All of us stand in Hyrule Field. 

All four of us—Link, Midna, Fi, and I. Birds mock us as they soar by, and the occasional grasshopper has the guts to sing an acapella in the silence. We all try to decipher the riddles in the poem that Zelda gave us. The parchment with the poem I jotted down sits in the middle of all of us, being interrogated to no end.

“What if we just go from the top to bottom? Earth, fire, water, and then air?” Link inputs.

“But we could just solve them all right now; and then we could go to all the places that are closest to us and travel as least as possible,” Midna suggests.

“If we choose to take that course of action,” Fi contradicts, “then there is an 84% chance that we would possibly be wasting our time by deciphering the text firstly instead of finding the crystals.”

“Everyone, just hold it.” My voice stops theirs, and hopefully the escalating argument as well. “All of your plans work, but we can’t do them all. I’d prefer just solving one at a time, so that we don’t fry our brains right here, right now—but I also want to travel as little as possible.” All of them try to compromise, seeing that I’m trying to side with everybody. “So I say we just take our chances and travel to one at a time, like Link suggested.”

They look back towards each other. No one really gets to decide, because Link and I agree on the same idea, and Fi doesn’t exactly count—she wouldn’t vote even if she was given the chance. So that leaves Midna, who has been overruled two against one. By the looks of it, they know that too.

“Ugh...fine,” Midna growls, and with her usually spunk, crosses her arms and returns to Link’s shadow.

“It would be advisable to take action as soon as you are ready, Mistress Neri.” Fi sparkles and shrinks, and hops back into the sword. Now it’s just Link and I.

“Shall we go?” Link comically holds out his hand like we are about to dance, and I fake a curtsy with my invisible dress.

“It would be my pleasure.” I take his hand and we laugh at our immaturity, and for the millionth time, start our adventure. At least we know where we’re going now, so it won’t be as rough from here on out.

“Hey Neri,” Link starts about five minutes in.

“Let me guess, you want my iPod?” I cut him off. He immediately looks guilty, like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “No worries—here.”

I wrestle it out of the pocket of my skinny jeans and hand it to him. As soon as he almost starts to turn it on, he stops and I give him a quizzical look.

“Remember when we were walking to Castle Town, and I had your iPod?” Link queries, and I nod. “I pretty much listened to every song, except maybe fifty or so. How about you play some out loud for Midna?”

I see what he’s getting at, so I grin as he places it back in my palm.

“Finally!” comes the response from Link’s shadow, and Midna pops out—it’s so obvious that she was eavesdropping. He’s empathetic to let Midna listen to some after he’s heard most of them.

So I start to scroll, and land on a popular hit. Even after years of it being out, it still plays on the radio to this day. That recognizable unique beat comes on, and I start singing the intro to the Beatles’s Come Together.

“I like this song!” Midna laughs, and swipes it from my hand. When she starts to try and figure it out, Link grabs it back.

“Don’t take stuff without asking.” He drops it back in my hands, and Midna pouts. “Anyway, shouldn’t we start to look at the riddles?”

“Oh, right! Just a moment...” I shut off the music now that I’m back on track, and shove it into my pocket while I yank the wrinkled paper out, then smooth it out so it’s legible. “If we go top to bottom, then we would have to look for the Earth Crystal first.”

Link scans the first stanza with his cobalt eyes, examining every last word.

“In a hidden place never to be found,

Is where the Earth Crystal is deeply bound.”

He repeats to himself. “So this place is hidden?”

“Then how the hell do we find it?” Midna whines, already exasperated.

My brain is already exhausted as well. I guess that’s what happens when you stop going to school—sort of like when everyone’s pumped for summer, but as soon as the school year starts everyone is dumber than a bag of rocks.

“It can’t be hidden, or else it’d be impossible to find,” I try to relax her. “But it says that it’s been deeply bound. So it must be really far into this lost place,” I sigh. Feeling like I should know this, I buckle down for some brainstorming. I rub my temples and plant myself on a rock, repeating the rhyme over and over to myself. As I’m about to fry my circuits, all the pieces combine and I’m on my feet as though I just sat on a cactus.

“Lost! It’s lost! The Lost Woods!” I declare. Not half bad for a brain-dead gal.

“That was really quick,” Midna says, sounding discouraged that it was so easy.

“The Lost Woods? Really?” Link starts to chuckle. “We must be getting lucky. Not only have I been there a hundred times and know it like the back of my hand, but we’re only a twenty minute walk away!”

Now I really want to cheer. This is either an easy mission, or it’s just really straightforward. I don’t think this could get any simpler, but I guess I could be pushing my luck by saying so.

