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Chapter Text

The figure before them could only be described as a corpse, a mummy, a demon. It was skeletal, dark, with grimy skin pulled taut over sharp bones. And its eyes… its eyes were fire and malice incarnate; they pulsed with a terrible hatred. 

“Was that the sword that seals the darkness?” the demon rasped. “A blade that shatters so easily against my power… cannot save you from me.” 

As it spoke, the figure straightened from its bent position, twitching like it hadn’t moved in eons. Once it stood upright, its glowing, fiery eyes narrowed onto Zelda. “You… are Hylians,” it mused. Zelda couldn’t look away from its mouth—the skin was pulled away, leaving the rotting teeth constantly bared. 

“I sense power within… You must be the Golden Princess,” it continued, “and you…” Its eyes shifted onto Link, who panted against the pain in his damaged arm. “You, who carried that fragile sword, must be the Hero of Legend. Your presence was prophesied eons ago… and yet, that was all you could do?”   

Neither Link or Zelda had a chance to respond before the mummy held its hands over its chest and gathered the smoke-like gloom that seeped from its chest. With a guttural roar, it raised its arms. The gloom surged upwards and violently collided with the cavern ceiling above.

Zelda could only stare in horror before the ground cracked underneath her feet. She gasped, stumbled back, and fell backward. Link jumped after her, face twisted in panic and pain, and reached out to her with his damaged arm. They just brushed fingertips before Zelda felt herself come to an abrupt stop in the air, and Link fell past her. He twisted in the air, trying to grab onto her outstretched arm, but to no avail. 

“Link!” Zelda screamed, watching in horror as Link tumbled into the depths below, swallowed by the darkness. 

*     *     *

Zelda awoke with a gasp. She surged upwards, Link’s name on her lips, only to falter. She sat in an enclosed, dome-like room, lit by a dim light. The walls were made of stone, interspersed with giant tree roots that stretched up and twisted in on one another to form a ceiling overhead. 

Chest heaving, Zelda wildly looked around the room. How did she get here? Where was Link and that demon? As she moved to stand, she felt a strange sensation in her right arm. It felt as if her right hand and forearm were slightly numb, or as if she wore an incredibly thick glove. She glanced down and froze. 

Her arm was not her own. It was a dark green, nearly black, covered in looping, golden-brown geometric markings. A thick ring circled each finger, and the nails were long and pointed. She stared at it, utterly bewildered. Fortunately, she was still in the same clothes as before, but her right glove was gone and her sleeve had been rolled up, giving her a clear view of this otherworldly arm. 

Hesitantly, she prodded it with her other hand. She felt the touch, but it was muted. “What in Hylia’s name…?” she murmured under breath. 

“Ah, you’re awake!” a voice said, sounding relieved. At the same time, the arm glowed a gentle green. 

Zelda whipped around with a start. She came face to face with an otherworldly figure. They hovered a foot or two above the floor, and a faint, green light emanated from their figure. From what Link had told her about spirits, as he had been guided by the spirit of her father after waking in the Shrine of Resurrection, then this creature before her was the same—a ghost. 

She clambered to her feet and backed away. “Who are you?” she asked. She didn’t have her torch with her any longer, but her Purah Pad was still strapped to her hip. Perhaps she had a spare weapon stored within, but that was unlikely—

“Please, calm yourself. I mean you no harm,” the spirit placated. He spoke with a gentle cadence, but an air of morose coated it. He, and Zelda only guessed that this spirit was male, placed one of his hands on his chest. “My name is Rauru. I am the source of the seal that had kept the Demon King at bay. I sensed a great power within you, so I have brought you here, to safety. ” 

Zelda’s head spun with questions. She narrowed her eyes, taking in the spirit before her. He had a protruding snout and an elongated torso. His skin, from what Zelda could tell past the green hue surrounding him, was dark. In contrast, he had a large, billowing white mane that reached his ankles. The most startling features, however, were what looked to be a third eye embedded in his forehead and two enormous pointed ears. 

Zelda’s eyes widened. “You’re a Zonai,” she breathed. This spirit… he looked like those statues that had been beneath Hyrule Castle. He was one of the Zonai, an ancient race, that were said to be as powerful as gods, and that name, Rauru… where had she heard that before? 

The Zonai, Rauru, dipped his head in confirmation. “Indeed, I am. May I know your name?” 

“I am the daughter of King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, Zelda,” Zelda replied instinctively. She was still shocked to be speaking to a Zonai of all things. 

Rauru smiled. Even with his animalistic features, it was surprisingly easy to read his expressions. “Then I was right to assume you have great power. You are the Golden Princess, are you not?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“In my time, we were given a prophecy—that as long as Hyrule stood, in every lifetime, there would always be a princess filled with a sacred power of light and a talented swordsman, a hero who would wield the sword that seals the darkness.” 

Zelda’s eyes widened. “Oh Goddess, Link!” she cried. “Where is he? Did you save him too? Did you see him?” 

“Link?” Rauru echoed. “Is that the name of your swordsman?” 

“Yes! Yes, he was beneath Hyrule Castle with me, but when the floor crumbled, he fell…” 

Regret and pity enveloped Rauru’s face. “I am sorry. When the Demon King awoke, I had yet to form as a spirit. My arm only saved you because it sensed your power. I did not sense, nor see, your hero.” 

Zelda felt like the floor gave out underneath her again. The image of Link falling, of his wide-eyed expression disappearing beneath a veil of black, appeared in her mind's eye. She brought a hand to her mouth, suddenly feeling sick. 

He had to still be alive. He had to. He had his paraglider on hand, so he would’ve survived the fall, but his arm… it had been so damaged. And even if he had managed to deploy his paraglider, where did he end up? Was he with that demon? Zelda’s face paled at the thought.

“We must return to Hyrule Castle immediately” she said, already beginning to walk past the spirit. 

Rauru placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, stopping her. Zelda jolted a little, not expecting him to be able to touch her. She was under the impression that spirits were intangible. “Do not be too hasty,” he said calmly. “If your Link is truly the hero of legend, then he will be alright.” 

Zelda wanted nothing more but to charge ahead regardless, but she forced herself to stay. She did need to find more information, after all. All of this—the demon, the prophecy, and now this Zonai—proved that there was something much greater at play. “You… you mentioned a Demon King,” she began, looking up at Rauru. “Was that the mummy you were keeping sealed?” 

“Indeed,” Rauru replied. He glanced away, and he spoke with the voice of someone carrying a great burden. “His name is Ganondorf. He was the King of the Gerudo in my time, and in his quest to rule Hyrule, he stole a Sacred Stone and became a being of terrible power. It was all I could do to seal him away.” 

“The Imprisoning War,” Zelda murmured, thinking back to the murals her and Link found beneath Hyrule Castle. Those ruins had truly been fascinating; if only they hadn’t been hiding something so sinister. A thought popped into her mind, and her eyes widened. “You’re Rauru! The first king of Hyrule!” 

She expected Rauru to smile at her or nod, but instead, a deep sorrow seemed to come over him. He looked away as if in shame as he confirmed. “I am.” 

Zelda excitement dimmed. Obviously, there was a burden tied to Rauru’s title. She casted about for another topic and settled on what Rauru had said earlier. “What… What is this Sacred Stone that the Demon King stole?” 

Rauru hesitated, still blanketed by an ashamed demeanor. “We will speak more of this later. For now, we must continue forward. I’ve brought you to the Great Sky Island.” 

“Great Sky Island?” Zelda echoed, brow furrowed. 

Rauru smiled at her, but it felt forced. “Yes. Allow me to show you, if you would…” he gestured towards an exit from the room. 

“Wait,” Zelda said. She lifted her right arm. A part of her mind revolted against the sight of it. It looked so inhuman, so alien. It couldn’t possibly be a part of her now, could it? “This was the seal, was it not? How did it…” 

“Do not worry, your arm is unharmed," Rauru said reassuringly. "I’ve merely given you access to the abilities unique of the Zonai. I have the ability to remove it and return your arm to normal at any time, but for now, it would be best if you utilized my arm’s full potential.” 

“Right…” Zelda murmured, staring at her new arm. She experimentally curled her fingers into a fist before relaxing them. That strange, numb sensation was still there, like she was wearing a glove. If what Rauru said was to be believed, it was no wonder that the feeling in her arm was now muted. A magical, full-arm glove was what it was, essentially. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I’m just… overwhelmed.” 

“That is nothing to be ashamed of,” Rauru assured her. That made her feel a little bit better, at least. 

At Rauru’s request, she continued on and stepped through a passageway into a large room. On one wall sat two, giant gears, and directly in front of her, on the ground, was a standing circle of stone. It was shaped into that of two dragons circling one another, forever chasing the end of the other. Zonai script had been carved into the sides.

As she neared the circle, green energy filled in the open middle. Hundreds of thin, green strings of light formed into the shape of a hand, much like her new Zonai hand. Instinctively, Zelda pulled out of the Purah Pad and snapped a picture. 

“You’re not familiar with Zonai technology, are you,” Rauru mused, amusement coloring his tone. 

Zelda’s face heated as she sheepishly clipped the pad back into its holster on her hip. “We only have ruins and legends from your people. I never imagined… any of this.” She gestured to the green light and the massive gears with her Zonai arm. When her hand brushed closer to the hand insignia, it suddenly shattered into tiny strands of light that fluttered outward and faded into the air. At the same time, the two, giant gears on the wall shuttered and groaned into motion. 

Zelda jumped, startled, and she shot a look at Rauru. “You could’ve warned me that would happen,” she said with an air of teasing. 

“Of course,” Rauru chuckled. Zelda’s smile faltered. Even with a laugh, Rauru still sounded subdued. Somber. 

On the opposite end of the room, a door had now opened. Rauru followed her, hovering a few inches above the ground, as she hesitantly walked through the open doorway and down a narrow corridor. It was a little unnerving, being tailed by a spirit, but Zelda was comforted by his presence nonetheless. It reminded her of what felt like so long ago, when Link had been the one constantly following her, stoic in his silence. So much had changed since then. 

Please be alright, Link , she thought, sending a silent prayer to the Goddess. Wherever you are. 

*     *     *

Link awoke in pain. Groggily, he opened his eyes into slits and winced when his head throbbed in protest. He felt like he’d just fought three Lynels at once. His body hadn’t ached this bad since after his battle with the Calamity, and that was definitely not a time he would like to remember right now. 

With a hiss of pain, he slowly sat up and forced his eyes open. It was dark, wherever he was. The cold of the stone beneath him seeped past his trousers and chilled his legs. A few paces away, something faintly glowed—a weak heartbeat against the suffocating darkness. It illuminated tiny particles of dust that hovered in the still air. He couldn’t tell what the light came from due to the way his vision blurred. Great Goddess above, what happened? 

As if on cue, the day's events surged to the forefront of his mind—exploring beneath Hyrule Castle, investigating the gloom that had been polluting the air, discovering those murals, stumbling upon that… thing , the ground caving in… Zelda had fallen, he had jumped after her, but something had caught her, leaving him to plummet below. 

He remembered just managing to deploy his paraglider only to black out from a sudden, searing pain that had come from the pull of the paraglider. He must’ve fallen a pretty great height, then. That would certainly explain why he felt so awful. That, and… 

He looked down at his right arm. Sure enough, it looked just as damaged as it had been after the demon’s attack. It looked like he had stuck it straight into a bonfire; his skin—which was uncovered, seeing as his sleeve had been burnt away up to his shoulder—was completely black and gray, and in the darkness, Link could see a faint, red light pulsing from just underneath his skin. It seemed that the gloom that had attacked him had seeped into him. 

His stomach twisted. When the demon attacked, sending those writhing tendrils of gloom at him and Zelda, he hadn’t thought twice. He’d jumped in front of her, deflecting the first attack with the Master Sword. He hadn’t expected a stray tendril to envelop the sword. It had clawed its way up the blade, over the hilt, and up his arm. It had felt like living fire digging talons into his flesh as it climbed his skin. 

With a morbid curiosity, Link hesitantly reached out with his opposite hand and gently poked at the damaged skin. The touch sent shockwaves of sharp pain ricocheting up his arm—not as intense as the initial attack had been, but nearly so. He gasped and gritted his teeth to keep from crying out, silently vowing to never do that again. 

With his undamaged arm, he immediately stuck his hand into his Korok-enchanted pack that hung on his hip and summoned one of his hearty elixirs that rested inside. He always kept a stash of elixirs, food, and water, after all, and he had packed extra before he and Zelda had set off beneath Hyrule Castle. 

Once he felt the cool glass of the bottle in his hand, he pulled it out and frantically chugged the red liquid. As the sickly-sweet taste slipped down his throat, the aching of his body seeped away. However, the constant throbbing in his arm remained. Then, as the elixir settled, the barely-there red glow of his arm flared, and the pain intensified. 

Link gasped and dropped the bottle, barely registering the sound of shattering glass once it fell onto the stone. His arm burned . It felt like the initial attack from the demon. It felt like whenever he had touched the malice from Calamity Ganon. But it was worse . Instead of just an acid-like burn, this pain was inside of him. It tore and ripped at his muscles, his bones, twisting his very nerves, congealing his very blood. 

It was all-consuming, overwhelming. He keeled over, cradling his arm close to his chest, but the more he moved it, the more it hurt. The more it spread . On instinct alone, his head snapped to that faint, white glow just a few feet away. Something about it called to him. It felt familiar. 

In desperation, he scrambled towards it as best he could. As he neared, he saw that the source of the glow was a small gem. Without a second thought, he snatched it. Almost instantly, the red glow disappeared, and the searing pain in his arm faded. It felt like pure bliss. He sagged in relief, taking deep breaths as he collected himself.

With the gem in hand, the pain had been reduced to a dull ache. It felt like whenever he had pulled a muscle or had pushed himself too hard. He looked down at the glowing stone in his hand. Now that he wasn’t blinded by pain he realized that it was the same, strange stone that had fallen off of that disembodied green hand. Just before the demon had awoken, he had picked it up. The moment the demon spoke to them, he had forgotten about it; he might’ve even dropped it, and when the floor caved in, it had tumbled down with him. 

Its coloring was mostly white, but there were other colors swirling within it as well. It reminded him of an opal, in that regard. It was in the shape of a tear, or a comma, and it fit comfortably in the palm of his hand. Even as he held it, he could feel something within it thrumming. It felt alive, almost. Whatever this thing was, it was powerful, and it was apparently keeping the gloom in Link’s arm at bay. 

Before this, he and Zelda had only encountered the smoke-like form of gloom. For several weeks now, it had seeped out of the ground, primarily from Hyrule Castle. It had halted all progress on rebuilding Castle Town, and Lookout Landing—the fort they had constructed as Castle Town was rebuilt—became a research station. With the help of Purah and Robbie, they discovered that the substance making those it came into contact with sick was a more dangerous, more toxic form of malice. They had been calling it gloom. 

But now, it seemed like it could be concentrated into a liquid-esque form, and it could be weaponized. 

Some gloom had gotten inside of him, and this glowing stone, filled with a magic that felt so familiar, was probably keeping it from killing him. He had better hold onto it, then. He curled his fingers around it and climbed to his feet. He let his damaged arm hang limply. He wasn’t about to try touching or moving it again for a while.

He turned around in a slow circle and took in his surroundings. It was too dark to see much, but he could definitely tell that he was underground. He held up the glowing stone like a torch and squinted, trying to see more. 

Off to his left, he spotted his paraglider. So he did manage to deploy it at some point, then. He hurried over to it and grimaced when he saw the state it was in. One of its handles was snapped in half, probably from when it had fallen with him. 

After carefully transferring the stone to his right hand to free his undamaged arm, he picked it up, and folded it up as best as he could before shoving it into his pack. Thanks to the Korok magic, the paraglider shrunk so that it could fit before disappearing within the pack. Hopefully he’d be able to repair it soon. 

Slowly, he explored further. Rubble and debris littered the floor. If he found his paraglider down here, then the Master Sword must be near, right? A lump formed in his throat at the thought of that sacred sword. Against that demon’s power, it had shattered like glass. He didn’t know what had happened to it after that—the pain in his arm had been overwhelming—but he did vaguely remember a faint, blue light briefly emanating from the ground. 

He searched. He came to the wall of the cavern and followed it, making sure he scoured every inch of the area, but he didn’t find even a piece of the Master Sword. It must have disappeared in that faint flash of light. Even so, the sword was lost. Shame curdled in his stomach at the thought. 

He couldn’t stay here. The sword might be gone, but he could still be of use. He managed to swallow before forcing himself to continue navigating along the perimeter of the cavern, following the wall, until he found an opening in the rock. It was small but just big enough for him to crawl through. He glanced down at his ravaged arm. He needed to secure it somehow, or else this would be very painful. 

He thought back, trying to remember what he had stored in his pack besides elixir and water. He believed he had a blanket, rolled up mat, a knife, and a rope. Well, a blanket and rope would have to do for a makeshift sling. 

Without thinking, he set the glowing stone down onto a nearby boulder to free up his hand so that he could dig out the materials, but the moment he let go, the pain in his arm tripled. A choked cry leapt from his throat, and he frantically grabbed onto the stone again. The pain receded. 

Change of plans. Before securing his arm, he needed to secure this stone. He shuddered at the thought of losing it. 

He sat down and hesitantly placed the stone on his thigh. His hand hovered over it, ready to grab it again, but it seemed that if the stone was touching him, even with clothes, then he was fine. That was good. 

After fishing out a length of rope from his pack, he got to work. He used his knife to cut off a portion of it, which he then unbraided. With the three, separate, thin strands that had made up the rope, he fashioned a makeshift necklace with the stone at the center. It was, in all honesty, crude and ugly, but he did the best he could with only one hand. 

He looped it over his head to rest around his neck. The stone found its place against his chest, silently humming with familiar, comforting power. His brow furrowed. Why did it feel so familiar? 

As he began working on creating a makeshift sling, he let his thoughts wander. This stone, whatever it was, contained a great power, one that could seemingly repel gloom. So then, wouldn’t it be the same as Zelda’s sacred power? The power to repel evil? 

Oh. Wait. That was exactly what this was. That was why it felt so familiar. He had felt this same, warm, enveloping power before—many times. He had felt it when Zelda prodded him awake from his hundred year slumber, and he felt it whenever Zelda had spoken to him during his lonesome journey. But he had felt it the most potently when he had fought Dark Beast Ganon with Zelda and had witnessed her finally eradicate that evil for good.

Well… if the demon from beneath Hyrule Castle wielded the same darkness as the Calamity, then it seemed they hadn’t truly defeated the evil that lurked in the land of Hyrule. The thought made Link feel sick. 

Shaking his head, he focused on his crafting, and after much trial and error, he finally managed to secure his damaged arm against his chest with a makeshift sling. After slipping the spare materials back into his pack, he climbed to his feet and set his sight on that narrow tunnel. 

The Master Sword was gone. A demon with a darkness powerful enough to overcome the sacred blade was free to roam Hyrule. He didn’t know what had happened to Zelda. As he had fallen, he had caught sight of a flash of white light enveloping her. He could only hope that was her power activating to teleport her to safety. He didn’t want to think of the alternative.

A familiar burden settled onto Link’s shoulders. Hyrule was once again in mortal danger. Several years had passed since the Calamity, but now, it felt as if those years had been mere seconds. Down here, in this dark, dusty cavern, with a useless arm and a mysterious stone brimming with sacred power, it was almost like he was right back in the Shrine of Resurrection. For a moment, he paused, waiting for Zelda’s voice to emanate from the very air, or perhaps from the stone resting on his chest. 

But no voice came. He was alone. 

He shook his head. He couldn’t dwell here. So with the weight of Hyrule and her people bearing on his shoulders, Link forced himself into the opening in the rock, and crawled his way towards a greater unknown. 

He could only hope and pray that Zelda, Purah, and all the others were somehow okay.

Chapter Text

Zelda couldn’t believe her eyes. The Great Sky Island was, in fact, a giant colony of islands floating in the sky. Floating . In the sky . There weren’t any signs of technology, Sheikah or Zonai. The islands looked completely natural. The only explanation as to how they hovered above the sea of clouds was magic. 

The sky islands themselves were gorgeous; the entirety of the flora, including the grass, trees, and bushes, were all a bright, golden color. Small, blue wildflowers dotted the grass, a nice, natural contrast of color. Plenty of ruins populated the islands. They consisted of ancient stone structures that had the same stonework as the room Zelda had woken up in. 

Rauru explained to her that these islands once housed a part of the great, ancient civilization of the Zonai before they had descended to the surface to settle Hyrule. As Zelda traveled along the islands, she couldn’t help but wonder how the Zonai had ever wanted to leave. This place seemed otherworldly. 

“Your people founded Hyrule?” she asked, veering off of the path that Rauru had been leading her on to closely inspect some of the ruins. 

“Yes,” Rauru answered. “I would have thought you knew that already, seeing as you know about the Imprisoning War.” 

“Oh, of course, I merely ask to have it confirmed,” Zelda replied distractedly. Some Zonai script had been carved into the stonework, which she snapped a picture of with the Purah Pad. “And I don’t really know about the Imprisoning War. I’ve only read about it, and… well, there isn’t much information on it at all.”

Rauru patiently waited for her until she returned to the path, and they continued on. Zelda began to ramble. “Beneath Hyrule Castle, Link and I, we found these murals that depicted the Imprisoning War, and your people, the Zonai. It really was quite remarkable to see those ancient ruins fully intact, and just beneath the Castle, no less!” 

Her excitement sobered as she thought about Link. It wouldn’t do well to continue to fret over his safety, but she couldn’t help but worry. He’d been directly attacked by that demon’s power, and he had looked like he had been in so much pain… 

A sudden, dull tolling sounded out across the island. Zelda startled, head whipping about. “What—what is that?” she stuttered. It sounded almost like a bell, but much louder. It had a certain tone to it that she had never heard before, something almost soft but hollow. 

“Ah, that is the Temple of Time,” Rauru explained. Zelda hesitantly resumed walking along the gray stone path that winded through the golden grass as he continued. “That bell was once used in rites rituals, as well as the temple itself. Now, the bell tolls once in the morning and once in the evening.” 

The sky was bright and filled with light, so it was certainly morning. “The Temple of Time?” she repeated, glancing at Rauru. Was it an ancient variant to the Temple of Time on the Great plateau?

Rauru nodded. “You will see it in a moment.” 

They continued along the path before they came to a set of stairs. Once Zelda climbed them, Rauru floating beside her, she stepped up to a ledge of one of the sky islands. Before her, in the near distance, was a great structure that could only be the temple. 

It was shaped in quite a peculiar way. Its top was the biggest, and it narrowed towards the bottom, defying gravity and all logic. It looked to be made of three separate levels connected by pillars, almost like a very large accordion. Even with its strange shape, Zelda had to admit that it was beautiful. Its light, gray stone glistened in the morning sun, and its complex design was a treat for the eyes. She captured its image with the Purah Pad. 

“That there is the Temple of Time,” Rauru said. He glanced to the side, and a soft smile appeared on his face. “And that is a Steward Construct.” 

Zelda followed his line of sight. “What’s a—Great Hylia!” A wide, green face leaned in close to her, and she stumbled away from it. The creature before her looked to be an automation of some kind, made of a green, stone-like material. It had a cylindrical body and a long, thin neck. At the top of the neck sat a wide head, where two lotus flower bud-esque lights acted like ears and a single, orange eye peered at her. 

“Greetings,” it said. Its voice sounded robotic. Zelda imagined that the guardians and Divine Beasts would’ve sounded like it if they had been able to talk. 

“It spoke!” Zelda gasped. 

Rauru nodded with another quiet chuckle. “Yes. We crafted these constructs long ago to complete certain tasks. There are many different kinds, but this here is a Steward, the most common. It was made to be a sort of guide.” 

“Incredible!” Zelda exclaimed. She snapped a picture of it before stepping closer, carefully running a hand over the top of its head. The construct didn’t seem to mind—in fact, it leaned down to give her better access. Zelda let out a breathless laugh. “It’s as if it has a mind of its own,” she said excitedly. The Divine Beasts and Guardians had shown an artificial intelligence as well, but it had been limited. The Guardians could sense when danger was near to attack accordingly. The Divine Beasts needed Champions to pilot them. This construct seemed to be able to adapt and think on its own. 

“Yes well, the Stewards were made to be friendly,” Rauru explained. “You will find many of them. Unfortunately, you will also find Soldier Constructs, who will be… less friendly.” 

Zelda pulled away from the Steward to give Rauru a questioning glance. 

“Soldier Constructs are tasked with protecting the sky islands,” the Zonai continued. “Since they are programmed to attack all trespassers, they will target you as well.” 

Zelda frowned. While she had had Link teach her the ways of the sword after the Calamity, she wasn’t nearly as experienced with the blade as she would’ve liked, nor as strong. Hopefully, these Soldier Constructs wouldn’t put up too much of a fight. 

“I’ll be fine,” she said. Whether she was telling Rauru that or herself, she didn’t particularly know. 

It took the better part of the day to finally reach the Temple of Time, even with Rauru’s guidance. The Great Sky Island, which was really a collection of islands clustered together, was huge, and Zelda had discovered that navigating it wasn’t very fun. She had to jump off of ledges into ponds and lakes multiple times. By the time she made it to the temple, she was completely soaked and exhausted. 

During her journey, she had encountered a few of those Soldier Constructs. At first, they had given her quite the scare, but she’d managed to fend them off with spare wooden weapons she had found scattered around the islands. After fighting off multiple, she found herself more impressed with the little robots rather than intimidated. She wanted to spend the rest of the day dissecting them and studying what made them work, but she had to restrain herself.

Now, she had finally arrived at the entrance to the Temple of Time. Two, great, stone doors sealed the entrance. A large, green circle framed in gold had been carved into the stone of the doors. As she grew close to it, that same green energy with the design of a hand appeared. Confidently, Zelda reached out her changed arm, but the moment she touched the energy, it shocked her. She yelped and jumped away. The green energy had turned red, and an x-symbol now covered the hand design. 

“Hylia above!” she cursed under her breath. She had gotten shocked plenty of times while dismantling the Guardians and Divine Beasts after the Calamity. She certainly hadn’t missed the feeling. 

“Strange… that arm should allow you entry,” Rauru murmured beside her. He hummed thoughtfully, hand at his chin. “It seems to have lost the power to do so. You might be able to restore it, but you would need… ah, of course!” He brightened. “Why not visit the shrines on this island?” 

Zelda internally sighed. At this point, even with how beautiful these islands were, she wanted nothing more but to get back to Hyrule. She needed to tell Purah what had happened beneath the castle, but most of all… she needed to find Link. 

“Shrines?” she echoed, following Rauru’s line of sight. Her initial thoughts were of the Sheikah Shrines, but those had sunk back into the ground—along with the Sheikah Towers—after the Calamity had been vanquished. When she spotted what Rauru was pointing at, however, she saw that the shrines he spoke of were nothing like the Sheikah Shrines. 

These shrines were rather simple in design, in comparison. It was a plain, rounded stone, circled by twin dragon-like stone statues, whose faces pointed at what Zelda guessed was the entrance. At the top of the structure, a spiral of green energy perpetually twisted in the air. It looked just like the seal that had contained the Demon King. 

“The shrines… Yes, I am sure they are the key,” Rauru said, drawing Zelda out of her head. “Before the Imprisoning War, I stored one of my abilities within each one. Those abilities will be necessary for your travels, and once you have collected them all, the arm should be fully restored.” 

“I’ll take your word for it,” Zelda said. She took note of the sky. It wasn’t quite evening yet; if she hurried, she’d be able to get to the shrine that Rauru pointed out before nightfall. 

She began the trek towards the first shrine. This shouldn’t be too difficult right? Link had conquered countless shrines during the Calamity to regain his strength. How hard could just a few be?

*     *     *

Link gritted his teeth as he squeezed himself through the narrow cave. It was basically a glorified crack in the stone, and it had only gotten tighter the further he had traveled. His damaged arm ached due to it having rubbed and scratched against the rough rock. 

It felt like he had been crawling his way through this cursed cave for hours, and to make matters worse, it was still completely dark. The only light he had came from the faintly glowing stone that hung around his neck on his shabby rope necklace. 

However, as if Goddess Hylia herself smiled down upon him, Link suddenly met open air. He yelped as his hand, instead of touching stone, met nothing but air. He fell forward and curled in on himself just in time so that he landed on his back instead of his head. 

He wasn’t in the crack anymore, and now he… had no idea where he was. It remained pitch black, and the stone around his neck did practically nothing to dispel the thick darkness. Heaving a sigh, he pushed himself to his feet and turned in a slow circle. 

There! In the distance, something glowed a faint orange. It looked like a… ball? Orb? It was quite large, and there looked to be branches or roots obscuring parts of it. It was lifted off of the ground as well, and underneath it hung some of that green energy he had seen spiraling above the demon before it had woken up. 

He began to make his way towards it. He quickly grew annoyed; traversing new terrain in complete darkness was tedious, but finally, after what felt like ages, he came to the orange orb. Hesitantly, he stepped underneath it to stand directly below the green energy. Now that he was close to it, he could see that the energy was shaped into that of a hand print.

Hesitantly, he raised his left hand towards the green energy, but his hand merely phased through the light. Nothing happened. 

That is, until he noticed that the stone around his neck was glowing brighter than normal. He took hold of the stone, pulled the necklace off, and lifted the stone up to the energy. Right when the stone touched it, the energy burst outwards before fading away. At the same time, a burst of golden light flew upwards through the orange ball and up a long, single root that stretched high above. From the orange orb, another pulse of that same light erupted in a brilliant shockwave. The light, while not blinding, shoved the darkness away to reveal his surroundings.

Link stared, gaping. For a moment, he was convinced he was dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or perhaps he had been transported into a different world. 

The place he now found himself in could only be described as alien. The ground was barren, covered in thin patches of pale blue grass. Scattered about were loose groves of dead trees crowned not by leaves but by large feathers. Giant mushroom-like plants that reminded him of Hyrule Ridge stood amongst the trees, accompanied by towering, feather-like plants that curled into a spiral at the tip. 

What really caught his eye, however, was the thin, malice-like substance that covered the ground in patches. Gloom, his mind supplied, though it wasn’t a fog anymore. Just like it had been with that demon, this gloom was concentrated, and it shimmered a dangerous red color. Vowing to never go near the stuff, Link hesitantly ventured away from the light-giving plant, slipping his stone-necklace back on as he went. 

Judging by the darkness, and the towering cave walls from behind, it looked like he was deep, deep underground. But this was more then just tunnels and caves. This was practically another world! 

His wonder quickly turned sour. Here he was, somewhere unfamiliar, alone, with an injured and infected arm. He was fortunate enough to be ambidextrous, though not by birth. He had learned to fight with both hands, but being down one arm was still going to be a problem. He wasn’t going to be able to use a shield or a bow, and there was no telling what sorts of monstrous creatures lurked down here. 

And there was the issue with the disappearance of both Zelda and the Master Sword. He sighed. Before, everything had been going so well. Slowly but surely, Hyrule had been recovering. They had dismantled the Guardians and Divine Beasts and repurposed parts of the ancient machinery to aid all of the regions. 

He and Zelda had been recovering as well. After the Calamity, he still didn’t have all of his memories. It took several years before those blank spots in his mind were filled, but even then he still had some gaps. Zelda struggled to tend to her body. She had spent one hundred years trapped in stasis with Calamity Ganon; it had taken her months to adjust to reality and time. 

A low growling, grumbling noise, accompanied by low thumbs, drew Link out of his thoughts, and he froze. His left hand immediately dove into his pack, and he summoned one of his spare broadswords. He pulled it out, relieved to have a weapon back in his hand, only to falter at the state of it. 

The weapon was… decayed . The usual shining, gray blade was now mottled with black rust, and it looked like it had dulled considerably. Had this happened when the demon attacked him? With a frantic edge, he dropped the sword and fished out another blade, only to see that it had met the same fate. 

The low growling noise sounded again, and he hastily drew back. He ducked behind one of the dead-looking trees. He peeked around the edge of the trunk, squinting to see past the thick darkness in the distance. In the distance, he could just make out a large, lumbering figure, and when it moved, those mighty, rhythmic thumps registered as footsteps. 

His first thought was that this was a Hinox, but as he continued to stare, he realized that it looked more like a… frog? Slug? A giant, lumpy frog-slug that had, fortunately, not noticed him yet. 

Just what was this place? Link glanced down at the decayed weapon in his hand, then back to the giant frog that shambled around mindlessly. If his past adventures were anything to go by, something giant usually wasn’t friendly, and a measly, rusted sword wasn’t going to do anything against that thing. 

So, stealth it was. Slipping the rusted sword back in his pack, he set out from his cover. He made sure to keep a wide, wide berth around the frog, careful to sidestep patches of gloom, many of which coated enough ground to force him to walk all the way around. 

After a while, darkness reclaimed the frog as enough distance grew between them, and he breathed a sigh of relief. However, with how far away he was now from the light plant, the darkness had grown thick again. He slowed his steps. The gloom patches faintly glowed, thankfully, so he could avoid them easily enough, but the terrain down here was uneven, and the flora was sporadic. He would have to walk slowly lest he fall into a stray pit or walk face-first into a giant mushroom. 

He had only been down here for a day, at least, and he already had a strong hatred for this place.

Chapter Text

After three long, grueling days, Zelda returned to the Temple of Time absolutely exhausted. She didn’t know how Link had survived traversing Hyrule during the Calamity, entering and completely shrines willy-nilly, and as she clambered her way up the broken path towards the temple, she grew a newfound respect and sympathy for the swordsman. 

She had managed to complete all of the shrines on the island—which happened to be three—with Rauru’s guidance. 

And ‘guidance’ was the best word for it, really. Throughout the past three days, the Zonai had remained closed off, in a way. There was a distance between them. Sure, he would hold a conversation and make the occasional comment—Zelda had even gotten him to chuckle a few more times—but it was all with the air of professionalism. 

Along with that, he hadn’t been with her the entire time. As he had explained to her, he needed to rest often, as appearing before her took a lot of energy. He had assured her that Zelda could call for him at any time if she needed him, but Zelda rarely did. That only strengthened the gap between them. 

Each of the shrines had contained a new ability, just as Rauru had said. Out of the three abilities, Ultrahand was Zelda’s favorite by far. She had spent many hours fiddling with it by building bridges, makeshift vehicles, and mechanisms, or even just waving items around above her head with glee. Fuse was also rather fun, as well as handy, and while Ascend was just as useful, it had taken her a while to get used to the feeling of phasing through solid rock. 

Another aspect that made Ultrahand so fun, however, were the machines she was able to create thanks to the scattered Zonai devices. Some Steward Constructs had explained these devices to her, and she had spent hours messing with them, absolutely fascinated. 

With a grunt, Zelda heaved herself up onto the stone ground that the temple rested on. Her body ached, but she forced herself to carry on. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and the sun cheerily beamed down on her. 

As she neared the door, Rauru appeared at her side. “The door should open for you now,” he said, hovering along beside her. 

“It better,” Zelda grumbled under her breath. 

“Zelda, at some point, you will need to rest,” the spirit said. He sounded worried. “I’ve been watching you during these past three days, and you’ve barely allowed yourself to sleep or eat. You are running yourself ragged.” 

Zelda shook her head. “I can’t afford to waste time,” she replied, “but thank you for your concern. I will rest once I’ve found Link.” 

Before Rauru could reply, Zelda lifted her right arm and touched the green energy. To her immense relief, it did not shock her again. Rather, it shattered and faded away. With a massive rumble, the doors swung inward to reveal the interior of the temple. 

Zelda stepped inside, followed by Rauru. She was in a rather sizable room. Stone pillars lined the walls. Intricate designs had been carved into the bases and tops of each of the pillars, and the ceiling looked to have had that same amount of care poured into its making. It was obvious that this place had been of incredible importance to those in Rauru’s era. 

Before her, two, curved staircases led up to a doorway to the next room. In between the stairs, a small, circular altar jutted out of the smooth floor. It looked misplaced, as nothing rested on it. Zelda wondered at its purpose as she started for the stairs. Rauru didn’t follow her. She paused and glanced back, one foot on the stairs. 

Rauru’s eyes were trained on the altar. It was almost as if Zelda could see the sadness weighing him down. His shoulders had slumped, and his head was bowed slightly. “Rauru?” Zelda called hesitantly, taking a few steps towards him. “Is everything alright?” 

He didn’t look away from the altar. When he spoke, his voice was dim. “I have not been entirely transparent with you, Zelda.” 

Dread coiled in Zelda’s stomach. Compared to the way Rauru acted during the last three days, this felt different. Important. “What is it? What is that altar for?” 

“It is meant to hold the Sage of Time’s Sacred Stone,” he murmured. He drifted to the altar and placed a gentle hand upon it. The gesture reminded Zelda how one would give their last goodbye at a funeral before the coffin was lowered into the ground. 

That dread within Zelda worsened as her first conversation with Rauru echoed in her mind. “That was the stone that the Demon King stole.” 

A long breath stretched between them, until finally, he murmured a solemn, “...yes.” 

Zelda’s eyes trailed to the empty altar. “What… What happened to the sage?” 

On the altar, Rauru’s fingers curled into a fist. “She was killed.” 

It was clear in her mind, now. The Demon King had killed the sage and stolen her stone, and based on Rauru’s composure, he must have been close with her. It didn’t entirely explain his closed-off nature, but there were implications. She bowed her head. “I’m sorry.” 

“You do not need to apologize,” he replied. “It was my fault.” 

Zelda wanted to refute that, but she held her tongue. She now knew the story, but she didn’t know the details. Before she could say anything, however, Rauru pulled away from the altar, breaking the air of mourning. “Let us continue,” he said and, well, Zelda had no choice but to follow. She wouldn’t force him to tell her everything, not when it so obviously pained him so. 

Still, her eyes lingered on that empty altar as she slowly climbed the stairs. 

The next room was just as grand as the last. It only contained a single Goddess Statue, which stood in the center, and behind it, two large doors stood, much like the doors at the entrance to the temple. 

Upon the sight of the statue, of that soft, serene face of the goddess, an echo of her bitter resentment from before the Calamity welled up within her. She hastily shoved it down. “You worshiped the Goddess Hylia in your time,” she noted, if only to further distance her and Rauru from that empty altar in the previous room. 

Rauru hummed as he came up beside her. “The Goddess is timeless, as is the golden power within you.” 

Hearing those words, Zelda couldn’t bear to look into the gentle face of the goddess. After the Calamity had been eradicated, her power had slowly faded away. She knew it was still within her, she knew it intrinsically, but she couldn’t call on it. She hadn’t even been able to heal or soothe those who had fallen ill from the gloom. 

Thankfully, Rauru didn’t dwell on the statue, and instead moved around it to approach the doors. “Here we are,” he said. Carved into the doors, two dragons curved into a circle, mimicking the designs from the shrines. “This leads to the outside,” Rauru explained. 

Zelda’s heart leaped at that. At face-level, in between the circling dragons, two indents of handprints beckoned her. Instinctively, she placed her hands on the respective prints, feeling a thrum of excitement when the prints began to glow a pleasant green. 

For a moment, the doors didn’t budge. Zelda’s heart skipped as she pushed against the stone with all of her might, and eventually, with a loud rumble and a burst of dust, the doors slowly swung open. She stumbled as they went, not expecting the change, but recovered quickly. 

Before her, the outside was revealed, lit by the afternoon sun. A long path stretched out with a gazebo-like structure at the end. Eagerly, she set out. The path wasn’t a set bridge, however, and she had to use Ascend multiple times to get across. Rauru vanished into her arm to recover his energy, and after a while, Zelda made it across. 

Past the gazebo, there was a large, circular platform with a single altar within the middle. The sight of it reminded Zelda of the previous one, and she purposely avoided it in favor of walking up to the edge of the platform. Without any trees or structures obscuring her vision, she got her first, clear look of Hyrule. The sight of it all stole her breath away. 

It was her Hyrule, but there were aspects of it that were unfamiliar. To start, there were now multiple islands floating within the sky, peppering the horizon all across the land. It seemed that the Demon King had somehow brought the ancient past to the present, or perhaps these sky islands had always been there, just out of sight past the clouds. 

That wasn’t all. Above the Hebra region a giant storm cloud swirled and thundered. To her right, within the Eldin region, gloom spewed from Death Mountain, which had long gone dormant after the Calamity. Within Lanayru, globs of something thick and viscous fell down from the sky islands above into Zora’s Domain. To her far left, a massive sandstorm cloaked the desert, hiding Gerudo Town from view. 

In the distance, she spotted a dragon snaking across the sky. It drifted near Mount Lanayru—it was the dragon Naydra, then, one of the three spirits said to be tasked by the Goddess herself to protect one of the three springs. She watched it for a moment. From how high she was, and with the distance separating them, Naydra looked… small . 

Her eyes drifted to Hyrule Castle, and her heart plummeted to her stomach. The entire structure had been raised above the ground, now balanced on a pillar of unnatural stone. Surrounding it, tendrils of thick, fog-like gloom swirled and twisted. It looked just like when the Calamity had control of the castle. Zelda’s hands went numb. 

It wasn’t natural—the way she had battled and survived for one hundred years. Even she did not fully understand how it had happened. Her power had been the cause of it. It had placed her and the Calamity in a stasis, one that constantly drained her will. 

She did not remember the entirety of that century. In that stasis, she had drifted in and out of consciousness. It had been a small mercy. She couldn’t imagine having been aware for all of that time. But in those moments when she was awake—especially after Link had awoken, as she needed to watch over him—she became acutely aware of the state of her body. 

She couldn’t feel it. She couldn’t feel anything. The only sensation she had was that slow, consistent drain on her soul, her very being. It was nigh impossible to describe, and she couldn’t find anything to compare it to, but it had been exhausting. Stifling. Numbing. 

And now, Hyrule was once again in peril. Once again, a great evil had wreaked havoc on the four regions and had seized control of the castle. 

How could this have happened? Was the Calamity not enough? Did the goddess deem it necessary for them to suffer even more? 

She dug her nails into her palms, trying to disrupt her line of thought. It felt horribly reminiscent of her mindset from before the Calamity, and she would do anything to not return to that state of insecurity and bitterness. She had grown . She was better now. 

Wasn’t she?

“Are you alright, Zelda?” Rauru asked, appearing beside her. 

She didn’t startle; she was used to the spirit abruptly appearing now. “Look at all of this. It’s not fair,” she said, gesturing at the disarray of Hyrule. She felt childish, but she couldn’t keep the words from tumbling out of her mouth. “Everything… everything was supposed to be okay after the Calamity.” 

Rauru was quiet for a moment. “It is not your fault,” he murmured. “I know what you must be thinking. It is a king’s duty to bear the weight of the kingdom, just as it is for a princess. When tragedy befalls, we often blame ourselves, do we not?”

“I can hardly call myself a princess anymore,” Zelda muttered. “The castle, the throne, the royal family… they are all but lost now.”

“Nonetheless, if it is anyone’s fault for the Demon King’s return, it is mine.”

Zelda’s gaze snapped up to Rauru, startled. He refused to meet her eyes, much like how he had in the Temple of Time. “The seal I created to imprison the Demon King was bound to weaken eventually,” he stated. Then, he inhaled deeply, as if to prepare himself, and met Zelda’s gaze. “Zelda, allow me to explain the events of my era. I believe it is time you received a full, proper explanation.” 

Zelda wasn’t about to argue with that. Nodding, she closed her mouth and listened as the ancient king began his tale. 

He told her about the fledgling Kingdom of Hyrule and of Ganondorf’s attempts to seize control. At first, he used brute force, but his might could not amount to that of Hyrule and their Sacred Stones, which, Rauru explained, greatly amplify one's abilities. 

Because of this, the Gerudo King tried a different approach. “It was my own hubris that gave Ganondorf the opportunity he needed,” Rauru explained. “Ganondorf pledged allegiance to my kingdom, and although I knew of his evil nature, I accepted. I wanted to keep him close to monitor him. I thought myself powerful enough, clever enough, to protect my kingdom from him. But I… I failed.” 

“The Sage of Time?” Zelda guessed quietly.

Rauru’s eyes closed for a moment as if to collect himself. “Queen Sonia.” 

Zelda’s heart sank. If she was queen, then… “She was your…?” 

His voice wavered. “She was very dear to me.” 

Now Zelda could identify the burden on Rauru’s shoulders. It was grief. Grief and guilt. Such emotion was familiar to her. She had felt it when Hyrule crumbled before the Calamity, when Link went limp in her arms, and when she had realized that her last words to her father had been spoken in bitterness. 

“Rauru,” she began carefully, “you… you do not need to speak of this now. I understand that you—”

“No,” he interrupted. “It is alright.” He took another breath, and Zelda kept quiet. She understood his grief, and so she understood the need to expel everything at once, lest it nag and prod incessantly. 

“As the Sage of Time, Sonia held a Sacred Stone. As you well know, Ganondorf stole it from her. A Sacred Stone is intrinsically tied to the spirits of the sages, but with his demonic nature, he corrupted it. With its power, he ravaged my kingdom. The war that ensued seemed endless. It was at that time when I gathered the rest of the sages from their respective regions. I granted each of them a Sacred Stone, and together, we faced the Demon King.

