Colors of the Wild

Chapter 1: Ember

A/N: Wow, this story's been getting a bit of unexpected traction! Glad you're enjoying it so far. It's finally time to meet the Colors! Woo! I know a lot of you were hoping for a variation in the colors and archetypes they represent, but I'm sticking with the basic formula here—representing Wild's four foremost traits.

So we've got Intelligence/rationality (and also his love of puzzles), his emotional side (and also his pyromaniac side), his duty-driven side (who also may be whatever's left of the knight he once was), and his adventurer side (who is also his "ooh shiny what's that?!" part). You'll see these traits pop up as we explore where this story takes us together. :)

Sorry that there isn't much that happens in this chapter, but I wanted to at least introduce everyone to you! That said, comments are food for my poor withered soul, and coffee is the fuel that drives me. :3 I hope you enjoy!

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The first conscious thought Link had, as he blinked back to awareness, was that this strange new sword was worse than the Sword that Seals the Darkness. He'd take getting shocked by the legendary blade of the hero over whatever he just went through any day.

He'd somehow kept a hold of the sword. He turned his head to glare at the blade when he caught sight of someone else in the room. He bolted upright in a panic, noting three other figures doing the same, only for all four of them to nearly double over as injuries throbbed in protest.

Or, at least, Link assumed the strangers were gripping injuries like he was. He really didn't know what to think because they all looked just like him. Well, except their Champion's Tunics were all wrong. One person had a green Champion's Tunic, another's was purple and the last one's was too light of a blue. Link was about to say something about this when he caught sight of his own Tunic. It was red.

All four of them stared at one another for a long moment. None of them knew what was going on, and Link felt raw panic clawing its way up his throat. What was this? Had the sword done something and—

"I'm going to assume that this is the sword's doing." The one in purple spoke slowly, snapping Link out of his mental spiral. He eyed them with an open sort of curiosity—like he was already trying to pinpoint the differences between the four of them.

"So what, the sword made copies of myself? You're my copies?" The one in green tilted his head.

"I'm not a copy." The blue one bristled lightly.

"Nobody's saying anything about copies." The purple one soothed. "In case none of you have noticed, we're all identical. With the same memories."

Link paused at that and really studied the other three. His mind flashed back to the four monochrome figures that he'd fought earlier and something slotted into place in his mind. Timidly, he spoke up. "Do you think... that maybe this sword can split one person into four people?" He shrunk a little under the gazes of the others. "I-I mean, it's just that... we've all got the same sword, tunic, and even injuries, even though the damage seems to have been spread out among us... I just thought that maybe..."

"So we're all Link?" The blue one considered that for a long moment before slowly nodding his head. "I mean... it's not the craziest thing I've seen."

"I dunno." The green one shrugged. "It's up there with that lynel on the plateau we taught Common to."

"You mean Gin?" Link perked up. He liked Gin. Gin was his friend. They shared meals and sparred together and—