So now that we’re pumped, we run to the Lost Woods with almost no difficulty due to the fact that Link’s guiding us. We sprint through the expanses of Hyrule Field, daring the unkempt terrain to sprain our ankles as we traverse through. Fi pops out of the sword, racing and flying through the air above and around me. I giggle, and spread my arms out as I sprint. Our arms pump and our breaths huff as we run before throwing our hands in the air and letting the wind caress our faces—okay, maybe that’s just me. The feeling of the air tearing back my short hair makes me feel free; like the birds that flew past us earlier. After about only five minutes of sprinting, we’re at the entrance to the Lost Woods. The trees that were nothing more than a line in the distance have grown closer than we could have thought. Just that small amount of time has managed to work out every kink in my system that was caused by sleeping on the ground, and I roll my shoulders to make sure as I migrate closer to Link.

He stops us, and we look at the ominous tunnel created by bending trees. The caw of ravens and other indistinguishable animals echo through the dead boughs, and my contented mood fades. Now that I’ve seen it, I really don’t want to go in. Link turns and says, “Here we are. Everyone, stay close, and never stray away. That goes double for you, Neri.” I give him the innocent, ‘Who, me?’ look, and the corners of his mouth almost quirk, and then he gets serious again—but his voice darkens. “Always follow me, or else.”

“Or else what?” I blurt, but almost don’t want to hear the answer.

“Or else you may never see us ever again.” His eyes narrow and glint darkly. I get the chills from his tone, and suddenly everything seems to have gotten a whole lot colder.

Fi jumps into the hilt of the Goddess Sword as Link turns around and starts to walk, and I follow less than a footstep behind him, making sure I’m always within the vicinity to touch him. Midna’s vibrant yellow and red eyes flash open from his shadow, and wink at me. I give her a smile, although it’s the complete polar opposite of what I’m feeling inside.

The trees around us become denser, slowly filtering the light until less than a blue haze covers the area like a thick blanket. My eyes are wide open, trying desperately to adjust to the low light.

“Do not be afraid, Mistress. I calculate a 95% chance that we will not become separated if Master Link is our guide,” Fi assures me. It is pretty relaxing, but that other 5% could still cost our lives.

The forest around us darkens into a cool glow, a blue hued atmosphere. It’s like someone just hit the dim switch. The trees are large and grim, but somehow majestic. They are elongated and stretch out forever, and burst into large conifers up top. The path is old and dusty, but lined with green moss that is everywhere. Moss invades the grass and climbs up the sides of the pines, and edges around the pools of water. To my right is a waterfall—fantastic. Branches that swing and sway above our heads cross each other like roads and intersect, like they could be paths for people who live in trees. But that’s ridiculous, right? No person lives in the trees... I hope. That eerie thought brings back the memory of the Skull Kid that jumped into the trees; not to mention that he called the wolves and nearly killed me, and I shudder in discontent.

Neri, just focus on happy things, I tell myself. Happy things, what happy things? The only thing here that’s remotely calming is the streams and springs, all which are a pale blue and somehow sparkle in the non-existent light. That’s about it. No more happy things come to mind in this place. I swear that this forest is driving me insane by the—

Something cries and smacks into the back to my head and scratches my neck, pinching and trying to squirm down the back of my hoodie. I scream and begin my full-out freak-out as the crow attacks me, nipping and pecking at my ears, its feathers swatting me. I continue my screaming as it flies over my face and tries pecking out my eyes, but it’s harder to grab this stupid bird than I originally thought. All I see is blurs of blue and black feathers, and before I know it I’ve fallen and am on the ground cowering and covering my face.

I hear a thump and a squawk, and then the flapping of wings growing quieter as the crow retreats. I peer up to see Link standing there after delivering one good kick to it, a small amused smile tugging at his lips. My face flushes from embarrassment, and I exclaim, “Shut up!”

“But I didn’t say anything.”

He fights back his smile and offers his hand to pull me to my feet, but I decline and pull myself up as I give him a cold look. Link just shrugs and turns back to continue walking. Slightly freaked by the crow, I begin to become aware of the other creatures in this forest and how easily they can overpower me—how easily they could separate us.

Keeping my head down as I rid of the final bit of my pride, I walk up to Link and tug at his sleeve. He stops and peers down at me but I keep my eyes focused on the ground. My hand lowers and brushes his, then I intertwine my fingers with his. I definitely don’t want to be separated from him.

Link just gives me a warm smile and squeezes my hand, then continues walking without pursuing the subject that ‘short-tempered lil’ Neri is scared’. He squeezes my hand every few minutes to remind me that I’m not alone, and as a quiet signal that we’ll be okay.