“...However, even all of our combined strength wasn’t enough. I knew then that my only option was to seal Ganondorf away—to keep his power at bay. That is why you know it as the Imprisoning War. But there is one last thing you should know. I have told you of the prophecy we were given in my era.” He paused. “I… I knew that if I sealed Ganondorf, eventually, a Golden Princess and a Hero with a sacred blade would oppose him. I knowingly and willingly placed this burden upon you, Zelda. And for that, I am truly sorry.”

Zelda’s eyes fell to the ground as she mulled over all of this information. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t bring herself to see all of this as Rauru’s fault. He had given up his life to seal the Demon King away, and so, so much time had passed since then.

“I can’t blame you,” she stated firmly. Rauru’s eyes widened. “Even if we must face the Demon King now, because of your sacrifice, thousands of centuries, countless eras, experienced peace and prosperity. I can’t fault you for that.” 

Rauru smiled, a small, pained thing, but for the first time, it looked genuine. Zelda could tell that he didn’t fully believe her words, but they seemed to soothe him. “Thank you, Zelda. You are very wise.” 

Zelda blushed slightly at the praise. She wasn’t unfamiliar with compliments, thanks to Link, but to hear it from someone as powerful as Rauru, from the first king of Hyrule, well… she wasn’t quite used to that. 

He placed his hand over his heart. “From this point forward, if you will have me, I would like to accompany you on your journey.” 

Her heart lifted. Even though he maintained this strange distance between them, she had come to rely on him during her time on the Great Sky Island. And she had a feeling that she was going to greatly need his knowledge and guidance. “Thank you,” she said genuinely. 

“Of course,” Rauru replied before gesturing out towards Hyrule. “Now then, I believe Hyrule awaits you.” With that, he disappeared, but Zelda knew that he could watch over her even while resting in the arm. 

Zelda turned towards Hyrule Castle, and she carefully walked towards the edge. Directly below her, a large lake shimmered in the sunlight, and not too far away stood Lookout Landing. Oh Purah, she thought. The Sheikah must be worried sick right now. From her perspective, Zelda and Link had disappeared beneath the castle, and shortly after, the castle had risen, and catastrophe had poured out across the land. 

“That is… quite a way down,” she said nervously. She wished she had a paraglider with her. Link had taught her how to use one some time after the Calamity, but she didn’t make a habit of carrying one with her in the Purah Pad. Link always had one in his pack, and now she wished she had followed suit.

She sucked in a breath, steeling her nerves. She just needed to land in the water. Simple. 

As she leaped off of the edge, however, all of her courage was swept away. Her voice was stolen from her chest before she could scream, and she fumbled through the air like a leaf in the wind. Terror consumed her for a few, ever-lasting seconds, but she eventually managed to get her wits about her. As Link had told her in case she ever lost her paraglider while in the air, she flattened herself out, arms and legs spread, and as she steadied, even as she plummeted hundreds of feet, a large, wild grin grew on her face. 

The feeling was nothing like she had ever experienced. The wind roared in her ears, and other than that, she could hear nothing but her own pounding heartbeat. Gravity had permanently lodged her stomach in her throat, and her heart bounded within her ribcage like a frightened rabbit. Terrified yet exhilarated, she let out a slightly hysterical, giddy laugh. 

The moment ended, however, as the lake below her quickly grew closer. Again, as Link had taught, she angled herself into a dive. Seconds ticked by, and she almost broke her form, confused on how she hadn’t hit the water yet, until, suddenly, cold completely enveloped her. Immediately, she kicked herself to the surface. Her head broke free of the water. She gasped, then, in her next breath, let out another wobbly laugh. “Great Hylia!” she exclaimed. Adrenaline electrified her body, and her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of chest. 

She ungracefully swam to the edge of the lake, limbs trembling from the shock of it all, and once she pulled herself out of the water, she fell onto her back, gasping in air as she stared up at the sky. She could see the Great Sky Island far, far above, and gaped in pure awe. She couldn’t believe she had been all the way up there. 

After what felt like an eternity, her heart finally slowed, and she regained her breath. Shakily, she clambered to her feet and set her sights on Lookout Landing. As she forced herself to her feet and set her sights on Lookout Landing, a thought occurred to her. She was going to tell Purah about everything that had happened, of course, but now she couldn’t wait to point up to the distant sky islands and proclaim, I was just up there! And I jumped off! 

But she actually had to get there first, so with a strengthened resolve, she began her trek to the fort. 

*     *     *

Link had been walking for what felt like hours. Over the past few days, (or at least, he assumed that a few days had gone by,) he’d been slowly eating through the rations he had stored in his pack, but now he was running low. 

As he had been traveling, he hadn’t found anything edible, but he had found some supplies that could be useful. For one, he found a mushroom that had a bulging, rounded base, and a pink cap shaped like a puffy bowl. When he squished it, it squirted out some smoke. Curious, he tried tossing the thing, and when it landed, it burst into a cloud of smoke. He was sure to store any he found in his Korok-enchanted pack. They could be used to cause a distraction if he ran into any monsters. 

He’d also found some strange, purple flowers. They didn’t look like any of the flowers that grew in Hyrule. Instead of feeling and looking like a kind of velvet, the petals were thick, slightly rounded, and more reminiscent of mushrooms. Its stem was a single pink strand, always curled into a swirl. He stored them whenever he found one. He had no idea what it could be used for, unlike the smoky mushrooms, but he fingered he’d keep them just in case. 

He had grown used to the constant throbbing in his arm. It was definitely still there, but he was able to ignore it. Although, whenever he made sharp movements or jostled his arm from where it hung in his makeshift sling, it always sent a wave of pain to the forefront of his mind, making him cling to the glowing stone until it faded. 

He had also encountered two monster camps that he had to sneak around. The monsters weren’t the normal bokoblins, moblins, and lizalfos he was used to. Down here, gloom cloaked them like a second skin. It made them glow a dim, murky red. 

There were also some flying lizard-like monsters with a similar gloom effect that he hadn’t seen before. The sight of that kept him far away from any of the camps; he would need to find better weapons before he engaged with any of those monsters. 

Eventually, he found another one of those light plants, and after activating it and scoping out the area, he made camp atop the sand directly beneath the plant to sleep. He wasn’t sure of the time, so he could’ve very well slept throughout the day, rather than the night. He supposed it didn’t matter; there was no day and night down here, after all. Just constant darkness. 

When he woke up, he packed up his things and carried on. Even with sleep, the pain in his arm wasn’t better, but it seemed dulled after resting beneath the light plant. He supposed that it was able to negate the effects of the gloom-infested injury, just as the glowing stone did. Hopefully, there would be more of those light plants down here. 

Soon after leaving the light plant, he stumbled upon a statue. It depicted a humanoid figure with an elongated snout for a face. It vaguely reminded him of the Zonai statues from beneath Hyrule Castle, but this one didn’t have the large ears, elongated torso, or the third eye. 

Strange , he thought, squinting up at the figure. After a moment, he shrugged and carried on. If he had the Purah Pad, he would’ve taken a picture for Zelda, but he was currently missing both the pad and Zelda. 

However, as he continued on, he ran into another statue, and soon after that, he found another. It seemed they were all placed along a path, and the direction they faced led to another statue. letting his curiosity get the better of him, he followed them. Maybe they would lead him somewhere useful, or maybe even to people. He would take anything at this point. 

After a short while of following the statues, he found another light plant. He activated it and sat down beneath it, relishing in the temporary relief the plant gave him from his arm. He ate a small portion of his rations as he sat there, and once he finished, he begrudgingly forced himself back to his feet. He couldn’t just stay underneath it. He had to at least try to find his way back to Hyrule.

As he stepped out from beneath the plant, however, he heard a distant, low growl. Immediately, he drew his decayed broadsword and scanned the horizon. It was another one of those frog monsters, but this time, it was much, much closer. Before Link could even think to sneak away, the beast whipped around faster than Link thought possible for its size, and its single, bright orange eye singled onto him. 

The thing looked like a mix between a frog and a Hinox. Beneath its single eye was a large mouth with two, rounded fangs jutting up from its lower jaw that looked like they could easily crush Link’s bones with a single bite. Along its scaled back were five ore deposits. He guessed that they were weak points, along with its eye, of course. 

Before he could prepare himself further, the monster let out a bellowing roar and charged at him, dropping its mouth open to swallow him whole. Before it came close he quickly darted out of the way, eyes narrowing in on the ore deposits dotting the things back. If only he had a bow with bomb arrows instead of just a few swords that weren’t even sharp anymore. 

Originally, he thought he had packed plenty of supplies for what was supposed to be a short excursion. He hadn’t prepared for a man-eating, gigantic frog-slug monster. 

The monster whirled around when it stopped charging and flung itself into the air to land right on top of Link, who gaped for about a second before sprinting away. How in Hylia’s name could this massive thing move like that? He couldn’t outrun it, and when the beast landed, a shockwave threw him off of his feet. 

He landed right on his injured arm, and the wave of pain that overwhelmed him from the impact forced a ragged cry from his mouth. Gasping in air, he staggered to his feet and spun around to see the monster raising one of its meaty feet. Before it could swing it down, he cranked his left arm back and blindly threw his sword as if it were a spear. The weapon sunk directly into the monster’s eye, and the beast threw itself back with a pained bellow. 

Thanking the Goddess for his luck, Link fished out a smoky mushroom from his pack, threw it onto the ground, and ran away as the smoke cloud enveloped the frog monster’s face. He clutched his injured arm to his chest as his boots pounded the ground. The pain still wracked through him; it was more intense now, and it was spreading. It felt like a fire burned beneath his very skin, and the flames slowly inched towards his shoulder. 

He couldn’t get back to the light plant, not with the monster standing right next to it, so he kept running, clutching the glowing stone with his other hand. It glowed brighter now in its efforts to fight back against the gloom within him. 

There was another statue up ahead. Pumping his legs, he ran to it, and when he reached it, he sank to the ground at its base, sucking in air through clenched teeth. His fist clenched tightly around the glowing stone, and he curled his body around it, praying for the pain to end. 

After what felt like an eternity, the pain slowly subsided and settled back within his arm. Relief flooded him as he sagged back against the statue and regained his breath. “Great Hylia,” he cursed under his breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead. That pain had been the worst flare yet. It had spread farther, and it had lasted much longer. 

He needed to find another light plant. Those seemed to help in holding the gloom back from injuring him further. But most of all, he needed to make sure he never, ever lost the stone. It was the only thing keeping him alive. It took more willpower than he liked to admit to finally loosen his hold around the stone. When he pulled his hand away, indents from the rope wrapped around the stone marred his palm—a result of how tightly he had held onto it.

As he reluctantly climbed back to his feet and continued to follow the statues, a lot more wary now then he was before, he wondered about the stone. It had fallen from the hand that had been keeping the demon contained, so perhaps it was doing something similar now? Instead of eradicating the gloom, it could only contain it within his arm? 

But what about the stone allowed it to do so? Did it contain the same sort of sacred light as Zelda’s power? 

Questions and theories made his mind spin. He almost didn’t notice the small structure off to his left. He paused and turned to it, brow furrowing. It looked like a house, almost, with a short watchtower of sorts built onto the top of it. There were lamps scattered around it as well, coating it in a dim light. 

He hurried towards it. Finally, some sort of shelter! As he came closer, however, his excitement dimmed. While the hut still stood, the fences surrounding it were broken, and the trees were felled. It looked like this place had been attacked and, in the process, been partially destroyed. Warily, he stepped over a part of the broken fence, scanning the area for any signs of monsters as he did so. 

There wasn’t any danger that he could see, but what hung on the watchtower above the hut made him pause. The Yiga Clan’s symbol, embroidered onto a banner, stared down at him.

The Yiga Clan had all but vanished after he had defeated their leader, Master Kohga, and although there had been the occasional footsoldier or blademaster that had attacked him and Zelda over the years, they weren’t considered a threat anymore. Without their leader, they were unorganized. But with this banner, and a structure obviously built by them, it seemed they had begun to rebuild their clan.

The hut was more of a gazebo. Within it, surrounded by lots of crates, stood a single table, and on top of the table sat a note. He gazed down at it and read, “According to…Koh…this location will be destroye…Glory…o Master K…ga.” 

“For the love of Hylia,” he swore. Did this mean that Kohga was alive ? During their battle, the Master of the Yiga Clan had fallen into a bottomless pit after his own magic backfired on him. Now, it seemed that the hole hadn’t been bottomless after all; it had led him into this realm. 

With that concerning thought in mind, Link scavenged the leftover crates. He found a few bananas that had certainly seen better days, which he avoided, but he also found a few flasks of water, which he gratefully stored within his pack. After he went through all of the crates, he shoved himself into the back of the structure and ate a meager portion of food before using the remaining supplies within the hut to repair his paraglider. He imagined how the Yiga, the sworn enemies of Hyrule, would react to seeing one of their old bases helping him out so much. The thought made him chuckle. 

After his paraglider was repaired and stored in his pack, he hunkered down to sleep. When he next awoke, temporarily disoriented due to the lack of a sun or sky, he continued to follow the statues, plucking more of those smoky mushrooms and purple flowers whenever he spotted them. 

He could see another light plant in the distance, and fortunately it seemed that the statues were leading him towards it. However, he soon found himself standing on the edge of a rather sizable drop. It didn’t look like it would kill him if he fell, but he would definitely break something if he did. He looked left and right. The canyon separating him from the light plant looked to stretch on for miles. He couldn’t go around.

From his pack, he withdrew his paraglider, grateful that he had the forethought to repair it earlier. He had no choice but to glide down, which he was not looking forward to. The gloom in his arm would no doubt act up again, but he hoped that the nearby light plant would help with that. 

“Okay, Link, just a little drop. That’s all,” he muttered to himself, shifting from foot to foot as he carefully pulled his injured arm from its makeshift sling. “Just jump, deploy the paraglider, then run to the plant. Simple. Besides, it won’t hurt that bad. You’ve been through worse.” 

None of that made him feel any better, but he wouldn’t ever get out of this place if he stayed frozen on this cliff. After sucking in a preparatory breath, he jumped off of the ledge. The moment he deployed his paraglider, searing pain shot up his arm, and his entire right side froze up. His hand threatened to slip off, but he grit his teeth and clenched his fingers around the wood. 

After what felt like an eternity of nothing but pain, he finally landed on the ground. He didn’t bother folding up and storing his paraglider. He just dragged it behind him as he sprinted to the light plant. He activated it with the glowing stone and let out a sigh as the pain ebbed away. Filled with relief, he laid flat on his back on the sand and stared up at the underside of the plant. Well, it all looked more like giant roots, really. 

“Light root,” he muttered. “That sounds better than ‘light plant.’” He nodded to himself. “Thank you, light root. I think I would be dead without you. And you, of course,” he added, picking up the glowing stone. He couldn’t lift it very high without pulling on the necklace. 

He sighed again and let the stone drop back onto his chest. “I think I might be a little lonely,” he mumbled. He draped his left arm over his eyes. The feeling was familiar, unfortunately. After he had woken from the Shrine of Resurrection, he had spent countless nights shivering alone and cold, missing people he couldn’t even remember. 

He remembered them, now, but that was almost worse. He had grown used to their company, to the constant companionship. To have that so rudely cut off left him floundering. 

As he laid there upon the fine grained sand beneath the light root, breathing against the throbbing in his arm, he had to force back a sudden burning in his eyes. In that moment, he wanted nothing more but to have Zelda sitting beside him. He wanted to hear her chatting away about whatever grabbed her attention. She would find everything down here so fascinating. 

But she wasn’t with him. He had no idea where she was. He was utterly, painfully alone.

Chapter Text

Walking with wet clothes had always been and always would be annoying. As Zelda traveled towards Lookout Landing, she did her best to wring out her shirt and her cloak. She couldn’t do much for her pants nor for her boots, even though they squelched with every step. It was a great motivation to get to Lookout Landing as fast as possible. The sooner she got there, the sooner she’d be able to change. 

She followed a worn, dirt road. It was comforting, being back in the Hyrule she knew and loved, even though it was in peril. She would always love the long, swaying green grass, the proud, towering mountains, the thriving trees and fauna. The other regions held their own beauties as well. All of them were unique in their own way. 

Hyrule was much like a quilt. So many different lands, so many different people, and yet they all coexisted in harmony. Together, they created something much more substantial then the patches they were when separated. 

“Throughout the ages, Hyrule has changed quite a lot,” Rauru mused, appearing beside her. “Though, in some aspects, it is just the same. I still recognize it, even after all these years.” 

“I would’ve loved to see the world in your time, Rauru,” she replied. “I can imagine just how wild and full this land was, back before Hyrule was settled.”

Rauru hummed. “Yes, the land was quite wild. It was positively brimming with life. You just had to be careful where you stepped. At any time, you could’ve stumbled upon a Grizzlemaw Bear den.” 

Their conversation was cut short when Zelda froze. Just up ahead, at the foot of a lone tree, stood a red bokoblin—alone, thankfully, but the sight of the monster made her uneasy. After the Calamity, there had still been some monsters, of course, but after a few years they had all eventually been slain. To see them again was just further proof that evil had returned. 

Zelda drew the wooden sword she had found from the Great Sky Island. She didn’t bother drawing her shield that rested on her back. The bokoblin held a rusty broadsword, and she was surprised to see that it had a new, serrated horn sticking out of its head. It seemed that not only had they returned, but the monsters had gotten a few upgrades as well. 

“I will leave this to you, Zelda,” Rauru said quietly. “Since you bear my arm, I am only able to physically touch you, so I won’t be much help on the battlefield.” 

“It’s only one bokoblin,” Zelda brushed him off. She confidently approached the monster as Rauru disappeared. She was no stranger to combat, or with fighting these creatures, thanks to Link. 

The pig-like monster let a startled snort when it noticed her and wobbled towards her on its stocky legs. She easily sidestepped its clumsy swing of its sword and whacked the monster’s head with her wooden sword. It stumbled back at the hit, and Zelda didn’t give it a chance to recover before attacking again. This time, the monster staggered back against the tree and dropped its sword. 

Before the bokoblin could get back on its feet, Zelda snatched the sword, discarded her wooden one, and drove the rusty blade into the monster’s chest. It let out a pained squeal before it disappeared in a puff of black and purple smoke. Its horn, no longer attached to a head, fell unceremoniously onto the ground.

“One down, hundreds upon thousands to go,” Zelda joked. She eyed the horn with interest. It was short, about the length of a dagger. After a moment’s decision, she fused the horn to her new rusty broadsword. The horn replaced the blade of the sword, transforming it into a dagger-like weapon. Satisfied, she slung it onto her hip and, just in case, stored the old wooden sword in the Purah Pad. 

As she resumed her trek to Lookout Landing, pride filling her chest, Rauru rejoined her. “See?” she said, grinning cheekily. “I told you I would be fine.”

Rauru chuckled. “I knew you would be,” he replied. “I just can’t help but worry.” 

“You remind me of Link, in that regard,” Zelda said, an amused smile on her face. “I would get so much as a sliver, and he would fret for days.” 

“Then he already has my approval.” 

“Hardly!” Zelda huffed. “He worries over my safety more than he worries over his own. I’ve tried to tell him that I can handle myself, especially after he taught me how to fight, but still—!” 

Rauru hummed. “You remind me of Sonia,” he said quietly. Zelda looked at him, startled, and he smiled at her with a gentle fondness. “She would’ve loved to meet you.” 

“She sounds like a wonderful woman,” Zelda replied honestly. 

Rauru turned away, a distant look in his gaze. “She was gentle as she was fierce,” he said lovingly. “When we were young, she and I would often go off on adventures, and it was all I could do to keep a level head! The things she would get herself into…” he shook his head with a sigh. 

“I understand the feeling,” Zelda said. “Once, before the Calamity, Link took on an army all by his lonesome without a second of hesitation. There were even three Lynels—three! I scolded him for it afterwards as I patched him up, but I don’t think he took in a word I said.” 

“Just as it is our duty as royalty to worry over our Kingdom, it is a person’s duty to worry over their loved ones,” Rauru stated. 

Zelda flushed slightly at that. She knew there was more to one's ‘loved ones’ then just romantic love, but just the implication that she and Link could be in a relationship was enough to make her blush. She knew how she felt about the swordsman, but his feelings regarding the manner were still a mystery to her. 

They had spent nearly every moment together during the last few years, traveling Hyrule, assisting the regions with dismantling their Divine Beasts and the guardians. In that time, they never broached the topic of a relationship, even when she moved into Link’s home in Hateno Village. There was an unspoken, mutual agreement that they cared for one another. They would do anything for each other. 

Many would call that love. Zelda would too, she wanted to, but she hesitated to do so. She didn’t want to ruin what they already had.

She remembered what it was like before the Calamity. Link had been as lifeless as the guardians. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was always about his duty as her personal knight. Eventually, she pried open the walls he surrounded himself with, and as they became closer, Zelda’s fear of Link closing himself off again grew.

Fortunately, after the Calamity, Link never reverted to the “silent knight” he used to be. In fact, he was almost the opposite; he was reckless, he joked, and he teased. Zelda loved seeing him so… happy. Because that was the word for it, wasn’t it? Before the Calamity, he hadn’t been happy. He had been so consumed by his duty and his responsibilities that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel anything . 

She never wanted that to happen again. After everything they’ve been through, after everything he’s been through, she wanted them to stay happy. 

“Forgive me, Zelda,” Rauru began, drawing Zelda from her head, “but you’ve mentioned this ‘Calamity’ before. I’m unfamiliar with it.” 

“Ah…” Zelda sighed. Her eyes dropped to the worn dirt beneath her wet boots. “It was… well… a calamity, brought on by Calamity Ganon.” 

“Ganon?” Rauru repeated. 

“A mindless beast of malice and hatred,” Zelda explained. She didn’t miss the similarities between the name of the beast and the Demon King; it was practically the same name, for Hylia’s sake. “I… suppose it must have just been another creation of the Demon King,” she said slowly. 

The thought made her sick. Calamity Ganon had been an overwhelming force, enough to ravage Hyrule to the ground even when the kingdom was at its peak. It had overpowered and corrupted the Divine Beasts and guardians without any difficulty. If a mere mirage of the Demon King could accomplish that much destruction and devastation, then what was he truly capable of? 

After a few seconds, she realized that she had started drifting away into her own thoughts, and she quickly delved into the tale of Calamity. She told Rauru of all of the events that had transpired. She explained her role as the princess with the sealing power, and how she had been unable to awaken it. She told him about the four champions and their respective Divine Beasts, and she told him about Link and how he had retrieved the Master Sword.

When she arrived at the moment in which Calamity Ganon awoke, she had to pause for a moment and recollect herself. Images flashed in her mind. Guardians crawling all over the castle like overgrown spiders. Flames consuming Castle Town. Citizens fleeing the destruction, ash staining their faces and clothes. Her and Link running for their lives in the mud and rain. Link fending off the swarm of guardians at Fort Hateno.

She relayed all of this, and her awakening of her power, to Rauru. Then, she murmured, “Link fell at Fort Hateno. I sent him to the Shrine of Resurrection, another mechanical marvel from the Sheikah, and then faced Calamity Ganon alone. With my power, I sealed him, and I, away until Link recovered and awoke.” 

Rauru’s voice was quiet when he asked, “how long?” 

“A century,” Zelda answered. That horrid numbness encroached on her fingers, and she hastily clenched and unclenched her hands to try and relieve the feeling. “I don’t really know how I survived. I’m not sure what even happened. All I know is I spent one hundred years in stasis—in this strange in between. For the majority of it, I wasn’t even aware.” 

A few seconds of quiet drifted between them until Rauru spoke. “I traded my life to seal Ganondorf away. The moment it happened, I felt myself fade away, but not entirely. After that, it was as if I was in a deep slumber, because the next thing I knew, a familiar light stirred me awake. Your light.”

Zelda stopped, a lump forming in her throat. Rauru turned to her as he continued. “I know that our experiences are far from the same, but know that I understand, at least partially, what you went through, and that I am truly sorry.” 

Zelda’s eyes burned. Someone knew . Someone understood what it was like. She had told Link about this, and he had done his best to comfort her, but it was different when someone intrinsically knew what it had felt like, even if it wasn’t entirely the same. 

Before she could stop herself, to think rationally, she lunged at Rauru and grasped him in a tight hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

It took a moment, but Rauru reciprocated the hug. His touch was cold, and it didn’t entirely feel real, but it was soft. 

After that, Rauru was forced to retreat into the arm. By the time Zelda neared Lookout Landing, the sun hovered just above the horizon. The sunset painted the sky and highlighted the clouds in vibrant colors—red, orange, pink, and even some purple. 

From what Zelda could see, nothing about Lookout Landing had changed. Wooden walls still surrounded it. The Skyview Tower stood tall above all the other structures, only challenged by Purah’s research lab, which had two stories and a watchtower of sorts settled on top. 

The only difference to the fort was the amount of Hylians and Sheikah patrolling and guarding it. Lots of them marched atop the walls, and two of them stood at each entrance with weapons and shields at the ready. 

She recognized one of the Hylians standing guard—Mondi, who she knew wasn’t much of a warrior. He drew back, startled, as she came near. “Zelda? Princess Zelda?” he cried, “is that really you?”

“Yes, it’s me,” Zelda replied, smiling wearily. Now that she had finally arrived, the weight of her travels began to weigh on her. 

“No one’s seen you or Sir Link since you went under the castle to investigate the gloom!” Mondi exclaimed. “And that’s when the castle rose into the air! Everyone’s been so worried about both of you. Purah has barely slept!” 

“You haven’t seen Link?” she asked, her heart sinking. She already knew that it would’ve been a miracle for Link to have ended up at Lookout Landing on his own, without the Purah Pad’s teleportation capabilities, but a part of her had still hoped. 

Mondi shook his head, nervously grasping his wooden spear with both hands. “No… and he’s—he’s not with you?” he sounded genuinely surprised at that, and Zelda couldn’t blame him. It was a rare sight to see her and Link apart after the Calamity.

The more Zelda thought about what could be happening to Link, the more ill she felt. She did her best to hide it all underneath a calming front. “No, unfortunately.” She began to walk past him. “If you’ll excuse me, Mondi, I must find Purah.” 

“She’s in her research lab at the moment,” Mondi called after her.

Now in Lookout Landing, she made a beeline for Purah’s lab. As she hurried her way through the fort, the Hylians and Sheikah around her all startled. She heard gasps and mutterings of surprise in her wake. She knew that she should probably address them all at some point, but seeing Purah took priority at the moment. 

As she made her way up the stairs to where Purah’s lab sat atop the large wooden platform, she spotted Josha, the young Sheikah scientist, leaning against the doorway with an obvious pout on her face. That vanished, however, when she caught sight of Zelda. 

“Zelda!” she cried, pushing off of the doorway. Before Zelda could even open her mouth, the young Sheikah whipped around and pounded on the wooden door. “Doctor Purah! Purah! It’s Zelda!” she shouted. 

From inside the lab, a plethora of colorful curses could be heard, accompanied by several loud crashes. Then, the door was shoved open, revealing a disheveled Purah. She wore her Sheikah garb—a sleeveless tan jumpsuit with red tights, covered by a large, tan coat. Her white hair sat in a large bun atop her head, and her golden magnifying goggles, currently tilted on the bridge of her nose, covered her eyes. 

“Zelda?” Purah gasped, fixing her goggles. She slowly approached her and poked her stomach with the baton she held. “You’re not a ghost, are you?” 

Zelda chuckled, pushing the baton away with a finger. “I think I’d look a little different if I were dead,” she replied. Her whole form would be a pale green, for starters, just as Rauru looked now.

Purah pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh, thank Hylia you’re okay!” She pulled away but still held onto Zelda’s shoulders. “Just where have you been, huh? And why are you wet?” She stepped away as she noticed Zelda’s right arm. “ That looks interesting…” she muttered, reaching out to touch. Then, abruptly, she took a step back and shook her head. She lifted her goggles to rest atop her head against her large bun, revealing her face, and crossed her arms. “Okay, one step at a time. What exactly happened?”

So Zelda told her and Josha—who stood nearby—how she and Link had found the Zonai ruins beneath Hyrule Castle, and later, the reanimated corpse of the Demon King. She explained how the Demon King then collapsed the cavern, how Link fell, and how she was saved by the being that had initially sealed the Demon King away. 

“I then woke up on the Great Sky Island, and I eventually made my way here,” Zelda finished. 

Both Purah and Josha had equal looks of shock on their faces. “That is… that’s a lot,” Purah stated. Her eyes widened even more. “Wait, are you saying you came from up there? ” She gestured with her baton to where, past the clouds, they could just see the Great Sky Island. 

Zelda felt that pride from before flicker in her chest. She grinned as she said, “yes, and I had to jump into a lake to get down.” 

“Great Hylia, Princess!” Purah exclaimed. “That sounds like something Link would do!” 

Zelda’s pride only grew with that comment. 

“But hold on, now,” Purah said, shaking her hands and her head. “Just who is this Demon King? And the being who had him sealed away?” 

Zelda hesitated, casting a glance at Josha. “Perhaps… this would be better discussed inside,” she suggested. 

Purah caught on quickly. “Right, right. Josha, tell everyone the news—the Princess has returned! But don’t mention any of this… Demon King quite yet. Quickly, now.” 

The young Sheikah immediately protested. “What? Now? No! I—” 

“Yes, now. Come on, shoo,” Purah waved her baton at her. With a grumble, she complied and stalked away. 

Purah then pulled Zelda into her research lab, which was, to put it simply, a sty. Papers and books littered the table and the floor. Random papers with messy writing were plastered over practically every inch of the walls. It looked worse than the last time Zelda had been in here, and that really said something. This place was always a mess.

“Okay, we’re alone. Now can you please explain more about what’s going on here?” Purah asked. 

“Just remain calm, please,” Zelda said, and lifted her right arm. She called to Rauru with her mind, and shortly after, her arm glowed, and the ancient king appeared at her side. Purah reeled back with a gasp and openly gaped at the Zonai. 

“Great Goddess above!” she swore. “Is that—you are—you’re really…?”

“Greetings, Purah,” Rauru said, bowing his head cordially. “I am Rauru.” 

“He’s the one who saved me from beneath the castle,” Zelda explained. “I believe he would be better suited to explain everything, if you’d be willing, Rauru.” 

Rauru nodded. “Of course,” he said before relaying everything he had told Zelda to the Sheikah, who listened with rapt attention. 

By the end of it, Purah had one of her gloved hands to her chin, and her brow had wrinkled in deep thought. “So this Demon King caused the Upheaval,” she murmured, mostly to herself. 

“The Upheaval?” Zelda echoed. 

“The castle rising, the ruins falling from the sky,” Purah explained, waving her baton in the air. “We’ve been calling the event the Upheaval.”

First the Calamity, and now the Upheaval. Zelda internally sighed. She had seen the fallen ruins scattered about Hyrule Field—the large, almost hexagonal chunks of land that now littered the green plains. They had no doubt fallen from the sky islands high above. 

“And you said that Link fell after this Demon King awoke?” Purah asked, eyebrows upturning in worry. When Zelda nodded, Purah continued. “Then he must be trapped down there, right?” 

“That’s the… that’s the only reasonable explanation,” Zelda sighed. Her eyes fell to the floor. 

“Well,” Purah slapped her baton into her other hand, “our first priority should be to rescue him. We already have a search party posted near the castle chasm. They’ve been searching tirelessly for you two. Captain Hoz is the one in charge. I’ll take you to him. And you, ” she pointed her baton at Rauru. “I have a thousand questions for you, Mr. Zonai, so don’t go anywhere.” 

“You needn’t worry about that,” Rauru assured, gesturing to Zelda’s right arm. “Zelda can call for me at any time.” 

Purah’s eyes fell on Zelda’s arm. “Right, that . We’ll talk about that later too, but for now, let’s be off! We haven’t got a second to waste!” 

Zelda hurried after Purah as the Sheikah scientist practically burst out of her research lab. Rauru disappeared before he could be seen by anyone else. As they jogged down the stairs, Zelda spotted a large crowd gathered on the opposite end of the entrance to the underground shelter. Josha animatedly talked to them, no doubt telling them the news. 

They left Lookout Landing without interruption, fortunately, and hurried through the desolate Castle Town towards the castle that loomed over them. Zelda’s heart panged as she looked out over the ruins of the once bustling town. A few tents had been set up throughout, but they now remained empty. Before the Upheaval, they had just started the massive project of rebuilding the town, but when gloom seeped out of the ground, the efforts had halted. 

They soon arrived at the gatehouse. Inside the large structure, more tents had been set up, and piles of supplies filled each corner. Off to the side a ladder led to the top, and Purah started climbing it. Zelda eyed the ceiling above. She was tempted to just use ascend, but she figured that that would be a bit much for Purah and the Hylians at the gatehouse. So instead, she followed Purah up the ladder. 

If Link were in her position, he probably would’ve used ascend because it would scare Purah and the others. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Link’s impulsive actions hadn’t rubbed off on Zelda quite yet.

Captain Hoz stood on the balcony that surrounded the outside of the gatehouse, along with who Zelda recognized to be Toren. Hoz faced the castle with a hand at his chin. Below the castle, the chasm yawned wide, completely filled with darkness. The tendrils of fog-like gloom trailed up and out of the gaping hole. They surrounded the castle like serpents guarding their horde. 

As Purah and Zelda approached, Hoz turned and startled when he noticed them. “Zelda! Is that you?

Zelda gave him a little wave. Purah marched right up to the man and stuck her baton in his face. “No time, Captain! Have you seen any sign of Link? Any at all?” she demanded. 

“We were separated,” Zelda chimed in.

The captain took a step back, and he pushed the baton down with a hand. “The amount of gloom has only grown, Purah. We’re doing all we can, but we’re a bit dead in the water at the moment.” 

“Captain!” Toren suddenly cried. “It’s Sir Link!” 

Everyone whipped around. Zelda stared at where Toren pointed. Far off, atop one of the last remaining watchtowers that circled the castle, stood a distant figure. Zelda’s heart leapt into her throat. It was Link. He looked just as he had before he had fallen. His clothes, the blue, champion’s tunic with sparse leather armor, were dirtied and damaged, with the right sleeve and shoulder completely burnt away to reveal his terrible injury. 

“Link!” Zelda gasped.

He stared at them, face unreadable due to the distance, but after a moment, he turned away, took a few steps across the watchtower, and hopped off of the edge. “Link!” Zelda shouted, lunging forward to run after him, but Purah stopped her with a hand around her arm. 

“Princess—”

“He’s there, Purah! He made it out!” Zelda exclaimed, trying to pull away. 

“And how did he make it out?” Purah asked. 

Zelda looked back at the empty watchtower. There was no sign of Link anywhere. “I don’t know!” she said. “He’s Link—he always finds a way out!” 

“You have the Purah Pad, Zelda,” Purah said, unshaken. “Think for a moment. How would Link get to the surface without it? He wouldn’t be able to climb, if what you said about his arm is to be believed.” 

“Then who was that?” Zelda demanded. She stopped trying to pull away, and Purah let her go. She turned to Captain Hoz and Toren, who both had twin expressions of confusion. “Have you ever seen that before?” she asked them. 

They both shook their heads. “Until now, we hadn’t seen any sign of either you or Sir Link, Princess,” Captain Hoz said. 

“There’s something strange going on here,” Purah muttered, eying the chasm distrustfully. “Let’s return to Lookout Landing. Captain Hoz, gather your men. I don’t want anyone near this chasm until we can get this figured out. I shouldn’t have let you get so close to the gloom in the first place. Make sure all of you drink some sunny elixirs before you get sick.” 

Captain Hoz nodded, and he and Toren set off as ordered. Purah gently took Zelda’s hand and patted it with her other reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Princess,” she said. “Link will be alright. I’ve seen that young man walk off horrendous injuries before like it was nothing. He’ll be able to hold out for just a while longer.” 

Zelda’s shoulders sagged, and she gave a reluctant nod. As they made their way back to Lookout Landing, she glanced over her shoulder at the watchtower. Her stomach churned. If that hadn’t been Link, then who had it been? 

*     *     *

Link remained beneath the light root for longer than he’d liked to admit. But he couldn’t afford to mope around like this, so he gathered up the aching loneliness within him and shoved it all into a little box. He had gotten good at storing his emotions after waking within the Shrine of Resurrection, and even though it had been a few years since then, it still came easy to him. 

He would find his way out of this strange place, and he would save Hyrule again. That was his duty and his purpose. And perhaps, after this was all said and done, he would see Zelda again. Or, if not, he would finally be able to rest for a long, long time. 

Up ahead, a peculiar rock formation caught his eye. It was rather tall and lumpy. It looked like multiple mushroom caps stacked atop one another, but it was entirely made of stone. He spotted something at the top—a figure. 

Thanks to all of the protruding ledges, it wasn’t difficult to heave himself up. When he peeked over the top of the rock, he almost lost his grip and fell. In the center of the rock, just a few inches in the air, a ghost hovered. But it wasn’t like when he’d seen the spirits of King Rhoam or the Champions. Instead, this one was completely black except for a faint, blue outline around its figure. With its armor, it resembled a Hylian soldier, but it had no face or any other discerning features. 

It didn’t react to him when he pulled himself fully onto the rock, nor when he warily approached it. In its arms, it held a new, undamaged broadsword. The weapon had no visible damage, not even from gloom. Hesitantly, Link reached out his hand, carefully eying the spirit as he did so. His hand closed around the hilt, and the spirit gave no resistance when he slowly pulled the sword away. When the weapon left the spirit’s grasp, its head lifted. Link froze. The soldier’s empty face stared at him, then, all at once, it disappeared. 

Link took a step back in shock and whipped his head around. He expected the spirit to appear behind him and skewer with a blade, but no such thing happened. He was left with nothing but eerie silence. 

Had that been the spirit of a Hylian soldier? Why had it been so… lifeless? He looked down at the new sword in his hand. The silver blade glinted up at him. Whether or not that figure had been an actual spirit, it had gifted him a weapon. Closing his eyes, he brought the hilt to his chest and pressed his forehead against the flat of the blade. “Thank you,” he murmured. His voice rasped and tugged at his throat—a result of not speaking for the past few days. 

With a new sword strapped to his back, he jumped off of the strange rock formation and continued to follow the statues. The image of the spirit wearing a soldier’s armor remained at the forefront of his mind. He knew that countless lives had been lost in the Calamity. He and Zelda had seen it themselves. Yes, the Champions’ deaths pained him, but those who had vowed to protect Hyrule with nothing but armor and a sword meant just as much. 

In the following hour, Link came upon two monster camps. Even though he had a new sword, he still avoided them. He didn’t trust his gloom-infected arm not to act up in the middle of a fight. For once, he stopped to think instead of charging ahead with a sword raised. Zelda would be proud. 

Eventually, the line of statues came to an end, and Link discovered what they had been leading him to. Before him, a stone structure, lit by rounded, white lights, pierced the darkness. In front of the building, a large, circular field stretched outward, framed by ruined pillars and rubble. 

He crossed the field and approached the building, only to stop when he spotted what could only be described as a miniature green guardian. A projection of familiar green energy wavered before it, showing the same design that hovered beneath the light roots. He guessed he’d be able to activate this little guardian the same way he activated the light roots, but he hesitated to do so. If this thing was anything like the Sheikah guardians, then was it friendly? Had gloom corrupted it, just as malice had corrupted the guardians? 

He lifted his necklace up and off and slowly, warily, touched the stone to the energy. Similar to the light roots, the energy shattered, and shortly after, a low chime sounded from behind. He whipped around, fearing the worst, only to see a glowing, blue design shimmering on the ground. It was a travel point, just like from the Sheikah towers and shrines. 

Brow furrowed, he slipped his necklace back on, turned around, and saw the green guardian… grow?

Like a snail coming out of its shell, its head rose up atop a long, thin neck, and its body elongated. Two arms with long fingers popped out of its sides. Link drew back and immediately drew his sword. The moment he did, however, the guardian suddenly drew back within itself with a startled chime of “danger!” 

He froze. It could… talk? Its voice sounded robotic and nothing like a living being, but it spoke . And, with the way it panicked just at the sight of a blade, he guessed that this thing was friendly. He sheathed his sword, and shortly after, the guardian grew again. Its single eye peered down at him, and it tilted its head. Link wanted to draw his sword again, but he reminded himself that this obviously wasn’t Sheikah technology, and there wasn’t any gloom or malice within the perimeter of the structure. 

“Greetings,” it warbled, as if Link hadn’t just threatened it. “I am a Mining Construct, assigned here to the Great Central Mine. I currently hold the Auto-Build ability, but it seems that you are not compatible. How may I assist you?” 

He stared at the construct.

“Are you unable to speak?” the construct continued. “I am proficient in Hylian sign language, if such communication is necessary.” 

Link felt his face flush a little. Before the Calamity, when he had been Zelda’s appointed knight, he had… struggled with speech. He found it easier to keep his mouth shut, for if he spoke, then he might fumble his words, and such an act would be unbecoming for the hero he was supposed to be. And as time had wore on, he felt his throat become tighter and tighter, and any words he tried to force out were lodged in his chest. 

For everyone else, that had been fine. He knew sign language when he truly needed to communicate, but otherwise, he never needed to. Others did the talking for him. He could just fade into the background. 

Sure, there were whispers amongst the population about his muteness, and Revali, the Rito Champion, seemed especially peeved by it, but Link couldn’t bring himself to speak. It felt like his voice was gone. He had locked it away, and then he couldn’t find the key. 

After continuous effort, Zelda had found that key. Once they began to grow closer, Zelda was the only one Link spoke to. Eventually, he managed to speak with Daruk as well, as he and the Goron Champion had grown particularly close. 

After the Calamity, when he awoke with no memories, he found no barrier to his speech. But as he began to regain his memories, the forgotten burdens and anxieties returned, and speech, once again, became a battle. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as it had been before. He could manage small words and quick phrases—the bare necessities for communication—and with those he trusted, those he knew, he could speak relatively freely. 

He had no idea what this thing was. It plainly stared at him, giving no reaction to the silence that stretched between them. Eventually, it raised its strange, skinny fingers to sign, and Link internally shook himself. This thing obviously wasn’t human. It seemed mechanical. He would be able to speak to it. 

Still, it was harder than he would like to admit to get his voice to work. “I can speak,” he muttered. The words felt strange and heavy on his tongue. He did his best to ignore the discomfort. “What are you?” 

“I am a Mining Construct, assigned here to the Great Central Mine,” the construct warbled. 

“Where am I?”

“You are in the Great Central Mine,” the construct repeated.

He shook his head. “No, I mean, I—” he paused for a moment and tried to wrangle his words under control.

Before he could open his mouth, he heard a familiar poof sound from behind, along with a loud, obnoxious voice that he had hoped he would never have to hear again. 

“Great work, you! We’ve been trying to get that construct going for ages!” 

The construct retreated within itself again, and Link inwardly sighed. He should’ve expected this. Even so, he didn’t even try to hide the distaste on his face as he turned to the one and only Master Kohga of the Yiga Clan.

“Did you manage to snatch the ancient… ancient power…” Kohga’s nasally voice died in his throat when Link turned around. Two Yiga footsoldiers stood on either side of him, and both of them reeled back. All three of them wore the masks that bore the Yiga’s symbol, but Link could imagine the look of surprise on their faces. 

“You… it’s you!” Kohga exclaimed. He pointed an accusing finger at Link, who hadn’t even bothered to draw his sword yet. “If there’s one foe I’ll never forget, it’s the man who cast me from my Gerudo Desert hideout into these very Depths!”

The Depths? Was that what this place was called, then?

“That means you, Link!” the leader of the Yiga Clan proclaimed. Link rolled his eyes. “We meet again at last! Now I can finally have my vengeance, both upon you, my sworn enemy, and that no-good Zelda!” 

At the mention of Zelda, Link drew his sword, but Kohga didn’t seem phased. He merely continued to rant. He jabbed a finger at the construct that cowered behind Link. “I saw what you did there! You activated that construct! Did you obtain the ancient power? Did you? We could’ve used it! Here we are, working ourselves to the bone to build things by hand… And you’ll be able to just whip them up in an instant! That’s not fair!”

Link only grew more and more confused the longer Kohga rambled. What did he mean about building things? And what was this ancient power? Was he talking about some sort of Sheikah technology? Or maybe it was a different sort of technology like the construct?

“You know who could’ve used that power?” Kohga asked. Link already knew it was a rhetorical question, and there was no way he was going to talk to Kohga , so he just deadpanned as Kohga blazed on. “The one we worship and revere—the Magnificent One!”

With Calamity Ganon gone, there was only one other being that Link could think of that Kohga would refer to. The demon beneath the castle. The demon who shattered the Master Sword in an instant, who collapsed an entire cavern, who infected him with gloom. His grip tightened on the hilt of his sword. Kohga was an idiot, but that didn’t negate the fact that he posed a threat. And if he had anything to do with the demon, he needed to stop him. 

“If we offered it to him, he would have crushed you and Zelda both,” Kohga claimed. “So did you steal it? Do you have it?” 

Link shook his head, and Kohga faltered. The two footsoldiers shared a glance. “What do you mean you don’t have it?” Kohga sputtered. “You activated the construct!” He waved his hands. “Well, no matter! The day I fell down here, I swore I would end your miserable life, and so I shall!” 

All three Yiga brought their hands together, and Link tensed as a red circle of light appeared before them. In a puff of smoke, they disappeared. Familiar with this magic, Link whirled around. In the middle of the field, Kohga appeared, hovering a few feet above the ground. 

