The world around you seems to blur and twist, not unlike the pages in a storybook being forcefully turned. One moment, you are comfortably seated in your room, flipping through the latest chapter of your favorite fantasy novel, and the next, you are somewhere... else. Trees that stretch higher than skyscrapers sway in the gentle wind, and the air is thick with the scents of earth and magic. This isn't the city park you sometimes visit. This is different. This is Hyrule.
Your immediate reflex is to quietly laugh it off; after all, these things don’t just happen. But the strangeness only grows. The once familiar hum of the overhead lights is replaced by distant melodies, as if carried on the zephyrs themselves. The transformation begins subtly at first. You stumble, feeling an unexpected weight shift and compress your petite frame into something leaner, yet athletic in a way that your old body might have never managed.
You feel your clothes morphing, constricting at specific points, and when you look down, you see that you are now clad in an outfit straight out of a video game. A green tunic covers you, and a brown leather belt cinches tightly around your waist, the sash across your torso giving a reassuring weight, and brown gloves encase your hands. A matching green cap dangles loose but secure on your head.
You touch your face, realizing the features that feel both familiar and foreign at the same time: a youthful, beardless look with slanted eyebrows that may suggest constant irritation despite any anger within you disappearing, golden-blonde hair that brushes over your now pointed ears, and intense, sky-blue eyes that glint even in the dim light.
Instinct tells you to find a reflective surface. You run, or rather your legs, now slightly shorter by a few inches than they used to be, awkwardly guide you towards a nearby pond. The depiction that stares back at you makes your heart race in a confused thrumming of both disbelief and a growing horror. Your face, your voice, every part of you now reflects the hero you had only read about—Link.
“I—I am...What is happening?” you think to yourself, but as your voice comes out, there are only linked gasps and grunts; your vocal cords make even less than you hope, held captive by limitations you’ve never had to face before. Frantic, you try to speak, but only manage strained whispers and a few disjointed words that vanish into nothing.
Panic threatens to overwhelm you, but there is something else too. A peculiar, unwelcome intrusion that seems to gnaw at the edges of your consciousness with an insistence that is impossible to ignore. “No, no, I was...I was... Who was I?”
Memories of a different life force their way in: growing up in the dense Kokiri Forest under the protective watch of the Great Deku Tree, forming unbreakable bonds of friendship with Saria, your childhood friend, and riding swiftly across the vast fields of Hyrule on Epona’s back. The faces of Princess Zelda, Goron leader Darunia, and the myriad creatures of Hyrule flash before your eyes.
You grasp your head in frustration, the supposed life you once knew dismantling around you with startling speed. School? Work? Modern theories and conveniences—are reducing down to mere dreams, ephemeral and vanishing before the encroaching reality of your true past.
The ache in your head subsides, and with it, the last remnant of your former self disperses. You release a determined grunt, unsheathing the Master Sword and hefting the Hylian Shield across your back.
You remember everything now. You are Link, the Hero of Time, chosen by the Triforce of Courage, destined to battle the malevolent forces threatening Hyrule. Your steadfast dedication to protecting those in need guides you. Your old life—a trick played by sorcery or perhaps merely vivid imagination—is no more than an illusion, a whimsical trance to break free from.
Ganon's presence returns to dominance in your thoughts, the dread king whose dark influence seeps through the lands like an unhealed wound. You cannot tarry. Purpose and destiny beckon. The melodies of the Ocarina of Time grip your soul, each note more familiar than even the echo of your own heartbeat.
A rush of confidence surges through you. “Hyrule needs its hero,” your body seems to proclaim.
Shaking dust from your tunic, you push ahead. Your quest to protect Hyrule and its people is the single truth that remains steadfast. From within the melody, the hero in you is reborn, forever Link.
This story was generated by user dylan7 with assistance by one of OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model; prompts used to help generate the story are shown below.
Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.
