

He turns around and sees a strange figure, with a brown winglike cloak wrapped around their small body. The face (he was making assumptions, alright) had a shallow line running between two small glowing eyes hidden behind a mask. Their white “hair” stuck up a bit at the top, and was tied into a small braid on the left.

They walk towards Link as he aims the slate at it (the identifier comes up with nothing to help him), making small beeping noises as they crane their neck to look at him. Reaching into a cloak, they bring out a lit red candle (how did that work?) and point it towards him.

Link grabs his shield with his free hand and swipes his sword testily at the candle. The caped figure jumps back, candle disappearing in a flash of sparks as it raises its arms and-

Brings them down, and rises in the air as light scatters from their cape.

Link gapes at the now-airborne being, before remembering he has a bow and arrows and is damn good with them, and immediately pulls them out. He aims and fires at the cape, but the arrow soars higher than Link expects and plummets into the clouds instead. 

The caped person circles around, before descending right in front of Link and getting down to face something. Light flashes around them as they spin around, before coming back to their body (this was like the spirit orbs in the shrines). They suddenly float, as their cape flaps in an unseen wind, and he sees a star-shaped symbol appear on the brown fabric.

Link is at an absolute loss on what to do, before the same child kneels and gives them a larger white candle (also lit. this was somewhat strange). 

Link hesitates, before accepting the gift. He was a wanderer that was hardened by years of living alone in the wild, but a knight before that, and knights usually accepted most harmless things that were offered to them.

The candle seems to melt almost instantly, the molten wax’s heat seeping through his leather glove. There’s a sudden sense of weightlessness, like a burden had been lifted off his shoulders, as Link stares at the figure. They offer him a hand, and he takes it despite his better judgement.

The figure flaps, and Link is suddenly rising, like when Revali first gifted him his gale, and he’s flying.

The caped child’s hand is hard, like some sort of clay or wax, but is warm like a Hylian’s as they grip him tightly and fly through the air.

Link has to restrain himself from giggling like a damn child as he soars above the clouds, and when Link touches down he can’t help but feel a little bit sad that the thrill was gone.

The child was still there, clutching his fingers loosely as they attempt to drag him towards the temple’s open doors.

The stone is cracked and overgrown, little patches of greenery dotting the grey floor and walls as they go further in. More of the white candle clumps are here, and the person currently guiding Link does the job of lighting the candles and reigniting the murals for him.

The Sheikah Slate’s rune clicks, and clicks again, before he decides he’s finally taken enough photos.

Then again, he did take photos constantly back in Hyrule.

The door blocking the way to the inner sanctuary is closed, a carved boat flanked by two figures carrying diamonds sitting at the bottom. The caped figure lights those as well, and the interior magically blazes to life. It shudders and locks into the curve the boat makes, before rocketing up to the top of the door. Glowing stars shimmer onto the stone as the doors slowly swing open.

Inside is a small platform, surrounded by clouds and walled off by grates. A statue of a vaguely humanoid silhouette sits in the middle of the grass, a single white candle in front of it.

The child lights the candle, and goes to sit in the grass as if to meditate. Link shuffles, weapons clanging against items as he kneels in the grass as well.

He feels a bit dizzy, like he was reliving a memory but Link shouldn’t have any memories here he hadn’t been here before to begin with , and his vision goes white.

Link’s standing in a place (it’s dark like the ruins) as birds swirl around him. The candle is still there, albeit unlit, but instead of the simple statue is a bearded figure.

It’s tall, much taller than Link (and maybe even Urbosa), but it’s hunched over and trembling. The staff it holds in one hand has a hollow diamond at the top, and when it turns to look at him he sees that the mask on its head is fractured and barely holding together.

It points the staff at him and shakes, as if to expect something from Link, before noticing the Master Sword.

He grips the indigo-blue hilt tight hard enough to whiten his knuckles, but the elderly figure persists.

Unsheathing it a fraction, Link takes the lack of the sword’s holy glow into consideration, then brings the entire blade out.

The staff touches the tip, and immediately the center ignites, burning brighter than before. Bringing the staff up, its mask reforms, and a boat-shaped centerpiece falls into the middle.

Now taller and steadier, it swishes the staff around as sparks trail from the tip. It guides the birds up to the castle in the clouds Link saw in his dreams, and as they spiral into the sky he’s thrown out of the recollection.

The blue stones set in the statue now glow yellow as light suddenly washes over them (like when Link would pray to the goddess statues) and the doors leading out of the temple shift open.

The caped child is still besides him, and they leap to their feet immediately. Link gets up, but his stride feels lopsided like he was missing something-

The Master Sword . He reaches back, hand grasping for the familiar metal wings. It’s gone.