Link stepped into the field, only to stumble back when something big appeared out of thin air beneath Kohga. It landed on the ground with a clank , and Kohga landed onto its top. Link stared at it. It was some sort of… vehicle, like a wagon, though it was much larger than a simple wagon. This thing had four large wheels, two lights, and a wall of spikes on its front. Behind it, its body slanted down like a ramp. Kohga stood near the front, holding onto two handlebars like they were the reins of a horse. 

“Prepare yourself!” Kohga cried. For once, Link listened to him and drew his sword. This was going to be one pain of a fight. 

He knew how Kohga fought; he relied on his magic, on objects, to do the fighting for him. If Link got close to him, then he could make quick work of him, just as he had before. He eyed the ramp behind the vehicle, immediately clocking it as a weakness. If he could run around, he could climb atop it, and then Kohga would be at his mercy. 

But before he could put his plan into action, the lights and the vehicle died. Kohga stumbled back as if something stuck him. He grasped at his head with both hands. Link heard pained grunts even with the distance between them. Abruptly, the Yiga’s head fell forward, and his arms limply dangled in front of him. 

Link took a hesitant step back. Something was very, very wrong. 

Kohga jerked back to life, like a puppet whose strings were harshly yanked. His hands spasmed. His head twitched. Then, his whole body seemed to relax, and his face, covered by the mask, slowly turned to Link. 

“The fabled swordsman,” he uttered, but he sounded completely different. Instead of his loud, obnoxiously nasal voice, it was low and rasping. He spoke slowly, patiently, as if he had all the time in the world. 

Link stiffened. A shudder ran down his spine. His right arm twinged in pain. That was the voice of the demon. 

“How is it that you survived my attack?” the demon mused. “Ah…” he sighed. Kohga’s head tilted to the side. “I see. It must have been that Sacred Stone around your neck. How… annoying.” 

Instinctively, Link tried to cover the stone with his right hand since his left currently held his sword, but the sharp pain in his arm stopped him. He could only remain standing, partially crouched with his sword held up in front of him. 

“No matter,” the demon dismissed. “Such tricks will not be enough. You only delay the inevitable. Have you felt it, swordsman? My corruption within you…” a low chuckle came from the demon. It reverberated within Link’s skull. “My attack was not done without intent.” 

As if brought on about the demon’s words, the pain within Link’s arm worsened. It wasn’t enough to make him drop his sword, but it made him wince and stagger back. The stone on his collarbone glowed brighter, but it didn’t numb the pain. Panic pounded in the back of Link’s mind. His heart thudded against his chest. He could feel it—the gloom within him. It twisted and festered. He swore he could feel it moving underneath his very skin. 

Past the blood roaring in his ears, he still heard the demon’s mocking voice. “Do not worry, swordsman. You merely need to wait. Such theatrics with this fool are not needed. Until we meet again, noble hero.” 

The demon’s voice faded away, and the pain in Link’s arm once again dimmed. Link’s shoulders sagged. He suddenly felt exhausted, as if he had just fought an army of lynels. 

With a puff of smoke, the vehicle underneath Kohga disappeared. When the smoke cleared, Kohga stood on the ground, a hand to his skull. “I… I heard him. The Magnificent One. He spoke to me,” he murmured. It was strange hearing the usually boisterous man subdued, but with his next words, his voice doubled in volume. It wavered with brimming excitement and reverence. “And I, Master Kohga, leader of the Yiga Clan, shall heed his words!” 

With renewed energy, Kohga clapped his hands together. With that ring of red light and another puff of smoke, a different vehicle appeared behind him. It roughly resembled a bird but flattened, and four fans were attached to its back.

With a brief teleport, Kohga landed on the center of the vehicle, near the set of handlebars. “Until we meet again, Link!” he crowed. “I’ll grab that power you cheated me out of for myself. Then the Magnificent One and I will guide this world to its miserable end!” 

With a loud cackle, the Yiga activated the vehicle, and Link stumbled back as it flew upwards like a miniature Vah Medoh, carrying Kohga up and away. 

In the middle of the field, Link stood, frozen stiff, his hand cemented around the hilt of his sword. The words of the demon echoed in his head. If what he said was to be believed, then it seemed that Link didn’t have much time until… until what? He died? He had told Kohga to retreat, which meant he wanted him alive. But why? 

Stiffly, as if he hadn’t moved in ages, he sheathed his sword and brought his hand to the stone on his collarbone. The demon had called it a Sacred Stone. That was what it must be called, then, and it really was keeping the gloom in his arm contained. 

Feet dragging, Link walked back to the building, eyes focused on the ground beneath him. He needed to find more of those light roots. They repelled the gloom just like the stone. Hopefully, combined with the stone, they would give him enough time to get out of the Depths. 

As he approached the construct, it sprung back up. It reminded him of that supposed ‘ancient ability’ that Kohga had rambled about. That must be tied to the vehicles Kohga had summoned. Now that he thought about it, those vehicles had looked similar in design to the construct.

“Thank you for driving out the intruder,” the construct chirped. “Unfortunately, it seems that you are not compatible with the Auto-Build ability. However, now that the danger is gone, I can resume production on crystallized charges. If you will give me a moment, you may trade in zonaite for crystallized charges.” 

“Wait,” Link forced out. “I don’t know what—” he cut himself off with a sigh. Zelda would be much better suited for all of this. “I… I am in the Depths, right?” 

The construct tilted its head. “Correct. You are within the Depths, an underground region beneath the surface. It holds the source of zonaite.” 

“And what…” his voice puttered away. He cleared his throat, swallowed, and tried again. “What’s zonaite?”

The construct launched into a lengthy explanation. Apparently, zonaite was a common mineral found all throughout the Depths that could be produced into crystallized charges, which were then used to power zonaite devices. These “devices” were what made up the vehicles that Kohga had summoned. Apparently, there was a wide variety of devices all with different functions. As the construct listed some of the common ones, Link’s mind spun with all of the possibilities such devices provided. 

If he could get his hands on one of those vehicles, or even some of those devices, then he would be able to traverse the Depths much easier and faster, especially if he got the flying machine Kohga summoned.

“Thank you for explaining,” he said. The construct merely stared at him. He cleared his throat. “Um… do you know a way back to the surface?” 

“I am a Mining Construct. I only have information on the mining processes within this facility.” 

Link sighed. He should’ve expected that. It was never that easy. At least it was getting easier to talk with this thing, now that he knew for certain that it wasn’t a living person. “You said that this is an entirely new region beneath the surface,” he said. “So do you know what we’re beneath now?” 

“The Great Central Mine is located beneath the Great Plateau,” the construct answered. 

He let out a quiet, bitter laugh. Why was it always the Great Plateau? “Right. Uh, thank you. I… don’t have any zonaite, so…” he circled the construct. It just turned with him, keeping its single eye trained on him. With an awkward air, he cleared his throat once again and continued on through the facility. He walked along a passageway that led underneath the structure. The construct followed him. 

“Um, I’m good now, thank you,” he said. 

As they came to the other side of the facility, the construct turned away and hovered over to a massive, roaring furnace. Without another word, the construct started shoveling the pile of minerals next to the furnace—zonaite, most likely—into the swirling flames. 

Oh. Link blinked. The construct hadn’t been following him. It had just been moving to its next objective. 

His face flushed in embarrassment as he turned away. He forced his mind onto the beginnings of a plan, both to distract himself from his embarrassment and to actually get a plan settled. 

Most likely, there were more Yiga bases scattered throughout the Depths. If he could get his hands on a Yiga uniform, he would be able to sneak in and out of the bases unharmed, loot them for supplies and food, and, hopefully, find himself a vehicle. With that, he would be able to move around much faster, and if he just kept traveling, surely he would find a way out of this place eventually. At least, that’s what he told himself. He didn’t want to consider the alternative. 

He noticed another building off to his right. It stood on the opposite end of a small lake. Link hurried towards it and came upon a small body of water framed by stone work. Now that he was closer, he could see that the building on the other side was in ruins, but the lights attached to it still worked. They provided a thin layer of light that shimmered in the still water. 

Link crouched down near the water and dipped his hand in. Warmth blossomed in his hand. A smile pulled at his lips. This was a hot spring, and, from the way the warmth trailed up his arm and bloomed in his chest, it had healing properties. 

This would be a good place to rest for the night—if it even was night. He shed his gear, took off his boots and socks, rolled up his pants, and sat down on the edge of the stone to let his feet dangle in the warm water. The ache in his legs subsided, and he laid back on the stone with a relieved sigh. He was tempted to put his injured arm in the water, but if the hearty elixir from a few days prior had worsened it, he didn’t think a hot spring would do any good. 

As he sat, idly kicking his legs back and forth in the water, he replayed the demon’s words in his head. 

“My attack was not done without intent.” 

What was the intent? He thought the gloom was just trying to kill him. That was why it hurt so much when agitated, right? But now it seemed the opposite was true. The demon wanted him to live.

“You merely need to wait,” the demon had said. 

The pieces started slotting in place. He was infected with gloom. It was trying to spread. The Sacred Stone and the light roots, both of which were filled with light similar to Zelda’s power, repelled it. 

Link shot upright. Oh Goddesses. The gloom, the demon—it wanted to corrupt him. Just like how the Calamity corrupted the guardians and the Divine Beasts. It wanted to control him. 

He buried his face in his hand. What in Hylia’s name was he supposed to do? He couldn’t stay down here. He needed to get to Hyrule. He needed Zelda. He needed her power. He needed something . 

His hand fell into his lap, and he looked up. Nothing but darkness met his gaze. He couldn’t even see the ceiling of this underground world. A heavy sigh left his chest. He needed to keep a level head. Sitting here panicking wouldn’t do anything for him. 

He had a plan, as flimsy and hand-wavy as it was, and now, he knew his enemies’ goal. He just had to keep traveling, disguise himself as a Yiga, keep the Sacred Stone with him, and avoid everything gloom related. Simple. 

With his left hand, he clutched the Sacred Stone. Its dim light acted as a comfort. A reassurance. 

He’d be fine.

Chapter Text

In Purah’s lab, Zelda paced back and forth. The scattered pages on the floor crinkled beneath her boots. Purah stood on the opposite side of the table, staring down at the map of Hyrule with a furrowed brow. Rauru hovered beside her with a hand to his chin.

“You all saw that, right?” Zelda asked. “Link was there. You all saw it.” 

Rauru nodded. “How strange…” he murmured. 

“This Demon King,” Purah began, “does he have the ability to create illusions?” 

Rauru hesitated. A glossy look overcame his eyes. “...Yes,” he murmured. “Yes, he does. That is how he… how he stole…" He trailed away, and an uncomfortable quiet settled over them. 

Zelda paused in her pacing as her heart twisted. The implications were haunting. Had the Demon King created an illusion of someone Sonia trusted to catch her unguarded? She knew how much Rauru blamed himself for her death. 

Oh, Hylia… had the Demon King used an illusion of him?  

“Well then, we know one thing for certain,” Purah said quietly. “That wasn’t Link.” 

“Then what do we do?” Zelda asked, a bit frantic. The thought of Sonia being killed by an image of her husband only made her feel more restless, so she kept pacing. She hated not knowing what to do. “Do we just—just ignore it?” 

Purah shrugged. “It’s all we can do, really. We can try to launch a search in the castle chasm, but that would be extremely risky.” 

“Finding Link is one of our main priorities, but we need to prepare for when Ganondorf attacks,” Rauru said. “Tell me, how are the four regions of Hyrule? We must search for the sages and their temples.” 

“You mean the sages who helped you in the Imprisoning War?” Purah asked. 

Rauru nodded. “The seven sages. Before our battle with the Demon King, each of them swore to me that their descendent would awaken, should the Demon King return. Now is the time to seek out these descendents and their Sacred Stones, which will be sealed away within the temples. Wind, fire, water, lightning, light, and spirit.” 

He turned to Zelda. “You are the Golden Princess, blessed with sacred light. You have the same innate power as I did. As such, you will be the Sage of Light.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, that can not happen until you take hold of my Sacred Stone, and that was lost when Ganondorf awoke.” 

Zelda stiffened. She was supposed to be the Sage of Light? It made sense, but her power had dwindled away. She couldn’t access it anymore. 

She pushed the thought aside and focused on the information at hand. “What about the Sage of Time?” she asked. “You haven’t mentioned time.” 

Rauru’s eyes immediately darted away, and Zelda internally winced. She immediately regretted bringing it up. Still, Rauru answered, albeit with a stiff stature and guarded voice. “The Sage of Time’s Sacred Stone is currently held by Ganondorf. With his magic corrupting it, the previous Sage of Time will not be able to call out to the next in line, and even if… even if she could, the Sage of Time would not have their stone.” 

Zelda grimaced. She should’ve guessed as much. Guilt bubbled within her for bringing up Queen Sonia. Even though it had been a millenia, she knew that the wound of loss would always feel fresh. She didn’t want to be the one to remind Rauru of his grief. 

An awkward silence fell over the lab. Purah glanced between the two of them, her gaze curious and scrutinizing. Thankfully, she didn’t press either of them, and eventually, Rauru broke the silence. “We will focus on the elemental sages—wind, fire, water, and lightning. Zelda, within the four races, do you know of any capable warriors? Leaders?” 

“Hold on there, Mr. Zonai,” Purah interrupted. “I know this is really important, but we can’t really seek out the best of each race at the moment. They’re all a bit… occupied dealing with the regional phenomenon.” 

“Regional phenomenon?” Zelda echoed.

Purah gestured to the map stretched out on the table. A red circle had been drawn onto each of the four regions. “Shortly after the castle rose, I received rumors and messages from the four regions.” With her baton, she pointed to the circle around the Hebra region. “At Rito Village, there’s an unending blizzard. The Rito have asked for aid. They’re running low on food and supplies.”

She pointed to the circles around the Eldin and Lanayru regions. “I haven’t heard much about Goron City, but I’ve heard rumors of strange things happening. The Zora have reported a thick sludge falling from the sky islands, which is now polluting their waters.” Finally, she pointed to the circle around the Gerudo desert. “The Gerudo have reported sightings of a new kind of monster, but it has been difficult to stay in contact with them due to a large sand shroud that has practically covered the entire desert.” 

She turned to Zelda and Rauru. “So, as you can see, we can’t exactly go ‘sage hunting’ just yet.” 

Zelda stared at the map, slightly pale. This was worse than she thought. 

“I see,” Rauru said. “Then we shall focus our efforts on helping in any way we can. We have… some time to spare. After spending millennia sealed away, I believe Ganondorf will need time to recover before he launches an attack.” 

Zelda traced the circles around the four regions, trying to deduce which phenomenon needed to be dealt with first. She settled on the Rito. From the sound of things, this blizzard had been raging for a long time, and if they had already asked for aid, then the situation must be dire. 

“I’ll set off for Rito Village immediately,” Zelda stated, already turning around to leave, but Purah stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. 

“Woah, there, Princess. We just got you back! You can’t leave now.” 

Zelda shrugged off the Sheikah’s hand. “Purah, from what you’ve just said, the Rito could be starving right now! I can’t just sit idly by and—” 

“I’m not saying you can’t go,” Purah interrupted, holding up her hands. “Just… stay for the night. Rest. You’ll do no good as exhausted as you are right now. Did you think I didn’t notice how ragged you look? You look dead on your feet!” 

“Purah is right, Zelda,” Rauru said gently. “We will set off for Rito Village tomorrow. For now, you need to recover. You have been through much during these last few days.” 

She wanted to argue, but she did feel exhausted. Her shoulders sagged. “Fine,” she muttered. “But when I go tomorrow, and I will go,” she met Purah’s eyes, “you must search for Link. I don’t want to risk anyone with the chasm, but just…” 

“I’ll tell everyone to keep an eye out,” Purah said. “Don’t worry, Princess. We’re not giving up on him. You can go to Rito Village knowing that. Of course, if it were up to me, you wouldn’t be going at all,” she huffed. She walked with Zelda out of the lab. Rauru retreated into Zelda’s arm. “You’re the Princess, for Hylia’s sake. You shouldn’t be throwing yourself into danger like this.” 

“They’re my people. And you know Link would do the same.”  

Purah sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I get it,” she grumbled. “Listen, before you leave tomorrow morning, meet me by the Skyview Tower. It’ll be wise to get the map of Hyrule on the Purah Pad.” 

Zelda turned to Purah with wide eyes. “You got the towers working?” she asked, and the Sheikah nodded proudly. 

“Yep! They’re all activated and working splendidly! You’ll have a full-functioning map—with travel points, might I add—on that Purah Pad soon enough, but that’s enough for tonight. You know where to find food and bed, but if you head over to Mubs over there she can get you a change of clothes.” 

“Thank you,” Zelda said. She started towards the direction Purah indicated, but again, the Sheikah stopped her. Before she could react, she yanked her into a tight hug. “Purah—?” 

“I’m happy you’re okay.” 

Zelda’s face softened, and she hugged Purah back. The Sheikah must’ve been worried sick after she and Link didn’t return. She wondered what had gone through her head when she saw the castle rise with that massive surge of gloom. 

Abruptly, Purah pulled away. “Now shoo! Off to bed with you!”

Zelda chuckled. “Alright, alright.” As she walked down the stairs, her right arm gave off a soft glow, and she heard Rauru’s voice murmur, “she’s quite the character.” 

Zelda laughed. “You should’ve seen her a few years ago. She used herself to test an experiment, and it reverted her to a child. Let’s just say she was a lot more… eccentric, then.” 

“Great Hylia,” Rauru cursed quietly, eliciting another laugh from Zelda. 

She headed over to Mubs who stood in front of her little shop. The Hylian brightened when she saw her. “Princess! Thank Hylia you’re safe and sound! What can I do for you?” she asked. 

“That armor there,” Zelda said, pointing to the Hylian armor set that was on display. “Do you happen to have a spare?” 

“Of course!” Mubs exclaimed. She hurried over to an open crate and pulled out a bundle of clothes before handing them to Zelda. “Don’t worry about the price, Princess. Consider it a welcome home gift!” 

Zelda’s heart warmed at that. She truly didn’t deserve the kindness her people always showed her. “Thank you, Mubs,” she said sincerely before heading off to the emergency shelter, slipping the bundle of clothes into the Purah Pad as she went. She would be able to change near the spare beds, as all of the beds had a curtain one could pull around for privacy. 

As she descended down into the emergency shelter, she heard a lot of gasps. Even with Josha having already spread the news, Zelda supposed she still should’ve expected this. She hopped off of the ladder and turned, only to be practically surrounded by all of the people within the shelter. 

“Zelda! You’re alive!” one of them cried. 

“What happened beneath the castle?” another asked.

“Where’s Link?” another yelled.

Zelda held up her hands, trying to quiet everyone. She would probably be getting to bed late tonight.

“Guys! Guys! What did I just say?” Josha’s voice shouted, and the young Sheikah popped up right in front of Zelda. She waved her arms at everyone, getting them to back off. “Don’t swarm the princess! Purah will explain everything tomorrow!” 

With a few sighs and grumbles, the group dispersed, and Zelda let out a breath of relief. “Thank you, Josha.” 

Josha huffed and planted her hands on her hips. “I told them all not to bother you.” She shook her head. The young Sheikah really reminded Zelda of Purah. “Well, let me know if anyone does. I’m going to go pester Purah now.” 

Zelda watched her climb up the ladder with an amused smile before she headed off to the spare beds. She pulled the curtain around, changed into her new clothes, and tied her hood back on. It was a great relief to be in clean, dry clothes. 

Feeling refreshed, she slipped out from behind the curtain and joined some of the others for dinner. They welcomed her with open arms, and while she could tell they desperately wanted to fire questions at her, they all refrained. It was sweet of them, and while she was glad to be with her people again, she couldn’t ignore the empty space beside her. She kept glancing to the side, expecting to see Link fighting a smile after a joke was cracked or a story was told. 

Once she finished eating, she collapsed onto one of the spare beds. No one else had retired yet, as it wasn’t even night yet, but she had no trouble falling asleep. She drifted off to the clanks of pot and pans and the chatting of those in the shelter.

The next morning, she ate a quick breakfast—courtesy of Burmano, the newly appointed chef—washed from the natural spring water, and climbed out of the emergency center. Lookout Landing bustled with activity in the morning, and she had to sidestep a group of Hylians who hurried off to somewhere, weapons in hand. She recognized them all, of course—back before all of the monsters had been wiped out, a few had volunteered to help Link in exterminating the evil creatures. It seemed that they had once again picked up their weapons. 

Zelda found Purah and Josha near the Skyview Tower. “Good morning!” she called out as she approached.

“Good morning, Princess,” both Purah and Josha replied at the same time. Purah was bent over the terminal that sat within the tower, messing with it, while Josha stood beside her, holding a notepad. After a few seconds of muttering to herself, Purah eventually straightened, nodded, and turned around “Right! The tower is in good working order. Go ahead and hold your Purah Pad up to it.” 

With an excited grin, Zelda did just so. She had helped Purah design these towers after the Calamity, and to see them finally working after so long was gratifying. As the Purah Pad neared the terminal, it chirped, a bright ping noise, and the Purah Pad flashed a cool blue. Zelda pulled it away and turned to the map, bouncing on her feet. 

The entirety of Hyrule appeared on the screen of the Purah Pad. It really was the full map! Zelda fiddled with it, and she was surprised to find that there was also a map of all of the sky islands. “This is incredible!” Zelda exclaimed. 

“I got this tower working the day you and Link left,” Purah said. “Shortly after, I had all of the others activated.” 

“Oh, you should’ve waited for me, Purah!” 

The Sheikah chuckled sheepishly. “I tried to get her to wait,” Josha piped up. 

Purah loudly shushed her. 

Zelda snorted as the two scientists began to argue. It looked like, along with the map, a travel point had been registered to the pad for this Skyview Tower. That would certainly be useful. Humming to herself, she glanced through the two maps as Purah and Josha argued, only to pause. Along with the sky and surface map, there was also third, though it was completely blank save for a single, blue travel point set near the middle. 

“Wait… Purah, do you know about this?” she asked, showing the lone travel point within the third blank map to the Sheikah. 

At her side, Josha gasped. “There’s a travel point in the Depths?” she exclaimed. 

“The… Depths?” 

“It’s a whole underground region beneath the entirety of Hyrule!” Josha said excitedly. “Along with the castle chasm, other chasms have opened up across Hyrule, and they all lead there! Robbie and I have been researching it.” 

Zelda’s eyes widened. An underground region? Did it have to do with the Zonai? She looked down at the single travel point on the otherwise empty map. Link had fallen into a sort of chasm after the cavern collapsed. “Do you… do you think Link could’ve activated this?” 

“That… is a possibility,” Purah said hesitantly, “but it looks like that travel point is located near the Great Plateau. How in Hylia’s name could Link have gotten there if he had fallen beneath Hyrule Castle?” 

Zelda’s brief flash of hope dimmed. “I… I don’t know. But I think it may be worth looking into. He could be there, waiting for someone to notice the travel point.” 

“Or it could be a travel point that was never deactivated,” Josha pointed out. “There are a lot of ancient structures down there. We’ve found signs that the Zonai once lived down there, even. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of their technology just… never turned off, and now that we’ve got the Purah Pad working, it picked up on the travel point’s signal.” 

“If you want to check it out, Princess, you’re more than welcome to,” Purah said. “Just make sure to use the Purah Pad to travel back here at the first sign of trouble.” 

Zelda nodded, but before she could click the travel point, Josha interrupted. “Wait! If you’re going to the Depths, you’ll need Brightbloom seeds and a bow. Hold on one moment.” She rushed down the stairs. After a moment, she returned, now balancing a large sack, a traveler’s bow, and a quiver of arrows in her arms. 

“Thank you,” Zelda said. She slung the bow and quiver over her shoulders then took the sack. When she peeked inside, she saw a bunch of those aforementioned brightbloom seeds. They looked like closed flower buds, colored a light, pale green. She reached in and pulled one out of the sack. It fit comfortably in the palm of her hand. 

“We found these seeds within the caves that have opened up after the Upheaval,” Purah explained. “With any impact, they’ll bloom, and they provide quite a lot of light. You’ll need them. Down in the Depths, there isn’t a natural source of light.” 

“Right. Anything else?” she asked, dropping the brightbloom back into the sack. 

“Just be safe,” Purah replied. 

Zelda nodded and selected the travel point. “I always am, Purah,” she said, as her body vanished into blue strands of light. 

When she appeared at the travel point, she merely stood there for a moment, utterly confused. It… wasn’t dark. There was a good amount of light, actually. “Perhaps it’s because of this…?” she muttered to herself, taking in the large, stone structure she stood in. Slowly, hesitantly, she stepped away from the travel point and began to explore the ancient-looking building. She could already see the similarities between this place and the ruins upon the Great Sky Island. This place had definitely been built by the Zonai. 

At her side, Rauru appeared. “Do you know this place, Rauru?” Zelda asked him. Her eyes trailed over a large, circular field. 

“I recognize it, yes,” Rauru replied. “It is the Great Central Mine, though it seems abandoned now.” His voice trailed down at the end of his words. Zelda glanced at him. She wondered how it must feel for him to see the remains of his once great kingdom, now forgotten in the throes of time. 

They turned around, and Zelda’s eyes widened. “Or… it should be abandoned,” Rauru corrected himself. 

A Mining Construct hovered towards them and greeted them with a cheerful chime. “Greetings,” it said. “I am a Mining Construct, assigned here to the Great Central Mine. I currently hold the Auto-Build ability, and it seems that you are compatible. Would you like to utilize its capabilities?” 

“No, wait, have you seen anyone else here lately?” she asked. 

“A few days ago there were intruders,” the construct warbled. “They wanted the Auto-Build abil-abil-ab-a-a—” 

The construct twitched. Green sparks spurted out of its body, neck, and head. Zelda and Rauru took a wary step back. The construct continued twitching, its broken voice stuttering, before it crumbled to the ground. All of its pieces collapsed into a disordered pile. 

Zelda jumped away. “Great Hylia! What happened?” she cried. 

“I’ve never seen that before,” Rauru said, brow furrowed. “The constructs have never broken on their own—” 

From behind, a horn blared. Zelda whirled around. A horde of red bokoblins charged towards her, clubs raised. Behind them lumbered a massive bokoblin—one Zelda had never seen before. It blew into its horn again before joining the attack and bellowed a guttural war cry. All of them, including this new beast, were coated in fog-like gloom, and their eyes gleamed with the substance’s evil power. Zelda fumbled with the Purah Pad and hastily pressed the travel point for the Skyview Tower, and she and Rauru safely teleported away just as the bokoblins swarmed the mine.

Once she felt solid ground beneath her feet and her vision returned to her, she stumbled back against the Skyview Tower. Purah and Josha hurried towards her. 

“Princess!” Purah exclaimed. “What happened?” 

Zelda struggled to catch her breath. “Monsters,” she gasped. “The travel point led to an abandoned mine, and there was a construct there, but when we tried asking it about Link, it suddenly broke apart, and after that, a horde of bokoblins came out of nowhere!” 

“The Depths are very dangerous,” Josha mused. 

“Wait, what’s a construct?”

Zelda quickly explained the construct. Purah asked for more detail about what she saw, and when Zelda described the new, large bokoblin, the Sheikah told her that they had seen those throughout Hyrule. They’d been that monstrosity a boss bokoblin. 

When all was said, Purah slapped her baton into her other hand. “Right, well, you’re definitely not going down there again. We know less about the Depths then we do about the Zonai, and that’s saying something. For now, I think the wisest course of action is for you to head to Rito Village.” 

“But—” 

“We’ll keep looking for Link,” Purah interrupted her. “I’ll assemble a team to investigate the Depths, and I’ll send word to the four regions to be on the lookout.” 

Zelda didn’t like this. She wanted to look for Link herself. Her discontent must’ve been showing on her face, because Purah placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find him, Princess. I promise. We’ll find him while you help the Rito. Divide and conquer, right? Just how we always do.” 

“Divide and conquer,” Zelda echoed, smiling weakly at the Sheikah. 

Purah winked, patted her once on the shoulder, and pulled away. “Now then, let’s get you ready for your journey. You’ll need warmer clothes then that if you’re going to go face off against an unstoppable blizzard.” 

*     *     *

When Link awoke, he first freshened himself up using the hot spring, careful to keep his right arm dry, before setting off. He soon found another statue, though this one was different from the others. This statue depicted a woman with long wavy hair dressed in a straight gown. She held a sword in her hands that rested upright against her body. 

Link followed them. The last line of statues had led him to many light roots, which he needed to find. They had also led him to the mining facility, and he guessed that these statues would do that same. However, if they did, he would probably find the Yiga Clan too, which made him wary. If the demon possessed Kohga again… Link shook himself. He needed information, of which the demon was clearly keeping from him. He couldn’t shy away like a coward. 

Soon enough, he ran into another light root, which he gratefully activated. He sat beneath it for a few minutes, soaking in the relief it brought to his arm, before dragging himself to his feet and continuing on his way. 

After a while longer, he spotted what could only be a Yiga settlement in the distance. It was much larger than the abandoned one had been from earlier; he could see a similar hut with a watchtower built on top, but tall, wooden walls made of thin stakes surrounded the entire base. 

The most surprising thing, however, came when a Yiga footsoldier, driving one of those wagon-like vehicles, came around the corner. It looked like the vehicle Kohga had summoned, except this one was less of a murder-machine and more like a simple-transport-machine. 

Link snuck closer to the base and hid behind one of the giant mushrooms that dotted the Depths. He peaked around the thick trunk to take in the fort. The vehicle rolled along and disappeared around the back end of the base. In front of Link, two Yiga footsoldiers stood guard at an opening in the wall. One of them lazily leaned back against the wooden stakes while the other tried to balance their sickle on one finger. 

From what he could tell, there didn’t seem to be any Yiga within the settlement. It looked like this one was more of a storage unit. He set his sights on the two footsoldiers. From his pack he drew the hand of bananas he had swiped from the abandoned Yiga base. They were more brown then yellow, but Link had thought to take them anyway, just in case he had run out of food and got desperate enough. Now he was glad to have grabbed them. 

At some point on his adventure during the Calamity, he had helped the Gerudo steal back their beloved Thunderhelm from the Yiga Clan. To do so, he had to sneak through the clan’s base, swipe the helm, then sneak out. Of course, it hadn’t gone that smoothly. He’d been spotted by Master Kohga and had been forced to battle him. 

But one thing he had learned during that excursion was that all Yiga had an obsessive love for bananas. Why? He had no idea, but he could use it to his advantage. A Yiga’s love for bananas was so strong, they’d leave their post to grab a bite. That had been the only way he’d gotten into the back room of their hideout where they’d been storing the Thunderhelm. 

Before he could think about how dumb this plan was, he tore off one of the bananas and tossed the rest out so that they were in plain sight. Both of the Yiga’s heads snapped to it, and the sickle the one had been balancing fell to the ground. The other Yiga punched them in the shoulder and gestured at the bananas. With a dejected posture, the Yiga picked up their sickle and carefully approached the bananas. 

The giant mushroom that Link hid behind was quite thick, fortunately, and Link hoped it would be enough to cover his ambush on the footsoldier from the other. As the Yiga neared, peering down at the bundle of bananas, scratching his head, he tossed out the single banana directly in front of him. From where the Yiga stood, they would be able to see it, but the second one wouldn’t due to the mushroom. 

Slowly, the footsoldier approached the single banana, not noticing Link who crouched near the base of the mushroom, waiting in the shadows. When the Yiga was directly in front of him, blocked by the giant mushroom from the other, he leapt forward and bashed the hilt of his broadsword into their head. 

He caught the Yiga’s now limp body before he could fall to the ground, and quietly dragged him closer to the giant mushroom. With quick hands, he stripped him of his uniform. 

The person underneath the full-body uniform looked like a Sheikah, with stark white hair and pointed ears. It made Link uneasy to see the footsoldier as what he was—a man—instead of a faceless, traitorous assassin. He shook his head. The Yiga Clan had tried to kill both him and Zelda countless times. He shouldn’t— wouldn’t spare them a second thought. 

He quickly stripped his clothes, stored them in his pack, and tugged the Yiga uniform on. It was a tad too big for him, due to the Yiga being taller than him, so he had to use one of his belts to cinch it tighter so that it looked like it fit him more naturally. Hopefully it wasn’t too obvious that these clothes weren’t his. 

Unfortunately, he had to pull the jumpsuit over his injured arm. The cloth brushing over his skin caused ripples of pain up his arm, and he had to bite down on his lip to keep any sound from escaping him. After much struggle, he managed to get it on, and finally, he hastily tucked his hair beneath the red hood and then slipped the mask over his face. 

The mask was strange—it didn’t have any eye, nose, or mouth holes, and yet he could see and breathe through it as if it weren’t even there, even though he could clearly feel it pressing against his skin. He chalked it up to being charmed by the Yiga’s strange magic. 

“Jaren?” a voice called, and Link froze from where he was taking the sickle—decayed, unfortunately—from the unconscious footsoldier. It seemed he was out of time. 

Making a few last hasty adjustments, and making sure that the Sacred Stone was hidden underneath the uniform, pressing against his collarbone, he stepped out from behind the giant mushroom. The second footsoldier startled back from where he had been walking towards it. 

“Sweet Calamity, Jaren! You about gave me a heart attack,” the man snapped. 

Link realized that he did not think this through very well. He didn’t know what ‘Jaren’ sounded like, nor how he acted, besides balancing his sickle on his finger. So, with a nervous smile hidden by the mask, he just shrugged and brushed past the Yiga. This was all new to him—usually, he would deal with his problems by swinging a sword at them, but this was very different. 

“Rude, much?” the footsoldier grumbled, trailing behind him. He kicked at the bundle of bananas that Link had tossed out. “Where’d these come from, anyway? You think Meery is pulling another prank or something? I thought we told her to cut that out.” 

Link merely shrugged again and quickened his steps. He slipped inside the settlement and scanned it. A ladder stood off to the side that led to a walkway along the walls, and crates of all sizes littered the inside of the base. He also spotted some of those Zonai devices as well: some wheels here, fans there, and even some of those bird-like platforms. The construct had called them wings. Apparently, even without any fans, they could glide on their own, if one could get them into the air, that is.

“Jaren! What’s with you, huh?” the footsoldier said, and Link startled as the Yiga put a hand on his left shoulder. He tugged him around to face him. The Yiga leaned in close, and Link could practically feel his eyes burrowing into him, even with their masks on. “You’re acting strange,” the man said slowly. “Why aren’t you talking? Why are you so short? And what happened to your hair?”

Well, this wasn’t going to work. Deception and stealth had never been his strong suit. He slipped a hand into his pouch, drew a smoky mushroom, and let it fall. A smoke cloud erupted. The Yiga flinched back in shock, and before he could recover, Link lunged forward and bashed the hilt of the sickle into his skull. They were hidden by the walls of the base from the third Yiga, so hopefully, he wouldn’t regret doing that. 

The second Yiga crumbled to the ground, and after making sure he was really out, Link set off to the open hut. Just like the abandoned base, this one had more crates piled inside and a note sitting atop a table. He quickly scanned through it. 

“Important notice! After the disaster in Hyrule Field, our bases face yet another threat. The Frox. You must watch out for a large, one-eyed, four-legged animal. These terrifying beasts are ravenous and ready to swallow anything and everything in their vicinity. The sight of moving, glowing ore will alert you to its presence, but do not be drawn in by its resemblance to Zonaite. These ores that grow from its body are both a lure and a weak point. If seen, try to remain calm and focus your attacks. Be alert and know the warning signs. Glory to Master Kohga.”  

So those giant frog-like monsters were called Frox. That was good to know. As he turned around, he spotted another hut-like structure on the opposite end of the base. This one had walls that resembled bars made out of wooden stakes with a roof made of straw. The doors were solid wood, and a ring of red magic spun in front of them. The Yiga’s symbol blazed in the center.

He guessed the ring of magic kept the doors locked. He peeked through the wooden bars and spotted a chest inside. When he tried the doors, they didn’t budge. Magic lock it was. 

“Jaren? Teige?” a female voice called. Link whirled and saw the third Yiga now entering the fort. A ring of magic spun around the front of her chest, identical to the one on the doors. The Yiga froze when she spotted her unconscious comrade sprawled on the ground. 

Well, so much for sneaking in and out. 

Before she could react, he sprinted towards her, tightening his grip on the sickle. The Yiga’s head shot up in surprise, and she teleported just as Link reached her. He ran through a cloud of smoke, which he didn’t smell due to the mask. He spun around, familiar with a Yiga’s battling tactic, so when she tried to appear behind him, he already had his eyes on her. 

Her arm cranked back, ready to swipe her sickle at him. He narrowed his eyes, took a breath, and waited until the very last second before dodging with a backflip. Everything seemed to slow. He arched through the air, and the familiar surge of power that accompanied his flurry rushes rushed through his veins. He deftly landed on his feet and, in a burst of power and speed, lunged forward and whacked the Yiga on the head. The surge of power faded as the Yiga fell to the ground, unconscious.

He allowed himself a brief moment of pride. He hadn’t been able to perform a flurry rush in some time. The ability only activated when he was both in actual danger and when he was entirely focused on a single opponent. Or, in other words, it only activated when he dodged an attack at the last possible second. 

After the Calamity, especially after the monsters were all exterminated, he rarely had the opportunity to use a flurry rush, as his only combat came in training, and while training, he wasn’t ever really in danger. Sometimes, he could trick his brain into thinking he was, by sparring without armor and with real weapons, but still; it was a finicky thing. 

He sheathed his sickle and glanced over at the hut with the chest, and sure enough, the ring of light that whirled in front of the doors vanished. His eyes trailed over the two unconscious bodies within the settlement, and he thought of the third just outside the walls. He sighed and made his way to the hut. That wasn’t the first time his plan had gone so awry, but still. Zelda would’ve been disappointed. Or she would’ve laughed. Or both. 

Inside the hut, he opened the chest. It held a few of those crystallized charges that the construct had told him about. They were all in the shape of a rhombus and glowed a soft, blue-green light. He stored them in his Korok-enchanted pouch.

He spent the next little while looting the place for food and water, and he managed to get a pretty sizable haul that would last him the next few days. With a successful grin, he turned to leave, only to catch something out of the corner of his eye. Curious, he jogged over, and his face lit up at the sight of one of those flying machines. It was tucked away behind some crates, so it took him a while to pull it out since he only had one arm, but he eventually got it out into the open. 

It looked similar to the machine Kohga had flown off on, but a little simpler. Its base was made from a Zonai wing, and it had three fans—two underneath on either side, facing down, and one on the back, facing out. There was a steering stick set in the center, and on the tip was a little light. 

Eagerly, Link stepped up to the steering stick and grasped the handles, but to his dismay, the machine didn’t light up as it had for Kohga. He tried jostling the stick around, to no avail, until he remembered the crystallized charges. He dug them out of his pack and, with them in his hand, wondered how he was supposed to use them. 

He turned, but as he did, his hip bumped the steering stick, and as it moved, the crystallized charges vanished, and the machine came to life. With a yelp, he stumbled into the steering stick and grasped onto it with his hand. The machine lifted him into the air, faster than he had anticipated. 

A surprised laugh escaped him. He pushed the steering stick forward, and the machine responded, propelling him forward and away from the Yiga base. With the light on the front lighting the way, he guided the machine down until he could see the statues. He followed them from the air, soaring right over a monster camp, and he let out another laugh. This was going to be a breeze. 

Chapter Text

“With the rate we’re going, we should arrive at the New Serenne Stable around noon,” Zelda noted as she walked, looking down at the map displayed on her Purah Pad. Rauru, floating alongside her, peered over her shoulder. “Before Link and I went beneath Hyrule Castle, we left Ivory there,” she continued. “I hope she’s alright, even after the Upheaval.” 

“Ivory is your horse, I presume?” 

Zelda nodded as she clipped the pad back onto her hip. “Our horse, really. She’s a stunning white mare—a descendant of my old horse from before the Calamity. Link found her during his travels.” She remembered how excited Link had been to show her the horse. It was one of the first moments where Zelda realized that the Link she was with now was the same Link from before the Calamity. Even with his stoic persona back then, he’d always been a softy with horses. That much hadn’t changed—now he was just more vocal and expressive about it.

“With Ivory, we’ll be able to travel a lot faster,” she said. “I reckon, after we have her, we’ll arrive in Rito Village within the next day.” 

Before she had left Lookout Landing, Purah had given her a spare Rito armor set as well as plenty of food, water, and hearty elixirs, all of which Zelda had stored within the pad. The Sheikah had also given her a new sword, although its blade was decayed. As were all of the weapons, apparently. Zelda still took it and stored it in the pad. She’d be able to fuse something to it later. 

After one or two hours of walking, Zelda came to Carok Bridge, but she couldn’t cross due to the giant Hinox soundly snoring right in the middle. Hesitantly, she pulled her traveler’s bow from her back. She had never taken on a Hinox before, but she had seen Link do it during the Calamity. The monster’s weakness was its single, giant eye. If one could pierce that with an arrow, then it would be stunned for a good amount of time. 

But, well, she wasn’t Link. She didn’t want to kill the beast—not that she cared about it; she just didn’t want to risk it. So instead, she inched as closely as she dared, picked up a sizable stone, and chucked it as hard as she could. As it sailed through the air, she ducked behind a nearby boulder. She heard the stone clatter onto the stone bridge, and a moment after, the Hinox woke up with a multitude of grunting and shuffling. 

Peeking around the boulder, she watched the giant slowly clamber to its feet and open its large yellow eye. As it peered down at the rock, Zelda nocked an arrow, drew her bow, and aimed as best as she could. 

With a deep breath, she let the arrow fly. It glanced off the side of the monster’s head. It twitched, blinked, and wobbled its head back and forth to spot the danger. Zelda hastily ducked behind the boulder before it could see her and drew another arrow from her quiver. She counted ten seconds, listening to the loud breathing of the Hinox, before peeking out from behind the boulder, lining up her shot, and shooting another arrow. 

This time, it hit the beast square in the eye. Her heart lifted in victory as the Hinox stumbled back and fell onto its rear with a loud, gurgling cry of pain. As it writhed on its behind, large, meaty hands covering its eye, she sprinted across the bridge. It didn’t notice her as she skirted around it, and she safely made it across the bridge. 

“Hah!” she shouted, pumping an arm into the air. She slung her bow onto her back. As she continued on the road, leaving the Hinox behind, She lifted her right arm and looked down on it with a smug grin. “Not too bad for taking on my first Hinox, huh?” 

From her arm, Rauru spoke. Green light pulsed from the arm along with his voice. “From what I saw, you didn’t exactly ‘take it on.’” His elegant tone of voice sounded funny saying ‘take it on.’ 

“Yeah, from what you saw,” Zelda countered. “It’s all about perspective.” 

“How… intuitive.” 

Zelda snickered. “Okay, okay, I know I barely even hurt the thing, but just let me have this, alright? I’ve now taken on one Hinox by myself.”

Rauru hummed. “How about we say one half?” 

Zelda paused for a moment, mulling it over. “Fine,” she huffed, and she received a rare chuckle from Rauru in response. 

Just as she had predicted, she arrived at the New Serenne Stable around noon. The newly built stable bustled with activity, and Zelda lifted her hood to cover her bright, golden hair. She didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself at the moment. She was kind of on a tight schedule. 

She walked up to the stablemaster, a young Hylian man with the scraggly beginnings of a beard. “Sprinn,” she greeted, giving him a little wave to draw his attention. 

The stablemaster gasped and hastily stepped up to the counter. “Princess!” he exclaimed. “I heard rumors that you had returned safely, but to see you in person is quite the relief!” 

Zelda smiled. She figured she was going to get a lot of reactions like that. “Thank you, Sprinn,” she said. “I’m on my way to Rito Village, currently, and I was hoping you still had Ivory in your care?” 

To Zelda’s immense relief, Sprinn nodded. “Of course, Princess! We’ve taken good care of her. For a moment we were worried that you wouldn’t ever return for her, but—oh, sorry. Hold on for just one moment.” Sprinn stepped out from behind the counter and rushed off to the stalls. 

While she waited, she fished out one of the meat and mushroom skewers Purah had given her and sat down near the cooking pot. By the time she finished it, Sprinn returned with Ivory in tow. The brilliant white horse nickered at the sight of her, and a bright smile bloomed on her face. 

“Oh, thank you, Sprinn.” She took the reins from the stablemaster with one hand and brushed her other hand over Ivory’s neck. 

Sprinn’s face flushed a little at that. He tipped his cap at her. “It’s what we do, your highness. Please, come again!” 

Zelda hefted herself onto Ivory. It was a great relief to be with her steed again. “I will,” she told the stablemaster before gently urging Ivory into a trot. 

Fortunately, she didn’t run into any more issues throughout the day of travel. She and Rauru spent the time chatting, sharing stories. Rauru told her about how he and Sonia had met, and Zelda had told him about the day Link had shown her the house he had helped renovate in Hateno Village. By the time they reached the Tabantha Bridge Stable, the sun had just set. 

Zelda tried to keep a low profile in this stable as well, but she was eventually recognized by the travelers there when she settled down for the night. By the time she finished greeting and speaking to everyone, she got into bed much later than she would’ve liked. She could hardly fault them, though. They had probably been terrified when the Upheaval occurred. The least she could do was spare an hour to ease their worries. 