We continue walking for who knows how long, my only thought being that I actually managed the courage to…hold Link’s hand. Everyone gets scared sometime, right? I just need a little comfort—yeah, that’s it. Some assurance that I wasn’t alone and that we’d be okay.

“We’re here.” Link’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts, startling me for a second.

“Already?”

“Yes. After going through here so often, I’ve picked up on some shortcuts.”

Well, score one for Link. I peer over the small incline, and my mouth gapes a little.

What towers in front of us is the most monstrous tree on the planet. It’s about a ten times larger than the huge Redwood Sequoia trees in the States, and is absolutely beautiful too. The mood seems to have lightened, and the air seems more breathable. The deep and mysterious blue that shrouded everything has disappeared and rematerialized into a golden glow all around. There is a shoddy and slightly rotted hole in the tree near the ground which I think could have been a door; that’s about as tall as me and looks collapsed. Like everything else, moss absolutely encases the tree, giving it a gold-green light. The tree looks sort of like the Great Deku Tree, but on a completely different size scale, it has no face, and the trunk and tree itself wraps and twists around itself as it reaches past the treelines—none of us can see the top. Alright, maybe it isn’t like the Great Deku tree at all.

But it’s still one big ass tree.

I take a breath and stand straight, pulling back my shoulders. I’m ready to jump in. My footsteps echo across the silent field as I stride forward, swallowing my fears and letting my instincts guide me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you’re going?” Link asks, and I freeze.

Turning around slowly, I meet his disapproving gaze. “Going inside the temple?” I respond.

He gives me a look, but then a slight grin masks his demeanor. “I don’t think so. You have no clue how dangerous it could be in there, and I’m not going to let you get hurt.” I almost let out an ‘aw!’ of discontent, but hold it in. “I’d like it if you stayed out here with Fi.”

I feel slightly offended that he sees me as a burden, but I know it’s true. However, I still feel hesitant to let them go.

“Don’t worry, Neri.” Midna flies up from Link’s shadow, and floats midair with her arms crossed casually. “We’ve done this thousands of times! Link and I will be fine.”

I guess that I’ve lost this argument.

“Okay... Just be careful, alright?” They bob their heads in unison, and turn to the mountainous tree behind them. “Good luck!” I yell as they rotate on their heels, and sit myself down in a small moss patch abundant with a clovers. As soon as I start to search for a four-leafed one in the grove, I hear a large thud.

“Ow! Son of a bitch!”

I whip around, and see Link looking at Midna worriedly, who is levitating and clutching her nose. “Midna?” Link asks. He runs back out of the door to her, and his shield and sheath clank.

“There’s something in the way...” she mumbles, her voice thick because of her nose.

“What’s wrong?” I yell from my patch.

“Midna hit something!” Link answers. “C’mon Midna, let’s go,” he beckons her. She nods feebly and they try to continue, but this time I witness it myself.

As they walk into the dark shadows of the shoddy doorway, I see it. Midna slams into something invisible, but this time she falls out of the air and hits the ground. Link turns around and gapes at her.

Her masked head slowly gets up, and she rubs her face again. “There’s something there. I can’t get in.”

Link sighs, and adjusts his hat. “If you can’t get through, then... Neri, come here!”

I get up with my handful of clovers, and jog to him. “Yeah?”

“Could you try and get inside?”

This will be easy enough, I tell myself. I stride towards the entrance, but for a split second, I remember that invisible wall. Therefore I cautiously hold out my hand and wave it unsteadily around in front of me; like a psychotic blind woman.

As expected, my hand hits something—I push myself against it, but to no avail. You can’t even see it; it’s like invisible and unbreakable glass. “I can’t get through either.”

Link looks quizzical, but an idea pops into his head. “What about Fi?”

At the mention of her name, the servant of the Goddesses hops out and looks at the mossy would-be doorway. She floats toward it, but stops a hair away from where it should be. Fi pauses for a moment, and we await her answer, but she doesn’t move an inch closer.

“I feel the presence of an unnatural atmosphere that prohibits me from safely passing,” Fi reports. I guess it’s a no, then.

“I got through just fine,” Link says, somewhat baffled.

“Then I guess you’ll have to do it yourself,” I say, as much as I don’t want to. He nods grimly, and then turns around, to walk into the mossy shadows. Before he can disappear completely, whisper, “Wait...”

He turns back, and I’m appalled that he heard me. I press my palms to the wall, and give him a pitiful look as much as I don’t want to. “Please, be safe,” I murmur.

