They say the grass is greener on the other side, but in this case, it wasn’t.
I had just slid through my first crack in Hyrule’s Kakariko Village to enter A Link Between Worlds’s Lorule for the first time. I noticed very quickly that the bushes weren’t green in Lorule, they were purple, and the atmosphere of Thieves’ Town told me I really should’ve tried to find more Pieces of Heart before coming here.
Even though I felt like I had too few hearts in my depleted life gauge, my curiosity to explore Lorule was strong and I stepped carefully further into town. It didn’t take me long before I saw a patrolling Moblin, and it noticed me almost immediately, and I ran as fast as I could to shake it off me. There was no way I could beat it until I got stronger.
Eventually, I came to a stop. Not just because the Moblin was at a safe distance, but because I saw something that spooked me even more than the purple grass and the ruined homes: a black Cucco. We exchanged a stare for only a second before my fingers twitched, hitting the button and attacking the fowl with my sword in reflex. The Cucco started to cackle in pain and skipped and flapped its wings in panic, which caused me to panic as well.
I ran away a second time. What had I done? Would it come after me with a flock of attacking cousins now? Why wouldn’t it calm down? Those were some of the thoughts that ran through my head at the speed of lightning and I felt several feelings simultaneously.
[Source: Zeldapedia]
After what felt like several minutes, I had calmed down a bit and stood still at the edge of town to collect myself. I remember clearly that I felt mainly two things: embarrassment and remorse. Embarrassment over the fact that a harmless Cucco had managed to spook me into hitting it without thinking, and remorse that I had caused it pain.
When I was younger, I had no problem with hitting Cuccos at all; it was part of the fun after all, but this time it just felt wrong. The bird just wouldn’t calm down and I felt awful about it! Perhaps I felt bad because this Cucco lived in a kingdom where nothing looked pleasant and everything seemed to be a danger. Now, when I think back, I’m sure I was the bigger chicken of the two of us.
Lorule creeped me out and I knew I wouldn’t survive long if I wasn’t careful or if I didn’t increase my life gauge. I stepped through the town and tried to ignore the screaming Cucco as I spoke to the masked inhabitants of Lorule’s Thieves’ Town. What a relief it was, merging with the same wall I came from to slide through the crack and return to green old Hyrule.