A few of them had asked about Link, to which she had regretfully explained that he was still missing. She had asked them to keep an eye out should they find anything, to which most of them readily agreed to. Many of them even said that they owed it to the swordsman as he had helped them during the Calamity. 

The next morning, Zelda set out with Ivory to Rito Village, now dressed in the snowquill set of clothes Purah had given her. The long shirt and pants were inner-lined with fur, and Rito feathers had been stitched onto the shoulders and onto the back to give the outfit a liking to the bird-folk. She stored her old clothes, including her hood, in the Purah Pad. 

She was glad for the snowquill set as the bitter cold wind of the Hebra region bit into her skin. It was far colder than normal, and heavy snowflakes continuously fell from the sky. Zelda craned her head up to see the massive, swirling cloud that loomed over Hebra. She could see why. 

In the early evening, Zelda finally arrived at the Lucky Clover Gazette, the newspaper’s home base that had been fashioned from the old Rito Stable. It had taken her much more time than she had anticipated to arrive due to the heavy snow. Ivory, bless her, had taken the rough terrain as well as she could’ve, and Zelda resolved to give her a tasty treat the moment she was able. The horse more than deserved it. 

She swung off of Ivory’s back, patting her on the side of her neck as she looked up at the distant Rito Village. Even from here, she could see that several layers of snow completely covered the village. It looked completely white—frozen. No Rito flew about the massive stone spire. Even the lanterns weren’t lit. The usual cheery village looked abandoned. Desolate. 

Within herself, Zelda vowed to fix this. She would fix what she had inadvertently caused. She led Ivory to the empty stalls that were still attached to the old stable. Thankfully, there were still plenty of supplies nearby, which she used to make sure that Ivory would be well fed while she ventured into Rito Village. 

After Ivory was settled, she stepped into the Lucky Clover Gazette. She spotted Traysi, the editor of the newspaper, leaning over a map spread out upon a table. She wore her own set of snowquill clothes. A Rito, Penn, stood beside her. She didn’t necessarily know him, as he had recently arrived in Hyrule from a far-off land, but she knew of him. 

“Traysi,” Zelda called, startling the Hylian woman. 

“Shh!” Penn loudly shushed her, holding up a feathery finger to his beak. “Traysi’s getting ready for our big Sir Link investigation!” 

“I’m guessing Purah’s already sent word, then?” she asked, stepping further into the stable. Penn startled and lifted his goggles to reveal wide eyes. 

“Princess Zelda!” he exclaimed. 

Traysi gasped and turned. “Zelda?” she cried. “Oh, Princess! Purah said you were coming! I’m so glad you’re safe!” 

“Thank you,” Zelda said politely. She glanced at Penn. “You… mentioned an investigation?” 

“Oh, yes! Purah asked us to help her look for Link. We heard he was still missing,” Traysi explained. “We’ve actually received some tips from people, lots of tips! They’ve said that they’ve seen a blond haired swordsman in different places, and we’re working on confirming whether or not that was our swordsman.” 

Zelda’s heart lifted at that, but she was careful not to get too hopeful. “Thank you, Traysi, Penn. That means a lot,” she said honestly. “I need to assist the Rito at the moment, but if you need anything from me as you search, please let me know.” 

“Of course, of course. But don’t you worry, Princess! We’ve got it under control,” Traysi said, performing a playful salute. “And we’ll tell you about anything we find!” 

Zelda nodded, beginning to step out, only to pause. “Oh, Traysi, I have my horse here in one of the spare stalls. I hate to ask this of you, but could you…?” 

Traysi, who had already turned back to her map, waved a hand. “Yes, yes, we’ll take care of her, don’t worry! Penn’s got it, right, Penn?”

“Wha—but I—” Penn sputtered. Then he sighed. “Yeah, I’ve got it.” 

“Thank you, Penn,” Zelda told him. “And could you have one of your workers lead her back to Lookout Landing? After I finish here I plan on fast traveling to the tower there.” The Rito sighed, but he gave her a thumbs up nonetheless. With a grateful nod, Zelda stepped out of the refurbished stable, said goodbye to Ivory by making sure she was warm and fed, and made her way across the bridges that led to the village. 

The village was built around the giant stone pillar, and wooden stairs and platforms had been fashioned spiraling up around the stone. At the base of the village, she spotted the two little lifts the Rito had fashioned with the propellers from Divine Beast Vah Medoh. It looked like their homes, like a birdhouse, but it was significantly smaller. It could hold two, maybe three Hylians. They were attached to cables that led all the way to the top of the stone pillar, and three propellers from Medoh had been attached to each of the bottoms. It was a simple luxury for the village, and only meant for foreigners, as Rito could simply fly on their own.

But now, in front of the lifts, a sign stood guard with the simple message: “Out of Order.” 

With the lifts out of commission, most likely due to the harsh winds, the lack of tourism with the blizzard, as well as no one being there to man them, Zelda started the climb. 

As she entered into the village proper, that desolate feeling from before seeped back in. The place was practically empty; she only saw the Rito children within the stores and homes; they were running the village by themselves. She hoped that all of the adults were only out searching for food and supplies and that nothing else had happened to them.

Three of the homes she passed had blue, faintly glowing, force fields around them like walls, (as the Rito homes, with their open infrastructure, were more like gazebos than anything). She recognized the force fields as the shields Medoh used to use to protect itself. It seemed the Rito had taken the shield generators from the Divine Beast and had fashioned them into the most frequented homes—the general store, the clothes store, and the kitchen. Zelda thought it quite clever. They kept the bitter winds and the snow out.

The snow was as deep as it was thick. By the time Zelda climbed near the top of the village, where she hoped Teba, the new village elder, would be, her legs burned from forcing her way through it. Overhead, more snowflakes plummeted down. It really was everlasting. 

Finally, she spotted Teba with his wife, Saki, and his son, Tulin. They stood out on Revali’s Landing, and as Zelda made her way towards them, she picked up on the end of what sounded like an argument. 

“—wouldn’t be hard, I could even do it alone!” Tulin said petunantly, glaring at his parents. His white and gray feathers, reminiscent of Teba’s, fluffed up in anger. “If we don’t do anything, the village—” 

He cut himself off when his startling blue eyes flitted to Zelda. His face lit up. “Princess Zelda! It’s you!” he exclaimed. 

Teba and Saki turned, and Zelda waved as she walked towards them. “Pardon the interruption,” she said. “I came as soon as I heard what was happening within Hebra. I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.” 

“Oh, Princess,” Saki replied, “we’re just happy to see you safe!”

“We heard that you and Link went missing,” Teba said, face and voice as stern as always. “It’s good to see you doing well.” 

Tulin hopped towards her with a flap of his wings and leaned to the side to look behind her. He drew back when he didn’t find what he was looking for, face falling. “Where’s Link?” he asked. 

Teba tugged his son back with a wing on his shoulder. “Tulin,” he chided before addressing Zelda. “I’m sorry about my son, Princess. He may have gotten taller, but he’s not yet grown.” 

Tulin pulled away from his father and shot a glare up at him. His favored bow, slung over his shoulder, bounced on his back. “Well maybe I would be if you didn’t treat me like a hatchling all the time!” 

“As long as you still think you can take on the world by yourself, you’ll always be my little chick,” Teba replied. 

“What, you think I can’t?” Tulin challenged. “I’m already fully-fledged, you know! You’ll change your tune when I ace today’s scouting trip!” he whirled around away with a huff and held out his wings. “You can all keep wasting your time treating the Stormwind Ark like it’s real, but not me!” 

“Listen, you—” Teba began to say, but Tulin leaped off of the landing and flew away, disappearing into the snowfall. “Unbelievable,” Teba sighed, rubbing his forehead. 

“I suppose I came at a bad time?” Zelda said awkwardly. Tulin had always been one to charge ahead without thinking—a trait that had only strengthened as he grew. It reminded her of Link. Maybe she shouldn’t have always left the two alone in the flight range whenever they came to Rito Village. 

Teba shook his head. “Tulin wants to investigate the source of the blizzard, and he’s having trouble hearing ‘no.’” 

Zelda glanced out to where the young Rito had flown off. Nothing but white met her gaze. She shivered. “He… mentioned an ark?” she asked. 

The two Rito shared a glance. “Let’s discuss this inside,” Teba suggested. “Out of the cold.”  

Him and Saki lead her to their home—the highest building in the village. Once they’re inside, Tulin flicks a switch, and a blue shield forms around them. Zelda looks up and, sure enough, there’s one of Medoh’s shield generators built into the ceiling. She marvels at it for a moment until Saki draws her attention back to the issue at hand.

“The Stormwind Ark is from an old folk song here in Rito Village,” she explained. “Long, long ago, when we faced a different sort of upheaval, the village was saved thanks to a great flying ship. Or so claims the song that’s been passed down through generations.”

“It’s a song for children, mind you. Few adults still parrot it as if it were true,” Teba added. “Still, every now and then, we’ve been getting reports among the Rito of a flying ship. Combine that with the blizzard caused by this Upheaval, and the legend of the Stormwind Ark seems less far-fetched.” 

“The other Rito are alright, then?” she asked. When Teba nodded and explained that all of the Rito were out scouting for food, the tension in her shoulders released. “Well, even if the Song of the Stormwind Ark is just a children’s rhyme, there must be something causing the blizzard. This is far from natural.” 

Teba nodded. “We’ve tried investigating, but the air is so turbulent now that no Rito can fly close enough to look into it,” he said, “the only one who’s gotten close is Tulin, thanks to his wind-gust technique, but I… hesitate to send him so close to it alone. I’m sorry, Princess, but we are at a standstill.” 

“I understand. I’ll be sure to investigate it,” Zelda said. She looked past the shield up at the storm cloud. As she studied it, even with the blue tint from the shield, she made out a collection of sky islands surrounding it. The more she looked at it, the more the scattered islands began to look like a sort of pathway. If she could just get up there… “Tulin mentioned a scouting trip. Where did he fly off to?” she asked. 

Teba nodded his head towards the Hebra mountains. “Him, Gesane, and Laissa were scheduled to go on a scouting trip near Talonto Peak,” he replied. 

Zelda nodded and went to leave. “I’ll go speak to him,” she told him and Saki. 

Before either of the Rito could stop her, she flicked the switch, deactivated the shield, and left the home. From Revali’s landing, she leapt off and unfurled her paraglider. She glided towards the Hebra mountains. At her side, Rauru appeared. “Zelda, what is it that you’re planning?” he asked, keeping pace with her as she glided. 

Zelda stared ahead, squinting her eyes against the snowfall. “The source of the blizzard is within that cloud,” she replied. “You heard Teba. Tulin is the only one who can fly up there without getting blown away. I’ll need his help if I want to get inside.” 

“You should tell Teba,” Rauru said. 

Zelda bit the inside of her cheek. “They wouldn’t approve. But I can’t wait around until they do, Rauru,” she added quickly. “These people are suffering.”

There was a pause. “That isn’t the only reason why you are rushing like this,” he said quietly. 

Zelda touched down onto the ground. Her boots sank into the snow. She stored her paraglider back in the pad. “No,” she agreed. “Link is suffering too.” Her heart twisted. “The longer all of this takes, the longer he’s stuck out there, alone. He’s already been through so much, Rauru, I can’t—” 

“Zelda,” Rauru interrupted gently, “you are not alone in this. There are already plenty of people out there searching for Link. You just spoke to that editor, remember? All of Hyrule is helping you in this.” 

Tears pricked the back of Zelda’s eyes, and she hastily pushed them back. “I’m scared,” she admitted quietly. “I’m scared that I—that they’ll be too late. You didn’t see what happened beneath the castle, Rauru. Link’s entire arm was burned by gloom, the Master Sword shattered —” 

“You must have faith in him, Zelda,” Rauru said. “I understand your fears. I share them, but you can’t let them weigh on you like this. You must have hope, and you must continue on.” 

Zelda ducked her head. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed. She wondered if Link had ever felt like this during the Calamity. Did fear ever cloud his judgement? Did he ever feel as if he had to keep moving lest he fall into his own head? “I’m not exactly ‘hero material.’ I’m not like Link.” 

“Well, you did take down an entire Hinox by yourself.” 

Zelda snorted. “You said that didn’t count,” she pointed out. 

“Then you must remember it differently,” Rauru mused. “I remember you slaying the mighty beast with naught but a single arrow—” 

Zelda laughed and wiped at her eyes with her gloved hands. Her laughter came more from shock; she didn’t expect Rauru to joke like that. Up on the Great Sky Island, he’d been distant, reserved, but over the course of their travels, he’d gradually begun to open up. The most animated she’d seen him was when he spoke of Sonia. 

She was blessed to have a companion with her on her journey. Link didn’t have that luxury—both during the Calamity and now. “Thank you, Rauru,” she said honestly. 

He smiled warmly. “You needn’t thank me, Zelda,” he replied, “but you are welcome all the same.” 

*     *     *

Atop the flying machine, Link peered over the edge of the wing at the monster camp below. The bokoblins and moblins watched him fly overhead, brandishing their clubs and spears in obvious anger. Link grinned. This thing was fantastic. He wished he had had it earlier.

He had been following the statues for a while now. At one point, he had flown over a large canyon, which would’ve been a pain to traverse with only one arm. He had also passed over a light root that had been sitting at the bottom of said canyon, but he didn’t necessarily know how to land this thing, so he didn’t bother trying. There would always be more light roots… hopefully. 

As Link passed over the monster camp, aiming the flying machine towards another light root that he could see in the distance, the Zonai wing suddenly flashed with a green light. Brow furrowing, he looked down as it flashed again, and then again. It was flashing faster, actually. 

His brow furrowed. He let go of the steering stick just as the wing disintegrated into green strands of light from right underneath him. A yelp scraped out of his throat as he fell. The steering stick, fans, and the light were no longer attached to the wing, and they all fell through the air alongside him. Heart lodged in his throat, he fumbled for his paraglider. For a moment, he thought he heard Zelda’s voice screaming his name just as he unfurled the paraglider. 

Searing pain ripped through his arm from the sudden pull, and for a moment, his vision blacked out. The paraglider slipped out of his hands. The next thing he knew, he was on his back on the ground, gasping for the air that had been knocked from his chest. 

“Hey!” a voice yelled. He distantly heard pounding footsteps running towards him. Blearily, he turned his head. The Yiga mask dug into the side of his face as he watched a Hylian man hurry towards him. “Hey, you alright?” the Hylian asked, crouching beside him. “That looked rough. Didn’t you know that wings only last a certain amount of time? That should’ve been in the notebook.” 

Link stared at him, completely and utterly bewildered. How was there a man down here with him? Did he just die? 

“Ah geez, you’re a newbie, aren’t you, or are you young? You look short enough. Whatever,” the man groaned, “come on, sit up.” He pulled Link up, and at the motion, he felt a sharp throbbing in his chest. He might’ve bruised a rib. Hopefully nothing was broken. 

That pain, however, couldn’t compare to the absolute agony in his arm. He could barely breathe through it. It felt like he was burning from the inside out. He weakly craned his head at the nearby light root, and he shakily lifted a hand and pointed at it. He couldn’t speak, but he hoped that the Hylian would understand. 

“What, did you step in some gloom too?” the man asked, annoyance lining his tone. “That light root won’t be much help. Look, I’ve got some Sundelions, alright? Just stay there for a second.” 

The Hylian left. Link gasped as his arm sent a particularly sharp throb through him. It was spreading again, seeping into his shoulder and chest. Desperate, he forced himself to his feet and staggered towards the light root. 

“Woah, woah! Where’re you going?” the Hylian exclaimed, appearing in his line of sight. He held a glass bottle in his hand, filled with a dimly glowing, yellow liquid. “Sit back down! I’ve got a sunny elixir, see? You didn’t hit your head that badly, did you?” 

He put his hands on Link’s shoulders to push him down, but when his hand landed on his right shoulder, the pain doubled. His vision whited out again, and when it returned, he was on the ground, and the man pushed the bottle into his face. 

Desperate to relieve the pain, he grabbed the elixir, shifted the mask up to access his mouth, and dumped the elixir into his mouth. He prayed to the Goddess Hylia that this wouldn’t worsen his injury like the hearty elixir had. 

The drink didn’t have a taste, but it was surprisingly warm. He felt it trail down his throat and settle in his stomach. Once it did, the warmth bloomed out throughout the rest of his body, and to his immense relief, soothed the pain. The gloom retreated back into his arm, and the pain receded to its usual throbbing. 

He sagged forward and rested his head on his hands which were propped up on his knees. As he regained his breath, he glanced up at the Hylian, and, with a start, realized that he was still in the Yiga uniform. Why was this man helping him? 

“Better?” the man asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Good. Now get out of here! You’re going to ruin my ambush for Link if you hang around. You know he’s down here, right? Look, there’s a base just down that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction of the light root. 

The realization came to Link. He blinked. This was a Yiga. He should’ve known.

Weakly, he clambered to his feet. The Yiga disguised as a Hylian watched him with a scowl, his hands planted on his hips. Link merely gave him a nod of thanks before he hurried off. 

He supposed it made sense that the man had helped him, seeing as he was dressed as a Yiga, but he had never seen anything like that from a Yiga before. It was strange being treated nicely by one, even if he had been a tad brash. 

That man had just saved his life. The sunny elixir stewed uncomfortably in his stomach at the thought. Probably, he added in his head. 

After a while of walking, he finally arrived at the nearby light root. He had to take off his mask and hood to reach the Secret Stone from where it was nestled against his collarbone underneath the uniform, but he was able to get the root activated. 

The light that poured from the large plant immediately soothed the lingering pain in his arm. It didn’t do much for the ache in his ribs, but he hoped that that would pass in due time. He glanced over his shoulder, curious to see if the Yiga would come running over from the sudden influx of light. He didn’t see anything at the moment, so with a relieved sigh, he sat down onto the sand beneath the light root and fished out some food. 

As he bit into a banana, he noted to himself that Zonai wings didn’t last forever. It was a shame to have lost the vehicle. He had really liked driving it. 

After he finished a few bananas and drank some water, he got back on his feet. The Yiga had mentioned that there was another base close by, but he figured he should avoid it for now. He already had plenty of supplies from the last base he had raided, after all. Besides, he didn’t have any more crystallized charges. Even if he did get another Zonai machine from the base, he wouldn’t be able to drive it without them. 

He found the line of statues again and continued to follow them on foot. As he traveled, he noticed that the terrain flattened out into a wide open plain. It was much easier to travel across, and before long, he spotted another light root out in the distance. His heart lifted at the sight of that faintly glowing orange orb. 

He continued, humming quietly to himself to fill the oppressive silence. He felt vulnerable out here within the flat terrain, especially since there weren’t many trees or giant mushrooms. The land was empty and bare. He almost wished it wasn’t like this, even if it was easier to travel through.

Up ahead, something moved in the darkness. He paused. Past the thick darkness, he just made out a faint, red glow. That was a monster covered in gloom, probably. Maybe it was a monster camp? Off to his left stood a tree—one of the few that he had seen in these plains—and he hurried towards it to duck behind. 

He squinted at the shape. It erratically scurried through the darkness, much faster than any bokoblin or moblin he’d seen. A lizalfos then, maybe? His eyes narrowed. It looked bigger than a lizalfos. He crouched and picked up a stone with his left hand, then chucked it as hard as he could, hoping to lure the enemy closer so that he could see what he was working with. It could be a brand new monster like the frox. 

The moment the stone landed, the enemy lit up with an angry pink, whirled around, and with its single, blue eye, shot a blinding laser into the little stone. An explosion rocked the ground. Link froze. 

It was a guardian . How was one all of the way down here? He had thought all of them got dismantled in the following years after the Calamity. He and Zelda had spent nearly a full year hunting all of them down. With Calamity Ganon gone, they weren’t a threat anymore, just lifeless hunks of machinery, but they hadn’t wanted to risk keeping them around. And besides, Purah and Zelda enjoyed repurposing the spare parts. 

But now it seemed that, somehow, a guardian had found its way down here, and it had been reanimated by gloom. 

For a moment, Link stood rigid, face pale. Memories swarmed like gnats in his skull:  malice-infected guardians swarming castle town, their spindly legs clambering over corpses and rubble, that single, blue eye locking onto him within that burning field, taking his last breath in Zelda’s arms—

He ducked behind the tree. He pressed his back against the wood. His heart beat rapidly. He didn’t understand; he had fought hundreds of guardians during the Calamity, often multiple at a time. Why was one making him tremble like a newborn fawn? 

He roughly shook his head. He needed to get himself together. He needed to focus . 

From his pouch, he drew his broadsword. He also had the Yiga’s sickle on his hip, but he felt more comfortable with a sword. 

The line of statues continued past the guardian, as did the light roots, and with there being barely any cover, he wouldn’t be able to sneak around the mechanical monster. He knew how well that worked. He shuddered from a memory of trying to sneak through Hyrule Field at the beginning of his quest. He still had a scar from that encounter.

Again, he shook his head, as if he could dislodge the memories from his mind. He had taken down a guardian with just a pot lid before. He was going to be fine. 

At least, that’s what he told himself. 

With a preparatory breath, he stepped out from behind the tree. The guardian noticed him instantly. It was missing a few of its legs, and it looked worse for wear, but it still lit up with that familiar, angry pink, and its beady blue eye locked onto him. A red tracking laser appeared on his chest, and a high-pitched beeping sounded from the guardian, gradually accelerating as it charged its attack. 

Link sprinted towards it. He focused his mind entirely on the mechanical monster. The beeping grew quicker, and as a flash of light came from the guardian’s eye, he leapt to the side. Everything slowed, and familiar power rushed through him. The beam, near-frozen, hummed in the air. He rushed to the guardian, and by the time everything resumed its normal pace, he was already upon the guardian. 

He jumped onto its cone-shaped body, raised his sword, and stabbed the shining blade directly into the machine’s eye. Sparks burst from the guardian as it staggered back, but before he could pull his sword back out, the guardian suddenly spun and threw him off. 

He landed on his left side. It jostled his bruised ribs, but adrenaline forced him to his feet. He had never seen a guardian do that before. 

Even with his sword still stuck in the machine’s eye, it had no trouble locking onto him again, red tracking laser trained directly on the center of his chest. He stared at the guardian as it approached, beeping in time with his racing heart. 

He grabbed the sickle from his hip, but it felt meek in comparison to the mechanical monster. He wished he had a shield or even a bow and arrow. That terror creeped back in, rooting his feet to the ground. The beeping grew louder. It pounded in his ears. It jostled his heart. He stared at the single, blue eye. He couldn’t focus. He couldn’t think. 

The tracking laser vanished, and the beeping stopped as the eye charged an attack. Instinct kicked in, and he threw himself to the side just as the laser incinerated the ground he’d just been standing upon. 

Instinct kicked in, and he sprinted away towards the tree, dropping a smoky mushroom behind him to try and give himself some cover. The guardian chased after him, its feet clacking on the ground, the beeping getting faster, faster, louder, louder . He dove behind the tree just as it fired another laser. 

The tree exploded in a burst of fire. Link fell back but immediately scrambled to his feet, ears ringing. His sword that had been lodged in the machine’s eye was long gone by now, shattered by the lasers. 

He threw another smoky mushroom. The guardian twitched and spun around, having lost sight of him. Tightening his grip on the sickle, he charged towards the guardian. It charged its laser again, but before it could fire he climbed onto its body and swung and jabbed the point of the sickle into its eye. Using the curved blade like a crowbar, he leaned all of his weight on the weapon. Something within the guardian snapped, and the eye popped out of its socket. 

The guardian staggered back, and Link jumped off. It’s head spun around and around. Wire stuck out of the hole where its eye had been, and sparks showered out of the torn ends. The guardian’s pink light flickered, and it beeped frantically. Link backed away, sickle raised before him, heart thundering in his chest. The smoke from the mushrooms drifted around the guardian, warping the image of the mechanical monster. 

The guardian’s erratic twitching slowed. The incessant beeping warped. The smoke dissipated. The pink light flickered one last time before it dimmed, and the guardian collapsed, dead. The incessant beeping died off with a pathetic, lingering whine. With a loud whoosh , the gloom that had corrupted it rushed out of the machinery and vanished into the darkness. 

Link stared at the dead guardian. His hands shook—whether from adrenaline or lingering fear, he didn’t know. 

He felt like he wasn’t entirely present . A bone-deep ache settled over him, and a sudden exhaustion had his eyelids drooping. He had felt this before, back whenever he had recovered a painful memory from before the Calamity. 

His eyes drifted down to the sickle. Its rusted blade was slightly bent, now, and a crack in the metal stretched all the way from the hilt to the tip of the blade. He sighed and dragged his feet towards the distant light root. He would need to find a new weapon—hopefully he’d find another spirit of a Hylian soldier. 

Eventually, he made it to the light root. His hands had stopped trembling, and his heart had slowed, so now he just felt tired. Numbly, he activated the light before sagging against one of its roots. He took off the Yiga mask, sucked in a wavering breath, and let his head fall back against the root. 

Despite his exhaustion, it took him almost an hour to fall asleep. Once he finally did, he dreamed of that night at Fort Hateno. 

Suffice to say, he didn’t get much rest. 

Chapter Text

Zelda found Tulin at the top of Talonto Peak. An aerocuda, one of those new flying monsters, had stolen his bow, leaving him weaponless on the top of the mountain. When he relayed what had happened to Zelda, that he had abandoned the mission with Gesane and Laissa to look for supplies himself, he had looked ashamed and embarrassed. 

Just ahead, on a sky island that had fallen to the ground, the aerocuda sat perched on the remains of a stone pillar with Tulin’s bow clutched in one of its claws. Zelda promised to help the young Rito, and, using Tulin’s wind gust ability, they glided over to the sky island. 

The aerocuda couldn’t do much more but squawk before Zelda landed, drew her bow, and shot it down. She grabbed and stored its remains—a bright red eye and yellow wings—as Tulin snatched his bow. 

Before they could celebrate, however, three more aerocuda, each holding a blue bokoblin, ambushed them. Together, they made quick work of the monsters. Tulin shot down two by the time Zelda finished off one. Not for the first time, she was impressed by his talent. A lot of it had come from his own training with Teba, Zelda knew, but she wondered how much Link had taught him. 

“Hah! We did it!” Tulin exclaimed. He landed on the ground with a flap of his wings, buffeting some of the snow. “This must have been a nest for those monsters or something. But not anymore!” 

Zelda hummed in thought. She eyed the horns from the blue bokoblin. Unlike the red bokoblin, these ones were two-pronged, like a bident. She summoned the sword Purah had given her and, using Fuse, created a new weapon. She still had the one with the red boko’s horn, but it was good to have a back-up. 

“Woah!” Tulin cried, rushing forward. “How’d you do that? That was so cool!” 

She opened her mouth to reply, but a sudden chime cut her off. It echoed through the air, as if the wind itself had made the sound. Zelda flinched and looked around wildly. Tulin jumped. “What was that?” the young Rito asked, head snapping around much like, well, a bird. “You heard that too, right?” 

Zelda nodded. “I’ve never heard something like that before.”

“Hey! Tulin! Princess!” a voice called out. 

Zelda and Tulin turned to see Teba and Harth flying towards them. “Dad?” Tulin sputtered as they landed. 

“That was some impressive fighting, you two,” Harth said. 

Tulin’s feathers ruffled. “You… you guys saw all that? Talk about embarrassing…” he mumbled. 

“Mhm,” Teba hummed. “It’s unlike you to let your bow get stolen, Tulin.” 

“I… flew ahead of Gesane and Laissa, even when they told me not to,” Tulin replied, avoiding his father’s eyes. “I uh… I get what you were talking about, earlier. Y’know, working as a flock and everything.” He glanced at Zelda. “I don’t think I would’ve been able to get it back without the Princess.” 

Zelda smiled at him. “I’m glad I could help,” she said. She glanced at Teba. After seeing the way Tulin handled his bow, she didn’t have any reservations about accompanying him through the stormcloud. Now she just needed to convince Tulin’s father to let him go. She mulled over what she could say, but Teba interrupted her thoughts. 

“Tulin, we’ve come to a decision,” he began, crossing his wings. He nodded his head up at the cloud. “The source of the blizzard is coming from inside that cloud. We’ve tried investigating, but the strong winds make any approach from the sides impossible. The only way in is through the top, but none of us are capable of making it all the way up there. All except you, Tulin. Which is why…” he paused. “Which is why I… am allowing you to accompany Princess Zelda to find the source of this blizzard.” 

Tulin’s eyes widened. “You mean—I can go up there?” he asked. “You mean it?” 

Zelda blinked in surprise. Well, she supposed she didn’t need to convince Teba anymore. “Thank you, Teba,” she said sincerely. 

“Yes, well, as long as you two are safe up there,” Teba replied. “You watch each other's backs. And Tulin, protect the Princess. Hyrule would be doomed if we lost her, to say the least.” 

“Don’t worry.” Zelda patted the Purah Pad from where it hung on her hip. “If things grow dire, I’ll be able to warp us out immediately.” 

“Psh, like we’ll even need to teleport out of there!” Tulin proclaimed. He planted his wings on his hips and puffed out his chest. “Zelda and I will make quick work of this blizzard! Just you wait and see!” 

“The sky islands closest to the ground are near Hebra Peak,” Harth said. “From there, you’ll be able to make your way up to the top of the cloud.” 

“Good luck,” Teba told them, and he and Harth took off back to Rito Village, leaving Zelda and Tulin alone. 

“Did you hear all that, Princess?” Tulin asked excitedly. “Come on! We gotta get going!” The young Rito took off, flying ahead before turning towards her. “Come on!” he shouted. 

She began to make her way towards Tulin as Rauru spoke to her. “This Stormwind Ark, Zelda,” he murmured, “it was sacred to the Rito during my era.” 

“It’s real, then?” Zelda asked. 

“Indeed,” Rauru replied. “It was called the Wind Temple. If there was any place in which the Sage of Wind would keep his Sacred Stone, it would be there. And about that sound you both heard… I am that it was the Sage of Wind himself.” 

Zelda paused. “Then you believe that Tulin is… 

“Is the descendant and the next Sage of Wind, yes,” Rauru answered. 

Zelda looked over. Tulin climbed the mountain ahead of her, hopping from rock to rock, using his wings to extend his jumps. With his ability to control the wind, and his natural gift with combat, he would make the most logical sense as the next sage. 

Not to mention, he was a direct descendant of the Champion Revali. Zelda jumped off of a rock and deployed her paraglider to glide down to the snow-covered ground as a thought came to her mind. If the Demon King had broken free from his seal earlier, would Revali have become a sage?

“Hey! Who’re you talking to?” Tulin asked, startling Zelda. The kid had seemingly come out of nowhere. 

“Myself,” Zelda replied immediately. “I have a habit of muttering.” 

That wasn’t necessarily a lie; Link had told her that she would often talk to herself without realizing. 

Tulin hummed in thought and took off again. When he was out of earshot, Rauru’s voice sounded. “I take it you don’t want to reveal everything quite yet?” he asked. 

Zelda nodded, pulling herself up onto a snow-covered ledge with a grunt. “He’s… young, Rauru. And besides, we aren’t certain that he is the sage, and I would like to keep the burden of the impending fight with the Demon King off of his shoulders for now.” 

“Wise decision,” Rauru said before falling quiet once again. 

After a while of climbing, Zelda and Tulin finally reached Hebra Peak. They climbed up the ruins that were on and near the mountain. Zelda used Ascend multiple times and had to explain it, as well as her other abilities, to Tulin, who had been absolutely starstruck by it. 

“I wish I could fly up through solid rock!” he had said. 

“You can fly anyway,” Zelda had pointed out. 

“Yeah, but that’s not as cool!” 

Eventually, they made it up onto the ruins that floated above the peak. The Purah Pad called them the Rising Island Chain. From there, they were able to begin the arduous climb to the top of the cloud. 

Just as they had begun the journey, however, they were stopped by another chime sound. The Sage of Wind, Zelda thought, craning her head back to look up at the giant cloud above them. She expected the chime to be the end of it, but she was surprised when a male voice spoke as well. 

“Come…” it echoed. “Come… to me…” 

“Wha—who was that?” Tulin sputtered, ruffling his feathers. “You heard it, right? It was that sound again, and then a voice!” 

“‘Come to me,’ it said,” Zelda mused, looking down at the young Rito who openly gaped at the sky. That was more confirmation that Tulin was to be the next sage, but still, she hesitated to tell him everything. She would wait until they got to the ark. 

“Hey! Look at that!” Tulin exclaimed, and Zelda followed his line of sight. 

A small boat hovered in the air, seemingly by nothing but magic. Its sails were open, and it gently bobbed up and down with the turbulent wind. 

“A boat?” Tulin said, cocking his head to the side. 

“It looks like the song of the Stormwind Ark is real,” Zelda said. She knew that already, thanks to Rauru, but Tulin didn’t. 

Tulin looked up at the cloud. “So… Do you think that’s what’s up there? Causing the blizzard?” 

Zelda nodded. “Either that, or it's from something that's in the ark.” 

Tulin jumped up into the air and hovered with a few flaps of his wings. “Then let’s go!” he crowed. “I wanna see the ark! It must be huge .” Zelda followed after the young Rito, and they made their way to the flying boat, which Zelda found could be used as a sort of trampoline, thanks to the sail that stretched over the top of it. 

As they climbed—using more of those flying boats that were scattered amongst the ruins—Zelda discovered that Tulin, as one would expect from an adolescent, was quite the chatter. He talked almost nonstop as they climbed, glided, and jumped from island to island. Zelda certainly wasn’t complaining about the constant conversation; she herself loved to talk, and it was a welcome distraction from all of her worries. 

“And then I said, ‘yeah? Well, you’re as slow as a Hinox anyway,’ and he got really mad at that,” Tulin was saying, flapping through the air besides Zelda. 

Zelda let out a startled laugh. “Tulin, that’s not really what you want to say to your mentor.” 

“I know, I know,” Tulin replied. They came to a large gap between islands, and the young Rito sent out a blast of wind to carry Zelda across with her paraglider. “But he’s my dad! He knows I don’t really mean it.” 

“Does he?” Zelda asked, storing the paraglider back into the Purah Pad. 

Tulin paused, landing on the ground. His talons clicked on the stone as he walked. “Uh… I think so?” he replied. “I guess I’ve never really… huh.” 

“I think you and your father have a lot you need to talk about,” Zelda said with a chuckle. “Trust me, Tulin, you don’t want to leave anything unsaid between the two of you.” 

“Hm… you know, Princess, you’re really smart,” the young Rito said. 

Zelda blinked. “You think so?” 

“Yeah! Smarter than Link, that’s for sure.” 

She snorted. “What makes you say that?” 

“Well, you remember when you first visited Rito Village after the Calamity to help with Vah Medoh?” Tulin asked, and when Zelda nodded, he continued. “Well, while you were talking to Kaneli and my dad, I asked Link to show me some of his skills at the Flight Range, right? And I thought he was just going to, y’know, stand on the ground and shoot the targets from there, but no! He just jumped right off! He—he doesn’t have wings!” 

“Did he hit any of the targets?” 

“Yeah, I guess… He used his paraglider and the updrafts. But still! What kind of Hylian just jumps off of a wooden platform like that?” 

“A Hylian like Link,” Zelda said. 

“Sometimes I don’t think he’s even a Hylian, though. He’s… something else. ” 

Zelda had to stop as she doubled over in laughter. Tulin preened at that; he seemed to like making people laugh. 

It took them the rest of the day and half of the next to make their way up the islands. They had to camp and sleep through the night, which had not been a pleasant experience, but necessary. 

The next morning, the higher and closer they got to the cloud, and as they continued the climb, the harsher the snow and winds became; they also encountered multiple bouts of monsters and soldier constructs, which had slowed down their progress considerably. 

They were able to fight their way through and eventually came to the final sky island. From then on, there weren’t any more sky islands. Instead, there was a swarm of flying ships, slowly circling the cloud on their own accord. 

“It looks like we’ll have to use those to keep making our way up,” Zelda said, watching the ships slowly glide through the air. Her arms ached from the continuous use of the paraglider. 

“Are you going to be okay?” Tulin asked. “You’ll have to paraglide the entire time, and um… I don’t think I’ll be able to catch you if you fall—not that you’re, like, heavy or anything—” 

“Don’t worry about me,” Zelda assured, giving the young Rito a smile. “I’ll be just fine. We can’t stop now.” 

“Right,” Tulin agreed. A determined look settled on his face. 

With a preparatory inhale, Zelda stepped off of the island onto the boat’s sail before her, and it launched her high into the air. Tulin sent a blast of wind to carry her to a nearby boat, and again, she was sent skyward. 

This continued until she landed on one of the last ships. It propelled her up, up, and above the clouds. Zelda gasped. For the first time since she had set foot in Hebra, she saw a clear sky. 

The sun was blinding after the dim lighting in the thick storm. Zelda squinted as her eyes adjusted. The sky shone a crystal blue, wide and vast, and the sun—the gleaming light—shone over it all as a cheerful beacon. 

They were above the storm cloud now—above all of the clouds—and Zelda spotted a large, gaping opening in the top of the storm. With another gust of wind from Tulin, she glided over it and peered down. Both her and Tulin gasped in awe. 

Below them, nestled within the heart of the storm cloud, hover a giant, flying ship. It had no sails, leaving the deck wide and open. Fins stuck out of its sides—oars turned into wings—and a wooden recreation of a bird’s head proudly stood out of its front. 

The Stormwind Ark, Zelda thought, her eyes wide as she gazed down at it past her boots. She looked to Tulin, who had a similar expression of shock on his face. “Are you ready?” she asked. Once they dove inside of this storm cloud, there would be no turning back, lest they need to teleport away. If they did that, though, they would need to climb all of the way back up, and that was time that she didn’t want to waste. 

The young Rito gave her a determined nod. “Let’s save Rito Village.” 

Zelda nodded back, and with a preparatory inhale, she closed the paraglider and let herself fall. 

*     *     *

Link woke up tired. He groaned and rubbed at his dry eyes with his left hand. After about a minute of dreading the inevitable, he forced himself to stand up and carry on. 

He followed the statues for about another hour, (or at least, what he thought was an hour). At one point he found another one of those spirits. It gave him a Gerudo Scimitar, which he had gratefully used to replace the near-broken sickle. After that, he spotted what he figured was the Abandoned Gerudo Mine in the distance. A large structure, illuminated by those same lamps from the Central Mine, punctured the darkness. Before the structure, like the field before the Central Mine, was a large, circular stone platform, above which two flying machines, piloted by Yiga, circled. 

Carefully, Link approached, giving the stone platform a wide berth to avoid the Yiga on the machines. At the foot of the structure, which was practically identical to the one at the Central Mine, Kohga stood in front of a deactivated mining construct. He aggressively waved a hand in front of it, obviously trying to mimic what Link had done to awaken the previous one. Beside the construct, tucked up by the unlit forge, was a pile of various Zonai devices. 

Link crouched behind some crates and took stock of his inventory. He had his new Gerudo Scimitar on his hip. In his pouch, he had three of those strange purple flowers that he still didn’t know the purpose of, and he only had one more smoky mushroom. He glanced up at Kohga.

He wanted to catch the Master of the Yiga off guard to garner information from him. He was working with the demon, or in his words, the “Magnificent One,” and if he knew anything about the demon’s plan, any insight at all, he needed to get it out of him. 

He knew that the demon wanted to corrupt him, to control him, but that couldn’t be it. There had to be more to it. What was happening in Hyrule? Had anything happened to the kingdom? Was the demon attacking the regions, attacking Lookout Landing? 

He took hold of his last smoky mushroom. This was risky, he knew. He was risking another confrontation with the demon if he possessed Kohga again. The demon’s words replayed in his mind.

“Have you felt it, swordsman? My corruption within you…”  

When the demon had rasped those words, the gloom had reacted, as if strengthened by his presence. 

He shook his head. If the demon could’ve, he would’ve attacked Link himself. He certainly seemed powerful enough. But the demon was nowhere to be found, which meant he could only exert a little of his control and power at a time. He must be hiding somewhere, gathering strength. 

He touched the Sacred Stone, still tucked beneath the Yiga uniform. As long as he had this stone, and as long as the demon remained unseen, he should be fine. As for his voice, well… he would force it to work. He needed information. He slipped the mask off of his face and let it fall. He wanted Kohga to recognize him.

“Come on!” Kohga shouted. He threw his hands up in frustration. “It’s the left hand, right? So why isn’t this working? ” He repeatedly stuck his left hand out at the green hand design projected in front of the construct. It looked like he was trying to give it a rather violent high five. 

An amused smile flickered on Link’s face. From what he gathered, it didn’t matter which hand one used. What mattered was the Sacred Stone. 

He tossed the smoky mushroom. The moment it erupted into a cloud of smoke, he pulled the scimitar from its place on his hip and, in a burst of speed, lept from behind the crates and lunged at Kohga. The Yiga whirled around, but the smoke blinded him. He let out a loud squawk as Link bashed an elbow into his chest. He stumbled back into the large stone pillar beside the construct, and before he could recover, Link pinned him against it with his scimitar at his throat. Behind him, the smoke gradually dissipated. 

“It’s you! ” Kohga gasped. “Link! You just had to follow me here, you—!” 

“Quiet,” Link interrupted. The word scraped at his dry throat. He swallowed and forced himself to speak. His voice obeyed, but it was weak. “Who is the Magnificent One?” He pressed the scimitar against the man’s throat. Not enough to cut, but enough to threaten.

“The Magnificent One!” Kohga exclaimed. Link could hear the smile in his voice. “He is the one to end all things! The one who’ll finally destroy this miserable world!” 

“Who is he?” he demanded.

Kohga tilted his head, and Link pulled the scimitar back slightly when it cut into the man’s neck. The blade had cut past the uniform and into the man’s skin, slicing a thin, red line. The Yiga didn’t seem to care. Instead, he chuckled, a low, rasping sound. “How eager you are,” he murmured. 

Link stiffened. It was the demon’s voice. The pain in his arm spiked. He winced, faltered, and before he could recover, Kohga pushed him away, brought his hands together, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

He instantly whirled around, scimitar at the ready. Kohga appeared in front of him, standing as still as stone, arms hanging limply at his sides. His head remained tilted to the side, as if his neck didn’t have the strength to hold it up. 

“Tell me, swordsman,” the demon began. Kohga’s head jerked up. “How is it fair that I tell you my name when I don’t even know yours?” 

Link didn’t say anything. His voice had sputtered and died.

Another low, grating chuckle. “Come now, swordsman, I know you can speak. Answer me. ” The demon’s voice grew dark, commanding.

Link took a wary step back, but he kept his mouth stubbornly closed. 

“Well then,” the demon sounded disappointed, “I find no reason to disclose my identity to you, swordsman. If you neglect to show respect to me, then I will do the same to you.” Slowly, haltingly, Kohga raised a hand with the palm up. “I have grown tired of waiting.”

An orb of dark, miasma-like gloom formed above the palm of Kohga’s hand. It slowly grew in size, seemingly pulling gloom out of the very air. From behind, Link heard the familiar low grunting of monsters. He spun around. Three moblins, coated in gloom, lumbered towards him. The demon must’ve just created them. He hadn’t seen them anywhere before. 

None of them had weapons, fortunately, but Link knew he wouldn’t win this fight—not with his arm, not without another smoky mushroom, and not in these close quarters. With his scimitar clutched in his hand, he turned and ran. Kohga stood stiffly, hand remaining in the air. He didn’t try to stop Link as he sprinted past him, away from the moblins. 

He ran out onto the large, circular stone platform where the two Yiga flew overhead. They noticed him, but they didn’t attack. Link supposed they didn’t want to risk harming the three moblins, or maybe the demon had called them off somehow. 

Behind the moblins, Kohga suddenly fell limp and crumbled to the ground. The demon had left, then. Overhead, the two Yiga turned their machines towards their master and descended towards him. Link backed away from the moblins as he watched the two Yiga land their machines and run to Kohga. If he could get to those flying machines… 

A moblin roared, and Link leapt to the side to avoid the moblin’s wild swing of its arm. He had let them get too close. 

He focused on the other moblin. It lunged at him, meaty hands outstretched, as if it intended to grab him. Link ducked at the last possible second, activating a flurry rush. Everything seemed to slow. With a burst of focused speed, he slashed one of the beast’s stout legs. The moblin fell to the ground. Link threw himself into a run towards the flying machines. The third moblin made an attempt to grab him as he ran past it. He felt one of its claws rake across his back, cutting into his Yiga uniform, drawing blood, but he didn’t stop.

He pumped his legs faster. His feet slammed against the stone. The two Yiga, helping Kohga to his feet, noticed Link as he barreled towards them. One of them let out a shout, passed Kohga to the other Yiga, and charged at him, drawing their sickle. 

Behind, the moblins chased after him. In front of him, he met the Yiga footsoldier head on. They swiped at him, which he deflected with his scimitar. He couldn’t swing his weapon back, however, due to how close he was with the Yiga. They grappled, bashing the hilts of their swords into each other's wrists and arms, trying to disarm the other. It was more of a fistfight than anything. 

A large, meaty hand wrapped around Link’s right arm and squeezed. His body seized up as his vision went white. He let out a cry of pain and felt his body go limp. When his vision recovered, he realized that the moblin was dragging him back by its grip on his arm. The Sacred Stone, even beneath the Yiga uniform, shone as bright as a flame. A distant part of himself registered that the stone was the only thing keeping him conscious. 