Link smiles softly, and presses his hand against mine in front of us. I try to feebly return his smile, but before I can, he’s turned away and ventured into the depths of the dungeon.

“Good luck!” I yell, but I don’t receive a response. I sigh, and shift back to the mossy clover patch I rested in before. Midna and Fi wordlessly follow me, but only Midna sits with me. Fi stares into the distance, as though on guard for some unseen entity.

“How’s your nose, Midna?”

Midna looks like she is trying to massage it, but cringes in pain a bit. “It’s fine.” Her voice isn’t as thick, so I guess it’s okay.

“Hey, Fi.” She turns to me. “Who is the Forgotten Goddess that everyone talks about? I still don’t get it.”

I assume that now is as good a time as any, so I may as well get all my questions answered. After all, I don’t even know the power or role of my Triforce piece—which I probably should know if I plan on healing the injured or bringing back the dead, and whatever cool tricks this thing can do.

“Have you perchance heard the common myth?” Her eyes are blank no matter what she does, and they look down at me. I shake my head at her inquiry. What myth?

“Not that I can recall.”

“Very well. Allow me to inform you, if you would please.” I motion for her to go right ahead, and get ready to hear the story. I silently hope that it’s as amusing as some other stories back in my world.

Fi’s line of sight lingers in the treeline, then moves to the now golden sky as she begins.

“Long ago before any life form can remember, there existed a singular goddess. She had the fairest mind and the most beautiful visage, unrivaled by anything even now. She sought to create her own life and world, to rule in prosperity and justice. But not even she could do it on her own, because she was not alive. She lingered as a lost soul in nothing more than blank space.

“She was without a body or any proof of existence. But she wished for one desperately, to assuage her woes. So with her magic, she created three equal vessels of power, wisdom, and courage.

“She created these life forms with her own blood and will to carry out her wish for life. The vessels she created did have life however; and dutifully carried out the task of creating a sustainable circle of life in their creator’s stead.

“But her own creations never laid eyes on her, heard her, or spoke of her. It was completely unbeknownst to them that she had ever existed at that time. So after the spiritless goddess had her wish granted and her soul divided, with the last of her power, she sent her soul to the land in the form of a pure sword. It contained all the knowledge that her world had to offer, comprised of pure information. The remainder of her soul became the hollowed center of the Triforce.

“Her piece is never seen, but always there. Her Triforce piece is rare and has neglected to have appeared on any one person’s hand. It flew down to imprint itself on whomever it chose to claim, and only the rightful Triforce owner with a pure heart may wield the Goddess’ Sword. With her task completed, she faded away to nothingness with no regrets.”

Fi’s musical voice falls silent, and both Midna and I sit in the clover grove, absolutely blown away by the story. “This is but the suburban myth, the most common version of the tale,” Fi adds.

Trying to wrap my head around it, I ask, “So you were sent by the Forgotten Goddess herself? You are her so-called ‘knowledgeable’ soul?”

“So it would seem, Mistress.”

“Hold the phone! So that means that you’re... You’re me? A part of my soul?” I question.

Before she can answer, Midna speaks up.

“Does anyone remember the name of this Forgotten Goddess?” Midna questions. I’d like to know, as well. It’d be better to call her by her name than what we’ve called her so far. Seriously, ‘Forgotten Goddess’ is such a mouthful.

“Her name is anonymous to all but her knowledgeable soul,” Fi once again relays—meaning, only Fi would know her name. “She would be known as...Hylia.”

Really? I’m not shocked, but it still kind of hits you unexpectedly. I have Hylia’s Triforce? Cool. Not only that, but I’m supposedly her ‘reincarnation’.

Before Fi can once again leave, I quickly have another question that I want answered. “Fi, if you’re the Goddess Sword but Link has the Master Sword, then... How is that even possible? You are the Master Sword, but you’re here. It just can’t be right.”

Fi gives me a forlorn look. “I awaited you, Mistress. I shut myself into my own dimension of time, and split my two fates: Winning against Demise millennia ago, or failing and letting Demise rule. Master Link has the Master Sword, the one that prevailed against Demise, but you have myself: the devolved remains that were rendered useless by the power of darkness. I am here solely for you, and only because you awakened me from my slumber in my twisted dimension of time.”

It seems to be another version of the Zelda timeline, in my perspective. I shut my eyes, and my hand moves to cover my heart. “You are me... I am you. We are the same differential fates.”

“Precisely, Mistress,” Fi says in a quiet tone.

With her duty done, Fi slips back into her sword on my back, and all that’s left to do is wait for Farore’s chosen Hero.