Prompt: Write the POV transformation story of an average human reader turning into adult Link from The Legend of Zelda game franchise (more specifically, from the Ocarina of Time game series), complete with gender change (if the reader is a female, her breasts vanish as her throat gains an Adam's apple to give her a more masculine voice identical to Link and her female privates (vagina, ovaries, and uterus) from her crotch/nether region invert itself and pushes out into male private parts (a penis and testicles); however, this is optional and only if the reader is female), instant clothes change (the reader's clothes becoming Link's outfit), height change (changing from somewhere around 5.6-6 feet tall to 5.7 feet tall), age change, voice change (turning the reader's voice into Link's voice, while also (much to his horror) making him unable to talk and making him only capable of grunts, gasps, yells, screams, shouts, a few short phrases, etc), reality change (the reader's real world becoming the world of The Legend of Zelda), and mind/mental change (with the reader's personality and memories being completely replaced with Link's personality and memories, despite the reader's best efforts, making him forget all about science, modern human life, theory of evolution, etc, and he realizes (or rather knows) that he was never a human nor did he ever lived in a strange and mundane life (which he realizes was never real to begin with and was only his dream), and he remembers that he had always been the heroic hylian and his name has always been Link (which is his real/true self)). The transformation is permanent (meaning it is forever) and is completely irreversible. For Link's appearance (after the reader turned into him), he is a slim, yet athletic 17 year old hylian who is 5'7" (170 centimeters) tall and has a weighs 69 kilograms (152 lbs). He is a young man with blonde hair, long and pointy elf-like ears (like all hylians), a handsome face without facial hair on the lower half of his face (no beard, mustache, sideburns, etc), slanted eyebrows (which makes him look like he's angry despite not actually being angry), and bright blue irises in his eyes. His clothing consists of a green tunic (which reaches his mid-thighs), he also has a white undersuit under the green Hero's tunic, a brown leather belt is located all around his waists, a brown leather sash is located across his torso, he also has brown fingerless gloves/gauntlets on his hands, he also has brown knee-high leather boots built for combat and distant travels, he also has blue circle earrings on his ears, and he also has a green cap on his head. He carries a master sword and shield. Here are Link's powers, abilities, weapons, and equipment; Great Strategist (he can adapt to nearly any foe and he always manages to find out the enemy's weaknesses), Time and Weather Manipulation (With the Ocarina of Time, Link can instantly manipulate the weather or time itself for his own sake), Expert Horseback Rider (Link has easily ridden his horse Epona around the fields of Hyrule without much trouble. With Epona, Link's travel speed is increased and can get around large fences), Jump Attack (Link jumps forward and strikes downward with his sword), Jump Strike (Link charges energy within the Master Sword, following with a two-hit combo that starts with a left swipe into the air and one strike downward, which creates an area-of-effect that damages and knocks back any nearby enemies. This is better used when surrounded), Spin Attack (Energy is stored within the Master Sword, of which Link releases by spinning around and attacking from every direction), Great Spin Attack (Even more energy is put into the blade, which takes some time to charge, before releasing a stronger form of the move that has more range and more power), Great Spin (A completely separate move, it allows Link to instantly perform a more powerful Spin Attack instantly if he has full health), Ending Blow (Link will finish off an enemy when they're lying on the ground, in which he jump and stabs them in the chest area), Shield Attack (Link can punt his shield forward, either to stun enemies or to deflect physical projectiles), Back Slice (Link hops and rolls behind his opponent, jumping into a vertical slicing motion, usually attacking from the back area), Helm Splitter (If an enemy is stunned with the Shield Attack, Link can jump forward and flip midair, slicing the opponent from the scalp), Mortal Draw (A dangerous move, Link will stand unarmed and not targeting an enemy. If one draws near, Link can instantly draw his blade and kill the enemy in one strike. It is highly risky due to the lack of defenses), Din's Fire (A powerful magical spell, Link must perform a special pose before unleashing a powerful wave of fire that engulfs surrounding enemies in flames), Farore's Wind (When Link performs a special pose, he will be able to set a point that he could use for fast travel. If he does it again, he could travel to said point or create a new one), Nayru's Love (When Link performs a special pose, a magical crystalline barrier will surround Link. For