Blindly, he swung his left hand—which still held the scimitar—up and behind him. He felt it connect with something, but the grip on his arm only tightened, forcing another ragged cry from his mouth. He couldn’t hear anymore due to the high-pitched ringing in his ears, and the pain was spreading, leaking into his chest and even beginning to creep up his neck. It was fire, it was acid, it was everything evil and malicious, twisting and squeezing and tearing his muscle, blood, bone.

His voice ripped out of his throat like a wild animal. “Let go!” he screamed. He needed it to stop. It needed to stop . He swung his scimitar back again. This time, he felt the blade sink into flesh, heard a distant, pained howl, and the thick hand around his arm disappeared. Without it holding him up, he crumpled to the ground, and the scimitar slipped from his hand. 

He sucked in a desperate breath, panting and wheezing against the pain that wouldn’t relent. The Sacred Stone pulsed beneath the uniform. It felt hot, and he could feel its lingering magic warring against the gloom within him. 

A moblin leered over him. With a spike of adrenaline, he rolled away from its hands and clumsily got to his feet. He backed away from the monster. The second and third moblins stumbled behind it. Black blood oozed from their injuries. 

To his side, the Yiga holding Kohga backed away. The other slowly approached him alongside the moblins. The flying machines waited just past them. 

Link’s heart beat feverishly, and his head spun. He didn’t know what to do—the fire in his arm, half of his chest, and part of his neck made it near impossible to think, even with the Sacred Stone fighting against it. 

The moblins and the Yiga steadily grew closer. They seemed wary. Link backed away further, inching closer to the unlit forge, sweat dripping from his brow. His fingers in his right hand had gone numb and stiff. 

He took another stumbling step back, frantically trying to think of some sort of strategy or distraction—wait, what about the purple flowers? He fished one out from the pouch. He had no idea what this thing would do. For all he knew, it was just a normal flower, but he was out of options. 

With a grunt, he chucked the flower at the nearest moblin. To his immense surprise, the flower burst into a small, purple cloud on impact. The moblin reared back, and when the cloud cleared, its eyes had turned purple. It turned on the other two moblins, raised an arm, and slammed a fist into one of the other monsters. The Yiga jumped back in shock. The two moblins roared in anger and lunged at the purple-eyed monster. 

Link gaped. So that was what the flowers did. They were even more useful then the smoky mushrooms! 

The Yiga growled in anger and lunged at him. Link summoned another flower and threw it at them as he sprinted past them. He didn’t know if the flower made contact or not. He pumped his arms and legs, his breath quick and shallow, as he darted to the flying machine. 

The Yiga from behind let out a shout. “Stop him!” 

So the flower hadn’t gotten the Yiga, or the mask had protected them from its fumes. Link didn’t stop to try again. He only had eyes for the flying machine that was—thank Hylia—upright and facing outwards. Praying that there were crystallized charges already within it, he jumped onto it and grabbed the steering stick. 

He thanked every goddess imaginable when the machine lit up and inched forward. The Yiga who had avoided the flower ran towards him, but when the flying machine lifted him into the air, they skidded to a stop and brought their hands together in a familiar motion. 

Link braced himself just as the Yiga teleported directly next to him. With his left hand on the steering stick, Link, without thinking, swung his right fist into the Yiga's face. Agony shot up his arm at the contact—it felt as if a thousand barbed knives had just been shoved up his arm. The blow knocked the Yiga off of the machine. 

Gasping from the pain, Link managed to stay on the machine. His left hand clutched the steering stick with white knuckles. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay upright as the machine carried him away from the Gerudo Mine. 

As he flew, he glanced over his shoulder. The moblins and Yiga were still there, but there was something else, too. Behind the monsters and the Yiga, a patch of gloom seeped out of the ground itself. Link caught sight of multiple, thin figures rising out of it before he flew too far away to discern much more. 

He didn’t know how long he flew, staying close to the ground, until he spotted a light root. The pain hadn’t spread anymore, but the numbness had, slowly creeping up his arm. But it wasn’t a relief. He could still feel the pain. The numbness only made it impossible for him to move his fingers, hand, or wrist. 

Clumsily, he landed the flying machine as best he could, but it still almost threw him off of his feet. He only managed to stay upright thanks to the death grip he kept on the steering stick. His ragged breaths buffeted against the mask still firmly strapped to his face. He stumbled off of the Zonai wing and blearily looked up at the light root. 

He was in another abandoned mine. It looked smaller than the Gerudo Mine, and he didn't see any monsters of Yiga. 

He slowly made his way to the light root, dragging his feet. His right arm hung limply at his side. Once he made it beneath the root, he fished the Sacred Stone out from beneath the red uniform and held it up to the green light. The light activated. He fell to his knees. He keeled over his injured arm, cradling it close to his chest as he focused on breathing. 

Once the light of the root fully blanketed the mine, it felt as if a warm, soothing liquid rushed through him. It guided the pain back into his arm, and slowly, gently pushed the numbness away. His fingers twitched. His arm returned to its previous state. He curled into himself and pressed his forehead into the fine-grained sand beneath the light root. “Thank you,” he wheezed. The words slipped out on their own volition. 

He didn’t know who or what he was thanking—the Sacred Stone, the light root, Goddess Hylia—but the relief he felt in that moment was just as overwhelming as the pain had been. 

He could only hope that no monsters or Yiga would find him here. He just needed time. 

Please, Hylia, he prayed. He squeezed his eyes shut as the echo of that terrible pain lingered in his mind, just give me more time. 

Chapter Text

The moment she closed her paraglider, her stomach leapt into her throat. Sharp, cold air bit into her cheeks as she plummeted towards the Stormwind Ark. She would never get used to the feeling of freefalling. Beside her, Tulin dived through the air, his feathers flattened against his body and his bird-like eyes squinted against the wind.

When the ark drew near, she deployed her paraglider, and Tulin held out his wings. They let the wind carry them safely onto the deck of the ark. Within the storm cloud, the air was calm, still. Snow still fell, but the flakes were thin and fragile. Compared to the blizzard raging outside of the cloud, this was like a sunny day. 

“Wow…” Tulin breathed as he landed. “It’s huge!” 

“Incredible…” Zelda murmured under her breath. She jogged to the edge of the ark and looked down. Those huge, feather-shaped paddles sticking out of the sides slowly rocked up and down. In between them, poking out of the center of the side, was a large, intimidating cannon. She snapped a picture with the Purah Pad.

“Hey, Zelda!” Tulin called. Zelda made her way back to the young Rito. In the center of the deck sat a massive, circular hatch, and before the hatch, where Tulin stood, was one of those Zonai consoles. 

When Zelda walked up to it, a sudden, violent gust of wind burst up and out of it. Zelda and Tulin flinched back from it. The wind blasting out of the grate was far colder than the surrounding air; it stung Zelda’s skin. 

When the wind died down, a flurry of snowflakes dusted her and Tulin, and it felt like the temperature had noticeably dropped. So this was the source of the blizzard, then—or at least, whatever was inside the hatch was the source. 

“Woah!” Tulin exclaimed. His feathers were fluffed up from the wind, and he shook himself to smooth them down. “That was cold! You think this is causing the blizzard? And what’s this?” He poked the green energy. It wavered slightly, but nothing else happened. 

Zelda gazed at the Zonai console. Before anything else, she needed to tell Tulin everything. “Tulin, there… there is much that I need to tell you before we go any further.” 

“What is it?” he asked, tilting his head.

“There is someone I would like you to meet,” Zelda continued, lifting her right arm in front of her. “Have you ever heard of the Zonai?” 

“Uh…” Tulin squinted his eyes in thought. “...No?” 

Oh dear. This was going to take a while. 

And it did. Rauru appeared at her side, much to Tulin’s surprise, and, after introducing himself, relayed to the young Rito what he had told Purah and Zelda. After his initial shock, Zelda was impressed by how closely Tulin listened. 

After Rauru explained the Imprisoning War and the sages, Zelda stepped in. “This place, the Stormwind Ark, the Wind Temple, is where we believe the Sacred Stone is being kept.”

“The Sacred Stone for the Sage of Wind,” Rauru added. “The stone that you must take upon yourself, Tulin.” 

“And then I’ll help you and Zelda defeat the Demon King? And help fulfill the prophecy?” 

Rauru nodded, and Tulin’s face lit up. 

“Zelda!” he cried, turning to her. “Did you hear that? That’s so, so amazing! I get to help you and Link save the world! I’ll definitely take this Sacred Stone!” 

“Hold on,” Rauru intervened. “We must obtain it first. That console there—” he gestured to the Zonai console. “It will open the grate.” 

Tulin immediately flapped over to the console. “Zelda, Zelda, hurry!” he exclaimed, hopping from foot to foot. 

“It’s a good thing he’s so enthusiastic,” Rauru murmured to Zelda as she walked over. 

At the console, Zelda lifted her right hand. “Get ready,” she told Tulin. “I don’t think whatever is causing this blizzard is friendly.” The young Rito grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow. 

She activated the console. A violent shudder ran through the ark as the grate cracked open. It didn’t make it further than that, however. One of the pieces jammed into the other. The grate sealed back shut. “It looks like part of it is locked,” Zelda noted. 

“Brave fledgling…” a voice suddenly echoed. Zelda and Tulin both jumped. 

“That’s the voice from earlier!,” Tulin gasped. 

“The Sage of Wind,” Rauru murmured. A note of grief laced his tone.

“There are still five locks securing the hatch on the deck,” the sage continued, as if he hadn’t heard them. Zelda wasn’t sure if he even could. “Use your power to release all five locks, and the hatch should open.” 

There was a ping from the Purah Pad, and when Zelda opened it, she was surprised to see a map of the ark. Scattered throughout it, five yellow points appeared. 

“Heed my words…” the voice murmured before fading away. 

Tulin peered at the pad when Zelda held it out to him, and he nodded. “Right. Okay, Mr. Sage! We’ll open the hatch! It looks like there’s a lock right there!” He pointed to the closest yellow dot and hopped into the air, flapping his wings to stay airborne. “C’mon, Zelda!” he urged. 

Zelda smiled at his enthusiasm and followed after him, glancing down at the map to make sure they were going in the right direction. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long.

The Stormwind Ark was much bigger than she had initially realized. Along with the deck, there were two other floors within the ark itself. It took her and Tulin almost the entire day to traverse the entire place, releasing the locks they found along the way, which were often hidden behind various traps, puzzles, and a few combat constructs. 

“That arm is so, so cool!” Tulin exclaimed as Zelda popped out of the ground, having just used Ascend to get back onto the deck. The young Rito had flown around the outside. “And that trick you did with the giant fin and the propeller—you just moved it around like it was nothing!” 

“That’ll be Ultrahand,” Zelda replied. They had managed to release all of the locks—now all that was left was to open the hatch. “When I use it, the object I move doesn’t weigh anything to me.” 

“Wow…” Tulin breathed, gawking at Zelda’s right arm. “I would’ve never been able to get to those locks without you.” 

“Hey now, don’t sell yourself short there, Tulin,” Zelda said, ruffling the feathers on top of his head. The young Rito batted her hand away with his wings. “You saved me from that construct, remember?” 

Tulin waved a wing. “Psh, that was easy. I just—bam! Headshot, and it toppled right off of the edge!” 

“Your marksmanship is quite impressive, young Rito,” Rauru said, appearing before them. 

Tulin jumped back with a squawk. “Feathers! Rauru, you gotta stop doing that!” he whined. 

Rauru laughed. “I’m sorry. I suppose you aren’t used to that as much as Zelda is.” 

“Come on, guys,” Zelda interrupted. She stood near the console. Rauru and Tulin hurried towards her. 

“Be careful,” Rauru warned. “I have no doubt that the source of this blizzard is a creation of Ganondorf’s. I sense evil within.” 

“I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cake,” Tulin said, drawing his bow. “We’ll make quick work of it! Right, Zelda?” 

Zelda raised her right hand, hesitating to activate the console. She wasn’t nearly as confident as the young Rito, but nonetheless, she forced a smile onto her face. “Right,” she agreed. 

She pressed her hand against the green energy, and as the console activated, Rauru disappeared, and Tulin nocked an arrow. Another great shudder racked the ark, and slowly, the hatch opened, retreating into the deck. As it fully opened, Zelda took a step back to stand beside Tulin, drawing her blue boko-horned sword. Her other one, the one with the red boko-horn, had broken during the excursions around the ark. 

Nothing happened. Confused, Zelda lowered her sword, and Tulin inched towards the open hatch. “Tulin,” Zelda whispered harshly, holding out a hand to try to stop the young Rito from going closer. 

Tulin ignored her, and once he was at the edge of the opening, he slowly leaned over it. Zelda hurried towards him as he tilted his head. “Huh. There’s nothing—” 

A sudden, violent gust of wind shot out of the opening, flinging both Tulin and Zelda high into the air. A scream was caught in Zelda’s throat as she was thrown, pinwheeling and flailing. She heard Tulin screech from somewhere beside her. Finally, her momentum slowed just as she was getting sick, and she righted herself. 

The wind buffeting up beneath her was intense, and for a moment, Zelda remained floating in the air, even without her paraglider. Beside her, Tulin let out a gust of wind to right himself, panting. “Woah!” the young Rito cried, his eyes wide as he stared down at the ark, which was now far below them. Zelda deployed her paraglider, not trusting the violent wind to remain. 

Below them, a massive, insect-like monster rose up and out of the opened hatch. Wings, resembling a cold darner, propelled it into the air. Its long, thin body, with three clusters of spikes stationed along its length, twisted in on itself to level its head at Zelda and Tulin. Two large jaws snapped at them as its five beady, yellow eyes found its prey. 

The entire thing was the length of the ark. Its entire body looked to be made of ice. Its wings, perpetually vibrating, buffeted freezing air at them. The force of the gusts threatened to dislodge Zelda from her paraglider. 

“That looks like an evil, blizzard-making monster to me!” Tulin exclaimed, shouting over the turbulent winds. 

In response, the monstrous ice-insect let out an ear-bleeding shriek. It angled itself downward and dove towards the ark. Once closer to the floating ship, it began to circle, as if guarding the ark from Zelda and Tulin. 

Zelda’s right arm flashed as Rauru spoke. “That is Colgera!” he shouted. “It is a being created by Ganondorf’s power. It tormented the Rito in my era!” 

Tulin’s face twisted in anger. His gaze snapped down to the monster. “We’ve got to take it down!” He angled himself, as if he were about to dive bomb. 

“Wait!” Zelda yelled. “Don’t get too close, Tulin. Wait for—” A massive, blue vortex appeared before Colgera. The ice-beast flew into it and disappeared. 

“Wha—where’d it go?” Tulin exclaimed. 

Rauru’s voice sounded over the rushing winds. “Below!” 

Zelda looked down just in time to see that same vortex open directly beneath them. Colgera shot out of it, flying directly up at them, jaws open wide. 

“Look out!” Tulin cried. He sent a gust of wind at Zelda. It blew her away from the beast’s snapping jaws. Zelda clung to her paraglider for dear life as the monster shot up right in front of her. Its large body cut off her view of the young Rito. 

Above her, the beast turned in the air. It dove right for her, yellow eyes glinting in the dim light. She closed her paraglider on instinct and angled her body into a dive. She heard Colgera directly behind her from the snapping of its jaws and the thrumming of its insect-like wings. 

She fell fast; the deck of the ark grew far too close for comfort. She whipped out her paraglider. It violently tugged on her arms as it slowed her descent right as she tumbled onto the deck. She scrambled to her feet and stumbled back. Colgera barreled right past, having twisted its body just in time to avoid slamming into the deck. It soared back into the air. 

“Tulin!” Zelda screamed, cupping her hands around her mouth. She couldn’t see the young Rito anywhere. “Tulin!” 

“He’s still up there,” Rauru’s voice said. “I saw him as you fell. He didn’t get hit by Colgera.” 

Zelda’s heart pounded. A constant gust of wind poured out of the open hatch to her left. She raced to it and, with her paraglider, let the giant updraft carry her back to the fight. She flew up past Colgera who, once again, circled the air above the ark. As she came above it, the beast let out another shriek, and a shudder ran through the length of its long body. As if thrown off by the shake, the spikes from one of its clusters broke off and sprung up towards her. 

Zelda tightened her grip on the paraglider. She dodged the spikes as best she could with her limited mobility. One of the spikes cut her side—not enough to draw blood, but it sent a shock of cold through her. 

Rauru’s voice sounded panicked. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Zelda grunted. The last of the spikes shot past her. With them gone, the bulge in Colgera’s body was left bare, and she realized that it was nothing but a thin sheet of ice. That was a weak point, right? It had to be! 

When she next blinked, the thin sheet of ice suddenly shattered. Colgera’s body writhed, and a screech echoed through the eye of the storm cloud. Zelda watched, shocked, as the beast opened up another vortex and disappeared into it. With it gone, she spotted a small, white blur flying through the air. “Tulin!” she shouted, her heart lifting. 

The young Rito soared through the air towards her. His blue eyes were wide with exhilaration. “Zelda! You’re okay!” he shouted, beating his wings to keep himself aloft. Clouds of steam puffed out of his beak from his quickened breaths. 

Zelda gaped at him. “That was you?” 

“Yeah! I dived right through it!” 

“You what? ” 

“I—watch out!” 

Colgera yet again appeared below them. Tulin sent another gust of wind at Zelda to push her out of the way, except this time, he had enough time to fly after her as the beast shot into the air. Zelda was relieved to see that its first weak point, the one that had shattered, hadn’t repaired itself. That left two remaining. 

“I’m sorry about earlier—I didn’t mean to get us separated!” the young Rito cried as Colgera twisted and dived back down. It circled below them again. 

Zelda shook her head as best as she was able. “Don’t worry about that now, Tulin, just stick close to me. Colgera will release more spikes—that’s when we’ll take out the next weak point!” 

Colgera shrieked, and the spikes on its second cluster detached. “Now!” Zelda shouted. She closed her paraglider. As she plummeted, she leveled herself out and spread her arms and legs. Tulin stayed right beside her, occasionally steering her with his gusts of wind when any of the spikes got too close. 

Zelda held out her arms in front of her as she and Tulin neared the weak point. She braced herself. With a loud shatter, like that of glass, they both smashed right through the sheet of ice. It was thinner than Zelda thought it would be. She barely felt anything from the impact. 

She opened her paraglider. The constant rushing winds carried her upward. Above her, Colgera screeched, created another vortex, and disappeared. “Hah! Just one more!” Tulin cried, keeping pace with her. 

By the time they neared the top of the storm cloud, Colgera once again appeared below, jaws spread and yellow eyes trained on them. Tulin pushed them aside to avoid the attack, and when the beast dived back down to circle about, it flung off the last of its spikes. 

Tulin dove. Zelda hastened to follow, but he was already further ahead. 

“Tulin, wait!” she yelled, but the young Rito couldn’t hear her over the wind rushing past their ears. 

They dived too early. Not all of the spikes had detached. Zelda watched in horror as one of the spikes slammed right into Tulin’s chest. It threw him back, and he went spiraling through the air, leaving a trail of feathers in his wake. Heart leaping into her throat, Zelda immediately deployed her paraglider. Her head whipped back and forth as she desperately tried to spot the young Rito amongst the swirling snow and wind. 

“Zelda!” Rauru shouted. 

Zelda’s eyes dropped just in time to see a spike barreling right for her. She closed her paraglider and frantically veered to the side, narrowly missing it. By now, the weak point was completely uncovered, and she hastily oriented herself into a dive just as she smashed right through it. She caught herself with her paraglider and glided down onto the deck as Colgera screeched and writhed overhead. With her feet on solid wood, she scanned the deck for Tulin. 

“There,” Rauru said, appearing beside her. He pointed to the opposite end of the deck, and sure enough, Zelda spotted the white figure of Tulin, lying still. 

“Tulin!” she cried, rushing towards him. She knelt beside him and gently turned him to lay on his back. His eyes were open, as was his beak. He was trying to gasp for air, but he wasn’t making any sound. “Tulin, can you hear me?” she asked frantically, eyes scanning for any visible injury. 

Weakly, the young Rito lifted one of his wings and gave her a shaky thumbs up. “Chest,” he choked. He gasped in another breath. 

Zelda immediately summoned a hearty elixir from the Purah Pad. She helped Tulin drink the red liquid, careful to pull back whenever he coughed. By the time he finished the bottle, Colgera shrieked from above. She craned her head up. The ice-beast circled overhead. All three weak-points, including its spikes, had reformed. 

Her eyes dropped to Tulin. The young Rito wasn’t gasping for air anymore, but his eyes were still filled with pain. He wasn’t in any shape to fly. She summoned another elixir from the pad and pushed it into one of his wings. “Stay here,” she ordered. “Drink that when you’re able.” 

Tulin’s bright blue eyes widened. “You can’t—” he coughed and curled in on himself. Zelda hovered over him until he relaxed. “You can’t fight alone!” he cried. 

“She won’t be alone,” Rauru said. “Rest for now, young warrior.” 

Colgera screeched. Zelda winced at the noise. She had run out of time. 

She got to her feet. She tightened her grip on the paraglider when a light grip stopped her by the ankle. Tulin held her with a wing. “You can do it,” he proclaimed, eyes blazing. He let go to raise his wing in a fist. “For the Rito!” 

Zelda nodded. “For the Rito,” she echoed. 

She opened her paraglider. The updraft carried her skyward, past the ice-beast. She just needed to do the same thing again. Easy enough.

Below her, Colgera paused. It reared back and locked its yellow eyes onto Zelda. “Get ready,” Rauru warned. With a shrieking roar, the ice-beast lunged forward. Out of the air, three twisters appeared. They tore through the winds and snow and hurtled right for her. 

Instinctively, Zelda closed her paraglider and let herself drop just as the twisters cut through the air above her head, narrowly missing her hair. They dissipated once they hit the storm cloud wall. 

She opened her paraglider, and the winds threw her back upward. “Guess it can do that now,” she gasped, heart racing. 

“Here come the spikes,” Rauru told her.

Without Tulin to help guide her movements, Zelda struggled to avoid the spikes as she dived towards the monster’s weak point. One spike cleffed her on her side, momentarily throwing her off course until she was able to use her paraglider to right herself. The sharp movement aggravated her side which, from the two hits, was already bruising. 

Wind whistled in her ears and bit her nose. Gritting her teeth, she plummeted right through the first of the three weak points. As Colgera fled into its vortex, she used her paraglider to regain her height, aptly dodging the beast when charged directly up at her. 

This time, she was ready when the ice-beast threw its twisters at her. She let herself fall right as it reared, so by the time the twisters ripped through the air, she was already below them. She grinned as the winds carried her back up. Her eyes narrowed in on the second weak point as Colgera detached its spikes. 

None of the spikes touched her as she dived through the second weak point. The cycle repeated, but when the ice-beast released its twisters, they were in the formation of a triangle instead of in a line. Even though she had dropped down, the twister that hung lower than the other two barreled right into her. 

She yelped as the violent torrent of wind flung her back, and to her horror, tore the paraglider from her grip. She spun helplessly through the air until her momentum wore out, and then she fell. Her heart launched into her throat. Her mind spun, dizzy from fear and adrenaline. She didn’t have anything in the pad to help her; she couldn’t do anything! 

A talon latched onto her upper arm, and her momentum abruptly stopped. The sudden stop threatened to pull her shoulder out of its socket. Her legs dangled beneath her, and her head snapped up. “Tulin,” she gasped. The young Rito frantically flapped his wings, eyes squeezed shut from the effort of keeping them airborne. He was too small to carry Zelda’s weight on his own. 

They clumsily descended to the ark, and they both roughly landed on the deck. Overhead, Colgera finished releasing its spikes, and it screeched down at them. It didn’t seem to want to come down onto the deck—thank Hylia for that.

“Zelda, Tulin!” Rauru cried. Zelda looked up as he hurried towards them. When had he appeared? “Are you alright?”

Zelda blinked. “What—” 

“Your ghost friend came and got me, and I went and saved you!” Tulin proclaimed. When he got to his feet, he wobbled on his talons. 

Rauru reached out to steady him, but his hand passed right through him. Zelda forced herself to her feet and helped him stay upright. “Thank you,” she said genuinely, both to Tulin and Rauru. The Zonai nodded his head to her. 

“There’s only one weak point left,” Tulin said. “We’ve almost got it!” 

Zelda looked up at Colgera. The ice-beast circled overhead, clearly growing more and more agitated. Its weak points, bare from beneath, glimmered tauntingly at them. “But my paraglider—” 

“I’ll finish it off,” Tulin stated. He pushed Zelda off of him, but from just that movement alone, his face screwed up in pain. 

Zelda immediately protested. “Absolutely not.” 

“Then—then how are we supposed to kill it?” Tulin sputtered. “We can’t destroy those weak points from down here!” 

Her eyes singled onto Tulin’s bow and arrow resting on his back. Her eyes lit up. “That’s it,” she gasped. She pulled her own bow and arrow from her back, stepped back, and nocked an arrow. She bent back to aim Colgera. From below, its weak point was bare, and a thin sheet of ice wouldn’t last against a metal arrowhead. 

The only problem was the distance. She released the arrow, but she wasn’t when she missed horribly. With her free hand, she grabbed the pad and quickly scanned through the items she had stored. 

“Uh… Zelda?” Tulin began, clutching his side with a wing, “what are you doing?” 

“It’s too far away,” she replied, more to herself than anything. Her eyes didn’t leave the screen of the pad. “I need something that’ll give my arrow an extra lift, that’ll steer it through the wind—ah hah!” She summoned one of the yellow, bat-like wings of the aerocuda that had stolen Tulin’s bow a few days prior. 

With the fuse ability, she attached the wing to an arrow. She didn’t know if this would actually work, but she drew nocked the wing-arrow anyway. She was a scientist after all; she wasn’t going to get results if she only merely wondered. 

Rauru and Tulin watched her. Zelda drew back her bow, leveled it at the moving weak point, and released the arrow. The arrow sprung through the air. It sliced through the turbulent winds and collided directly into the monster's last weak point. The thin sheet of ice shattered. 

“You hit it!” Tulin gasped. 

Colgera let out a piercing screech and writhed in the air. It twisted and climbed higher and higher in the eye of the storm cloud. Red, fog-like gloom spurted out of the holes where its spikes used to reside. The ice-beast’s ascent slowed. It twitched and flinched, thrown two and fro from the torrents of gloom pouring out of it. Bright pink light peeked out of it, and Zelda realized what was about to happen. 

She dropped her bow, grabbed Tulin, and pulled him close. She shielded him with her body just as Colgera exploded into a massive cloud of gloom. A great boom rocked the ark, and the shockwave of fog-like gloom passed over them. 

When everything settled, Zelda pulled away, and her, the young Rito, and Rauru looked up. 

Colgera was gone. 

Zelda scanned the storm cloud, half-expecting the ice-beast to appear from one of its vortexes. “Is it over?”

“I no longer sense its presence,” Rauru confirmed.

“Zelda, you are a heroic genius,” Tulin murmured, awe-struck. 

Around them, the gigantic storm cloud slowly dissipated. The winds stilled. The endless-falling snow drew to a halt. Overhead, the bright sun shone down onto them unheeded.

Zelda shielded her eyes against the onslaught of light with a raised hand. An elated grin stretched across her face. She had done it. Her and Tulin quelled the blizzard. They saved Rito Village! 

For once, she was able to act—to directly and purposely save her people.

For once, she was able to atone for her past failures. 

Tulin wavered on his talons. “You know, you’re a pretty cool princess, Princess,” he said weakly. 

“Tulin,” Zelda exclaimed. The sweet sheen of victory shattered as she remembered the very injured young Rito. She helped him lay back down and fished another elixir from the pad. She guessed he hadn’t been able to finish the other one. As Tulin gratefully downed the elixir, Zelda shook her head with a smile. “You’re pretty cool too, Tulin,” she said. 

The young Rito beamed at her. “Well… not anymore,” he wheezed. “I’m—I’m actually warm, now.” 

Zelda laughed. “Was that a joke?” Rauru asked, sounding genuinely confused. 

Tulin merely gave them both another shaky thumbs up. 

It took a while until Tulin sufficiently healed. By then, all of the snow that had blanketed the Stormwind Ark was completely gone, melted by the sun that proudly beamed down on them. All traces of the storm cloud that had once ravaged Rito Village and hidden the Stormwind Ark were gone. Zelda hoped that meant that everything in Hebra was returning to normal. 

Once Tulin was healed, he sprung to his feet, as if he hadn’t just suffered multiple probably-broken ribs. Rauru directed them to the open hatch and told them they could now receive the Sacred Stone from the past Sage of Wind.

“If all proceeds as it should, you will meet him yourselves,” he said. He smiled, and while Zelda could tell it was genuine, it seemed pained. “I will not be able to follow you there.” 

Together, Tulin and Zelda went to the open hatch. With Colgera gone, a lotus flower-shaped altar rose up and out of the hatch. Perched atop the altar, the Sacred Stone, nearly the size of Zelda’s head, hovered, cloaked in a blank, white light. 

Zelda stayed a few feet behind Tulin as the young Rito approached the altar. When Tulin drew close, the Sacred Stone shrunk to the size of an acorn. It shot through the air and stopped just before Tulin’s face. The young Rito flinched back with a gasp. He glanced over his shoulder at Zelda, and she gave him an encouraging nod. 

Returning the gesture with a nod of his own, Tulin smiled, turned back to the stone, and confidently reached out to it with his wing. Just before he touched it, the white light cloaking the stone surged outwards. It surrounded both Tulin and Zelda, momentarily blinding them. 

When it faded, Zelda found herself in an unfamiliar realm. Her and Tulin stood on fine-grained sand that shifted beneath their weight. A layer of wispy clouds drifted about their ankles. The constant movement reminded Zelda of waves in the sea. Overhead, a blanket of fog cloaked the sky. 

Before them, a few paces away, an adult Rito stood. His feathers were mainly white with tips of gray, just like the pattern of Tulin’s own feathers. A shawl made of white fabric trimmed by gold hung over his right shoulder, and a green mask, made of the same stone of the constructs, covered his mask. The design was eerily similar to the head of the Divine Beast Vah Medoh. 

On his ankle, held in place by an anklet, dangled his Sacred Stone. Its coloring was a vibrant green, and it glowed faintly. 

“Tulin…” the sage began, “my brave fledgling.” His voice echoed around the realm, carried by the very air itself. Zelda noticed that, unlike her and Tulin, his talons made no indents in the gray sand beneath them. 

“It’s you,” Tulin said, voice hushed in awe, “the Sage of Wind. You’ve been talking to us.” 

“Yes. I am your ancestor from a time long ago. I was a Rito warrior and a sage with the control of the wind. I proudly served Hyrule’s first king.”

At those words, Zelda thought of Rauru. She wondered if he had been close with the sages. Had they shared a similar relationship that she had had with the champions? The thought made her heart ache. She missed the champions terribly. 

“Tulin, I have watched you and the Golden Princess as you climbed the Rising Islands,” the sage murmured. “I saw the way you traversed the Stormwind Ark and how you bravely fought that icy beast.” 

The sage placed one of his wings over his chest and dipped his head in respect. “Where you fly, the winds follow. I would expect nothing less from my descendant.” He raised his head. “That monster you defeated, Colgera, was summoned by the Demon King. He thought it could stop you from obtaining my Sacred Stone.

“With Colgera’s defeat, you have saved Rito Village, but there is still more to do. The Demon King will soon recover his full strength. Tulin, my brave fledgling… You must take up my Sacred Stone and honor the duty of the Sage of Wind. Fight the Demon King with the Golden Princess and the Hero who wields the sword that seals the darkness!” 

“I will,” Tulin proclaimed. He puffed his chest out. “I’ll gladly fight alongside Princess Zelda and Sir Link!” 

They couldn’t see the sage’s face due to the mask, but Zelda got the distinct impression that he smiled at them. “Thank you, Tulin,” he said. “You are a courageous warrior. I know that, as sure as the winds may blow, you will make me proud.” 

That white light once again overwhelmed them, and when it faded, they found themselves back on the Stormwind Ark. The Sacred Stone, still hovering before Tulin, turned into that same, vibrant shade of green. Thin beams of green light carved an ancient Zonai symbol onto it. Zelda recognized it as the symbol for ‘wind.’

Tulin offered his leg, and the stone shot down to his ankle. An anklet formed around his ankle and attached itself to the stone. Zelda felt pride bloom in her chest as Tulin whirled to face her. 

“Zelda, look! I’m the Sage of Wind!” he exclaimed. A knowing glint shined in his bright blue eyes. “Check out what I can do now.” He crouched down and launched himself into the air. Zelda stumbled back. A lingering updraft followed Tulin into the air. The young Rito soared about faster than a falcon. He performed several flips before diving back down to the deck. Just before he hit the deck, he sent a gust below him to slow his descent. His talons gracefully landed on the wood. 

Zelda felt her eyes burn. That was Revali’s gale. She would’ve recognized that move from anyone. She recalled the power of the Sacred Stones—the power to amplify one's abilities. It seemed the stone had granted Tulin with even more mastery of the wind.

“That was incredible,” she murmured, emotion welling in her throat. 

Tulin hopped towards her and held out a wing. “Here, hold out your hand.” Zelda, still awe-struck by what she just saw, did so and grasped his wing. Tulin lifted his chin and proclaimed, “I, Tulin, the Sage of Wind, swear to fight by your side until the end!”

With his words, a green light traveled from the Sacred Stone up his leg, through his chest and wing, and into Zelda’s right hand. Zelda watched with wide eyes as the green light colleased into her pinky finger. When it faded, a new ring had formed on her pinky finger. It showed the same symbol that had been engraved on Tulin’s Sacred Stone. 

“With this, you’ll be able to call for me at any time!” Tulin crowed. He planted his wings on his hips and beamed at her. His feathers, ruffled and out of place from the battle of Colgera, only added to his cheery exterior. It seemed that not only had the Sacred Stone amplified his abilities, it had also fully healed him. 

Zelda blinked at him. “How did you know about this?” 

He shrugged his shoulders. “I just knew!” 

Zelda looked down at the ring on her pinky finger. “Remarkable,” she breathed. “Thank you, Tulin,” she said sincerely. 

Without warning, Tulin barreled into her and wrapped his wings around her in a tight hug. Zelda readily returned the embrace. Overhead, the sun shone down on them. With the young Rito in her arms, for the first time since the Upheaval, Zelda’s heart felt truly, wholly warm. 

*     *     *

The flying machine Link had stolen from the Yiga at the Gerudo Mine lasted for much longer than he had thought it would. It carried him away from the Kara Kara Mine, over a Lynel—much to his relief—and over what he thought was a large mass of water. It was hard to tell if that was exactly what it was due to the darkness. 

The Zonai wings didn’t start flashing until he spotted a Yiga base in the distance. This base sat right next to a deactivated light root, and it seemed much more heavily guarded than the other hideouts he had seen thus far. 

When he landed the Zonai wings a healthy distance away from the hideout, he became distinctly aware of the cool air on his face—his bare face. He groaned. He had left the Yiga mask back at the mine. With a quick search through his Korok-enchanted pouch, he realized that he had also left his Gerudo scimitar.

Now he only had a waterskin, about a day's worth of food, the Yiga schematic he had stolen from that one Yiga base, a single purple flower—which he started calling a muddlebud—and his old clothes, which he had torn up to use as makeshift bandages for the claw-wounds on his back. 

He glanced down at his stolen Yiga uniform. It looked worse for wear. Multiple tears marred the fabric, not to mention the gaping holes in the back from the moblin, and smudges of dirt made it look more brown then red. As he was now, he had no chance in infiltrating the Yiga. 

Still, he quietly crept closer to the base. This one, much like the last one he had raided, had a wall made out of stakes and had a Yiga driving a four-wheeled vehicle around it. There was also a Yiga driving a flying machine overhead, and he could see that they had the red ring of magic in front of them, keeping their storehouse locked. 

Well, there went his chance at getting crystallized charges. If he wanted a Zonai vehicle, he would have to steal the one that was currently driving circles around the hideout—the four-wheeled one. 

But how was he supposed to steal it in the first place? He didn’t even have a sword, and he didn’t want to risk getting close enough to use the muddlebud.  

As he scanned his surroundings, trying to spot one of those rock piles with the spirits for another weapon, he spotted something else sitting at the base of one of the giant mushroom-trees. 

It was a blue and spherical fruit with a flower blooming out of its top. It grew amongst two others. He snuck over to them and carefully picked one of them up. He turned it over in his hands. It felt like a fruit. The skin was smooth, and it was slightly squishy. 

Much like the smoky mushroom and the muddlebud, it didn’t look edible. He played with the flower sticking out of the top. He gently tossed the thing up and down in his hands. It felt dense. He supposed he could just do the banana trick again but with whatever this was instead.

With the strange blue fruit in hand, he crept closer to the Yiga hideout. He chose a giant mushroom to hide behind, and waited for the four-wheeled vehicle to come around. Once it neared, he tossed the blue fruit out in front of it. 

It arched through the air, but the moment it touched the ground, it exploded. Not like the smoky mushroom, but like a bomb barrel. Fire erupted, and the Yiga on the vehicle was thrown off. Link flinched back as a wave of heat washed over him. What in Hylia’s name was that? A bomb?! He snatched the other two. He was definitely keeping these. 

The Yiga from the vehicle lay unconscious on the ground a good few feet away from the vehicle. With the two more bomb flowers in hand, Link took off from behind the giant mushroom, making a beeline for the vehicle. 

Overhead, the Yiga on the flying machine came up behind him, shouting something unintelligible. At their cries, more Yiga poured out of the hideout, all of them armed. That was a lot more Yiga than Link had been expecting. 

He hopped onto the vehicle and grabbed the steering stick. Fortunately, it rumbled to life. As he drove away from the hideout, he used his hip to keep pushing the steering stick, turned, and chucked one of the bomb flowers at the horde of Yiga. He whipped around as the explosive went off behind him. The remaining bomb flower was tucked under his right arm, securely held against his side. 

He heard the whirring of fans behind him, and sure enough, the Yiga on the flying machine was keeping pace with him. They had come closer to the ground, and Link saw them aiming an arrow at him with their bow. 

He spun around and purposely let go of the steering stick. The vehicle lurched to an abrupt halt, and as the flying machine flew above him—the Yiga unable to stop it in time—he lobbed the bomb flower directly upwards. Before it collided with the bottom of the machine, he pressed the steering stick forward to dart away from the incoming explosion. 

He didn’t bother turning around to see if the bomb flower had hit the flying machine. His answer came from the resounding boom that echoed throughout the Depths. A grin tugged at his lips. He wished he had gotten these things earlier. He steered the vehicle away from the Yiga hideout.

He hadn’t been able to activate the light root, but he didn’t want to turn around to go back for it. He had gotten his vehicle, and besides, it had two lights trained on its front to illuminate the darkness. For now, he would be fine without the light root. For now.

Chapter Text

With Colgera defeated, and the skies clear, Tulin flew back to Rito Village with the promise of making contact as soon as possible. Zelda fast traveled to the Skyview Tower within Lookout Landing and sought out Purah. In her lab, she and Rauru told the Sheikah what transpired in the Wind Temple and how Tulin had accepted his calling as the Sage of Wind. 

The next morning, she met up with Penn, who had safely brought Ivory to the mini stable within Lookout Landing. Zelda was sure to thank the Rito for his efforts and gifted him a silver rupee she had found within the Wind Temple. That had seemed to lift his spirits, and he gave her a hearty salute before taking off back to Rito Village. 

With Ivory and a promise to Purah that she would return safely, Zelda set off for Goron City, dressed in her Hylian armor set. She replaced her bow and arrow, (which she had lost after the fight with Colgera,) but she stored them in the Purah Pad. They were wooden, and she didn’t want to risk them burning up. 

She thought of fast traveling to the Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower, but she would be able to travel just as fast with Ivory then if she traveled on foot from the tower, as the tower was quite a distance away from Goron City. 

In the distance, Death Mountain loomed, spewing tendrils of gloom instead of lava. The volcano had long grown dormant after the defeat of the Calamity, and while it seemed active now, this was far from natural. 

“Zelda, do you know who could be the Sage of Fire?” Rauru asked, appearing at Zelda’s side as she rode atop Ivory. He hovered in the air and easily kept pace. He left a trail of light green sparkles in his wake. 

“My guess is Yunobo,” Zelda answered. She had already mulled this over the previous night. “He’s a direct descendant of the Goron Champion Daruk. Because of that, he can wield Daruk’s protection.” 

“He sounds quite capable.” 

Zelda chuckled a little at that. “He is, but he isn’t exactly… experienced.” 

“Ah. He’s young, then?”

“Not quite.” Zelda shook her head. Tulin was young, although for a Rito he was already the age to be a warrior. Yunobo was older than him, just less experienced. “You’ll see when we get there. But I’ve been meaning to ask… in your time, was Death Mountain active?” She gestured to the volcano that towered above the Eldin Region. 

“No, not at all,” Rauru said, following her line of sight. “In my time, it was the entrance to the great city of the Gorons, Gorondia. That is where the Fire Temple rests.” 

“You mean inside the volcano?”

Rauru tilted his head. “Do the Gorons not reside there anymore?” When Zelda shook her head, he floated ahead of her and turned so that he glided backwards. He made a cone shape with his hands. “Death Mountain is a giant chasm, so to speak. It’s a direct entrance to the Depths, which is where Gorondia lies. The Gorons from my era were a reclusive people. We did not make contact with them for many years.” 

“That’s incredible!” 

Rauru smiled and glided back to be side by side with Zelda. “It truly is. Gorondia is one of the most impressive sites I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait for you to see it, even if it’s been long since abandoned.” 

They reached the Woodland Stable by the evening. She decided to stop there rather than continue on, as there wasn’t going to be another comfortable place to rest until she got to Goron City. She got Ivory settled in the stable, bought some ingredients from the merchants at the stable, and cooked herself a quick, simple meal. 

As she spent her time there, the occupants at the stable welcomed her. She spent much of her evening talking with them. Or, in one case, simply listening to them. One such merchant, Beedle, rambled to her for over an hour about Bladed Rhino Beetles. When he had shifted the conversation to Rugged Rhino Beetles, Zelda had excused herself as quickly and politely as possible. 

The next morning, she ate a quick breakfast, left Ivory at the stable, and began making her way to Goron City. The closer she journeyed to Death Mountain, the warmer the air grew, but not unbearably so. She didn’t need protection from elixirs or specialized armor. The Eldin Region had long gone dry—the lava lakes were empty, and no magma leaked from the volcano. She was just fine in her red tunic, tan trousers, and hood. 

As she ascended the mountain, the view of Hyrule grew grander. She spotted the Great Hyrule Forest that sat at the base of the Eldin Region, surrounded by a natural moat. A heavy fog cloaked the thick foliage. Within that great forest resided the Lost Woods, and further in, the Korok Forest. That was where the Great Deku Tree watched over the land, and where the Master Sword had been found. Zelda could only hope the sacred sword had returned there. 

She passed a few Gorons throughout the day. They all cheerfully greeted her, waving their large hands with their even larger grins. 

By the afternoon, she reached Goron City. The city bustled with activity. Gorons lumbered and rolled every which way, and a thrum of chatter permeated the warm air. Colorful lights had been strung above the rounded stone houses, and steaming water, naturally heated by the hot springs that dotted the Eldin Region, trickled through canals and cracks in the volcanic rock that used to hold flowing magma. 

After leaving Ivory to the care of a mini stable near the entrance to the city, Zelda made her way to the center of the city. There, she found Bludo, the Goron Boss, talking to another Goron dressed in mining gear. 

“—won’t let us,” the Goron was saying. He shifted the hefty-looking hammer that rested on his shoulder.

Bludo grumbled something unintelligible before he noticed Zelda. “Ah, Princess, good to see ya’,” he rumbled in his gruff, gravely voice. “Purah said you were comin’, but you got us at a bit of a bad time. Production has been goin’ down.” 

“Production?” Zelda asked. She glanced at the stalls where the Gorons typically sold gemstones, but they were currently empty. It was only then when she noticed the lack of other races. Hylians and Gerudo in particular loved touring Goron City for their collection of rare gems and jewels. Now, however, Zelda could only see Gorons.

“It’s all ‘cause of that there,” Bludo said, nodding his head up to Death Mountain. 

“President Yunobo wanted us to steer clear of Death Mountain right now, which means no minin’,” the Goron miner said. “I mean, with that comin’ out of Death Mountain, I don’t really wanna get close myself, but YunoboCo has been hurtin’ ‘cause of it.” 

Zelda knew of YunoboCo, the new mining operation that Yunobo founded during the years of peace after the Calamity. She also knew where the headquarters were, up near Darunia Lake, though… it wasn’t much of a lake now with the lava having drained away. 

She asked Bludo and the Goron miner if that was where Yunobo currently was, and when they said yes, she quickly made her way there. Ever since YunoboCo’s creation, mine tracks had been set up throughout the region. With that in mind, Zelda put together a minecart propelled by a Zonai fan using Ultrahand. She set it onto the track that led to the headquarters and hopped in. 

As she rode the minecart closer to the headquarters, her right arm lit up as Rauru spoke. “Compared to what was happening at Rito Village, this is a tad mellow, don’t you think?”

Zelda glanced up at Death Mountain and nodded. Besides the lack of tourism and the gloom coming out of the volcano, nothing seemed to be amiss. “I’m not upset, mind you, but I agree. It seems… underwhelming.” 

