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Off in the boggy forest that lay deep in the Faron Woods of Twilight’s Hyrule, the only audible thing in the air was the squishy trudging and wading through the soggy and marshy swamp. This was, of course, paired with Legend grumbling and complaining to himself.
“Go south and find the Forest Temple, it’s easy to recognize. It’s a big hollowed out tree...” Legend grumbled to himself, mocking the words of Twilight.
“I’ll find others because I can sniff them out. Stupid wolf boy. Stupid ambush, why is it every freaking time it’s a goddess forsaken ambush...” he continued to grumble on.
Wild, who was carrying a gagging Four on his back chuckled at the saltiness of Legend.
“Blegh...why are you so grumpy, Veteran?” Four asked and continued to gag at the bog they had to trudge through.
Legend snapped his head to the two and glared at the them, answering, “I have dinky bog water in my fucking boots. I will have to burn my socks. It’s disgusting,” Legend pressed onto Wild, who was slightly intimidated by the Veteran’s closeness.
“I know, my socks are ruined too, man,” Wild answered, laughing nervously.
“It’s different for you, wild-child!” Legend argued.
Here returned the bickering that Legend had always been fond of whenever one of the chain sparked up something that ticked him off.
“How so?” Wild asked.
“You literally walk around the forest in your underwear sometimes!!” Legend cried, flailing his arms up exaggeratedly.
“Well, maybe you should do that too! You are already not wearing any pants,” Wild let out a little chuckle. Four suddenly stepped into their bickering.
“Boys, boys! Your worried bickering is cute and all, but let’s not stand around in this swamp and actually get moving?!” Four intervened, earning the attention of his comrades.
He then went on reminding them, “We need to find that temple and the others—"
Four cut himself off as his attention was turned to something deeper off into the woods.
“Wait... Is that a light?” Four pointed in the direction, causing Legend and Wild’s heads to turn in said direction.
“That’s...” Legend trailed off as he held out the lamp he carried to give him a better view of things in front of him. “Sailor?”
At the sound of his name, Wind turned to the group of three, surprised to have found them. The boys waved “hey” to Wind as he raced over to his comrades.
“Guys!” Wind exclaimed and ran over to greet them. He then made a disgusted face.
“Ugh. Were you guys wading through a swamp?” Wind asked.
“YES! Ha-ha. We stink, doesn’t matter. Were you alone?” Legend responded immediately.
Wind shook his head in denial and answered, “Oh? No, I was with Traveler.”
The group of four then decided to continue on with their travels, following Wind who guided them through the forest.
“We decided I should check nearby if any of you were around,” Wind explained to them.
Wild let out a chuckle and remarked, “And you found us!”
“Good call letting Traveler hold the fort,” Wild added on.
Wind continued on guiding them when he brought something up. “He’s waiting by a landmark...of sorts.”
This raised confusion in the minds of the others when Wild spoke up, asking, “Is it a temple by any chance?”
Wind shook his head in response, answering, “No. It’s...well you’ll see.”
Well, if it wasn’t the temple they were looking for, what on earth could it have been? Was it really that important to stop and guard until the rest of the chain found their way to the Traveler and the Sailor? It only raised more confusion between the three.
Once they made it out of the woods, Wind led them off to an open area where Hyrule sat with a candle lit up. It illuminated his face as he turned when Wind called out to him. The supposed landmark that Hyrule was guarding was...a skeleton?
“Hey! Look who I found!” Wind exclaimed. Wild, Four and Legend stared at the skeleton that lay there against a tree. It had an array of moss, leaves and ivy covering its whole body.
“Oh, hey! Glad to see you are alright!” Hyrule smiled.
The others huddled around Hyrule as they tried to examine the skeleton more thoroughly in the light of Legend’s lamp.
“A stalfos? Is it safe?” Legend asked as confusion clouded his voice. It sure seemed like a stalfos with its immediate appearance. A skeleton clad in armour, the perfect description of a stalfos. Except for the fact that it wasn’t moving.
“I don’t think it is one. It hasn’t tried to kill us, so...” Hyrule answered optimistically. Four let out a chuckle and scoffed.
“Well that’s comforting.”
Hyrule added onto this. “Hey, if it helps, I don’t feel any dark magic here.”
They all stared at the inanimate skeleton that lay against the tree. Confusion and unfamiliarity lingered around the bunch. Wild had not kept his eyes off of the skeleton as if trying to decipher just what the hell it was and why it was in the middle of a forest—in Twilight’s Hyrule nonetheless. Why here? And what significance did them meeting it prove anything for their adventure?
“If anything, it feels like nothing,” Wind commented. There was, in fact, a sense of nothingness to the skeleton. It was hollowed out with no sense of life in and around it.
Four stepped in. “Still…is it just me or it…”
Wild continued his statement. “Looks very…”
Hyrule finished their statements. “Familiar? Yeah.”
Legend stayed silent as he held the lamp closer to the skeleton. There had been even more confusion now more than ever. What was this skeleton? What was it doing here? Why was it here in the first place? What got it to such a state that had its former body turn into a skeleton? Was it a war that got the skeleton to such a state? Or was it killed in action and left to rot in an unfamiliar forest?
There was a sudden rustling of leaves that echoed through the awkward silence as a voice followed.
“Hey!” Warriors called out. There was him, Sky—who held a lamp— and Twilight following shortly after.
“Oh. You are alright!” Wind exclaimed, turning around to the other group. Warrior’s group of the chain made their way over to Wind’s group.
“What are you doing just standing around?” Warriors asked, obviously aggravated with them not making any move to head forward. Sky had a bright smile on his face as they approached Wind’s group.
“We found something!” Wind exclaimed. This sparked up a puzzled look to appear on Twilight’s face. Warrior’s group began to pool into Wind’s group.
