Linked Through The Ages: A Linked Universe AU

Chapter 1: Meeting the Calamity

He tightened his grip on his sword and shield, the warm yellow glow from the back of his hand comforting him slightly. It was now or never.

...

Link stared up in awe at what was in the center of the sanctum. A giant egg sac that reminded him of an insects', made completely from malice. It pulsated and writhed underneath the almost transparent membrane. Long, tendril like malice, kept the sac attached to the ceiling and coated the floor and walls. They oozed more of the corrosive substance, like blood from a wound. In fact, Link had always thought the malice looked just like that, gelatinous blood.

The sac started writhing more and more while the hero stood with his mouth agape. He thought he heard Zelda's voice, but his full attention was on the disgusting mess in front of him and how it appeared as if something were trying to hatch.

He didn't expect it, but his senses intensified for a split second, allowing him to just barely jump away as he saw a laser hit the floor. As it moved around the floors and walls, it completely incinerated everything in it's path. Blue eyes wide, he followed it while he felt the once sturdy floor start to crack.

It all seemed to be in slow motion to Link. His breath stilling, the sac splitting open, something that anyone could only describe as a demon falling out of it, and the floor cracking and giving way under his feet.

Before he could realize it, he was falling, falling, falling, FALLING! He was FALLING! With the ground coming ever closer, there was little time to deploy his paraglider before hitting the ground. With a slight grunt he landed, hard. Despite deploying the paraglider, he didn't have enough time for it to fully break his fall. His glider had landed on top of him, covering him from the sight of whatever creature he was to come face to face with. He lifted the fabric of the paraglider like a child looking out from under his covers, scared of the monsters in their closet. He finally saw the thing that had also just landed, right next to him.

The thing groaned as the dust settled around it. Multiple pairs of legs started moving, helping whatever this was stand up. Each step made the ground tremble with fear, as Link was already doing. His eyes could see even more of the monstrosity that was standing before him after the dust settled. A horrid mix of malice and ancient technology, crudely forming the massive abdomen giving this thing an insect like appearance. Attached to the also massive thorax of the creature were arms and legs, holding sheikah weapons as large as trees.

What terrified Link though was the head of this creature. Its teeth were sharp, crooked, and jagged, adding to Ganon's sinister appearance. A red mane of what appeared to be hair surrounded it. Its head was disproportionately small compared to the rest of its body, and looked to be nothing more but a skull covered in malice with glowing orange eyes. Link never thought that something that simple could look so terrifying.

The thing turned and met his gaze and reared up on its back legs. It let out a high pitch scream, forcing Link to cover his ears in pain. When the screeching finally stopped, Link looked up at the thing as it rested back on the glowing floor.  It looked pleased with itself, glaring at the young boy already down on the ground.

Glowing blue light filled the space where the two of them had just fallen from.  Link's eyes widened as the light turned into a giant laser aimed at his opponent.  The laser fired little missile-like bolts of blue light, they would burst into bubbles upon impact, making the damage greater.  Ganon shrieked in painful agony as the lasers dissolved the malice like acid and destroyed the little bits of corrupted sheikah tech that supported the shear weight of the monster.  Link took cover under the thin cloth of the paraglider. He knew the champions, even in death, had complete control over the Divine Beasts' power. Regardless, if a laser hit him by mistake, the battle would be over before it began.

The individual lasers came to a stop and Link peeked out from under the paraglider. The light from the Divine Beasts' still resided at the top of the observatory while Ganon groaned. The remaining light gave one final explosion, knocking Link and his paraglider backwards against the wall and eliciting more screaming from the giant insect.

Both hero and monster were dazed after the explosion. Link clutched his now pounding head and attempted to clumsily put the glider away.  Ganon remained on the floor for only a second before once again shifting his weight back onto the various limbs that held weapons.  Ganon once again reared onto his hind legs, screaming even louder in anger.  The young hero clutched his ears and shivered in fear.  He didn't want to do this. He wanted to go home. He wanted it to stop. He wanted everything to stop.

"STOP! JUST STOP IT!" His voice cracked as he yelled at the creature in front of him. Link realized what he had just done far too late. He looked up with wide eyes at the monster as he curled into a tight ball against the wall.  The creature stopped for an instance, studying the small boy cowering and shaking with nerves against the edge of the observatory.

Ganon cocked his head in surprise.  He didn't think the sniffling dog in front of him had the level of courage to scream back. After all, so many years of the same cycle, where he only grew stronger, while the princess's bloodline and the hero's spirit was slowly weakened over the generations, had obviously taken its toll. Maybe not in this time period, or several centuries in the future, but one day, there would be no more of the Goddess's blood residing within the princess. One day, the hero's spirit would be snuffed out. One day, he would be all powerful. But who's to say they needed to be snuffed out at all before he could rise to power? Maybe this boy was just weak enough, was just doubtful enough, that the hero would allow Ganon to snuff that light out himself. The skull's mouth seemed to have widened and it almost looked like a crooked grin. It made an odd grunting nose, like a malicious chuckle at the small boy shivering against the wall in fear.

Link felt something inside of him stir. This thing that had haunted him for months, even YEARS. It took everything away from him, and now was LAUGHING at him! He locked his gaze with the monster in front of him while he put away his paraglider and drew his sword and shield. He tightened his grip on the glowing sword as he held it out to the side, showing Ganon what he came equipped with.

"To the death, Ganon."

...
Hello! A couple things to say- if you read the description, you'll know I love angst and fluff, so to help with that elixirs/potions will only help a little bit (may be able to heal things such as small cuts or bruises) but will act more like normal medicine. They may still have their effects (such as lightening resistance) but they won't totally make you invincible or heal you either (they may speed up the healing process or make injuries that occur not as bad as it could be though). I hope that makes sense. I also decided on having Mipha's Grace basically do the same thing. It will make him unable to die, but he won't be fully healed either. I am still considering if it only activates and heals him when Wild is dying. Finally, I realize that in the game, he doesn't appear to be afraid of Ganon when he faces him. Creative liberties aside, I want him acting like a kid because he is one. Oviously he is an older kid, but you still feel like a kid when you're around 16-18. Even throughout the game, he acts like a teenage boy, and despite what many would probably say, they're still kids who get scared, want their parents, do stupid things that with a little bit of common sense and maturity they wouldn't do or find funny, and a whole lot of other things. So yes, instead of making Link the brave soldier that runs into it, I made him how I think a teenage boy would face the calamity. Scared, anxious, and fairly awkward. I also want to mention a lot of things may change over time (like the title, description, ECT) just letting you know. I hope you're enjoying it so far and I plan on making updates fairly recently so expect them! I will say that I may need some grace from time to time though as I am a college student and school absolutely takes priority. So thank you in advance!
(P.S. yes this is a linked universe fanfiction so the rest of them will show up eventually, right now I'm just building up the story)