“I would stay prepared,” he warned. “Ganondorf summoned Colgera and that blizzard to keep you and Tulin from finding the Sage of Wind's Sacred Stone. I am positive that we’ll encounter something similar here.” 

The minecart came to the end of the track. Zelda turned off the fan propelling it and jumped out. She could already tell that the headquarters were empty, but at the entrance to the cave just to her right, a Goron miner stood with a disgruntled look on his face. 

“Excuse me,” Zelda called as she approached the Goron. “Is Yunobo near? I need to speak with him.” 

“Eh? Princess? What’re you doin’ here?” the Goron asked, blinking at her. “I heard you were missin’! Glad to see you out and about.”

Zelda glanced past him into the cave. She thought she heard the low murmur of voices coming from inside. “I’m here to see Yunobo,” she told the Goron. “Could you let me pass?” 

“I dunno…” the Goron trailed away, casting a wary glance into the cave. “President Yunobo’s in there chattin’ to that hero swordsman right now, and he doesn’t wanna be interrupted. I’m not supposed to let anyone through.” 

Zelda stiffened. “Swordsman?” she echoed. 

“Yeah. What’s his name again? Link?” 

“You need to let me in,” Zelda said, her heart beginning to race. “Now, please.” 

The Goron shifted on his feet. “Eh, I really can’t do that. Yunobo’ll get real mad. He’s been gettin’ mad a lot lately.”

That made Zelda hesitate. Yunobo never got mad. The young Goron was gentle and timid in nature. 

She backed away from the Goron and hurried to the back of the headquarters where she could be out of sight. “Rauru,” she whispered. Her arm glowed, and Rauru appeared before her. 

“Would you like me to investigate?” he asked. 

She blinked in surprise. That was exactly what she wanted. She gave him a nod, and Rauru flew right through the rock.  After a few seconds, he reappeared, his brow furrowed. Zelda eagerly waited for him to relay what he had found. 

“I saw Link and your Goron Champion, Yunobo,” he said hesitantly. “Yunobo was explaining the events of the Upheaval to him.” 

Zelda’s heart leapt. She started for the cave, but Rauru stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Wait. I… I sensed the Demon King’s magic.” Zelda stilled, and Rauru’s voice softened. “I’m sorry, Zelda. It must be another illusion—like the one from Hyrule Castle.” 

Zelda’s shoulders sagged. “Then we need to reveal the truth to Yunobo.” 

Rauru let her go. “Be cautious, please.”

When she circled back to the front of the cave, the Goron miner jumped. “Princess! Sorry, Yunobo and the swordsman are still chattin’ away.”  

“Yunobo is in danger,” Zelda said, putting on her best ‘princess voice.’ “You need to let me through immediately.” 

The Goron’s eyes widened. “Wait, Yunobo’s in danger? But I’ve been standin’ right here the whole time!” 

Zelda said the next thing she thought of. “I sense evil within. As the bearer of sacred light, I need to investigate.” 

The Goron scratched the back of his head. “Well… um…” he paused, and Zelda was about ready to just shove past him when he finally said, “I guess since you’re the princess and all…” He shuffled to the side, and Zelda rushed past him. 

The cave opened up into a large cavern. At the cusp of the cavern, Zelda froze. Yunobo and Link stood near the back wall. Yunobo looked fine. He had his new mining gear on, which consisted of a white chest plate bearing YunoboCo’s insignia, as well as a large chain stretched across his shoulder to hold the Boulder Breaker—the massive hammer that used to belong to Daruk. He also wore a new strange yellow mask that Zelda hadn’t seen before. She wondered what it could be for. 

Link, however, looked worse for wear. He still wore the clothes he had from beneath Hyrule Castle, his blue tunic, and the right sleeve and shoulder were still burnt off. White, dirtied bandages covered his entire arm and shoulder, hiding and protecting the horrific injury that Zelda knew lay beneath. His hair was sloppily tied back, and smudges of ash painted his face. A rusted sword rested on his back. 

He didn’t look like the illusion from Hyrule Castle. Zelda felt her heart stir. Could this possibly be him…? But if it was, then why had Rauru sensed the Demon King’s magic in this cavern? 

Wary, she took a few steps forward. Yunobo noticed her first, and he startled. “Princess!” he exclaimed in his high, nasally voice. “You scared me, goro! Oh, but boy am I glad to see you!” 

Link turned to face her. For a second, his face was completely blank, impassive, until, like a crack in stone, it came to life. His eyes widened, his eyebrows lifted, and his mouth parted in an expression of shock. “Zelda…?” he breathed. He started towards her, but when she took a step back, he froze. 

Zelda stared. He spoke. That was his voice. It sounded weak, hesitant, but it was undoubtedly him. Could the illusion created by the Demon King speak? Could it mimic a person’s mannerisms and their tone of voice? 

Yunobo glanced between them. “Is something wrong, goro?” 

“Yunobo, can you come towards me, please?” Zelda asked, though she kept her eyes trained on Link. His blue eyes jumped between her and Yunobo as the Goron hesitantly ambled over to her. His eyebrows upturned, and Zelda’s heart ached. 

She held her composure. She summoned her blue-boko horn sword from the Purah Pad and held it in front of her. 

“Woah, princess!” Yunobo exclaimed. She ignored him and demanded, “who are you?” 

Link, or the illusion of him, raised his hands in surrender. “Zelda…? It’s—I—what’s going on?” he stuttered. 

The tips of her dual-pronged blade wavered. It sounded just like him. And yet… would he even speak right now? In front of Yunobo? He was friends with the Goron, but she didn’t think he was that close with him. She swallowed before explaining. “We saw an illusion at Hyrule Castle. How do I know you’re not an imposter?” 

Yunobo gasped. “Wh—Link? You’re not actually… Link?” 

“I’ve been in the Depths,” Link said, keeping his hands raised. “I escaped through the chasm in Death Mountain with those Zonai devices.” 

“Why didn’t you come to Lookout Landing?”

Link’s shoulders sagged a little. “I only just escaped. Yunobo found me.” 

Zelda lowered her sword slightly. He really did look worse for wear. 

“It’s true, goro,” Yunobo said. “I found him just this morning near the mouth of Death Mountain while I was investigating the gloom.”

She wanted to believe it. Oh, how she wanted to drop her sword and tackle Link in a hug, but she couldn’t. While all of this sounded plausible enough, it didn’t explain the presence of the Demon King in this cavern. She wondered if she could summon her own power of light to dispel whatever Rauru had sensed—whether that was an illusion or something else entirely. 

But could she even do such a thing? She hadn’t been able to call on her power for months. 

That didn’t matter. Using her power was what she should do. That would be the only way to prove if this was actually Link or not. She stored her sword in the Purah Pad and held up her hand. Link shuffled back. “Zelda…?” he questioned warily. 

She closed her eyes, trusting Rauru or Yunobo to warn her if something went amiss, and tried to clear her mind. Old memories, accompanied by old bitterness, welled within her. Bitterness to the Goddess Hylia for never answering her prayers and pleas, bitterness to her father for pressuring her, bitterness to herself for failing to fulfill her duty. 

She struggled to push it down. She had awakened her power. She had done it once, and she could do it again. She was supposed to be the Golden Princess , the future Sage of Light. She just needed to focus. 

Beside her, she heard Yunobo stumble. His armor and chain clattered noisily. Her eyebrows twitched. She needed to focus. Focus. The Goron shuffled again and mumbled something unintelligible. She opened her eyes, frustrated, only to falter. 

Yunobo clutched at his head. His eyes were squeezed shut, expression twisted up pain, and his yellow mask began to glow pink. “Zelda,” Link began, a warning in his voice. The Goron groaned and stumbled back as the pink glow within the mask intensified. “Zelda, get away from him!” Link shouted. 

Zelda backpedaled just as Yunobo’s eyes snapped open. They glowed the same bright pink, and his face contorted in sudden fury. He snatched the Boulder Breaker from his back and swung the hammer at her. 

She felt the air shift as the hammer narrowly missed slamming into her stomach. “Woah!” she cried. “Yunobo, what’s—” 

Rauru’s voice sounded. “The mask!” he exclaimed. Link’s gaze snapped to Zelda’s right arm at the sound of the Zonai. Something indiscernible passed over his face. “The Demon King’s magic—it’s from the mask!” 

Zelda’s head swung to Link. He met her gaze. Did that mean…? 

“I’ll hold him down,” he said. “You get the mask off.”

Zelda couldn’t help but stare. This was Link . Her Link. He was really back—he was okay—! 

Yunobo launched himself right in between them. His rolled-up form, encased in flame, smashed into the wall behind them. The impact shook the cave floor. Zelda jumped back and shook herself. She was in the middle of a fight, for Hylia’s sake! 

Link charged at the young Goron, who was momentarily dazed from using his ability, and wrapped an arm around his short neck. The Goron choked, momentarily restrained, and Zelda rushed forward. With Ultrahand, she latched onto the mask and tore it from his face. It sailed through the air and right into her hands, and she then tore it in two. A puff of gloom-like fog rose into the air, and the pink light in the mask dimmed. Yunobo’s eyes returned to their normal blue, and Link released him. 

“Wh—huh?” the Goron sputtered, sitting up. He rubbed his head. “Ow…” he groaned. “What happened…? Princess? Link?” He gasped when he noticed them, and he immediately tried to get to his feet. 

“Yunobo, wait.” Zelda put a gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him from standing. Link stood on his other side, brow creased in concern. “Are you okay?” 

“I—I don’t understand, goro,” Yunobo stuttered. “I don’t—what’s going on?” 

“I’ll explain in just a moment,” Zelda replied. “Just… are you alright? Are you hurt?” 

Yunobo shook his head, then his eyes widened. He sprung to his feet, whirled around, and put himself in front of Zelda protectively. “You!” he pointed at Link, who backed away with his hands once again raised. “You’re an illusion!” 

Zelda put a hand on his arm and pushed it down. “No, wait.” She hesitated and glanced at her right arm. She needed confirmation before she accepted this. 

Rauru seemed to understand her unspoken question, because with a flash of green light, he appeared at her side. Yunobo yelped, and Link jolted back. Again, that indiscernible look passed over his face. For a moment, his hands clenched into fists before he seemed to forcibly relax them. 

“Woah!” Yunobo gasped. “What are—who are you?” 

Rauru introduced himself to Yunobo and Link before he turned to Zelda. His voice lowered. “I still sense the Demon King’s magic,” he murmured, “but it’s faint.” Zelda’s stomach twisted, and her eyes drifted back to Link. 

He caught her gaze, and a guilty expression came over his face. “It’s my arm,” he explained. He gestured to the bandages with his left hand. “I couldn’t heal it.”

He had gotten attacked by a torrent of gloom underneath Hyrule Castle. It would make sense if his injury contained some of the Demon King’s magic. Still, she looked to Rauru. The Zonai had his hand to his chin. 

“I… suppose that could be the cause,” he said hesitantly. He looked at Link for a few seconds, obviously studying him. Link shifted uneasily. The movement was so reminiscent of the Link Zelda knew. He always hated being the subject of scrutiny. 

Finally, Rauru nodded. “You’re right,” he said. “I only sense gloom.” He turned to Zelda. “I don’t believe him to be an illusion.”

A wave of relief washed over her. Tears immediately burned her eyes. She turned her gaze onto Link. For a moment, she was afraid to blink. She was afraid that he’d vanish before her eyes, collapse to the floor, or even attack her.

He did none of those things. When their gazes met, he simply offered her a small, pained smile. “It’s good to see you again, princess,” he murmured. 

Zelda rushed towards him, but he suddenly staggered back and held out his left hand as if to stop her. His face twisted in pain, and Zelda froze. “I’m—sorry,” he choked out. “I can’t be near you. Your magic, it—” he winced. “It’s my arm. The gloom.” 

Zelda backed away. Her stomach turned. She hated the thought of ever causing Link harm. 

Then Yunobo spoke. “I’m a little lost, goro. What’s going on?” 

A small laugh lept from Link’s mouth. Zelda almost melted at the sound. Oh, how she had missed him. It was more difficult then she’d like to admit to keep herself from going to him. They needed to take care of that injured arm of his. After that, she would explain everything.

She relayed this to Link and Yunobo. Link’s face soured. “We can’t,” he argued. “I just came from Death Mountain. Something terrible is occuring there. We need to go there immediately.” 

The bliss and relief from seeing Link again soured a little. His words were… abrupt. Yunobo seemed surprised to hear Link talking as much as he was, and she had to admit that she was surprised as well. “But your arm—”

“Is fine,” he interrupted. He started for the cave entrance. Hesitantly, Zelda and Yunobo followed. Zelda was careful to keep her distance. “It’s been over a week since the attack, and my injury hasn’t changed,” he elaborated. “I’ll be fine for just a little longer. We need to investigate what’s happening at the volcano. If we wait, then Goron City will be in danger.”

“What did you see, goro?” Yunobo asked. 

Link didn’t look at them as he replied with, “a monster.” 

They stepped out of the cave, and Rauru disappeared back within her arm. The Goron miner looked incredibly confused, but Link urged them onward. Yunobo told the miner to return to Goron City, tell Bludo that a monster had been spotted in Death Mountain, and prepare defenses. As the Goron headed off, they started towards the volcano, and Zelda explained everything about the Upheaval, (for Link specifically,) the Imprisoning War, the sages, and the Demon King. 

Rauru appeared again and added information Zelda missed. By the end of it, Yunobo just looked more confused, and Link had barely reacted to the entire thing. A determined, stoic look had settled on his face. Zelda recognized it from the days before the Calamity, where he kept all of his emotions and reactions beneath a layer of stone, but it also seemed… different, somehow. He seemed different. More blunt. Angrier. 

Zelda tried not to worry about it too much. He had spent over a week trapped in the Depths; she had no idea what could have happened to him down there. If he acted a little off, she couldn’t blame him. 

When they reached the base of the volcano, Rauru stopped them. He told Link and Yunobo about the city of Gorondia and the Fire Temple, and how the Sage of Fire’s Sacred Stone would most likely be down there. If they wanted to retrieve them, then they would need to go inside the volcano, and if they went there, they would need protection from the blazing elements. 

“We can get some Flamebreaker Armor at Goron City, goro,” Yunobo offered. 

A frustrated scowl crossed over Link’s face, but it vanished just as fast as it appeared. They started towards Goron City. Zelda cast worried glances Link’s way. What had he seen in Death Mountain that was making him so agitated? 

At Goron City, the Gorons were hard at work. They bustled about the city, passing around hammers and armor. Yunobo fetched them some Flamebreaker Armor, and they quickly changed. Zelda never really liked this sort of armor. It was quite clunky and wasn’t the most comfortable, but it would protect her from burning up in fiery climates, so she didn’t complain. 

Link got a paraglider for himself while Zelda brewed more hearty elixirs and Yunobo further explained the situation to Bludo. Once they were ready, they set off for Death Mountain. As they departed, Bludo yelled after them to “pound that monster into dust!” 

It was a long walk from Goron City to the base of the volcano, and throughout it, Yunobo asked Zelda plenty of questions about the sages and the Demon King. Rauru helped her with the majority of the explanations. Link remained silent. Zelda wanted to ask him about his time in the Depths, but his agitated demeanor made her hesitate to do so.

They encountered plenty of monsters on the way there as well, and during one of the skirmishes, Zelda’s blue-boko horn sword broke. She managed to find another rusted sword further along, however, to which she fused a fire lizalfos horn to. She also fashioned herself a sword with a black lizalfos horn, which she stored in the Purah Pad for later use. 

Yunobo had been fascinated by the fuse ability, which had triggered another dozen questions. Zelda answered all of them as best as she could, and she demonstrated her other Zonai abilities as well. Throughout it all, Link had silently watched. 

Fortunately, they didn’t need to climb the entirety of Death Mountain, as there was a minecart track that winded all of the way to the top. That cut down their travel time significantly, and within the hour, they made it to Death Mountain’s crater. 

The minecart led them to a large metal platform that had been built into the rock. Off to the side was a collection of Zonai devices. Zelda spotted a wing, some fans, and a steering stick, as well as some wheels and other devices. 

Here, the gloom spewing out of the volcano was most intense. It had a sharp smell to it, much akin to smoke. Zelda wondered how much of the burning smell came from the volcano itself or from the gloom. 

“This is where I found Link, goro,” Yunobo said, gesturing to their surroundings. They stood near the edge of the giant crater. Link nodded in confirmation. 

“What about the mask?” Zelda asked. “Where did you find that?” 

Yunobo scratched the back of his head in clear embarrassment. “It was the YunoboCo headquarters. I thought it looked cool, so I tried it on, and after that… I don’t really remember what happened.” 

Someone had planted the mask in there, then. That was… concerning. She pushed the thought aside. They needed to focus on Death Mountain for now. “That’s alright,” she assured Yunobo. 

“Still, I am sorry about that,” Yunobo said. He turned to Link. “I hope I didn’t attack you before.” 

“You didn’t,” Link said bluntly. 

Yunobo looked a little taken aback by the abrupt answer, but he shrugged it off. “Well, that’s good.” 

“Is this where you saw the monster, Link?” Zelda asked. She took a step towards him without thinking, and he immediately backed away. She internally winced and bowed her head in an apology.

He turned to the crater. “It should be—” 

The ground trembled. A great rumble shook the volcano, threatening to throw them off of their feet. Chunks of rock crumbled and fell both into the crater and down the sides of the mountain. “What—what’s going on?” Yunobo stuttered. 

A bombardment of smoke and gloom surged from the mouth of Death Mountain. Zelda reeled back and shielded the faceplate of her helmet with her arm. That sharp smell increased tenfold, stinging her nose and making her eyes water. The ground heaved, and for a moment, she feared it would collapse. 

The smoke cleared. In its place, jagged molten rock now sealed the entrance to the volcano. The rock coalesced into three spikes, and from them, three dragon-like heads, made entirely of black obsidian, emerged. Zelda and Yunobo stared in horror. The dragon heads wiggled and writhed their way out of the rock, opened their maws, and spewed chunks of flaming rock. Zelda rushed to the edge of Death Mountain and looked down at Goron City. One of the boulders slammed into the entrance to the city. Another rammed into Boss Bludo’s home. Her heart skipped. They needed to get rid of this thing and fast . 

“What is that ?!” Yunobo cried. 

Rauru’s voice replied. “Moragia. The result of Ganondorf seizing control of Death Mountain’s natural power.” 

Zelda glanced at Link. He stared up at Moragia in plain horror. Her stomach churned at the sight. Why did he look so afraid? That wasn’t like him. She had witnessed him take on both Calamity Ganon and the behemoth that was Dark Beast Ganon with nothing but a determined glare. 

Just what had happened in the Depths? 

“It may look powerful, and it certainly is, but it’s fragile,” Rauru said. His steadfast voice acted as an anchor that Zelda could cling to. She thanked the Goddess that he had decided to accompany her. 

An idea popped into Zelda’s head. Her eyes jumped to the Zonai devices, then to Yunobo. She thought back to their journey up the volcano. Multiple times, volcanic rock had covered the minecart tracks, and Yunobo had used a combination of his new fire-charge attack and Daruk’s Protection to blast it away. If she could use a flying machine… 

She rushed to the pile of devices. Overhead, Moragia roared and blasted another barrage of flaming boulders. She needed to hurry. She activated Ultrahand, separated the pieces, and began to assemble a flying vehicle. 

Yunobo watched, perplexed. “Uh, what are you doing, goro?”

“I’m making a flying machine, and you’re going to be the ammo,” Zelda replied, sticking the first of the three fans onto the back of the Zonai wing. 

“ What?! ” Yunobo sputtered. “I can’t do that!” 

“Zelda, that doesn’t seem wise,” Link said. 

She stuck the last of the fans and deactivated Ultrahand. A rush of pride made her smile as she looked over her work. She turned to Yunobo. “You have Daruk’s protection, remember? This’ll be just like how you cleared those rocks from the minecart track.” 

“But—but flying?” Yunobo said weakly. 

Zelda hopped onto the machine. “We can do it.” 

“Zelda—” Link took a step forward, as if to pull her off of the vehicle, when he grimaced. He flinched back, and for a second, Zelda thought she saw a patch of gloom on the side of his face. She blinked, and it was gone. 

She shook her head and focused on Yunobo. She held out a hand to the young Goron. “You can do this, Yunobo,” she said. “Trust yourself. You are the Goron Champion.” 

Over Death Mountain, Moragia bellowed. A series of booms followed as the flaming boulders rammed into the Eldin Region. Yunobo’s head shot up to the obsidian monstrosities. Zelda could practically see the internal war on his face. Then, finally, he turned to Zelda. “Okay!” he exclaimed. “I can—I can do this! Probably!” He jumped onto the Zonai wing. 

Zelda took hold of the steering stick. She glanced back at Link and caught him staring at her. She paused for a moment and found herself at a loss for words. Link seemed to be caught in a similar predicament, until finally, he mumbled a “stay safe.” 

She tried for a smile, but she knew it probably looked strained. She didn’t know why, but things felt very… stilted between them. It made something within her revolt. She tried to ignore it—surely, once they saved the Edlin Region, and she learned what had happened to him in the Depths, things would return to normal. 

“You too,” she told him, and activated the machine. 

Propelled by the fans, the wing slid off of the metal platform. For a second, it fell, and Zelda’s stomach lept into her throat. Yunobo let out a shriek. Then, the wings caught the winds, and the fans pushed the vehicle up into the air. “We’re okay!” Zelda exclaimed. Whether that was meant to reassure Yunobo or herself, she didn’t know. 

The three heads of Moragia spotted them immediately. They roared in tandem, and a flurry of boulders spewed out of their gaping, black maws. Zelda pushed the steering stick, and the vehicle tilted down. The boulders flew overhead. 

“We almost died,” Yunobo squeaked. 

“Hang on!” Zelda shouted. She pulled back on the stick, and the machine arched upward. She directed them towards the nearest head. “Are you ready, Yunobo?” 

“No!” the Goron cried, but he settled into his stance anyway. 

“You can do this!” Zelda yelled over the winds. “I’ll swing by and pick you up from the mouth of the crater. Make your ancestors proud!” 

Fire sparked across Yunobo’s back as he charged his attack. The closest head of Moragia bellowed at them, but before it could shoot more flaming rock, Yunobo sprung from the tip of the wing. Fire trailed behind him as he arched through the air, and Zelda saw the characteristic orange glow of Daruk’s protection completely envelop the Goron just as he rammed into the obsidian-dragonhead. 

The first head of Moragia shattered on impact. “Yes!” Zelda cheered. The other two heads roared in fury. Immediately, she angled her vehicle down and swooped by the metal platform, where Yunobo and Link waited. As she neared the platform, she slowed, and Yunobo hopped on. With the Goron back at the tip of the wing, she soared back into the air. 

“Hah! Did you see that?!” Yunobo exclaimed. He looked over his shoulder at her, and Zelda was surprised to see the massive grin on his face. “It shattered like glass! I didn’t feel a thing!” 

Zelda laughed. “Well, they are made of obsidian!” 

Yunobo destroyed the second head of Moragia without trouble. On the third go-around, however, one of the boulders rammed into the side of the wing. Zelda cranked the steering stick, desperately trying to keep the vehicle from flipping. Yunobo staggered and nearly fell off. Zelda pulled harder on the stick, and suddenly, it snapped off. 

She blinked. Her eyes fell to the stick in her hand, now separated from the machine. That wasn’t good. 

The wing naturally righted itself, but they were slowly flying away from the third Moragia head. “Yunobo!” Zelda cried. “You need to—” 

Before she even finished her sentence, the young Goron threw himself off of the vehicle. He soared through the air like a comet and slammed right into the head. Zelda gaped. That was probably the bravest thing she had ever seen from Yunobo. 

With the three heads gone, Zelda leapt from the machine and deployed her paraglider. As she glided to the metal platform, the volcanic rock sealing the entrance to the volcano cracked and crumbled. The shards of rock tumbled down into the chasm. They had cleared the way. 

Up in the air, she had a clear view of most of the Eldin Region. There were several tiny craters scattered about. She looked down on Goron City and breathed a sigh of relief. There didn’t seem to be too much damage besides the entrance and Boss Bludo’s home. The headquarters for YunoboCo, however, were entirely destroyed. 

She landed on the metal platform and stored her paraglider. Yunobo was already there, and he brightened at the sight of her. Before she could react, he yanked her into a tight hug. “We did it! We did it, goro!” 

She laughed as he set her down and looked at Link. She expected him to be celebrating alongside them, or even to just be smiling, but he had his eyes trained on the mouth of the volcano. She couldn’t see most of his face, but his mouth was downturned. 

“Link?” she began carefully. His head snapped to her, making her heart skip. For a second, his face was completely blank. Zelda resisted the urge to move closer to him. “Are you…?”

He smiled. Zelda’s heart sank. It looked so… fake. 

“Good job,” he said plainly.

They stared at one another. Yunobo broke the awkward silence by clearing his throat. “Should we go to Gorondia now, goro?” 

Zelda blinked and smiled at the young Goron. “Quite right, Yunobo.” When she looked back at Link, he had his paraglider in hand. She hadn’t seen him pull it from his Korok-enchanted pouch. It almost looked like it appeared out of thin air.

Before she could think more of it, Link darted towards the mouth of the volcano. “Wait—!” Zelda started, but he had already leapt into the chasm. She stared at his absence. Something like betrayal squirmed in her gut. Why was he acting like this? 

“Um, I’ll see you down there, goro?” Yunobo asked. The ethereal shield of Daruk’s protection formed around him. Zelda could only nod. The young Goron jumped into the chasm. 

“This isn’t like him,” she said. She knew that Rauru was listening. “He’s so… distant. Cold.” 

Rauru appeared beside her. She looked up at him. The bright sun made his form seem slightly more transparent. “It is possible that he isn’t—” 

“Don’t,” Zelda interrupted. She dragged her feet to the mouth of Death Mountain and looked down. The inside of the volcano was entirely coated in gloom, and chunks of molten rock clung  to the stone deep within. 

“He may be an illusion after all,” Rauru said gently. “Ganondorf is cunning. One of his favorite strategies is to gain the trust of his enemy. Trust me, Zelda.”

Zelda knew what he was talking about. In his era, the Demon King had pledged allegiance to Hyrule. Although Rauru knew of his secret motives, he allowed him entry to keep a close eye on him. That decision had cost him his wife. 

She pulled out her paraglider. “I trust you, Rauru,” she murmured. “But if that truly isn’t Link, if that really is just an illusion, then what happened to our Link?”

“I don’t know,” Rauru sighed. “I’m sorry.” 

She swallowed. She so desperately wanted to believe that Link had returned to them, and that he was only acting strange due to the perils he had faced in the Depths and the troubles in Hyrule. She wanted him back, so, so much. 

But she needed to keep a level head. She needed to be wary. Cautious. His behavior wasn’t normal, and she knew that. One way or another, she would uncover this mystery, and she would help Yunobo receive his Sacred Stone as the Sage of Fire. 

With a tight grip on her paraglider, she jumped from the ledge and plummeted to the Depths. 

*     *     *

Unlike the Zonai wings, the vehicle that Link was driving didn’t disappear after a certain amount of time. It was filled to the brim with crystallized charges, so it lasted for a long time. He ate while he drove. By the time he finished eating the rest of his food, the vehicle still hadn’t run out of power. It rattled over the rough terrain and carried him away from any monster camps. 

The darkness grew thicker the further he traveled from any activated light roots, and soon, his only light came from the two headlights perched on the front of the vehicle. He had his Sacred Stone as well, which he no longer kept tucked in his uniform. He hoped he would find another light root soon to dispel the thick darkness, but there weren’t any in sight. 

Eventually, he had to stop and rest. He drank the last of his water before falling asleep. When he woke up some time later, he continued on the vehicle. He started feeling the effects of having no food or water fairly quickly after that. As the hours dragged on, his legs grew sore from standing on the vehicle, and his hand became tight from continuously pushing the steering stick forward. The aching and throbbing of his right arm remained constant, and at every harsh movement from the vehicle, sharp shocks of pain shot up his arm. 

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he spotted distant light. It wasn’t a light root, nor was it an abandoned mine. Rather, it was another Yiga base, lit by torches and lanterns. Once he drew closer, he reluctantly stumbled off of the vehicle, as its lights would give his position away all too easily. 

With an aching stomach and a dry throat, he crept closer to the base. This one was built atop three towering stone pillars. Bridges and ropes connected them to one another, and a single set of rickety-looking stairs winded from the ground to the top of one of the pillars. 

A Yiga on a flying machine patrolled the perimeter of the hideout. Link clearly saw the ring of red magic in front of them, due to the way it glowed in the dark. From the ground, he couldn’t tell if there were any more Yiga within the base itself, but this one was smaller than the others he had found. He guessed, or hoped, that there wouldn’t be very many. 

A headache pulsed at the front of his skull. His stomach rumbled. He wrapped an arm around it, grimacing. He needed to raid this base somehow; he wouldn’t last much longer without food or water. 

His right arm gave a painful protest, as if reminding him of its state. He winced. He needed to find another light root as well. The fastest way to do so would be with the flying machine the Yiga currently piloted. Maybe if he climbed to the top of one of those giant pillars he could throw a bomb flower at the Yiga and steal the machine? Or perhaps more flying machines were stored at the top?

Well, to do any of that, he needed more bomb flowers. He carefully explored the surrounding area, using the Sacred Stone as a makeshift torch. Its glow was very dim, so it didn’t do much, but it was better than nothing. 

Or it would’ve been, had Link been able to actually find anything. He groaned as his stomach lurched painfully, only to wince as his groan scratched at his dry throat. This wasn’t working. He should just storm the base, and if there were more Yiga within, he could use his last muddlebud on them. 

He dragged himself to the hideout, tripping over rocks and roots that he couldn’t see due to the darkness. His right arm throbbed mercilessly at each stumble. Was it getting worse?

He reached the stairs. He was careful to keep away from the other pillars to avoid the gloom that clung to the stone. Quietly, he creeped up the stairs, cringing at each creak and whine they made. 

He heard the whirring of the flying machine come closer. He pressed his back against the stone pillar and hid the glowing Sacred Stone beneath his left hand. The flying machine swung around the pillar and continued on. The Yiga didn’t notice him. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, he climbed the rest of the stairs, bracing his left hand against the pillar to maintain balance. Great Hylia, he was getting dizzy. It hadn’t been that long since he had food and water, right? It had only been a day at most. His symptoms shouldn’t be this bad this soon. 

He reached the top. A watchtower stood a few paces away. Beneath it was a table holding a note and an assortment of crates. 

There weren’t any other Yiga around, but he kept himself lowered as close to the ground as he could. He crept to the watchtower and pried open one of the crates. His heart lifted at the sight of the bananas piled within. The next crate over held glass bottles of water. Without hesitation, he snatched a bottle and downed it. The water, while lukewarm, greatly soothed his dry throat. 

“Hey!” a voice shouted. 

He whipped around. Two Yiga marched across the bridge, having come from the storehouse on the next pillar over. Link internally cursed. Why didn’t he check the other pillars? Was he really that out of it? 

Yes, he thought as he realized that he didn’t have a weapon. I am a complete fool. 

“It’s you! Link!” one of the Yiga exclaimed. The other Yiga immediately drew their sickle before launching themselves at him. 

Link grabbed one of the bottles of water and threw it at the closest Yiga. The glass shattered and water splashed over him as it collided with his mask. He drew back with a shout. The second Yiga wasn’t deterred. Link fumbled for his Korok-pouch. He should’ve gone for his muddlebud first. Why wasn’t he thinking clearly? What was—

The Yiga was upon him, but they didn’t swipe their sickle at him. Instead, they tried to swing the hilt of the weapon into his head, but he dodged the attack and retaliated with a punch to the gut.

“The arm! Go for the arm!” the first Yiga shouted. 

The second Yiga lunged for him again, reaching out for Link’s right arm. He got a hold of his last muddlebud and tried to slam the flower into his attacker, but the first Yiga grabbed his left wrist, restraining him. The first Yiga latched onto his right arm and squeezed. Pain erupted at the touch. A sharp cry tore from Link’s throat. The muddlebud slipped from his hand and burst on the ground.

With a grunt, Link kicked the first Yiga in the crotch. They fell back with a choked cry of pain, and Link ripped his wrist out of the second Yiga’s grip. In retaliation, the Yiga shoved him into the crates. Glass shattered behind, and he didn’t have time to recover before the Yiga pinned him back against the wood. He back arched against the corner of the crate as he tried to push the Yiga off of him. 

“The stone, you idiot!” the first Yiga yelled from a distance, voice strained with pain. “Get the stone!” 

Cold fear settled in Link’s gut as the Yiga pinning him grabbed the Sacred Stone. He kicked at them, desperately trying to shove them away before they could pull the stone off of his makeshift necklace.

The Yiga visibly grew frustrated. “Hold still!” they barked. They wrapped one of their hands around his right arm and dug their fingers into his skin. 

He seized from the burning pain. He couldn’t even manage a scream before the Yiga ripped the necklace from his neck. They stepped back, Sacred Stone in hand. Link’s eyes widened, and he only had time to stumble one measly step before the pain in his arm surged.

With the Sacred Stone gone, the gloom within him had no resistance. It freely clawed and burrowed throughout his body like a molduga carving through sand. He crumpled to the ground, tipping a crate over as he fell. Glass bottles rolled onto the stone pillar around him. His throat burned, and distantly, he could hear himself screaming. 

Pressure grew in his head. It felt like thick sludge slowly filled his skull. It threatened to burst out of his eyes, nose, and ears. His chest felt as it did all of those years ago at Fort Hateno—battered, bruised, and burned by countless guardian beams. But this time, the fire was inside . The pain burrowed into his bones. It twisted and knotted his innards. He writhed on the ground, but there wasn’t anything he could do to relieve it. 

Through blurring vision, he saw two red figures loom over him. One of them held a white, glowing stone. With a breathy whine, Link reached out to it. His whole body shuddered and twitched. 

He heard a distant scoff and a scathing tone. A foot stomped down on his right arm. The pain reached a screeching peak, and he blacked out entirely. 

Chapter Text

Gorondia was gigantic. Zelda, Yunobo, and Link stood in awe as they gaped up at the ancient Goron city. They stood just before a wide bridge that spanned a lake of lava, of which separated the main mass of the city from the rest of the Depths. 

The city was made of large stone towers all interconnected by a variety of minecart tracks. Lava falls trickled through hanging canals; they attributed to the lighting of the city, making it look as if the city itself were glowing. 

“Wow, goro…” Yunobo breathed. “I would’ve never guessed that this was inside Death Mountain.” 

“It’s remarkable,” Zelda agreed. “And the majority of it is still intact!” She took a picture and turned to Link with an expectant grin. However, when she looked to the side, he wasn’t there. She blinked and looked around. “Link?” 

A faint shing came from behind. “Zelda, move!” Rauru shouted. Zelda whipped around and jumped back just in time to avoid the blade that sliced through the air. If she hadn’t moved, if Rauru hadn’t warned her, her head would’ve gotten cut clean off. Her heart stuttered in her chest. 

Link stood before her, blade raised, eyes narrowed. He clutched his sword in his right hand, as if his injury meant nothing to him—as if he couldn’t feel the pain of using such a burned and mangled arm. 

“Woah, Link!” Yunobo cried. The young Goron shifted to stand protectively in front of Zelda. “What’s wrong, goro?” 

He lunged. Yunobo activated Daruk’s protection, and Link’s rusted sword slammed into the ethereal shield. Anger twisted his face, and he bashed his sword against it once, twice. A crack formed in the shield. “What’s going on?!” Yunobo cried, straining to keep the protection activated. 

Zelda’s face went pale. “It’s not Link.” 

The imposter took a step back and leveled the point of his sword at the shield. Zelda’s eyes widened just as he lunged, and the sharp tip of the blade pierced the shield. Yunobo yelped and flinched back, and the shield vanished. Zelda jumped forward, drew her fire lizalfos-horn sword, and intercepted his next blow. 

For a second, she was mere inches from him, and in that moment, his form flickered. Holes appeared all over him, as if he were hollow, and patches of gloom spread across him. Zelda disengaged immediately, horrified, and when she moved away from him, the holes and patches sealed back up, as if they had never been there. 

“It’s your power,” Rauru’s voice sounded. “The proximity of your power damages the illusion.” 

At that word—illusion—the last flicker of Zelda’s hope sputtered out. This truly wasn’t Link. It was a puppet created by the Demon King, just like at Hyrule Castle. She had been played for a fool. All of this—making the puppet look different, more ‘realistic,’ from the one at the castle, creating the red-herring of Yunobo’s mask to literally mask the aura of the Demon King’s magic, to the summoning of Moragia. It was all done to craft this lie. 

Anger bubbled in Zelda’s gut. How dare he? How dare the Demon King use Link’s image, his form, to weave such treacherous lies? Her grip tightened on her sword. “You vile creature,” she spat. 

A grin cracked the puppet’s stony expression. “Found me out then, haven’t you?” it mused. Its eyes shifted to red. They burned with the Demon King’s cursed power. But even with those eyes, the illusion still used Link’s voice, Link’s face, and Zelda wanted to eradicate it for good. 

Behind her, Yunobo stuttered. “That—that’s not Link, goro? An illusion?” 

The illusion hummed. “I’m disappointed it took you this long to discover the truth. If I hadn’t attacked just now, would you have ever known I wasn’t your beloved swordsman? Would you have led me directly to the Sacred Stone?” 

Rauru appeared in a flash of green light. “You can not use the Sacred Stones,” he stated boldly. “They are intrinsically tied to the will of the sages.” 

The puppet cocked its head. “You’re right. I can’t, but my master can. The will of the sages didn’t stop him from corrupting Queen Sonia’s stone, now did it?” it shot back, voice dripping with mockery. 

Rauru recoiled, as if physically struck, and in the next moment, he vanished. Zelda’s stomach twisted painfully, and a protective anger surged in her heart. She took a step forward. Flames flickered along the fire lizalfos horn as she brandished it at the illusion. “Hold your tongue,” she demanded. It seemed this puppet wasn’t the Demon King himself; it was a separate creature, a being made of gloom disguised as Link. 

The illusion shrugged. It certainly didn’t act like how Zelda would imagine from the infamous Demon King. “Very well,” it said, “but tell me, how was my performance? I had quite the daunting task, don’t you think? All things considered, I think I—”

Zelda couldn’t take it anymore. She didn’t let the creature finish. She lunged and swung her sword. Fire arched behind the blade. The puppet deftly jumped back, barely avoiding the searing heat. Zelda shuffled back, bracing herself, but nothing happened. 

If she were in a sparring match with Link, the actual Link, that would’ve been the perfect dodge to activate his flurry rush. If this were the actual Link, she would’ve swung her blade, and when she next blinked, she would’ve been disarmed or knocked to the ground. 

So this illusion didn’t have Link’s ability. Did it have his skills? His physical prowess? 

It was time to find out. “Yunobo, stand with me,” she called. The young Goron came to her side. He still seemed to be struggling to wrap his head around all of this—Zelda couldn’t blame him for that—but he took hold of the Boulder Breaker. Together, they charged the illusion. 

The puppet moved like a lizalfos—quick and sly. Its form morphed and mutated to dodge and avoid attacks. Whenever Zelda neared, its form flickered, and it became apparent that this creature really was purely made of gloom. 

As the fight wore on, the illusion grew more frantic. More and more holes and patches of gloom appeared all across its body. It lost one of its eyes which left a gaping hole in its face. Zelda briefly wondered if that affected its vision at all. 

With a furious cry, it leapt into the air, performing a jump attack, but Yunobo stepped in between it and Zelda and activated Daruk’s protection. The puppet slammed against the ethereal shield and fell back. Zelda scoffed at the sight of it on the ground. Link never would’ve attacked like that knowing about Yunobo’s shield. 

The illusion fumbled for its sword, but Zelda marched forward and kicked the weapon away. Her proximity to the puppet made its form waver yet again, and it tried to scramble back, but Yunobo grabbed it by the arm and hoisted it up. He restrained the creature with just his hands. 

“Let go of me!” the illusion snarled. It writhed in Yunobo’s grip. 

“Sorry, goro,” the Goron said, but he didn’t sound all that sorry; in fact, he sounded rather proud of himself. 

Zelda glared at the creature. She had gotten close to it multiple times during the battle, and while her just being near obviously damaged it, she knew she would have to draw on her power to eradicate it entirely. 

She told Yunobo to hold firm, and the young Goron obliged. The illusion twisted and writhed, but Zelda knew that there was no breaking free from a Goron’s grip. With the creature restrained, she closed her eyes. She breathed in deep and tried to settle her mind. 

“You’re too late!” the puppet spat. “Your Link is dead! My master made it so! Why do you think I attacked you like I did?” 

Her brow furrowed. She needed to shut it out. It was lying—trying to break her focus. Link was alive. He had to be. 

“How do you think anyone could survive in the Depths?” the illusion demanded. “Do you think he even survived the fall? You saw his arm! It was practically ash!”

It still used Link’s voice. Without the visual of the obvious illusion, it was harder to convince her mind that what she heard wasn’t from the swordsman she knew. 

“Quiet, goro!” Yunobo grunted. 

“He’s dead, and it’s your fault!” the illusion screamed. “It’s all your fault!”

Zelda felt something in her snap. Her eyes sprung open. She marched right up to the illusion trapped in Yunobo’s arms, and she slapped her right hand over its mouth. “You—” she began, only to cut herself off. 

A familiar feeling stirred in her gut, and from her contact on the creature’s face, a faint, golden light began to spread. Like fire eating away at a piece of parchment, it slowly tore a hole in the puppet’s face, then head, then down its body. Zelda stumbled back, horrified, but by the time she ripped her hand away, the illusion was gone. Nothing but flakes of ash-like gloom remained. 

Yunobo jumped back. He shook his hands, and flakes were flung off of his skin and into the air. “Woah!” he cried. “Is—Is it gone, goro? What happened?!” 

Zelda could only stare. The image of Link burning away before her very eyes stained her mind. Her eyes fell to her right hand—the one covered by a mimicry of Rauru’s arm. She hadn’t meant to do that; she had only intended to make the puppet stop talking. She was glad that her power wasn’t completely gone and that she could still access it, of course she was, but that had been rather… startling. 

“Rauru?” she called, seeking reassurance. He was always a steady presence, one with answers and one she could rely on. “That was my power, wasn’t it?”

There wasn’t a response. 

“Rauru?” she tried again. 

Yunobo came up beside her. “Is he okay?” 

The words of the illusion replayed in her mind. “The will of the sages didn’t stop him from corrupting Queen Sonia’s stone, now did it?” She swallowed. The Demon King hadn’t just stolen the stone, he had killed Sonia, and while Zelda knew it wasn’t Rauru’s fault, she understood his guilt and grief. 

She felt the same thing for her father—for her kingdom. If she had awakened her power sooner, then the Calamity wouldn’t have decimated Hyrule. Her father would’ve lived out the rest of his days. Link wouldn’t have had to be revived, and he wouldn’t have lost all of his memories. 

“Let’s go, Yunobo,” she muttered. Rauru wasn’t going to speak for some time. 

The young Goron stuttered, obviously wanting to keep asking questions, but he refrained. Zelda internally thanked him for that. She had a lot on her mind. 

As they crossed the bridge, just before entering the city of Gorondia, a chime echoed through the air, identical to the chime that had sounded when the Sage of Wind reached out to her and Tulin. 

Now, it seemed that the Sage of Fire was extending a hand out to her and Yunobo, beckoning them to retrieve his Sacred Stone. She wondered if he hadn’t beckoned them sooner due to the puppet. 

She shook her head. She couldn’t think about that anymore. Now was the time to focus on getting Yunobo to his Sacred Stone—to help Yunobo achieve his destiny. 

“What was that?” Yunobo asked, already reaching for his hammer. 

“The Sage of Fire,” she answered. “He’s calling to us. The same thing occurred with Tulin and the past Sage of Wind.” 

Yunobo scratched the back of his head. “You know, I’ve been thinking, and I… I don’t think I can really be a sage, goro,” he said, frowning deeply. “I only just mastered Daruk’s protection, and I just discovered my fire ability, and—” 

“Yunobo, have you realized the things you’ve accomplished in just the last several hours?” Zelda interrupted. 

The young Goron blinked at her. “What do you mean?” 

“You’ve shown nothing but bravery,” Zelda told him. “You shielded me from the illusion countless times—even when you had just awoken from the mask’s control. You led the way up Death Mountain, and you destroyed Moragia.” 

“Huh,” Yunobo blinked again. “That does all sound pretty brave, goro.” 

Zelda chuckled and made her way into the city. “It is.”

The entrance to the city consisted of a large corridor framed by stone arches and lit by torches on the walls. Zelda immediately noticed the expert stonemason work on nearly every inch of the city. Intricate designs depicting Goron legends peppered the walls and arches. Even the handles of the torches on the walls had been carved to look like flames themselves. 

Zelda even spotted a few decorations that looked Zonai-influenced, and there were some that looked eerily similar to the Divine Beast Vah Rudania.

At the end of the corridor, they came to what Zelda could only assume was the Fire Temple. It was a large, dome-shaped building, and the stone was just as decorated as the rest of the city, if not more. A large gate barred the entrance, held shut by five padlocks shaped like lizard heads. Beside it stood a circular Zonai console, like the Wind Temple, and just like what had happened on the ark, when Zelda tried to activate the console, the padlocks stayed stubbornly shut. 