a brief period of time, Link will be completely invincible. However, he can still be knocked back by a heavy blow and is unable to use magical items while in use), Master Sword (Once known as The Goddess Sword which was purified and tempered by three sacred flames which was then blessed by Zelda, the mortal incarnation of the Goddess Hylia. It is a holy weapon that is designed to be the blade of evil's bane. It has the power to vanquish evil due to the fact it's a weapon with Holy/Radiant properties, its base form is the Master Sword itself which dose twice as much damage as the Fighter's Sword, it's 2nd form being the Tempered Sword (three times as powerful) and it's 3rd form being the Golden Sword (four times as powerful). It has the soul of Fit as she is part of the Master Sword itself as the blade will choose it's wielder, be it the Hero of Time and/or otherwise. It can shoot Beams of Light from simply swinging the blade. It has been downgraded at one point to another if left long enough on it's pedestal of time. The Master Sword could be able to magically adapt to the size of its user. The Master Sword once had an age restriction to it's user as shown Ocarina of Time until it later lost said restriction. The Master Sword has the innate ability to break through the opponent's guard maneuver. The Master Sword inherits the Goddess Sword's ability to unleash Skyward Strikes. The Master Sword also plays a key role in sealing Ganondorf and his magic as he mentioned in The Wind Waker, for removing The Master Sword will ultimately break that seal.), Biggoron's Sword (A two-handed sword forged by the swordsmith Biggoron. While it deals twice the damage as the Master Sword, it can't be used with a shield due to its size), Hylian Shield (Link's main defense tool, the Hylian Shield is made of wood and metal, and can defend against most enemy attacks, along with deflecting projectiles), Mirror Shield (Link's second shield. While it no longer deflects projectiles, it can reflect beams of light for various purposes and absorb fire and ice attacks. When it absorbs three of either flames or ice, it will fire the element out as a blast, losing the stored power in the process), Fairy Bow (Link's main projectile weapon during his adult adventures. The arrows can both pierce through foes and hit objects for puzzle-solving. The bow can also shoot three other kinds of arrows alongside the normal ones: Fire Arrows, Ice Arrows, and Light Arrows), Fire Arrows (These arrows are comprised of nothing but fire at the tip. These use up a bit of magic, but do damage by greatly hurting those with a weakness to fire and can melt big blocks of ice), Ice Arrows (These arrows are comprised of magical ice enhancements at the tip. It uses a bit of magic, but can freeze enemies and cool down fire), Light Arrows: These arrows are comprised of the power of light. It uses a chunk of magic, but deals great damage as it can easily dispel or stun those who are evil), Bombs (Explosives that can be used to clear obstacles and damage enemies. Link can carry up to thirty of them at a time), Bombchus (Mice-shaped bombs that, when placed on a flat surface, travel across it before exploding after a couple seconds, or when they hit something. They are also capable of moving up walls) Bottle (A simple glass bottle, Link has numerous of these among his items and can store many things including bugs, potions, and water. It also holds some odd property that allows it to reflect magical attacks), Golden Gauntlets (Gauntlets that greatly boost Link's lifting strength, to the point where he can lift and throw colossal pillars of granite), Megaton Hammer (A large steel hammer that was used by a Goron hero to slay the dragon Volvagia. While Link sacrifices use of his shield while using it due to its weight, the hammer is powerful enough to shatter boulders and cause small-scale shockwaves), Hookshot / Longshot: A contraption made to reach long distances. It shoots out a hook that will latch onto specific surfaces that allows Link to reach, by himself, unavailable locations. The hook when shot can also temporarily stun enemies. The Longshot holds the same functions, but has nearly double the original reach), Hover Boots: When these boots are equipped, these give Link a brief amount of time to walk on thin air or water and has the ability to never sink in quicksand as long as he has these on. However, the boots do not give Link any traction), Iron Boots (When these boots are equipped, its heavy weight will heavily weigh Link down. With them equipped, he can sink down to the bottom of the likes of lakebed and can resist powerful winds. The only downside is that while wearing them, Link has limited and slowed movement due to its heavy weight put down upon him), Lens of Truth: This magical lens was created by the Sheikah with the ability to see the unseen to the naked eye and illusions while in use. However, it will slowly drain Link's magic usage while it is in use) Ocarina of Time (Originally obtained at a pond as his younger self, Link can use this ocarina to sing songs, of which can manipulate the