Did he drop it? Could someone have stolen it? Here Link was, the grand hero of Hyrule, put to a halt simply because he lost a sword.

He’d lost plenty of swords, though, and he had managed just fine before he got the Master Sword. Besides, even if he tossed it somewhere it always somehow came back to him. Link could live.

The landing is grassy, a well-worn path in the middle flanked by spinning golden pillars. The caped figure extends their hand and he takes it, and they fly into the clouds.

And despite how bright it is, Link swears he sees a constellation of the elderly figure’s staff in the sky.

Chapter Text

The first thought on Link’s mind is soft .

Blades of grass brush at his face as they sway to a warm, mellow breeze. The clouds ripple and churn, which alongside the grass threaten to lull him to sleep.

He hasn’t felt this safe since...when?

Link tilts his head and spots two stone pillars rising high, a narrow path carpeted by leaves leading into blinding light. Nostalgia hits him as he recalls the Dueling Peaks, and the similarity between these mountains.

Link pats down his body, sheikah slate check, hylian shield check, bow check . With everything he needs still on him, he gets to his feet and walks into the light.

It blinds him enough for him to stumble down yet another cliff, albeit shorter than before. 

A small pond speckled with orange fish and flanked by two stone benches sat in the middle of the grassy field, as more clusters of red candles dot the surrounding ledges. Small niches sit on the right, and Link sees children like the one he held hands with before trying on various masks and capes. Small stone slabs peek out across the small enclave, and when Link walks near one he feels a tugging in him, like the one he feels when he meets the champion’s spirits in the beasts or calls on their power, or when he thinks of Zelda in the castle.

There’s another cliff, a pair of the same spinning golden pillars standing there. Link reaches back to grab the worn handles of his paraglider, and jumps when he sees the children do the same.

The air whistles past his ears, and he shifts the wood in his hands to  the paraglider. Link whoops as he rises in the air, feeling the gentle breeze guide him into the tunnel in the clouds.

Golden pillars chime near the bottom, and soon Link gets the hang of guiding his glider he feels like he’s actually flying.

If only Revali could see me now.

With a small pang of sadness, he realizes everything in this land had reminded him in some small way of Hyrule: the isolation of the island and the plateau, the solemn sadness of the tall spirit and the king’s ghost, the gentle guiding voice and glyphs leading him into the world.

Before long, Link’s feet touch solid ground on a small hill. Hiking up the small dirt path, he sucks in a small breath and stares.

The sky shines a tender blue, the sun and castle shining as puffy white clouds drift like octorok balloons. Rolling lawns of green grass spread out before him, small pockets and caves shimmering with hidden secrets. Swarms of golden butterflies dance in the air, as the children chase after them with childlike glee.

Link gets out his slate and takes yet another picture, and another, though he knows images couldn’t capture the feeling of childlike wonder this place sparks.

Running down the trail, he laughs as a group of butterflies dive to pepper him with warmth. Link swipes a hand once, then twice to try and catch the small sprite but fails, the ethereal wings passing through him with a buzzing sensation like Mipha’s Grace.

He takes a deep breath in, and sits. The sun beams, bright and warm, but not hot or blinding. All sorts of those children jump and soar, chiming giddily. 

There’s a small tugging on the back of his tunic, and when he turns he sees a familiar mask.

It’s the child from before, hopping up and down as Link gets off the grass. They latch onto his hand in an instant, and before he can protest they bound away with him in tow. Their grip is shockingly firm and steady, and they skid through the grass with gravity-defying leaps.

They enter the huge dome of grass, and Link sees the first spirit.

It glows a soft blue, the form transparent and glasslike as frozen moments in time flicker from one scene to another. The child follows, eagerly mimicking their movements as they skip across the floor.

The spirit comes to a halt at last, flying into a blackened husk of a body. The child (who somehow has a lit candle YET again) holds it over the statue as flakes of darkness melt away, like the malice in the divine beasts.

A caped figure bursts out in a flash of light, bright yellow against ethereal blue. They walk over to the middle of the dome and hold out a hand, a butterfly fluttering into their palm as they stand.

The child mimics the movement, holding one hand out, and beeps with glee when one does alight on their fingers.

Link tries too, holding one hand out, fingers splayed and palm open. The butterflies flutter about in loops before one lands in his palm at last, turning a soft pink.

It reminds him of the fairies at the great fairy fountains, their chiming and unpredictable flight both adorable and frustrating. He remembers the warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest whenever one escapes its bottle and flies over him, their arcane magic mending fatal wounds.

The child waves to the spirit, free of their prison, and it flies away in a small sparkle of light. Turning to Link, they pose yet again, butterflies drawn to their hand as their eyes brighten in what Link assumes to be a smile.