Yunobo was trying to physically yank the door open when there the chime echoed around them again, and the Sage of Fire spoke to them. He told them of five mechanisms scattered throughout the city that would unlock the gate. Just like the past Sage of Wind had done on the Ark, the Sage of Fire marked the locations of the mechanisms on the Purah Pad. 

Throughout it all, Rauru didn’t speak or appear. Zelda tried not to worry about it too much. After the Calamity, she had experienced a plethora of bad days. There were days in which she forgot how to use her body—days when her hands and feet went numb, and she felt as if she were right back in that stasis with Calamity Ganon. Other days her guilt and agony in trying to awaken her power from before the Calamity would drown her, and she would feel too overwhelmed to get out of bed. 

Link had bad moments as well. Some days, a memory would force its way into his mind. There had been multiple times when he burned a meal because his body completely froze at the cooking pot while he relieved the memory. Other days, his mouth would go silent, but his body would refuse to stop moving. He would endlessly pace and scout with the Master Sword in hand. He would stay on high alert until his eyes grew too heavy to keep open. 

And many times, there were days, even weeks, when they both grieved. They grieved for Hyrule, for the champions, for what could have been. They would stay holed up in their shared home in Hateno Village with a heavy cloud settled over their heads. 

It had taken a long time, but eventually, they had learned to recognize and navigate those days. Link would gently massage her hands and feet until their feeling returned to them, and he would care for her when she felt weighed down by burdens long past. In turn, she would gently prod him into conversation when he blanked. She would gently awaken him from the memories, just as she had done after his one-hundred year slumber, and when he felt too paranoid to rest, she would remain right by his side—a quiet, steadfast presence. 

And when they both choked and wallowed in their grief, they would simply stay with one another. 

She didn’t know what Rauru needed at this moment, but if he didn’t want to speak or appear to them, she wouldn’t pressure him to. That didn’t mean her heart didn’t ache for him, however. She wished she knew what to do—what he needed. 

But she didn’t, so all she could do was focus on the current task. “Right. Let’s get going,” she said, already making her way to where the first mechanism lay according to her map. Yunobo hastened after her. 

*     *     *

Link awoke to the floor vibrating. Confused, he cracked open his eyes and shuddered as a wave of pain washed over him. He lay on his side, his hands and feet bound by rope, both of which were further tied down to a short post that jutted up in front of him. Past that, he saw the backs of two Yiga, one of which stood at a steering stick. 

The realization came to him slowly. He was on the back of a four-wheeled vehicle. 

Weakly, he tried pulling at his restraints, but he could barely move his limbs. The pain, which he had grown used to being only in his arm, had now spread throughout his entire body. He felt as if he had been bludgeoned all over, or as if a lit torch had been pressed to every inch of his skin. 

The two Yiga didn’t seem to notice that he had woken up. They chatted with each other, their voices slightly muffled due to their masks. “—hate it down here,” the one controlling the vehicle grumbled. 

“Really?” the other replied. “We captured Link! The Link! You and me. We did that!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” the first one huffed, waving a careless hand. “I just want to get to the Abandoned Lanayru Mine so I can finally be transferred out of here. I’m sick of carrying around Sundelions and Brightblooms.” 

“But driving these things is pretty fun, right?” 

The first Yiga chuckled. “Yeah, it is pretty fun.” 

Link’s eyes drifted across their surroundings. He had no idea where they were; he didn’t recognize anything. Until… his eyes widened. In the distance, drifting through the darkness, was a dragon. 

Its serpentine body glowed in the dark. Puffs of fire sparked in the air around it, only illuminating it more. That was Dinraal—the draconic spirit of power, fire. What was it doing in the Depths? 

The vehicle jostled sharply as they drove over some rough terrain, and Link let out a breathy whine as the pain within him flared. His vision blurred, and he let his head fall onto the vehicle, too exhausted to keep holding it up. He stared at the Yiga’s shoes through half-lidded eyes. 

They kept talking, but he couldn’t keep up with their words. He didn’t fight the layer of fog that settled over him, and he let himself drift. 

*     *     *

After a few long, grueling hours, Zelda and Yunobo managed to unlock all five padlocks. Exploring Gorondia had been incredible, and the minecarts had been fun to ride around on, but Zelda was glad to be done with the place. The confusing layout of the minecart tracks and the many floors of the stone buildings gave her a headache, and she was uncomfortably sweaty even with the Flamebreaker Armor protecting her from the heat. 

Throughout it all, Rauru maintained his silence. It nagged at Zelda, but she stayed resolute in her decision. She would not prod at him. She would give him space. 

As they neared the Fire Temple, Zelda knew that, most likely, another creature or monstrosity of the Demon King’s making lay in wait on the other side of the iron gate. She warned Yunobo of such. 

“Are you ready?” she asked him, hand hovering over the Zonai console. With the padlocks now unlocked, she just needed to activate the console to drop the gate. 

Yunobo drew his giant hammer, Daruk’s Boulder Breaker, and gave her a firm nod. 

She activated the console. The green threads of light burst outward at her touch, and shortly after, the large iron gate swung down with a loud creak. Together, Zelda and Yunobo stepped into the Fire Temple. 

The temple was surprisingly simple compared to the confusing and complex layout of Gorondia. It was made of only one, giant, cavernous room with rounded walls and a domed ceiling. Lines of differing stone started from the base of the walls and stretched up, all pointing and joining together in the center of the ceiling, of which was covered by a massive, jagged boulder of obsidian. 

Except, it was obvious it wasn’t normal obsidian. Unnatural cracks that glowed a pink light covered the entire surface, outlining rounded shapes that vaguely looked like scales. That wasn’t what caught Zelda’s eye, however. In the center of the boulder, the head of Divine Beast Vah Rudania was embedded in the obsidian. 

The head was closed, so that it resembled a lizard’s head, but when Zelda and Yunobo neared, the head opened like a flower blooming. Instead of the barb that usually resided within, that would charge and unleash Rudania’s devastating laser, was a bright orange eye. It whirled around in its mechanical socket before focusing on them. 

A deep, earthy growl rumbled throughout the cavern. Zelda and Yunobo backed away just as the obsidian monster dropped from the ceiling. A huge plume of dust erupted as it crashed onto the ground, masking its form. Another growl reverberated around the massive dome-like room. 

From the smoke, four giant legs made of obsidian reached out. The feet of Rudania were melded into the obsidian, which it planted on the floor. Flames flickered around the feet of the Divine Beast. 

As the smoke cleared, the monster rose upon its four legs like a massive crab. It resembled that of a giant crab, but made entirely of obsidian and abandoned Sheikah technology. Its fiery orange eye tilted at an unnatural angle to peek through the opened shells of Rudania’s head, like a bulbous stem of a lotus flower. Its sheer size took up most of the room. Any one of its legs and lizard-like feet could easily crush them. 

“Oh geez,” Yunobo croaked. “That’s really, really big.” 

Zelda tightened her grip on her sword. The blade, infused with the power of flame, flashed a bright orange. “That just means it’ll be easier to hit.”

*     *     *

Link faded in and out of consciousness. At one point he saw one of the Yiga examining the Sacred Stone. At another point he felt the toe of a shoe digging into his chest and heard laughter overhead. He didn’t fully become aware of his surroundings again until he felt hands untying his legs. 

Groggily, he blinked his eyes open just as the Yiga pulled him off of the vehicle. He let himself be manhandled; he wouldn’t be strong enough to stand on his own, not with his body trembling and his mind fogged with pain. 

“Ugh—for some reason I thought that the fabled hero would be a lot lighter,” one of the Yiga grunted. Link felt himself slump over before an arm caught him around the waist. 

“Are you kidding?” the other Yiga replied. They sounded farther away. 

“Look at him! He’s tiny!” 

“I don’t care how he looks. He’s a beast . Of course he’s not light!” 

The Yiga holding Link up scoffed. “Whatever. Let’s just get across this canyon. You teleport the vehicle. I’ve got the beast .” That last word was practically drenched in mockery.

Teleport? Link thought. He heard the tell-tale puff sound of a Yiga teleporting away. He lifted his head and blinked until his vision returned to him. They stood on the edge of a cliff that sloped down into a canyon. On the opposite end, the second Yiga appeared with the vehicle in a cloud of smoke. 

“Our turn,” a voice said in his ear before Link’s vision filled with smoke. Nausea erupted in his stomach as the world shrank and pushed against him until he was shot forward, like a berry between a HInox’s fingers. When his vision next returned, his legs buckled, and two pairs of hands kept him from falling flat out on his face. He gagged. 

“Reminds me of all of the new recruits when they first teleport,” a voice laughed. 

“It doesn’t affect our new recruits that much,” another voice replied, clear disgust in their tone. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just keep moving.” 

Link was dragged back over to the vehicle and tied back down, and it was only then when he realized that he was now on the opposite side of the canyon. The Yiga had teleported him across. 

The vehicle roared to life, and they were off. Link groaned as the rumbling of the vehicle angered the pain ravaging through him, and he noticed that he couldn’t feel his hands, feet, nor his entire right arm anymore. When did that happen?

“Woah! Look at all of that lava,” one of the Yiga exclaimed.

The other Yiga pointed to somewhere ahead of them. “We’re getting close to Death Mountain. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s gotten pretty hot.” 

“...of course I’ve noticed.” 

Link craned his head up, trying to look around the Yiga and the front of the vehicle. He could just make out distant lava falls sloughing down from seemingly nowhere, but he couldn’t feel the supposed heat past the pain numbing his senses. He could, however, make out what looked to be a collection of giant stone buildings. As he stared at them, trying to make out any details, he thought he heard a distant rumbling roar. The Yiga seemed to notice as well.

“What was that?” one of them asked.

“Probably just a Frox.” the other replied. 

*     *     *

As one would expect from a giant obsidian crab, the monster was slow. Its attacks consisted of trying to swat at them or step on them with its mechanical feet. It also had the annoying ability to launch explosive chunks of glowing obsidian rock at them. 

Zelda and Yunobo sprinted to the side as the monster let out an ear-rattling roar, and three of those said boulders burst out of its body. “Here comes more, goro!” Yunobo shouted, grabbing onto her and tugging her close. He activated Daruk’s protection just as one of the boulders landed on the ethereal shield and exploded on impact. Zelda’s ears twinged at the deafening sound. 

“Now’s your chance!” Zelda cried, and Yunobo gave her a curt nod before launching himself at one of the monster’s legs. The obsidian leg crumbled apart at the impact. The foot of Rudania detached and lay useless on the ground. The monster growled. 

Yunobo only needed to break apart the other leg on that same side to make the giant crab collapse, and then they would have the opportunity to wail on its weak point—the single, bulbous eye. That was what they had been doing for the past ten minutes. 

Panting, Yunobo ran back to Zelda just as the monster launched more boulders at them. Zelda caught one of the boulders with Ultrahand and rammed it right back into the monster. It exploded and sent it staggering back on its three legs. “Now, Yunobo!” Zelda shouted. 

“Right!” Yunobo cried before hurtling himself at the second leg. When it broke apart, the monster fell to the ground. The impact of its giant body hitting the floor shook the temple. 

Without a word, Zelda and Yunobo clambered on top of the dazed monster. When they reached the eye, however, the head of Rudania closed over it. Zelda, with her fire lizalfos blade, and Yunobo, with his Boulder Breaker, started wailing on the head, which now acted as a protective shell for the eye. 

With a decisive blow from Yunobo, the head of Rudania cracked. Immediately, the monster threw them off with a violent shake. Its entire body rumbled. Cracks formed along its obsidian body before all four of Rudania’s legs burst from the volcanic rock. A chunk of obsidian remained to hold the head of Rudania and the monster’s eye, but it was now significantly smaller and slimmer. 

From the ends of its new legs, which were stolen from the Divine Beast, tendrils of pink light reached out, snatched the feet, and reattached them to the legs. With a roar, the monster then launched upward, twisted midair, and stuck onto the ceiling. It skittered back and forth, back and forth, significantly faster than before thanks to its smaller size. 

Zelda internally sighed. They weren’t done with this fight yet. 

*     *     *

Link startled awake from the daze he had fallen into when the Yiga, once again, untied his legs and pulled him off of the vehicle. He blinked and tried to gather his bearings as the Yiga half-dragged half-walked him somewhere. He felt sand beneath and recognized where they were right before the Yiga abruptly dropped him. A wave of pain rushed through him from the impact, and he groaned. 

“This is one of those light plants?” one of the Yiga asked. Link looked up, daring to hope, and sure enough, they were underneath a light root. 

The other Yiga stepped towards the glowing green hand-symbol that hovered in the air directly beneath the light root. They had the Sacred Stone in their hand. “Yeah,” they answered, peering up at the symbol curiously. “How do you think he activated the other ones?”

The Yiga standing next to him kicked him. He winced when the pain within him flared. His vision wavered dangerously. “Hey, hero, how were you activating them, huh?” 

“You’re not going to get anything out of him,” the other Yiga huffed. 

“What do you think is wrong with him, anyway?” 

“Doesn’t matter. We just need to get him to Kohga.” As the Yiga spoke, he looked down at the Sacred Stone for a moment. With a shrug, he lifted it up towards the hand symbol. Link waited with bated breath, hardly believing his luck. If the light root was activated, it would give him a moment of clarity, of relief. The Yiga didn’t know that, and with his legs untied, he could make a break for it. 

As the Sacred Stone touched the symbol, the green light burst outwards, and Link’s heart soared. The light root activated, and bright light surged outwards to illuminate a small section of the Depths. 

As the light passed over him, the constant pain dimmed, and the numbness in his hands and feet retreated. His right arm was still mostly numb, but that hardly mattered. He nearly cried in relief then and there. For the first time in… however long it had been, he could move without feeling like he was on fire or wading through mud. He could finally think without feeling like he was about to pass out at a second's notice. 

The Yiga didn’t seem to notice. They both ambled over to the vehicle and tugged off some bags that Link hadn’t even noticed were there. It seemed that they wanted to camp here, safe in the light. 

Slowly, as to not draw attention to himself, he got to his feet. His eyes narrowed onto the sickles that hung on the Yiga’s hips. If he could get one of those, he would be able to cut the rope binding his hands. 

With the Yiga distracted, he crouched slightly, took a breath, and attacked. 

*     *     *

Thanks to the rounded walls and ceiling of the giant room, Yunobo was able to use his launching attack to roll up the walls and into the monster’s legs. It was a painstaking process due to the monster’s newfound speed, but with Zelda using Ultrahand to capture and use the monster’s attacks against itself, they gradually loosened its hold on the ceiling. 

Finally, finally, the monster fell. “Yes!” Zelda cheered as it landed with a loud thud that shook the floor. Yunobo fell beside it and, thanks to Daruk’s protection, bounced like a large ball. Zelda didn’t wait for the young Goron to recover. She sprinted to the fallen monster and climbed onto its body. Its giant eye sat unprotected, rolling around in its socket. 

Zelda lifted her sword, but before she could plunge the blade into the eye, a large barb sprung out of its center. Zelda recognized it as the barb from Rudania’s head—the one that fired its laser. Her face paled when pink light gathered within the barb, and a familiar hum sounded as the monster charged an attack. 

She threw herself off of the monster’s body just as a massive pink laser shot directly upward. It pierced the ceiling of the temple, and as the rocky crab moved, the laser followed and carved through the stone. As it climbed up the side of the wall, the laser tilted to the side. Zelda made it to Yunobo, and the young Goron encased both of them in Daruk’s protection just as the blazing, pink laser passed over them. The force of the laser threw them back, and as they rammed into the wall, the ethereal shield fully shattered. 

The laser puttered out, and the monster returned to its place on the ceiling. Flakes of rock fell from above as the ceiling threatened to collapse from the damage done to it by the laser. 

On the ground, Zelda staggered to her feet. Her head spun and ached, and her body felt slow and sluggish. She didn’t know how she was injured, but it must be bad due to how badly her armor was dented, but she just grabbed a hearty elixir from the Purah Pad and downed it. She gave one to Yunobo, who just tossed the entire bottle, glass and all, into his mouth. Zelda was startled until she remembered that a Goron’s diet mainly consisted of rock.

Atop the ceiling, the obsidian crab roared in challenge. Yunobo brought his fists together in the motion to use Daruk’s protection, but nothing happened. “I—I can’t summon Daruk’s protection anymore,” he said, panic lacing his tone. 

The monster threw more explosive chunks of obsidian at them, and Zelda deflected them with Ultrahand. “We’ll find another—” she started, but Yunobo curled in on himself and, with his fire ability, charged right at the monster. “Yunobo!” Zelda cried. 

The Goron rammed into the monster’s main body and instantly knocked it from the ceiling. It lay on the floor, stunned. Yunobo fell beside it, similarly dazed. Zelda couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste. She clambered onto the monster and, with a mighty yell, plunged the flaming horn into its bulbous eye. It sank all the way to the hilt. The monster shrieked and violently threw Zelda off. 

A choked cry left her lips as she roughly landed on the hard stone floor. Limbs trembling, she hoisted herself up as the monster stumbled about on Rudania’s legs as if drunk. The pink cracks throughout its obsidian body doubled in size, and the pink light brightened considerably. Zelda paled as she realized what was about to happen. Her eyes darted to Yunobo, who was on his feet but wavering just as much as the monster. 

“Yunobo!” she yelled. “Yunobo, get back!” 

The young Goron stumbled away just as the monster exploded. 

Zelda yelped as the force of the explosion threw her back. She rammed into the wall, and sparks burst in her vision as she crumbled to the ground. Dust filled the fire temple. Zelda struggled to catch her breath, and she hacked and coughed. With a trembling hand, she summoned another hearty elixir from the pad and struggled to drink it. Pain pulsed throughout her like a second heartbeat, but as the red liquid trickled down her throat, it ebbed away. 

The majority of the dust settled. Zelda forced herself to her feet. She squinted through the remaining dust hovering in the air. The obsidian crab was no more, but against the opposite wall, she spotted Yunobo lying still. 

Not daring to breathe, she raced across the fire temple. By the time she reached the Goron, she had another elixir in hand. Yunobo was still conscious, but his eyes were glazed. Without wasting a second more, Zelda helped him drink the elixir. It wasn’t advised to drink two full elixirs in such a short amount of time, but they didn’t have a choice. 

Yunobo’s eyes cleared by the time the bottle finished, and he focused on Zelda. “Is it gone, goro?” he croaked. 

A relieved smile blossomed on Zelda’s face. She looked over her shoulder. Descending from the ceiling, glimmering with ethereal light, was the Sacred Stone. “It is,” she replied. She looked back at Yunobo. “We did it.”

*     *     *

As Link rammed himself into one of the Yiga, a pink beam of light erupted in the distance, and an explosion shook the ground. It threw him and the Yiga off of their feet, and Link missed his opportunity to snatch their sickle. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a red-clad fist swinging his way, and he jumped back. Time briefly slowed, energy surged through him, and he didn’t hesitate to yank the sickle from the Yiga’s hip. Everything resumed as he backed away from the two Yiga, one of which was now disarmed. He brandished the sickle as the two footsoldiers slowly circled him. 

“So now you decide to move around, huh?” the first one sneered. 

“It must’ve been that plant,” the second one said. “It doesn’t matter. You’re outnumbered, hero. Drop the sickle, and come quietly.” 

Link stared them down. His head whipped back and forth to try and keep them both in his line of sight. 

Both of the Yiga chuckled. “Come on, now,” the first one coaxed. “Kohga wants us to bring you to him. The Magnificent One spoke through him, you know! He told us he needed you alive , so don’t give us the chance to accidentally gut you.”

As the Yiga continued to circle him, they slowly inched away from the light root. Link struggled to face both of them at the same time. His heart thundered in his ears as his eyes flicked to the light root and back. He couldn’t get too far away—already he could feel that creeping numbness returning. He could feel the pain boiling under the surface, waiting to overcome him again. 

“I can’t imagine why The Magnificent One wants you, ” the other huffed, “but orders are orders!” 

They both charged. Link waited until the last moment before jumping away. His senses honed, and everything but the two Yiga seemed to blur as his flurry rush activated. He lunged forward, aiming to dash past them and get back to the light root, but right as he took his first step, a his right arm began to glow a sickly red, and a surge of plain erupted. 

His flurry rush ended immediately, and he nearly fell to his knees then and there. He staggered and whirled around. He was behind the Yiga now, and their heads whipped back and forth in surprise until they spotted him again. 

“You—!” one started, but Link’s hearing suddenly fell away. He blinked. Was his vision blurring as well? 

The Yiga were gesturing their sickles, obviously still ranting or shouting obscenities at him, but he couldn’t hear them. The numbness crept up his arm and spread from his shoulder into his chest, head, and legs. It covered the pain, muted it, but it was hardly a relief. He felt something moving within him. He felt stiff, rigid, as if he were a corpse. 

The sickle started to slip from his grip, only for his fingers to wrap around the hilt on their own accord. His vision blurred further. Panic thrummed in his veins, but even then, it felt far away. He felt far away. 

The Yiga lunged forward. Link felt that horrid something within him expand. It stuffed his chest, limbs, and head. His hand lifted the sickle, his lips curled upwards, and a gleaming red entirely enveloped his vision. 

*     *     *

Zelda and Yunobo stood in a sea of clouds. The ancient Sage of Fire stood across from them. The older Goron wore a similar sash to the ancient Sage of Wind, and a green mask, fashioned after the head of Rudania, covered his face. 

With a gruff, booming voice, he congratulated them on defeating the monster, which he called Ghoma. Then he retold the events of the Imprisoning War and explained the vow of the Sage of Fire. He described to Yunobo his destiny and his duty as the new sage. Yunobo immediately accepted. With the way he had first thrown himself at Moragia, and now at Ghoma, even without Daruk’s protection, it seemed the young Goron had grown a strong bravery within him. Seeing him pledge himself to the peace and safety of Hyrule with a confidence he had never wielded before made Zelda’s heart warm. She was proud of her friend. 

Once they were back in the Fire Temple, Yunobo received his Sacred Stone, which turned into a bright, fiery red, and was engraved with the Zonai symbol for ‘fire.’ It formed a belt around the young Goron’s waist and rested there. 

Yunobo spun around with a massive grin. “Watch this!” he cried, and slammed his fists together. Daruk’s protection formed with a flare of fire. Zelda flinched back, but the flames didn’t burn her—they passed right through her like a breath of warm air. With an excited laugh, Yunobo grabbed his Boulder Breaker and, with Daruk’s protection still activated, swung the massive hammer. Flames trailed after the metal, as if they were the paint to Yunobo’s paintbrush. 

Pride flickered in Yunobo’s eyes as he placed his hammer onto his back. Daruk’s protection faded as he approached Zelda. Much like with Tulin, he took hold of Zelda’s hand and pledged himself as the Sage of Fire. A second ring formed on her right hand, signifying the Sage of Fire’s vow and gifting Zelda the opportunity to call upon Yunobo whenever she needed. 

Before they left the fire temple, Zelda paused. She looked back at the remnants of Ghoma, which consisted of shards of obsidian scattered around the head, feet, and legs of the Divine Beast Vah Rudania. She knew how that monster had gotten a hold of the machinery. After the Calamity, she had tasked each of the regions with dismantling their respective Divine Beasts. They had all agreed that, with the massive amount of power those machines held, it would be best to diminish the risk of an evil ever seizing control of them again. 

While the rest of the regions had repurposed parts of their Divine Beasts to use in their cities and villages, the Gorons had simply dumped the beast into Death Mountain, which had still been active at the time. When Zelda found out, she about had a fit. Vah Rudania, being the Goron’s Divine Beast, was immune to fire and lava. Throwing it into the volcano wouldn’t destroy it; it would just sit at the bottom for years , completely inaccessible. 

Of course, at the time, they had no idea that the Depth’s existed. So, while they assumed that Rudania sat at the bottom of a volcano, it had actually fallen into Gorondia. 

Zelda sighed and turned away. There was nothing to be done about it now. So, with aching bodies and grins on their faces, Zelda and Yunobo left the fire temple and the lost city of Gorondia behind. 

“The closest Skyview Tower is in Eldin Canyon,” Zelda said, looking down at the Purah Pad. “From there, you can make your way to Goron City, and I can glide to the Woodland Stable. Does that sound alright?” 

“That sounds great, goro,” Yunobo replied happily. Ever since their meeting with the past Sage of Fire, the young Goron had been much more cheerful. “I just can’t believe it—I’m the Sage of Fire! Me! I—I never thought I could…” 

“You fulfill that role and more, Yunobo,” Zelda told him with a smile. “You shouldn’t doubt yourself.” 

“I know, goro.” Yunobo let out a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. The motion was reminiscent of Link. She wondered if he had picked up the habit from the time he had spent with the swordsman. “I just can’t believe it…”

“Zelda, Yunobo, wait,” Rauru suddenly called out. He appeared before them. Yunobo jumped back with a yelp. Zelda blinked in surprise. Rauru hadn’t spoken or appeared since the illusion’s attack. 

Rauru’s head was turned. He looked out somewhere into the Depths, and his brow was furrowed. 

“Rauru?” Zelda began tentatively. “Is something wrong?”

“I sense a Sacred Stone,” he murmured. His ears were perked up, and they swiveled back and forth. “ My Sacred Stone.” 

Zelda stiffened and lowered the Purah Pad. Rauru’s stone… if it was near, that meant two things. Once, once she took hold of it and accepted her duty as the Sage of Light, it would become her stone, and two, that meant that Link was near. “Your Sacred Stone?” she echoed, because she had to clarify before her emotions grew too much. “You mean…” 

“The stone that Link took, yes,” Rauru clarified. “It’s nearby.” 

Zelda almost dropped the Purah Pad in her haste to hook it back onto her belt. All of her apprehension about her role as the Sage of Light evaporated at the thought of seeing Link again. “Then that means Link is near!” she gasped. “Rauru, can you lead us there? Please tell me you can guide us to the stone!” 

“It’s this way,” Rauru said, already setting off in a direction. Zelda and Yunobo hastily followed.

Zelda’s heart raced in her chest. Link was nearby! This wasn’t an illusion, for the remainder of Rauru’s light power in his stone would diffuse any nearby gloom. 

After so long, she would finally be able to reunite with him. They’d be able to find him—not some mockery or illusion of him. However, Rauru didn’t seem to share her excitement. His brow was still scrunched in concern, and his face was grim. “There’s something… strange,” he muttered. 

“What is it?” Zelda asked, heart pounding. “Rauru?” 

He shook his head. “I’m not sure. We must hurry.” 

*     *     *

When Link inhaled, he smelled blood. Something warm and thick coated his hands, making his fingers stick together. Like honey, the thick red coating his vision sloughed off. He rapidly blinked. The sickly-sweet smell that hung in the air made him choke.

When his vision fully returned to him, he saw death. He staggered away from the two mangled corpses that lay sprawled on the ground before him. The sickle in his hand, slick with blood, slipped from his hands and clattered to the ground. The bodies were barely recognizable; he only knew them to be the two Yiga due to their shattered masks and torn red clothes. 

One of the Yiga’s faces was bare. Their face was stretched in a frozen state of agony, mouth gaping open with blood trickling out of the corners. One of their arms and legs were both twisted in on themselves as if their bones had been completely shattered. 

The other Yiga still had their mask on, but it was cracked and splintered. In the middle of their chest was a chasm of a wound. Blood spilled from the hole and surrounded them in a red puddle.

Link’s stomach lurched. He instinctively went to cover his mouth with his hands only to realize that they were completely covered in blood. His clothes were similarly stained, and he realized in horror that there was some even in his hair . 

With a gag, he fell to his knees. He barely caught himself with his hands. They left red handprints on the ground. His stomach gave another heave, and he vomited then and there. His eyes squeezed shut from the force of it. When they cracked open, he saw a puddle of gloom directly beneath him. As he watched, wide-eyed, a drop of gloom fell from his mouth and plopped into the small puddle. 

He threw himself back, panting. The gloom was inside of him. It took control of him, it killed, he killed—

He was on his feet and sprinting away from the gore before he could properly inhale. His feet slammed on the ground as he ran. He gasped thin air that never reached his lungs. Every inch of him trembled. His skin itched from the slowly-drying blood. In his head, the demon’s words echoed. 

“My attack was not done without intent.” 

“I have grown tired of waiting.”

Blindly, he ran into a grove of dead trees. His heart hammered, frantic and panicked. He almost didn’t see the pool of gloom that suddenly appeared in front of him. His heels dug into the ground as he skidded to a halt and froze, chest heaving. The pool of gloom expanded and covered the ground like an infection. He stumbled back to avoid it. 

From the pool of gloom, six thin, skeletal arms rose. They were made entirely of gloom, and in the center of each of their spindly hands, slitted, yellow eyes blinked open. Link took a hesitant step back, distinctly aware of his lack of weapons. The hands’ eyes snapped to him, and all at once, they screeched. 

The grating sound cut into Link’s ears. He whirled around and sprinted away without a second's hesitation. He couldn’t hear footsteps behind him or any indication that the hands followed; there was only more of that terrible shrieking, like two blades scraping against one another. 

The pool of gloom encroached right underneath his feet. Link only had enough time to glance over his shoulder before one of those long, atrophied hands wrapped entirely around his torso and lifted him into the air. 

The pain was immediate. A scream tore from his throat as the gloom hands burned his skin. He bucked and thrashed in its grip and managed to break free through sheer desperation. He hit the ground running, pumping his arms and legs, stumbling like a frenzied drunkard. 

He didn’t make it more than five steps before another hand grabbed him from the front. He was utterly surrounded. The hands leered down on him, burning eyes staring. Still, he fought, writhing like an animal. The hand holding him tightened its grip, forcing a hoarse cry out of his throat. The gloom seeped his strength, and like storm clouds gathering, he felt that awful numbness rise within him. 

In the center of the hands’ pool of gloom, a hole opened. It grew like a mouth yawning wide. The hand holding him carried him towards it, undeterred by his frantic attempts to break free. It had his arms pinned against his sides, and he could only feebly kick his legs before the hand wrenched him downwards into the hole, and gloom surrounded him on all sides. 

He could still feel the skeletal hand wrapped tightly around him, but now a liquid-like gloom surrounded him on all sides. He was submerged. He wanted to open his mouth to scream, but he kept his lips sealed for fear of swallowing it. 

Just as it appeared, however, the gloom surrounding him fell away as he was suddenly thrown upwards. He landed on his side on solid ground. The gloom hands took up position behind and on his sides. They hovered over him. Disorientated, he struggled to his hands and knees and, before he could even breath, vomited more gloom. He heaved as gloom dripped from his dry lips. His whole body trembled. 

“Finally,” a grating voice murmured. 

His head shot up, and through blurred vision, he could just make out a skeletal figure sitting tall and proud on a throne made from twisted gloom-infused wood. Two piercing orange eyes, nearly identical to the ones in the hands, stared down at him. 

“It seems we finally meet face to face, swordsman,” the voice murmured. It sounded familiar—painfully and horribly familiar. “I have long awaited this moment.” 

Link blinked furiously, and his vision finally cleared. The blood drained from his face. 

It was the demon. The demon from beneath Hyrule Castle, the demon who had collapsed a cavern, the demon who had shattered the Master Sword in one attack. It sat straight-backed on its throne, hands buried in the wood that made up mock-arm rests. A steady, thin sheen of gloom swirled around him, and wisps of the toxic substance drifted up from his shoulders. It looked like he was gathering it—pulling it from the very air. 

He was dressed in mere rags. His hair trailed from the back of his skull and down his back in clumps of red. Remnants of jewelry that must’ve once been gold clung to his atrophied limbs. The circlet on his forehead, however, still shone as if it were brand new. Embedded in its center, cloaked in a sickly black and red light, was a glistening stone. In its very center, muted by corruption, a weak golden light pulsed.  

Link hadn’t known what that stone was before, but now he recognized its shape, its light. That was a Sacred Stone. 

He tried to get to his feet, but a gloom hand shot forward and shoved him back onto his knees. It stayed there, splayed across his back and curled over his shoulders, holding him in place. The bulging eye in the middle of its palm dug into his back. 

“I am disappointed, swordsman,” the demon rasped. He didn’t glare at Link or sneer. He didn’t have lips; he barely had skin. It was difficult to read his facial expressions because he barely had any. “I would have thought that a well-trained hero like yourself would know to remain on your knees when in the presence of a king.” 

A king? This decrepit being looked nothing like a king. It didn’t even look like a person . 

“I see you are not one for words,” the demon mused, “but I know who you are. You are the fabled swordsman, the one destined to seal the darkness.” A chuckle scraped out of his throat. “I don’t see how you can accomplish such a feat without your precious sword.” 

Link’s heart clenched. He still had no idea where the Master Sword was. It couldn’t be entirely destroyed, could it? Only the blade had shattered. Surely the rest of the sword was somewhere, slowly regaining its strength? 

“Your name is Link,” he stated. Link stiffened, and the demon smiled. It was more baring of teeth. “That is what those fools called you.” 

Nausea lurched in Link’s stomach as he thought about the mangled Yiga. Bile rose in his throat, and his eyes darted to the ground. This demon, he was The Magnificent One, the one who the Yiga worshipped and revered. But if they were so devoted to this being, then why did he make him—

He cut off that line of thought immediately. He couldn’t think about the blood, the broken bones, the faces torn in frozen terror. 

“Your name is familiar,” the demon continued, unperturbed by Link’s silence, “as is your spirit. Tell me, Link, do you recognize mine? Do you recognize my gloom in the air, my gloom within you—the corruption?” 

The name of the beast clawed its way out of Link’s throat. “Calamity Ganon.”

If the demon was surprised by Link’s voice, he didn’t show it. He merely chuckled, an awful, scratching sound. “Is that what you called it? A mindless pet—nothing more. No… you kneel before the King of the Gerudo. The King of Demons.” The demon raised his chin, and Link got the distinct feeling that he was being looked down upon. 

“I am Ganondorf.” 

Chapter Text

The entire time Zelda and Yunobo followed Rauru, not a single word was spoken. Rauru was stiff, his jaw tense, and Zelda didn’t dare break the silence. Behind her, Yunobo fidgeted relentlessly, clearly just as nervous. 

They had been walking for what felt like an hour, slowly traveling further away from Gorondia. Zelda had been using the brightbloom seeds she had gotten from Purah and Josha to light the way, but they soon noticed a large amount of light emanating from something in the distance. Zelda couldn’t tell where so much light was coming from until they climbed to the top of a hill, and a strange, glowing plant came into view. 

“A light root…” Rauru murmured. He moved towards it. “But how could it have been activated…?”

Zelda and Yunobo followed silently. They drew closer, and Zelda spotted some splatters of red on the ground. It looked… off. She hadn’t seen gloom that shade of red before.

But as they came to the light root, Zelda realized that what she was looking at wasn’t gloom at all. Yunobo gasped and reeled back. Rauru froze. Zelda stared. 

Two corpses lay crumbled just a few paces away from the light root. They were horrifically injured. Zelda put a hand over her mouth as bile rose in her throat. There was so much blood …

“Are—are those Yiga, goro?” Yunobo stuttered from behind. 

Zelda’s eyes widened. She hadn’t even realized that they were Yiga, but now, past the gore, she could make out the remnants of white masks and red uniforms. “Who— what did this?” she whispered, because surely no person committed this brutality. 

“Zelda, my Sacred Stone… it’s there,” Rauru murmured. He pointed to one of the Yiga’s bodies. 

When she took a hesitant step closer, Zelda spotted the stone. It innocently lay on the ground a few feet from one of the Yiga. Her hands trembled, and in the shock of seeing the Yiga, fear pulsed in her mind. What would happen when she touched the stone? 

With Rauru and Yunobo distracted, Zelda summoned her hood from the Purah Pad and used that to pick up the stone to avoid skin contact. A splatter of dried blood stained its dimly glowing surface, and she used the fabric of the hood to wipe it off before storing the stone and the hood back into the pad.

She swallowed and looked back at the bodies. “Why would the Yiga…” her voice trailed away. A story formed in her mind—one that she wasn’t liking. 

“You—you said that Link had that stone, goro,” Yunobo said, voice shaking. “But—but then where is he? And what—what happened to the Yiga?”

“Yunobo—” Rauru started. 

“Link didn’t do this,” Zelda interrupted, shaking her head. “He wouldn’t do this.” 

Rauru didn’t say anything for a moment, but Zelda could feel his eyes on her. “Zelda, think for a moment,” he murmured. “Link had this stone in his possession. Now we find it near the bodies of Hyrule’s sworn enemies.” 

Zelda whirled onto the ancient king, hands clenched into fists. “No!” she yelled. “Link hasn’t—he would never kill—” she cut herself off. 

Because Link had killed—during the Calamity and even after. The majority had been the Demon King’s mindless monsters, but she had seen him kill Yiga before too. He had hunted them down after the Calamity. But that had been for the safety of Hyrule, and if they surrendered, he had spared them.

She glanced back at the horrifying scene and fought the urge to vomit. This brutality… this wasn’t Link. 

“We should return to Lookout Landing,” Rauru murmured, drawing Zelda out of her head. He had a look of pity on his face, and for a moment, Zelda wanted to shout at him. 

“Fine,” she snapped and pulled the Purah Pad from her hip. “Purah may have an idea of what happened here. There must be a reasonable explanation.” 

*     *     *

Ganondorf . The name rang in Link’s skull. He felt as if he knew that name, besides its similarities to the Calamity. He knew the evil that cloaked this man like a second skin. It was foul, just as Calamity Ganon had been. Something within him recoiled at it. 

The Sacred Stone embedded in Ganondorf’s circlet began to emanate a dull red, and the gloom hands retreated to the edges of the cavern. But even with them away, Link remained frozen. “The prophecy from my time spoke so highly of you—both you and that Golden Princess,” he mused. “It was said that both of you would be the ones to defeat me—the great evil .” His words took on a mocking tone.

His skeletal face twisted in a sneer. “Seeing you as you are now, Link, I struggle to believe the words of that prophecy. You have stubbornly resisted and escaped my efforts, yes, but that was mere floundering on your part. It was… pitiful to witness.” 

Link forced himself to his feet. He expected the gloom hands to restrain him again, but they remained along the edges of the room, completely still like statues, watching. Ganondorf didn’t react save for a subtle narrowing of his eyes. 

“As much as I want to dispose of you, that would be a waste,” Ganondorf stated calmly. “Your performance was rather… disappointing, yes, but I won’t lie. You have power, Link. Weak power, but power all the same. I would be a fool to extinguish it prematurely.” 

The image of the bloodied Yiga came to Link’s mind. If Ganondorf had no qualms with slaughtering those devoted to him, and if he could seize control of Link’s body even from that distance, then… He took a step back as blood drained from his face. 

“Do you understand now, swordsman?” Ganondorf asked, barely-contained glee simmering in his words. “You were the one destined to defeat me—the one who houses the hero’s spirit, one skilled enough to manipulate his spirit in combat. My ancestors have struggled against the likes of you, time and time again, but no longer.” That red light began to emanate from the stone again. “This time, you will be my saboteur.” 

The Sacred Stone flared. Its red light encompassed Link. He flinched back and raised his arms, bracing for pain, but he felt no such thing. Instead, a faint tingling brushed over his skin, almost like a giant paintbrush had passed over him. When the light faded, he hesitantly lowered his hands.

He was dressed in his champion’s tunic, reinforced by leather as it had been. Gone was the torn Yiga uniform, as well as all of the dried blood. Now he looked as he had beneath the castle after Ganondorf’s attack—smudges of dust and dirt on his clothes and skin, hair roughly tied back—but he was surprised to see bandages wrapped around his right arm and shoulder. 

When he touched the tunic, he didn’t feel the leather or the tough fabric. Instead, he felt the thin fabric of the Yiga uniform. When he shifted, he still felt the skin-tight uniform hugging his skin. His hands and face still itched from the dried blood. His injury still felt as if it were bare, stinging from every shift in the air. His mind spun. What was this? An illusion? A trick?

“Let us see what we can accomplish together, saboteur,” Ganondorf said. The Sacred Stone on his forehead was still glowing, and when Link met the demon’s hateful red eyes, he felt that familiar numbness creep up his limbs. Behind him, he heard the whoosh of a portal opening within the gloom hands. 

Heart leaping into his throat, he whipped around and stumbled away from the hands. The image of those two Yiga, mangled and bloodied, flashed in his mind’s eye. For a moment, in their place, he saw Zelda—torn in two, eyes dead, face pale and cold. 

The gloom hands, with the portal yawning wide within their pool of gloom, steadily approached him. Ganondorf remained atop his throne, watching expectantly. Link’s back hit the stone wall of the cavern, and he pressed back against it. 

A gloom hand let out a shriek and launched at him, fingers outstretched. Link lunged to the side and attempted to sprint past them towards Ganondorf, fist raised, when a different hand grabbed him from behind. Before he could even shout, the hand pulled him down into the portal, and his vision was filled with red. 

*     *     *

After teleporting to the Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower, Yunobo left to return to Goron City, and Zelda used her paraglider to glide down to Woodland Stable. From there, she retrieved Ivory, changed back into her Hylian clothes, and set off to Lookout Landing. Neither she nor Rauru spoke a word during the day of travel. By the time they arrived at the landing, Zelda’s hands had gone stiff from how tightly she had clutched Ivory’s reins. 

The sun was beginning to set as Zelda rushed to Purah’s lab. She noticed that, overhead, a few Rito now patrolled the sky, but she didn’t stop to try and greet them. 

“Purah!” she shouted, bursting into the lab. The Sheikah let out a surprised yelp from where she leaned over a table, and a few papers went flying. 

“Sweet Hylia, Princess!” Purah cursed. She went about picking up the stray papers. “A simple ‘hello’ would suffice!” She set the papers back onto her desk with a huff. “I take it you were able to help the Gorons?” 

“Purah, this is serious,” Zelda said, voice strained. Rauru appeared at her side, and the looks on their faces gave the Sheikah pause. 

“What happened over there, Princess?” she asked. 

From the Purah Pad, Zelda summoned Rauru’s Sacred Stone, still wrapped in her hood, and set it onto the table so that it was exposed to the air. It cast a ring of white light onto the black fabric of her hood. Purah’s eyes widened, and she carefully picked it up. She lowered her goggles over her eyes and raised the stone into the air to examine it. 

“We found this in the Depths,” Zelda explained. “It’s Rauru’s original Sacred Stone—the one meant for the Sage of Light, the one that had been maintaining the seal on the Demon King. It’s also the same one that Link had when he fell, but…” Bile rose in her throat. “We—we found it near… near two Yiga. Dead.” 

Purah lowered the stone and raised her goggles as she turned to Zelda. Her brow was furrowed, and her red eyes shifted back and forth, back and forth, as if she were searching Zelda’s expression. 

“They were—they…” Zelda couldn’t get the words out. “It was horrible, Purah. They looked as if they had been tortured or mauled by some sort of creature. But Link wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t .”

“Woah, woah, Link ?” 

“We are hoping that it wasn’t him, but that seems to be the only explanation,” Rauru said. 

Purah frowned and hesitantly placed the Sacred Stone back onto the hood. “I… I suppose so…”

“That can’t be what happened,” Zelda argued. “Purah, you know Link. He never killed without reason, and even then, he never caused unnecessary pain.” 

“Were there any other signs of it having been Link?” the Sheikah asked.

“None that we saw,” Rauru answered. 

Purah nodded. “Right. Then… I would wager that you two saw the remnants of a monster attack. We’ve seen that they don’t give the Yiga special treatment. The Calamity didn’t care about those traitors, and I hardly think that the Demon King would either.” 

“But—but the stone…?” Zelda stuttered. Her eyes trailed down to the glowing stone. 

“That is the most puzzling part of all of this,” Purah said, “but there could have been a number of reasons why the Yiga had it. They could’ve stolen it from Link, or Link could’ve dropped it in the wake of a monster attack. We can’t know for sure.” 

Zelda swallowed. “Then… then you believe that Link didn’t…”

Purah smiled. “You know your knight better than anyone, Zelda, but even I know that he would never brutally murder someone like how you described.” 

A relieved sigh rushed out of Zelda’s chest. She had refused to believe it before, yes, but it was still an immense relief to hear those words. 

“I’m sorry, Zelda,” Rauru murmured. “I shouldn’t have doubted you or Link.”

Zelda didn’t look at him. She knew she was overreacting—being childish, even—but Rauru’s silence, followed by him so readily accepting that Link had been the one to maim and slaughter those Yiga had made her bitter. 

Awkward, strained silence stretched between them until Purah broke it with a clap of her hands. “Well now.” She cleared her throat. “You two need to fill me in. Just what in Hylia’s name happened over at Death Mountain?” 

*     *     *

Without warning, the gloom hands threw Link up and out of the portal. He landed roughly on his side, but no pain accompanied the impact. His right arm was entirely numb. When he gathered his bearings, the first thing that he registered was the pricking of grass on his skin. He lurched upright, and his eyes widened. 

He was outside. He was on the surface . Overhead, the sun beamed painfully bright. Beneath him, the grass was slightly damp, and cool, refreshing air whispered past him. He felt tears prick his eyes, but he hastily blinked them away. He couldn’t get emotional now, the hands—

He blinked. The hands were gone. They had left him alone in what he now registered as the grassy plateaus of Upland Zorana. In the distance, he could see the elegant, blue architecture of Zora’s Domain, but something was wrong. 