world around him and summon objects), Zelda's Lullaby (Used to open specific paths laid out throughout Hyrule), Epona's Song (Used to call Epona as long as she is able to get to Link), Saria's Song (Used to communicate with Link's childhood friend and Sage, Saria), Song of Storms (Used to summon instant rainfall), Sun's Song (Allows Link to change the time from day to night or vice versa), Song of Time (Was used to rid of specific obstacles and open the Door of Time, but has proven to also make Link able to reverse and manipulate time itself), Tunics (Link must obtain three tunics in all for his quest to obtain the six Sages. There are three tunics in all, and they are simply the clothes Link are wearing, which may have their own special attributes. Link's default tunic is his Kokiri Tunic, which does not have any special attributes), Goron Tunic (A heat-resistant tunic that lets Link survive in extremely hot areas, such as a volcano, without trouble. It also provides slight protection against fire attacks), Zora Tunic (A tunic that lets Link breathe underwater perpetually without oxygen), and Triforce of Courage (1/3rd of the Triforce, created by the Golden Goddess of Courage; Farore. This sacred treasure was blessed to Link). Link has many feats; Can push large blocks made out of stone, Golden Gauntlets have been stated to “move mountains”, Link’s bombs can break large rocks, With the Golden Gauntlets, has lifted a large pillar of black stone; presumably made out of granite, Fights on par with his doppelganger (Dark Link), More than capable of dodging shots from his own Bow and Arrow, Reacts to lightning strikes from above, Has supersonic arrows, Fights evenly with evasive enemies (like Stalfos, Lizalfos, and Phantom Ganon), Survives point-blank explosions, Can survive being shocked by an electric enemy or by a magical attack from (Phantom) Ganondorf, Survives attacks from Iron Knuckle (who can destroy pillars in one swing), Can endure Ganondorf’s magical attacks, which can levitate castles, Has gone through Ganondorf's Dark Wave attack (albeit via Triforce of Courage), Has solved countless puzzles using a variety of items or by himself, Defeated all of the five bosses that prevented the Sages from awakening (Phantom Ganon, Volvagia, Morpha, Bongo Bongo, and Twinrova), Easily mastered any new item he gained on his quest, and Taught the Hero of Twilight all of the skills he was unable to teach to further descendants. However, he has few downsides; Limited Magic Use (Link can only use a finite amount of magical items at a time, which use up his Magic Meter. If it runs out, Link cannot use any magical items. However, he can restore it with a special item such as a potion), and if Link is ever allowed to be sucked in and engulfed by a Like Like for any reason, he will lose his Hylian Shield. Here is Link's personality; In spite of his troubled childhood, Link is a courageous and noble individual who never hesitates to help others, no matter how difficult it was. His role primarily revolves around adventure, courage, and the battle against evil, often in service to the goddess Hylia or the Triforce, which represents three virtues: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Link is known for being mostly silent; he rarely speaks in full sentences and instead, he communicates through grunts, gasps, yells, screams, shouts, a few short phrases, etc. These sounds convey his emotions and reactions during gameplay, often expressing determination, surprise, or exertion. Link remains largely non-verbal, and this allowing players to project their own feelings onto him. The story is that the reader is minding his/her own business, but the world suddenly warps and transforms into the land of Hyrule, before he/she starts transforming into a heroic hylian named Link. He/she then checks himself/herself (now definitely himself), even to the reflection from a nearby surface, and is shocked to find that he is now Link, even knowing that he is no longer a human (hence his long and pointy hylian ears). However, before he could worry more, his memories and personality begins changing against his will, making him hold his head, hoping to regain himself, but to no avail. He completely forgets all about his previous self and his previous life, such as a modern life in school, work, etc, as well as science, theory of evolution, and among others; in their place, he starts remembering Link's childhood, Zelda, his powers/abilities, and many more. He then realizes that he is, and always has been, the Hero of Time and his name has always been Link, which is his real true self (unlike his supposed human self/life, which never existed to begin with), being in service to the goddess Hylia (and the Triforce), and he has to save Hyrule against Ganondorf. There should be quotes from the characters (including but not limited to the reader) in this story so we know what they're saying and what they're thinking. Also, it is a POV reader story, so it should not be in an author's point of view (my, I, mine, etc), and it should be from the point of view of the reader (you, your, etc).