Once the groups came together, shock invaded the faces of Sky, Twilight and Warriors. It seemed to be most evident on Twilight’s face as they all stared at just what it was the other group had discovered.
“A skeleton?!” Warriors cried.
“What?!” Sky questioned as his face shifted into that of a cringing expression.
Twilight only stared in utter shock at the skeleton as it lay there inanimate and presumably dead. Perhaps he had recognized this skeleton clad in armour and forest fauna. Time suddenly approached them all.
“A skeleton, huh?” Time examined. “I wonder what poor soul lost their life here.”
The others continued to stare at it in confusion when their attention was averted to Sky.
“It looks—” Sky started. His face contorted into that of concern, the kind you would expect to see from something familiar but unknown.
“Weirdly familiar? Yeah we thought the same. It just reminds me of something,” Wind cut him off as he held the lantern in front of him for Sky and Time to get a better view of the skeleton.
There was confused whispering amongst the chain. Some of them wondered what a random skeleton was doing, sitting all alone in Faron Woods. Others examined it, hoping to find some sort of clue as to why it looked so familiar.
‘Could this be that skeleton that Twilight was mumbling about?’ Wild thought to himself as he poked at the skeleton to make sure it was, in fact, dead and not alive and ready to slash the chain to thins. Wild continued to examine it from all corners until he let out a quiet gasp.
‘Those—those markings! They’re the same ones on the Old Man’s armour!’ Wild thought. His eyes grew wider as he came to a horrid realization. He risked a glance over at Time who kept a firm but resentful—or was it regretful—gaze on the skeleton. Wild was slowly connecting dots of something he never wanted to even think about. Was this what became of the Hero of Time? Wild ignored his thoughts and went back to conversing with the others, making sure not to let a word of his thoughts slip out.
Time kept staring down at the skeleton. He seemed oddly quiet on the situation. Warriors took note of it but never mentioned it out loud. Best to leave those thoughts to their owners rather than open up a wound that might not close fully again.
‘Is this what became of me?’ Time wondered to himself as he stayed quiet. There was a nagging feeling inside of him, one that reminded him of the anguish his descendant, the Hero of Twilight had endured when the Shade left that era. A guilt of bygone eras returned to haunt him, but Time spoke nothing of it.
“Hm…” the others glanced over at Time. “Poor unfortunate soul indeed.”
The others exchanged looks with each other and shrugged in confusion. The only one who wouldn’t speak his feelings was Twilight. It was obvious that there was something bothering him about the skeleton, but he refused to say anything.
“A warrior who fought until their end. Here all alone,” Time lamented as he stood there in front of the skeleton, recalling memories of a broken and anguished past.
The skeleton sat there, hollowed out, lifeless, soulless. It was as if it was staring at the body in front of it with a regretful hollowness in its empty sockets. Twilight stared down at the skeleton, the remains of his old mentor, with pain and hurt on his face. Wild took note of that anguish on both of the heroes but kept to himself, knowing that it was best to leave that wound sealed shut.
“How terribly sad,” Time spoke softly. His face held a certain sadness that one would see during a sunset, when dusk fell and twilight engulfed the land. It truly was sad to see such a sight. Who knew what had happened to that skeleton. Was it truly the wars that brought it to such a state? Or was it the lingering regrets and built up failures that led this skeleton to its own demise?
Twilight clenched his fists tightly and heaved a sigh. The rest of the chain slumped on the ground and sat in silence as they took in Time’s words. Had he known what this skeleton was prior to its death? Had he known of its origins? The chain wondered about this for a while.
“Hey, guys?” Twilight started. The chain looked up and all stared at the Rancher.
“What is it, Twilight?” Time asked, ushering for his descendant to continue on.
Twilight seemed on edge to ask his question, but went along anyway. “Can—can we maybe bury the skeleton and give it a proper resting place here?”
A sudden chill ran down Time’s back as he stared at the younger hero in confusion. Or was it regret that was in his eyes? The chain exchanged looks of agreement before collectively agreeing to give the skeleton a proper send off and bury it. That way, the skeleton could finally know peace and rest after a life of regret, pain and suffering.
After they all gathered stones and dug up an area to place the remains of the skeleton in, the chain all gave their respects to the fallen warrior. But before burying the skeleton, Wild noticed something inside of the skeleton. He bent down and picked up the item. It was a piece of paper that had something written on it. He kept it to himself and decided to read it later. Wild also found what seemed to be an instrument—a flute? No, this seemed more similar to the ocarinas that Time, Legend and Warriors possessed. He also kept that to himself.
“What should we engrave on the headstone?” Wind asked as he threw a rock up and down in his hand.
“What about ‘hero’? Since we don’t know the name of the skeleton, let’s engrave ‘hero’ on the headstone,” Warriors suggested. The chain nodded in agreement and Wind handed Twilight the rock so that he could engrave the name into the stone. Once finished, the chain gave one last respect to the skeleton and decided to continue on their journey to the Forest Temple.
Some time after walking, Wild took out the piece of paper from his pocket and decided to read it and see what it said.
To the Hero of Time, Link, my dearest friend. I hope that you’ll finally know some peace now that you’ve been freed from this world. Let this song reach to the heavens and let it stay with you as a memory to serve our friendship. Please let Saria’s Song stay with you, forever…
From your dearest friends,
Skull Kid, Tatl, Tael, Saria and Navi
Tears formed in Wild’s eyes as he finished reading the note. He noticed a bar of six musical notes ascending on the bottom of the page and assumed that the ocarina he had picked up was to play those notes.
“He really did find peace at last, huh?” Wild muttered to himself and smiled as he stared at Time who seemed to be more relaxed now that his future skeleton was resting at last.