A short fic for Joyful June Week 1: Magic. Written for a sprint on the Linked Universe discord and also @lu-community-write-a-thon!
Link from Adventure of Link/Hyule from Linked Universe uses his Fairy spell for the first time
[AO3]
---
Link took a deep breath as he slowly summoned up his magic. The old man had explained the spell in detail and he knew he'd understood it. He was experienced enough with magic by now that he could follow descriptions of how the power that gathered deep in his soul should flow, and he'd encountered enough fairies to recognise the shape and feel they left in the world, which would otherwise be the missing piece. He had even taken a moment to feel out the sensations in the air as he'd scooped up a bottle of the Water of Life to give to the old woman who'd introduced him to this latest teacher. He had everything he needed.
But that didn't make him much more comfortable with casting a spell that would change his very physical nature. The old man had assured him it wouldn't hurt, and there was very little reason for him to lie, but a mistake in the casting of the spell could be disastrous.
Still, Link was used to taking risks. He was used to getting hurt, even hurt badly, and he told himself this was no different. He had a doll to hand in case something went badly wrong - his last one, but if he needed it it was always worth it - and it was time to stop dithering and try this spell.
With another deep breath, he folded his hands on his chest, straightened his back, and with a quick mental flick pulled the magic out of his soul and around himself as if unfurling a blanket.
Despite the old man's assurances, he'd expected pain. Instead, the magic filled him with a glittering warmth. He felt the wings flashing out of his back, felt himself shrinking, but it was as if he was a breeze, air forming a new shape rather than a boy of flesh and bone. It was somehow freeing, bringing a lightness and mobility that he wished could go on forever, dangerous though he knew that probably was.
And then it was over. All in a moment, he was a fairy, hovering in the air where he'd been sitting.
He'd got it right first time.
And that triumph and the lingering feeling of freedom and joy and the knowledge that the sky above was suddenly open to him sent such a frisson of excitement through him he couldn't help spiralling upwards with a delighted cry. The air seemed to sing under his wings and he shed tiny, sparkles like droplets of water as he shot upwards between the leaves of the trees overhead and towards the sun. For a moment he hung, hovering, looking down at the little forest in which he'd sheltered for his experiments. He could feel the magic underlying the land, see it when he looked for it. The gleam of hylian life in the village where the old man and old woman and her daughter lived. The little silver-green pinpricks of birds in the trees. The warm, deep green of the trees themselves.
Link breathed deep, though in this form he didn't need to, letting the magic in the air flow through him with a deeper, truer joy than the sparkling excitement of flight. Now he could understand why fairies chimed and sparkled the way they did, if this was their everyday life.
Soon he would have to land again. He couldn't travel far in this form and, more importantly, couldn't risk forgetting how to change back. But for the time being he savoured the magic, looked out at the sun and the jewelled magic of the land below, and let the excitement and triumph and deeper joy flow through every fragment of his body.
@linktober legacy: the legend of zelda & the adventure of link
i had a lot of fun with the last linktober, so when i heard the legacy prompts from now on are going to be different games every month, i had to continue it. there were so many amazing designs i didn't get to draw in october; it's nice to give a few more their chance to shine!