Response: The world around you seems to blur and twist, not unlike the pages in a storybook being forcefully turned. One moment, you are comfortably seated in your room, flipping through the latest chapter of your favorite fantasy novel, and the next, you are somewhere... else. Trees that stretch higher than skyscrapers sway in the gentle wind, and the air is thick with the scents of earth and magic. This isn't the city park you sometimes visit. This is different. This is Hyrule. Your immediate reflex is to quietly laugh it off; after all, these things don’t just happen. But the strangeness only grows. The once familiar hum of the overhead lights is replaced by distant melodies, as if carried on the zephyrs themselves. The transformation begins subtly at first. You stumble, feeling an unexpected weight shift and compress your petite frame into something leaner, yet athletic in a way that your old body might have never managed. You feel your clothes morphing, constricting at specific points, and when you look down, you see that you are now clad in an outfit straight out of a video game. A green tunic covers you, and a brown leather belt cinches tightly around your waist, the sash across your torso giving a reassuring weight, and brown gloves encase your hands. A matching green cap dangles loose but secure on your head. You touch your face, realizing the features that feel both familiar and foreign at the same time: a youthful, beardless look with slanted eyebrows that may suggest constant irritation despite any anger within you disappearing, golden-blonde hair that brushes over your now pointed ears, and intense, sky-blue eyes that glint even in the dim light. Instinct tells you to find a reflective surface. You run, or rather your legs, now slightly shorter by a few inches than they used to be, awkwardly guide you towards a nearby pond. The depiction that stares back at you makes your heart race in a confused thrumming of both disbelief and a growing horror. Your face, your voice, every part of you now reflects the hero you had only read about—Link. “I—I am...What is happening?” you think to yourself, but as your voice comes out, there are only linked gasps and grunts; your vocal cords make even less than you hope, held captive by limitations you’ve never had to face before. Frantic, you try to speak, but only manage strained whispers and a few disjointed words that vanish into nothing. Panic threatens to overwhelm you, but there is something else too. A peculiar, unwelcome intrusion that seems to gnaw at the edges of your consciousness with an insistence that is impossible to ignore. “No, no, I was...I was... Who was I?” Memories of a different life force their way in: growing up in the dense Kokiri Forest under the protective watch of the Great Deku Tree, forming unbreakable bonds of friendship with Saria, your childhood friend, and riding swiftly across the vast fields of Hyrule on Epona’s back. The faces of Princess Zelda, Goron leader Darunia, and the myriad creatures of Hyrule flash before your eyes. You grasp your head in frustration, the supposed life you once knew dismantling around you with startling speed. School? Work? Modern theories and conveniences—are reducing down to mere dreams, ephemeral and vanishing before the encroaching reality of your true past. The ache in your head subsides, and with it, the last remnant of your former self disperses. You release a determined grunt, unsheathing the Master Sword and hefting the Hylian Shield across your back. You remember everything now. You are Link, the Hero of Time, chosen by the Triforce of Courage, destined to battle the malevolent forces threatening Hyrule. Your steadfast dedication to protecting those in need guides you. Your old life—a trick played by sorcery or perhaps merely vivid imagination—is no more than an illusion, a whimsical trance to break free from. Ganon's presence returns to dominance in your thoughts, the dread king whose dark influence seeps through the lands like an unhealed wound. You cannot tarry. Purpose and destiny beckon. The melodies of the Ocarina of Time grip your soul, each note more familiar than even the echo of your own heartbeat. A rush of confidence surges through you. “Hyrule needs its hero,” your body seems to proclaim. Shaking dust from your tunic, you push ahead. Your quest to protect Hyrule and its people is the single truth that remains steadfast. From within the melody, the hero in you is reborn, forever Link.
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