He pats them on the head, running a hand through their fluffy white hair as they jump up and down. Grabbing for his hand again, the child crouches, then releases a mighty chirp.

It’s instantaneous, as every butterfly in the room zooms towards the two, swirling around them and lifting them off the ground with ease. The warm feeling's back, one Link ties to safety and help in great danger.

Mipha would've loved it here.

Propelled by the magical butterflies, the child slips through the opening in the ceiling with ease.

Link, however, misses it by a mile and bumps his head square on the stone.

He falls, for the third time today as the child makes a noise akin to good-natured laughter.

The child strains, attempting to jump up and touch where Link bumped his head as they walk along the grassy road. Link nudges them aside, gesturing he's alright! He just donked his head like an idiot on the ceiling but he'll be okay.

They come to another cliff, dropping off into a sea of clouds this time. The child cranes their head up at Link expectantly, as if to ask if he really is okay. He smiles back and lightly squeezes their hand, before leaping off with a whoop.

Link and the child drop into empty air the moment they step off.

The child turns sharply as they soar towards the nearest island and drag Link down with them. He screams in surprise, fumbling for his glider as they plummet into the clouds. Doing a loop, they giggle at Link’s annoyed pout.

A tall structure, rusted metal atop weathered stone, stands tall. The child runs straight to a small niche in the side, touching a flame to the clump of white wax.

The moment the wicks catch flame, a series of glowing sigils light up. With a groan, the golden bells come to life.

They toll once, then twice, before slowly speeding up. Birds soar around the pillar, and the ground shakes as clouds part.

A giant manta swims out of the veil, twirling lazily as it dives into the sea. The two other bells slowly grind along, and as the skychild runs along Link brings out his slate and takes a handful of pictures of the magnificent creature.

They drift onto the clouds, and are tugged along by the manta. A light, tingling feeling races through Link’s body when the manta’s pull snags onto him, and he goes weightless again. It tilts upwards, soaring towards the temple-like building as a stream of birds fly past them.

The two land, and the manta bows its head before dipping back down to the ruined village. The skykid skips onto the bridge, and into the giant building.

When Link’s eyes adjust to the dark, he sees rows upon rows of square pots. They look similar to the pots scattered around the green prairies, sealed by wax and full of butterflies. They flank the hall, and as the light gradually brightens the neat stone gives way to a small grassy slope.

More and more pots dot the winding path, and blue mixes with yellow as small sparks dance right in front of their grasp. They drift onwards to the small monolith, as if urging them onwards. A row of small white candles, pristine and unlit, sit in front of the monument. The skychild touches a flame to the wick, and a small circle springs up. Link kneels in it as the sparks coalesce into the spirits, and his vision goes white.

He’s in a dim area again, the darkness similar to the one of the temple’s halls, with the floating castle in the storm in front. On instinct, Link’s hand strays to his back and grasps air instead of metal.

Right. The Master Sword.

What’s closer, however, is a giant of a figure. It rumbles, making a noise similar to snores and a groan as it shifts, standing upright and knocking a pot over. Stretching its arms, it turns to face Link, the tufts of hair comically perking up as if it were emoting.

A giant hand immediately comes down on Link’s head and every muscle in his body screams run away it’s going to attack-

But instead, the figure ruffles Link’s hair, a rough yet caring gesture. Patting him lightly on the back, he’s nudged to a spot next to a stone altar as the figure crouches down.

Grabbing the flames of the candles with one giant palm, its robes began to shimmer with light, new patterns fading into view. Clasping its hands together, it rocks it once, and twice, before opening its palms.

A single golden butterfly, singing with new life, flutters out of its grasp and next to Link. Briefly flashing blue, it swirls around him before drifting back to the elder. It lifts the pot, resting it on the stone pedestal with a rough clank as the butterfly slips in.

The statue’s eyes change to a warm yellow, and as the ceiling opens Link takes one glimpse at the distance and thinks even if I climbed the statue I would not be able to get up there who designed this.

A small tinkling echoes around the chamber, and as he and the skykid glance around nervously, every pot in the room begins to fizzle and spark at the mouth.

All at once, they erupt in a storm of yellow, butterflies flying out of as many pots as Link could see. The room shakes slightly as the mass of light dances around in circles, butterflies shining in the dark room.

The skychild grabs Link’s hand and crouches. When they spring back up with a cry, every butterfly in the room soars to them, forming an orbiting cyclone of light. The two fly higher and higher into the air, and as they leave behind the rough mossy stone, one final butterfly zooms up to tussle Link’s hair.

Link smiles, as a constellation of the elder’s pot shines on.