As he took in his surroundings, his relief soured. The Domain was… tainted. Patches of thick, brown sludge dotted the grassy hills and plateaus, marring the serene beauty of the Lanayru Region. Even as he looked around, a blob of sludge fell from the sky and splattered onto the ground right in front of him. 

He lurched back in surprise and craned his head up. High up in the sky, high enough that he couldn’t make out any details, were islands . They were all clustered together, some much larger than others. Globs the sludge spurted from them and rained down all throughout Lanayru. 

He tried to get to his feet to investigate further, but his legs and arms suddenly gave out from underneath him. The numbness surged, sweeping from his right arm throughout the rest of his body. He could feel the gloom moving , stirring as if it were waking up. Link’s eyes shot to Zora’s Domain glimmering in the sunlight, and cold fear stole his breath away. 

Ganondorf was going to have him attack Zora’s Domain. 

Just as the thought came to his mind, a sudden, overwhelming pain erupted within him. His body seized up, a thick blanket of red coated his vision, and he slipped away.

When his vision returned, he still couldn’t feel his body. He distantly registered that he was standing and that someone was shouting at him, but he couldn’t make out who it was. His vision was still tainted red and blurry, as if he were peering through cloudy red-stained glass.

His hand lifted, like a puppeteer controlling its marionette, and in front of him, a brown mass with glowing purple mixed within seeped out of the ground and lunged at the large figure before him. The figure, whoever they were, tried to fight the mass back with a trident. Another shout rang out, this one filled with pain, and Link’s mouth, on its own accord, curled into a grin. 

*     *     *

Zelda told Purah everything. She detailed the illusion of Link, which was really a puppet made of gloom, and how it had changed its appearance from when it had shown at Hyrule Castle. She retold the events of Yunobo’s mask, Moragia, destroying the illusion with her power, the fire temple, Ghoma with the parts of Divine Beast Vah Ruta, and finally, how Yunobo had accepted his Sacred Stone and his role as the Sage of Fire. 

After that, Rauru had mentioned that it was time for Zelda to accept his stone as her own—to accept her role as the Sage of Light. Zelda had immediately changed the subject to the crisis in Zora’s Domain. 

She wasn’t sure why she was so apprehensive about the Sacred Stone. The incident with the illusion in the Depths had proven that she could still use her power, however faint, but still… she didn’t have any control over it. Even now, if she searched deep within herself, she wouldn’t find it. 

But since Sacred Stones amplified the ability of the user, wouldn’t it help her access her power?

Zelda wanted to believe that yes, it would, but she was terrified that she would touch the stone and feel… nothing. She was terrified that her power would deny her, even with the strength of the Sacred Stone. 

On the other hand, she was terrified that she would touch the stone, feel an enormous swell of power, and… change . 

When she had placed that stasis on herself and Calamity Ganon, she hadn’t been… human. She had barely even been alive . She had survived those one hundred years by falling into a sort of divine slumber. Her power had swelled and taken over her body to keep her preserved until Link awoke. 

And when she had eradicated Calamity Ganon, when she had produced that enormous amount of power, she hadn’t felt like herself either. She had felt otherworldly. Divine. Inhuman. It had been as incredible as it had been horrifying. 

On the other, other hand, she wanted to awaken her power by herself. After so many years of painful study and training, she wanted to wield it with her own strength—not a strength given to her by an ancient artifact. 

Maybe it was selfish, maybe it was cowardice, maybe it was pride, but she didn’t want to take hold of her Sacred Stone just yet. 

Thankfully, Rauru didn’t push. He fell quiet as Zelda and Purah discussed next steps. They decided that Zelda would set off for Zora’s Domain while Purah remained in the landing to redouble their efforts in searching for Link. She had also promised to keep the Sacred Stone safe with her in the landing.

After that, Purah shooed her away to the Emergency Shelter, claiming that she had a lot of thinking to do, and that Zelda had a lot of resting to do. Zelda obliged, and in the shelter, she made herself a quick dinner, washed up, and went to a spare bed.  

However, as she lay on the thin mattress, her mind refused to fall asleep. She gazed up at the stone ceiling for what felt like hours until she finally gave up. As quietly as possible, as to not wake the others, she climbed up the ladder out of the shelter. She pulled up her hood to avoid any interaction with those who kept watch and slipped out of Lookout Landing through the doors to the north. 

Hyrule Castle, surrounded by gloom, loomed before her. The pink and black tendrils stretched up into the air, almost like bars caging the once proud castle. She stared at it and wrapped her arms around herself as a chilled breeze blew past her. It was quiet save for the crickets chirping in the grass and the whistle of the wind. 

Rauru appeared at her side. In the darkness of the night, his form cast a faint green glow on the ground below him. “Why aren’t you asleep?” he asked quietly. 

“You know why.”

“You’re upset with me,” he murmured. 

Zelda’s fingers squeezed around her arms, wrinkling her sleeves. “You were so ready to believe that Link would kill those Yiga,” she whispered. “You didn’t even hesitate.” 

“I do not know your swordsman,” he said, “but you are right. I shouldn’t have so readily assumed. Even with just the way you’ve spoken about him… I should’ve known that Link would never do such a thing.” 

“And why didn’t you help Yunobo and I with Ghoma? I know you were upset, but we— I needed you. I probably shouldn’t, but I’ve come to rely on you.”

Rauru sighed. “I know.”

“You didn’t even tell us its name. The Sage of Fire told us after we defeated it.” 

“...I know.”

Zelda glared at him. “Then why?” she demanded. Irrational thoughts pulsed in her head. She had lost her father, her kingdom, and so many of her people, but she didn’t duck and hide whenever that was mentioned. She didn’t abandon those in need to tend to her own grief. 

Rauru curled in on himself. His feet, hovering just a few inches above the ground, crossed at the ankles. His arms wrapped around himself, and his head hunched in on his shoulders. With that posture, with the grief practically drowning his eyes, he looked nothing like a king. 

“I have no excuse,” he croaked. “I just—Sonia—” He pressed a hand over his mouth as a shudder wracked through him. 

And the way his voice wavered, the way he trembled, gave Zelda pause, because she recognized it. She recognized the agony of fresh emotions. This wasn’t the old burden of a mistake long past. This was a fresh wound, still bleeding.

“Rauru,” she began carefully, “when you sealed the Demon King away, were you aware?” 

He looked at her. It was difficult to tell with his spirit being slightly translucent and all colored that pale, ethereal green, but Zelda saw tears shimmering in his eyes. “No,” he said quietly. “One moment, I sealed Ganondorf, and the next, I caught you when you fell and brought you to the Great Sky Island.” 

Zelda swallowed. “And how soon did you seal the Demon King after Sonia’s passing?” 

A pause stretched between them. “Three days.” 

Zelda exhaled sharply. To Rauru, Sonia’s death was recent . After she was killed, he immediately gathered the sages and led the attack on the Demon King, and once he had sealed him away, a millenia passed in the blink of an eye. To him, Sonia had died nearly two weeks ago, when in reality, her body and bones had long since turned to dust.

“Oh, Rauru,” she murmured. “I didn’t know. I’m—I’m so sorry.” 

This wildly changed her perception of him. It was no wonder he had been so withdrawn and distant at the start of their journey. He must have felt so out of place, stuck as a spirit in a world that, just three days earlier, had been familiar to him. How did he feel seeing the remnants and ruins of his fledgling kingdom when, not even a week prior, had been just in its prime? 

And how did he feel hearing the distant calls of long-dead sages? Had he been close friends with them? 

Hesitantly, Zelda reached out and took Rauru’s hand. He didn’t protest as she gently pulled him into a hug. As the bearer of his arm, she was the only one able to touch him. She didn’t know if he could feel anything, if he could feel the comforting warmth of an embrace, but he didn’t pull away. Instead, he sagged against her, and quiet sobs wracked his body. 

Zelda felt tears burn in her eyes, and she let them freely fall. She cried for Rauru, for his pain, and she cried for all those who had sacrificed their lives, their happiness, for the sake of Hyrule’s peace. 

Eventually, Rauru’s cries stilled, and he pulled away. “Thank you, Zelda,” he said. He sounded so genuine that it made Zelda’s heart ache. “I promise I won’t abandon you again.” 

“It’s okay,” Zelda replied. She offered him a smile. “Yunobo and I did pretty well against Ghoma regardless, I think.” 

He chuckled, a small, pained thing, but a chuckle nonetheless. “I think you have grown much since that Hinox on the bridge.” 

Zelda gasped. “You’re right! But, well, that’s all thanks to you and this arm, really.” She lifted her right arm. “It is really remarkable.” 

A soft smile settled on Rauru’s face. “I could tell you how we utilized those abilities in my era, if you wish.”

Zelda brightened. Rauru was offering both of them a momentary distraction from their grief, and with it being about the Zonai, she leapt at the opportunity. “Yes! Oh, yes, I would love to hear everything about your era.” 

Rauru hovered over to a tree, and Zelda sat down at the base of its trunk as he began. “My sister, Mineru, was the genius behind much of our technology…” 

As he spoke, Zelda leaned back against the tree. Rauru didn’t seem happier now, per say, but it looked like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. And as he talked, he gradually grew more animated. His eyes twinkled as he retold fond memories. 

Eventually, Zelda’s own eyes drooped with exhaustion, and Rauru told her to get some rest. With a yawn, she agreed, and when she laid back down on the bed in the shelter and pulled the blankets over herself, Rauru vanished with a whispered “thank you.” He left glimmering, green sparkles in his wake, and as they drifted to the ground, Zelda fell asleep with a serene smile on her face. 

The next morning, after a brief breakfast, Zelda spent her day with the people of Lookout Landing. She greeted the Rito who had flown there from Rito Village, thanking them for their help in guarding the landing and in searching for Link. She briefly met with Penn, the reporter who worked for Traysi of the Lucky Clover Gazette, who rattled on about the article he was writing about the Stormwind Ark, now that all Rito could freely fly up to it now that the blizzard was gone. 

After that, she found Robbie with Josha. The old, short Sheikah scientist was helping Josha with her research on the Depths. Zelda showed them the pictures she had gotten of Gorondia, and in turn, they rambled about their most recent discovery—a new giant monster called the frox. 

It was all intriguing, of course, but what really drew Zelda’s attention were the Zonai ruins they had found in the Depths. Apparently, there were large mining facilities scattered all throughout the underground land, and curiously enough, they were all stationed underneath major settlements on the surface. 

Down in the shelter, Zelda was then able to speak with the Hylians in charge of the monster control crew, which consisted of people volunteering to eradicate monster settlements throughout Hyrule. From what they told her, it seemed they had things relatively under control. Zelda couldn’t be more thankful. She really wouldn’t have been able to do all of this—repairing the damages from the Upheaval—on her own. 

That evening, she ate dinner with Purah. The Sheikah scientist filled her in on what they had heard from the Zora. Apparently, Zora’s Domain had been polluted by viscous sludge. It had turned the waters a sickly brown and had tainted the domain. Purah told her that it was rather toxic to the Zora. It kept them from traveling through the rivers and waterfalls that populated the area of their domain. 

“They’ve reported that the sludge is falling from the sky islands residing over the Lanayru Region,” Purah said. 

Zelda, despite the situation, felt a tiny spark of excitement at that. She had been wanting to travel back to the sky islands for a while now. She would need to make room for more pictures on the Purah Pad. 

The next morning, she replenished her supply of food, water, and elixirs in the pad. Instead of taking Ivory to Zora’s Domain, she decided to just teleport to the Upland Zorana Skyview Tower. Unlike with the tower in Eldin, the one in Zorana was up high, which meant she could easily glide down into the domain from it. 

With her Purah Pad full of food and supplies, and with a goodbye from Purah and the others at the landing, she fast-traveled to the tower with the promise of returning soon. 

The cold, moist air bit at her cheeks as she appeared at the tower. It was always a bit colder in the Lanayru region, as the countless rivers and lakes kept the air slightly moist at all times. 

As Zelda stepped out of the tower, she saw the extent of the sludge littering the Lanayru region. It was mostly colored brown, but on closer inspection, she noticed that there were faint traces of a glowing, purple light within it, only adding to its strange, alien appearance. Hesitantly, she poked it with her foot. A bit of the sludge stuck to the toe of her boot, and she wiped it off onto some nearby grass, nose wrinkling. 

A faint groan caught her attention. She spun and spotted a Zora guard—who had probably been assigned to guard the tower—lying sprawled out in one of the patches of sludge. “Great Hylia!” She hurried towards him. “Are you alright?” 

“Water,” the Zora croaked. “Please, water.” Now that she was closer, Zelda realized that she recognized him. 

“Of course, of course, Bazz, just hold on a moment,” she said. She pulled out her Purah Pad and summoned a flask of water. After popping off the cork, she dumped the contents over the Zora. The sludge gave way immediately, as if it were dissolved by the water itself. It disappeared surprisingly quickly, leaving Bazz with only stained skin. 

Zelda helped steady the Zora as he struggled to sit upright, keeping a hand on his shoulder in case he passed out. “Are you alright?” she asked, scanning him for injuries. 

Bazz gave her a weak nod. “It… it got in my gills,” he said, coughing into a fist. He looked up at her, and his eyes widened slightly. “Wait, Princess? What—” he cut himself off with another violent cough. “What are you doing here?” 

“I’m here to help,” she answered, summoning another flask of water from the pad. She handed it to him, and he gratefully drank it. She only had three other flasks stored within the Purah Pad, but hopefully the domain would have more fresh water. 

“You came at the right time,” Bazz said. He passed the empty flask back to her, which she stored back into the pad along with the other she had just emptied. “The sludge has only spread further—has only gotten worse.” The Zora picked up his discarded spear and struggled to his feet. Zelda kept her hand on his shoulder as another bout of coughing wracked through him. “I’ll guide you to the domain,” he offered. 

Zelda shook her head. “I’ll be just fine, Bazz. It’s you I’m worried about.” 

“The water helped,” the Zora assured her, “and I can always get more splash fruit. I’ll be able to make it to the domain.” 

“Splash fruit?” 

He gestured to a small, yellow-leafed plant growing near a piece of the sky islands that had fallen to the surface. Zelda had spotted the same plants during her travels around the kingdom; they always seemed to grow near the chunks of sky island, and she had seen them grow different unfamiliar fruits. She had never taken the time to take a closer look, however, and now, as she stepped towards them, she could see that this plant in particular had three, blue fruits hanging from the branches. 

They vaguely resembled the shape of a tear, in that they had a small top and a bulbous bottom. Their coloring was mainly green with a light blue dotting the bottom. When Zelda plucked one from the yellow-leafed bush, she found it was surprisingly heavy and dense. She could feel liquid sloshing around inside when she tilted the fruit back and forth. 

“They hold a lot of water inside,” Bazz explained. Zelda handed the fruit off to him, and he popped the stem off like one would pop the cork from a bottle. He showed her the inside, and sure enough, it was filled to the brim with clear, seemingly clean, water. 

“Fascinating,” Zelda remarked. “That’s quite fortunate.” 

Bazz gave her a smile before tipping the fruit back and drinking the water from the fruit. “Very fortunate,” he agreed. His voice sounded much stronger now. “It’s saved many of us from the sludge.”

Zelda picked off the last two fruits. She held them out to Bazz. He shook his head, and she gladly stored them in the Purah Pad. “I’ll be sure to collect any I find,” she told the Zora. 

With a few last reassurances from Bazz that he would be okay, Zelda relented and used her paraglider to glide down from the mountains into the domain. As she neared the magnificent home of the Zora, the extent of damage from the sludge became clear. 

The usual bright, luminescent blue from the stone that made up the domain was dulled and tainted, sporting splotches of brown. Some of the silver metal used to adorn and strengthen the architecture seemed to have rusted. The domain itself looked bruised.

Steering the paraglider, Zelda glided down into the main plaza of the domain, where the statue of Link and Sidon rested. She remembered when the statue had first been unveiled. It had been during a festival the Zora had thrown in honor of Link and Sidon, who had saved the domain from the corrupted Divine Beast Vah Ruta. Link had been very flustered when the statue was revealed, while Sidon had been downright ecstatic.

Now, however, Zelda could see that the statue was damaged by the sludge, just like the rest of the domain. Yona, Sidon’s fiance, stood near it, deep in conversation with her two assistants, Chroma and Khira. Neither of them noticed Zelda as she walked up to them. 

“—has been treated now, but we’ve used up all of our splash fruit,” Chroma was saying. 

“The Ruta Fountain has helped, but there were more injuries than anticipated,” Khira added gravely. “Please accept our apologies…”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Yona assured them, hands held out in front of her. Her light green scales were a startling contrast to the serene blues of the domain. That, combined with her more flat face shape, made it obvious that she was from a foreign land. “You’ve done all you could. Oh?” She caught sight of Zelda, and her yellow eyes widened. “Princess Zelda!” she exclaimed. 

“I’ve come to help,” Zelda stated. “Do you know where Prince Sidon is? I need to speak with him—him and King Dorephan.” 

Yona nodded, and she gestured up to Ploymus Mountain, where the new park, Mipha Court, had been erected in the late champion’s honor. That was also where Ruta Fountain had been built. “Sidon is up there, doing his best to keep our waters clean. But the king…” she trailed away, a look of sadness overcoming her face. She lowered her voice. “Perhaps… it would be better to speak in private, Princess.” 

Yona’s two attendants perked up. “We shall leave you be,” Chroma said. 

“Please, call on us if you need anything, Lady Yona,” Khira added. Yona nodded gratefully to them, and they both hurried away. 

“Come this way, Princess,” Yona said quietly to Zelda. She guided her up to the throne room. The large, open room was completely empty. It felt strange being there without King Dorephan taking up half of the space. 

Yona clasped her hands in front of her. “It is good of you to come, Princess,” she began, “for I… I do not know the whereabouts of King Dorephan. Him and Muzu both vanished several days ago. Sidon and I… we haven’t spoken of this to anyone. There is already much strife in the domain due to the sludge, and if word got out that the king is missing… there would be mass panic.” 

Zelda’s eyes widened. King Dorephan was missing? Dread grew within her stomach. “I… I see.” She put a hand to her chin, brow furrowing. Just what could’ve happened to the king?

“I’m sure he is alright,” Yona said, drawing Zelda out of her head. “You should go see Sidon. He’s missed you terribly, and he… he’s been hoping that you’ve been able to find Link.” 

Zelda’s heart sank a little at that, and she let out a sigh. “There… there hasn’t been any sign of him,” she muttered. “I’ll go tell Sidon. He deserves to know.” 

“Oh! Before you go,” Yona said quickly. “You’ll need Zora Armor to ascend the waterfalls. Come with me, please, Princess.” 

Zelda followed Yona as the Zora led her to the blacksmith and armor shop that was nestled behind the general store. There, she fished out a spare piece of Zora Armor. Zelda thanked her and changed into it in private. It was only the shirt, made from lightweight fabric, and decorated in silver decals. It was quite beautiful; the Zora were artisans, after all. 

With the Zora Armor, Zelda made her way up Ploymus Mountain by swimming up through multiple waterfalls. She had done so before, back when her and Link had visited the domain after the Calamity. The feeling of vertically swimming up rushing water never got old, but this time, she was careful to keep her eyes and mouth squeezed shut. She didn’t want to even taste the dirtied water. 

Mipha Court was just as breathtaking as the last time Zelda had visited, even with the sludge dirtying it. The court consisted of three circular pools of shallow water, situated in the symbol of the Goddess Nayru. The blue stone used to form the pools was the same as Zora’s Domain, and lamps made of luminous stone, just like in the domain, had been placed throughout the park. 

In the center of the three pools stood Ruta Fountain. The Zora had repurposed the head and trunk of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta into a fountain that, with Ruta’s power, provided an endless amount of fresh, drinkable water. The head was built into the stone, making only the top half visible. The trunk had been shortened so as to not dominate the court, and it was positioned directly upward so that its spout pointed to the sky. The continuous pouring of water flowered at the top and fell down all around the trunk like a curtain. 

Thankfully, the waters within the court were completely clear, even though a trail of sludge poured directly into one of the pools from a sky island high above. She guessed that this was due to the divine power of Ruta’s trunk, as well as the work of Sidon, who stood within that same pool, hands outstretched. A blue light emanated from his hands and trailed down into the water directly surrounding the trail of sludge, actively purifying the water even as it was contaminated. 

Some Zora held the capacity to manipulate water, but it was very rare. For a time, Zelda had feared that the talent had died along with the casualties suffered in the Calamity, but it seemed it still lay within Sidon’s blood. She knew that a very small number of other Zora had discovered their capacity as well, shortly after Sidon’s own ability awakened, but none of them had mastered it like he did. 

Now, it seemed that Sidon could use his ability to separate the water from the sludge. 

A few other Zora hustled about the court as well, using buckets to scoop up water from Ruta’s fountain to clean up other patches of sludge. They all paused in their work and looked up as Zelda approached. Sidon, however, didn’t seem to notice her, completely engrossed in his task.

She carefully stepped into his line of sight, not wanting to startle him too badly. “Sidon,” she greeted. 

The Prince of the Zora jumped a little. His head whipped to her. His red scales glimmered in the sunlight just as much as the silver jewelry that adorned him. On his back he carried the Lightscale Trident—a magnificent weapon that Mipha, his older sister and the Champion who had piloted the Divine Beast Vah Ruta, had wielded. 

“Princess Zelda!” he exclaimed. He pulled her into a tight hug. The blue light immediately disappeared, and the sludge began to slowly seep into the water. “It’s great to see you, my friend.” 

Zelda hugged him back. “It’s good to see you too,” she said with a smile. “I’ve come to help with the domain.” 

“Splendid!” Sidon smiled back, but it seemed halfhearted. His usual bright face was dim. He focused back on the sludge and stretched his hands out. The blue light returned and pushed the sludge back, guarding the waters from its pollution. “You’ve come at the right time,” he continued. “Things have grown… dire. Is Link with you, at least?” 

Zelda’s heart panged, and she looked away. Sidon seemed to read her expression, because his voice went quiet. “Ah…” 

“There’s… something else as well,” Zelda began hesitantly. “Something only you can accomplish.” When Sidon glanced at her, she launched into the explanation she had given Tulin and Yunobo. She told him about the Imprisoning War, the sages, and the Sacred Stones. Rauru remained in her arm throughout it, as the other Zora in the court still glanced in their direction every now and then. 

“This toxic sludge, it must be coming from some sort of creature that the Demon King has made to keep you from getting that Sacred Stone,” Zelda finished. 

Sidon stared at her. His gold, slitted eyes blinked a few times. “Hm. I see. Then we must find this creature and the Sacred Stone.” He paused. “Ah, but… before we do, there is something you must know…” He inhaled shakily. “It’s about my father.” 

Zelda felt that dread from before. “Yona told me that he has gone missing.”

“Not missing. He’s in hiding.” 

Hiding from what? Zelda shifted on her feet. “Is… is he alright?” 

Sidon shook his head, face twisting in pain. “He is… he is gravely injured,” he said quietly.

Zelda’s eyes widened. King Dorephan was far from weak. She had seen the giant Zora take on a Lynel by himself with nothing but a trident in hand. Though, of course, that was many years ago. “What? How?” 

“There was an attack,” Sidon explained, voice grim. “It… it was Link.”

Zelda stiffened. “Wh-what?” she sputtered. The image of the Yiga’s corpses flashed in her mind, and she felt the blood drain from her face. But the Yiga’s deaths had been the result of a monster attack, right? That was what Purah had theorized. 

“I wasn’t there,” Sidon continued, “but my father told me what happened. He was in Upland Zorana when he saw Link, but before he could greet him, Link, he… he summoned a great beast made of sludge. It… it attacked my father. It almost killed him.” 

A horrible thought occurred. This could be the work of the illusion that had tricked her and Yunobo. She thought she had destroyed it with her power, but perhaps it survived? “What did Link look like?” she asked. 

Sidon gave her a confused look, but he answered nonetheless. “I would not know. My father did not give me many details.” 

“Where is he now? King Dorephan?” 

“The Pristine Sanctum,” Sidon said. “I would lead you there, but I can’t leave the court. You’ll have to go there on your own.”

Zelda nodded, and Sidon told her how to get there. The Sanctum was hidden behind one of the many waterfalls that surrounded the domain. Its location was kept hidden and secret from everyone outside of the royal family. With a promise to return soon, Zelda left Sidon and made her way to the waterfall Sidon had directed her to. 

“What do you think about this, Rauru?” she asked once she was out of sight of the court and the Zora there. She hopped off of a boulder into the vibrant, green grass. A blob of sludge landed right next to her, and she jumped away with a start. 

Rauru appeared beside her. He eyed the sludge with distaste. “If I am to be honest, I am not sure what to think.”

She told him her theory about this being the work of the illusion, and Rauru hummed in thought. “It is possible, but you destroyed that creature with your sacred power. A being made of gloom could not recover from such an attack.” 

“Could the Demon King have created another?” 

“Perhaps. It would be surprising, since a creature like that would take an immense amount of power to create once, not to mention twice , but that is really the only explanation for this. 

“Well, if King Dorephan describes Link as how the illusion looked, either at Hyrule Castle or when it tricked Yunobo and I, then we’ll have our answer.” 

Chapter Text

Zelda waded through Mikau Lake towards the large waterfall in front of her. The mist from the pounding water tickled her face, and she wrinkled her nose. If what Sidon had said was true, then the Pristine Sanctum was built into a cavern that rested behind this waterfall. 

She came right up to the edge of the waterfall and reached out a hand out the rushing waters. The sheer force of the waterfall pushed her hand down, and she pulled it back. “Here we go…” she muttered to herself, before lunging through the waterfall. 

Her clothes were soaked immediately. The waterfall threatened to shove her to the ground, but she was able to break free from the waters and stumble into cold, humid air. Before her was another tumbling waterfall, and she could see that it led to another section of the cavern up above. The cave walls were framed by blue, luminescent stone, like the borders of a pathway. Using the Zora Armor, she swam up the short waterfall, popped out of the top, and landed on the ledge. 

A shocked gasp came from in front of her. Muzu, the old Zora who attended to the king, gaped at her. “Who approaches?” he demanded loudly, his voice echoing about the sanctum. He couldn’t see her yet due to the higher platform he and the throne stood upon.

Next to him, slouched in a large throne, sat King Dorephan. Stains from the sludge covered nearly every inch of him. He even seemed to be burned and bruised. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was shallow. 

Zelda hurried up the steps and onto the platform. Muzu startled back and hesitantly lowered his spear. It looked a little ridiculous in his hands; it was obvious he didn’t know how to wield it. “Princess Zelda?” he exclaimed. “How did you find this place? What cruel ploy are you plotting?”

Zelda stopped and held up her hands, surprised by the vitriol in his voice. “What? Muzu, what are you talking about?” 

King Dorephan let out a groan as he slowly straightened. His eyes cracked open. “Hold, Muzu,” he croaked. “If you speak in such a way without explanation, Princess Zelda here will only be confused as to what is going on.” His head turned, and he looked down at Zelda. He offered her a weak smile. “Hello, Princess. It has been some time since we last spoke.” 

“King Dorephan, I heard what happened,” Zelda replied, stepping forward. “Sidon told me how you were attacked and then came to hide here—” 

“Then you know it was your swordsman that attacked the king!” Muzu interrupted, his hands tightened into fists. “How dare you show your face here after giving those orders to Link!” 

“I—I didn’t—” Zelda sputtered. 

“Lies!”

“Calm yourself, Muzu,” Dorephan said. “Princess Zelda and Sir Link have been trusted friends of the domain for years. There must be an explanation.”

“There may be,” Zelda began hesitantly. “What… What did Link look like when he attacked you?” 

Muzu scoffed. “What a ridiculous question…” he muttered to himself.

“He was dressed in his Champion’s Tunic,” Dorephan answered, “and his right arm and shoulder were bandaged, but that did not seem to impede him.”

A strange mix of relief, disappointment, and dread settled within Zelda at that—relief that the Link that had attacked Dorephan really was the illusion, disappointment, for they still had no idea where the actual Link was, a dread at the thought of facing that creature of gloom again. “The Link you saw, King Dorephan… that was nothing more but an illusion,” she told the king. 

“Hah?” Muzu sputtered. 

Dorephan straightened a bit at that. “Please, explain, Princess.” 

Zelda told Dorephan and Muzu all that had happened beneath the castle when the Demon King awoke. She also told them about how she had seen this illusion at the castle, and then how it had tricked and attacked her and Yunobo. 

“This is… troubling,” Dorephan murmured, “but relieving all the same.” 

“Even if it was an illusion, King Dorephan is still terribly injured,” Muzu huffed. 

Dorephan sagged against the back of his throne. “Indeed I am, unfortunately,” he sighed. “I am afraid I must remain here.” 

Zelda nodded. “Of course. I’ve come here to help the domain with this issue of the sludge.”

“Ah, then you will need to speak with Jiahto,” Dorephan said. “He is a historian well acquainted with ruins. I sent him to investigate the source of this sludge which is tied to the ruins floating within the sky. You’ll find him at Toto Lake.” 

Zelda bowed her head. “Thank you, King Dorephan.” She turned to leave when Dorephan called out to her.

“Wait, Princess, I believe Muzu has something he would like to say to you.” 

Zelda glanced over her shoulder. Dorephan looked pointedly down at Muzu, an amused smile on his face. The old Zora glanced between the king and Zelda before he huffed and rolled his eyes. “I apologize for my accusation, Princess,” he grumbled. 

“You needn’t apologize,” Zelda told him. “It is good that you are so loyal to the king.” 

“Yes, but perhaps you shouldn’t be so paranoid, my good friend!” Dorephan exclaimed. He let out a loud, boisterous laugh. 

Muzu’s face soured, but for a second, Zelda thought she caught a flicker of a rare smile. 

With a farewell to Dorephan and Muzu, she made her way out of the sanctum. She could hear Dorephan still laughing and Muzu ranting about something from behind, and she smiled to herself. King Dorephan would be alright, at least for now.

*     *     *

When Link regained consciousness, he was back in the cave where Ganondorf resided. All at once, his senses and control over his body returned to him. He gasped and fell to his hands and knees. The air was stale down here, and the smell of smoke was near overwhelming. 

He blinked the blurriness out of his eyes and stared down at himself. The illusion over him flickered. At one moment, he wore his Champion’s Leathers, the next the Yiga uniform, then back again. Finally, it completely gave way to reveal the horrible state of the uniform and the dried blood caking his skin. 

“Curse it all…” he heard Ganondorf mutter. “Curse the light above…” Link looked up. 

Ganondorf was still on his throne of twisted wood, draped in fog-like gloom, but he seemed… weaker. He was slightly slouched, and his voice held more of a rasp than before. Link’s theory seemed more plausible—that the demon was still trying to gather power, that he was still weak after his explosion of power beneath the castle. 

Link tried to get to his feet, but he couldn’t get his limbs to cooperate. His body trembled from exhaustion. Faint echoes of that severe pain from before pulsed within him. He could still feel the gloom within him stirring. It seemed dormant, now, but just barely. He knew that, in mere seconds, it could awaken and seize control of him again. 

Ganondorf looked down on him. The orange of his eyes pierced the smoky gloom. “Ah, there you are, swordsman. For a moment, I feared my corruption had stilled your mind.”

Link stared up at him, still trying to gather his bearings. 

Ganondorf chuckled. The sound grated on Link’s ears. “Unfortunately, our plans must be put on hold. There are unseen… complications.” 

Complications? What complications? Slowly, images pieced together in his mind. Gloom hands teleporting him to the surface, being in Upland Zorana, attacking someone with a monster…

On either side of him, a pool of gloom merged out of the stone, and two gloom hands rose, one on each side. A surge of adrenaline flooded him, and he scrambled back, away from the hands that lunged for him. He didn’t make it far before one of them grabbed him around the waist. 

“Have patience for me, saboteur,” Ganondorf said. His voice was drenched with amusement despite his clear exhaustion. He grinned. It stretched his wrinkled skin. 

From behind, a portion of the wall that was made of that strange gloom-infused wood opened up, revealing a tiny room embedded in the stone. Before Link could protest, the hand threw him in, and the gloom wood grew over the entrance, sealing him within. 

He struggled to his feet and stumbled to where the entrance used to be, guided by the faint, red glow from the wood. Besides that, it was completely dark. He pounded his fists on the wood. It burned at the touch, but that paled in comparison to the pain he had already experienced. 

He did something, out there in Zora’s Domain. He was sure of it. He had attacked someone, but who? Who did he hurt? His breathing picked up as he remembered those mangled Yiga, and he sank to the ground. His fists dragged down the wooden wall. He stared at the ground with wide, horrified eyes. 

Just what did he do? 

*     *     *

Toto Lake was the color of mud. Zelda looked down at the murky waters with a grimace as she walked along the bank. A glob of sludge fell down from the sky islands above and splashed into the water. Bubbles surfaced as a darker brown seeped out from where it had landed. 

I will fix this, Zelda vowed to herself, looking up at a shallow cave that stood before her. I will. 

Within the cave, she found the Zora historian, Jiahto, studying a large, blue slab embedded in the wall. Ancient writing had been etched into it, much like the other slabs scattered about the Lanayru region—the ones that told the history of the Zora. The writing on this one, however, was more reminiscent of the Zonai language she had seen in her travels. 

“Jiahto?” she called. 

The old Zora glanced over his shoulder. His squinty eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Ah, Princess Zelda! What a surprise, or perhaps, not a surprise. You always did love your history and research. Did you hear about this ancient stone slate and come to take a gander?” 

Zelda nodded with a smile. She had spent time with Jiahto before, both before and after the Calamity. Before the Calamity, he had been a young scholar, just starting out, and now, more than one hundred years later, he was one of the most renowned historians in all of Hyrule. He was, however, a little scatterbrained. 

“I was told that this slate may lead us to the source of the sludge,” she told him. “Have you made any connections?” 

The old Zora’s face brightened. “Ah, yes! I’ve been studying the writing here for some time now, and I am certain that it was written by our Zora ancestors from the distant past. They left it here for us to discover!” 

She stepped closer and squinted at the faded stonework. “What does it say?”

Jiahto cleared his throat. “Stand upon the land of the sky fish, and behold its lofty view. Among the floating rocks you see, a droplet waits for you. Through this droplet, shoot an arrow with the mark of the king. Do this task, and you shall reveal a most wondrous thing. See the watery bridge’s resting spot with your own two eyes… that which connects the Zora to the people of the skies.

“It is an extraordinary discovery!” Jiahto exclaimed. Even in his old age, he still held that sparkle in his eye from his youth. “This important text tells us how to journey into the sky! Hm, though in truth, that mystery just leads us straight into another. The mark of the king, the droplet and a ‘most wondrous thing’…?” He continued to mumble under his breath, a hand held to his chin. 

Zelda watched him for a moment, waiting for him to finish, but he just kept going. She awkwardly stood there, wondering if this is perhaps how Link felt whenever she rambled about technology. She awkwardly coughed into her fist. 

The historian startled. “Ah, yes, Princess!” he exclaimed, as if he had forgotten she was there. “I have this riddle written down. You may take it if you wish.” He gestured to a notepad on a nearby rock. A quill and ink pot sat beside it, haphazardly placed as if abruptly abandoned. Zelda picked up the notepad and scanned the hurried writing. She glanced back at Jiahto, who had turned back to the slate. 

“Um, thank you,” she said hesitantly. Jiahto didn’t seem to hear her, so absorbed in the slate. “Right.” She awkwardly cleared her throat and left the cave. 

As she made her way back to the domain, she read over the slate’s words that had been copied down onto the notepad. She mulled them over in her head. With the mention of this ‘mark of the king,’ she would need to speak with Dorephan again. She asked Rauru if he knew anything about it. He said that these were most likely instructions on how to reach the Water Temple and the Sage of Water’s Sacred Stone, but he didn’t not know what those instructions truly were. The sages had hidden their stones after the Imprisoning War, so he didn’t know how they had hidden them. He only knew the locations in which they were most likely kept—the temples. 

When she returned to the Pristine Sanctum, Dorephan looked even worse. His wounds had faint traces of purple in them, and they pulsed in time with his ragged breaths. When Zelda approached, he cracked an eye open. 

“You’ve… spoken to Jiahto, then?” he asked. His words were slow, his voice weak. 

Zelda’s heart sank at the sound of Dorephan’s voice. She nodded and fetched the notepad from the Purah Pad. She had stored it there so that it wouldn’t get wet when she had to traverse through the waterfalls. “He was studying a stone slate, much like the slabs that hold the history of the Zora,” she explained, “and it held a riddle.” 

She read the riddle out to Dorephan, and the large Zora perked up slightly. “A mark of the king?” he echoed. “That refers to a…to a Zora king’s scale. One of my scales… in other words.”

Zelda shifted in place. “Could I possibly…?” 

“You can’t just ask for the king’s scale!” Muzu cried, affronted. 

“Of course… she can, Muzu,” Dorephan said. A weak chuckle rumbled from his chest. He reached up to his head and, using his fingernail, pried off a dark blue scale. Zelda winced, expecting it to be painful, but he didn’t seem phased. As the scale gave way, there wasn’t even any blood. 

He handed the scale to Muzu, who then passed it off to Zelda. The scale was surprisingly cool. It shimmered faintly in her hand, and it was about the size of her hand. She carefully stored it into the Purah Pad. “Thank you, King Dorephan,” she said. She bowed her head. 

“Please, there is no need for that,” Dorephan said. He gave her a strained smile. “A single scale is nothing to me. If you run out, simply return. I have plenty.” He let out a rasping, hoarse laugh that puttered into a cough. Zelda watched, tense, until finally, the coughing subsided. “Ah…” Dorephan sighed, “after all that has transpired… I have come to a realization.” He closed his eyes. “I must truly be getting on in years to have allowed a mere monster to catch me off guard. Perhaps the time is nearing for me to pass the title of king on to Sidon.” 

Muzu’s face fell. “King Dorephan…” he murmured. He sounded like he was already mourning. Zelda was starkly reminded that both of these Zora, just like Jiahto, were over a hundred years old. She was as well, technically speaking, but she hadn’t lived through that century. These Zora did. 

“In any case,” Dorephan continued, “that is a matter for another day, after the chaos surrounding the sludge has quieted. Princess, please inform Sidon about my situation, the illusion of Link, and about the king’s scale. Tell him there is no need to worry about me.”

Zelda nodded and forced words past the lump that had formed in her throat. “I will, King Dorephan. You have my word.” 

When Zelda returned to Mipha Court, Sidon was still where she had left him—tending to the pools of water, keeping the sludge from polluting it. When she got Sidon’s attention, she relayed everything to him, including the illusion of Link, the riddle, and his father’s state. She echoed King Dorephan’s words to Sidon, who watched her with sad eyes. 

“I… I see.” He sighed. “This illusion of Link is very troubling. Troubling indeed. And… and thank you for telling me about my father.”

Zelda couldn’t bear seeing the usual bright prince so downhearted. “He will be alright, Sidon,” she told him. Her words were firm, but inwardly she felt shaky, like a newborn colt. She didn’t have much hope that Dorephan would survive for much longer. “And I will solve this riddle,” she added. “It will lead us to the source of the sludge and to your Sacred Stone. I’m sure of it.”

“And… how did my father react to my supposed destiny to become a sage?” Sidon asked hesitantly. 

Zelda’s face flushed a little. She had forgotten to mention all of that to the king. She told Sidon that, and the prince glanced away. He looked so… guilty. 

And oh, oh . The last time King Dorephan’s child accepted a role of great importance given to them by Zelda was Mipha . Despite Dorephan’s hesitance, when Zelda had come asking for aid, Mipha had readily accepted her title as a Champion. Because of that duty, she had been slaughtered in the Calamity, and her spirit had remained trapped in the Divine Beast she was meant to pilot but was now corrupted. 

Zelda didn’t know what had exactly transpired when Link freed the Divine Beast and Mipha’s spirit. She knew that Link had briefly spoken with each of the Champions after freeing them and that Mipha held no ill will to her, he had told her as much, but she didn’t know how Dorephan felt on the matter. 

In the years after the Calamity, whenever she and Link visited Zora’s Domain, Mipha had not been mentioned. She was a subject that she and Dorephan carefully danced around. Neither of them wanted to speak on it, and didn’t that show how they felt about it? 

“I—I’m sure the king will be understanding,” Zelda said. Sidon had to be the next Sage of Water. He had remarkable combat prowess, and he had such mastery over the ability to manipulate water that Zelda hadn’t seen even before the Calamity. She had no idea who else of the Zora could be the next sage. 

Sidon merely hummed. His downtrodden behavior was very much not like him. Biting the inside of her cheek, Zelda left the Zora prince to continue his work. She felt like she was doing nothing but hindering his focus. 

She found a place out of sight, and Rauru appeared at her side. He asked her if she wanted to talk, as she was obviously upset, but Zelda had declined. She wanted to focus on the task at hand—solving the riddle. So she sat down on a rock and fished out the notepad. Rauru drifted to peer over her shoulder at the riddle scrawled on the parchment. 

“This must be a set of instructions to get to the Water Temple, and ultimately, the Sacred Stone, as you said, but what do you think any of this actually means?” Zelda asked him. “The land of the skyfish? A droplet? Watery bridge?”

Rauru hummed. “The Water Temple resides in the sky. In my era, it was the source of all water in the domain, but now it is only pouring sludge.” Zelda nodded, and the Zonai continued. “When the water ran clear, there was a grand waterfall that connected the Zora to their temple in the sky. That’s what ‘watery bridge’ must be referring to.”

“A waterfall… of course!” She glanced up at the collection of sky islands that hovered far above the domain. There wasn’t a waterfall in sight—only the pillars of falling sludge connected the islands to the surface. “There must be a way to activate it.” She turned her attention back to the riddle. “Then there’s the land of the skyfish… which must be a physical place, in which ‘a droplet waits for you…’ so then, using King Dorephan’s scale, I can activate the waterfall by shooting the scale through this ‘droplet?’”

“It would seem so.”

“‘Among the floating rocks,’” Zelda read from the riddle. She turned her gaze skyward and scanned the horizon. Her eyes landed on a sky island near Ploymus Mountain. It was relatively small, and it was surrounded by floating boulders that were haphazardly scattered about. The island itself vaguely resembled that of a fish. 

Zelda blinked. “Oh. I think I may have just found our ‘skyfish.’” 

Rauru followed her line of sight, and he chuckled. “It would seem so,” he repeated. 

With the notepad stored back in the Purah Pad, she used the paraglider to glide towards the island. A small waterfall, tainted brown, poured out from the tip, which she swam up to reach the island itself. Unlike other sky islands, this one looked to be the remains of a structure. The blue stone wasn’t natural, and it was covered in details and designs. It was also covered in sludge. 

Zelda’s nose wrinkled as she stepped her way through the thick sludge. It stuck to her boots, making it very difficult to walk through. She had only made it halfway through a patch of sludge when she caved. From the Purah Pad, she summoned her second to last splash fruit. She popped off the stem and poured it over the sludge. It dissolved just as quickly as it had before beneath the water. 

Too soon, the water in the fruit ran out, and Zelda tossed the empty husk aside. She didn’t want to use the four fruits she had. She would definitely have to get more, especially if there was another monster guarding the Sacred Stone. It was probably the source of the sludge, and if not, then it would have some sort of connection to the vile substance. 

As she walked across the island, she scanned the surrounding floating rocks for some sort of droplet. Rauru was the one to find it. He called out to her from the middle of the island, and when Zelda ran up to him, he pointed the droplet out to her. 

When standing directly in the middle and facing southwest, towards the East Reservoir Lake, the floating rocks, seemingly placed at random, aligned in such a way that formed the shape of a droplet. 

Zelda summoned King Dorephan’s scale from the pad. “‘Through this droplet, shoot an arrow with the mark of the king,’” she recited. She pulled out her traveler’s bow and an arrow from the pad and, using Fuse, attached the scale to the end of the arrow. She gave the arrow an experimental shake, and when the scale didn’t even budge, she nocked the arrow to her bow and drew the string back. She aimed for the center of the droplet, and with a grunt, released the arrow.

As the scale, attached to the arrow, soared through the rocks, it abruptly stopped, frozen mid air. Simultaneously, a blue light filled the droplet and, with a shimmering chime, absorbed into the scale. With the light collected within it, the arrow suddenly shot forward, leaving a trail of blue light in its wake, and soared directly into the middle of the East Reservoir Lake. 

Zelda and Rauru hurried forward to the edge of the island. They only saw ripples in the murky waters from the arrow’s impact. For a moment, nothing happened, but then a green circle of light appeared in the water. It flashed once, twice, then streaked up into the air and collided with the large sky island that waited above the domain. 

Zelda and Rauru watched, eyes wide, as a great amount of water poured out of the front of the island. It cascaded down in a grand waterfall and splashed into the reservoir. The force of its landing threw out massive ripples. Zelda gasped. “The watery bridge!” she exclaimed. 

“That will take us to the Water Temple,” Rauru said. 

Zelda stored her bow back in the pad and pulled out her paraglider. “We need to tell Sidon,” she said, already stepping off of the island. Rauru followed her in the air. “He’ll need to accompany us to the temple.” 

“But he is separating a large portion of the water from the sludge,” Rauru pointed out. “He will need someone to replace him. If not, then the sludge will take over the domain.” 

“Yes, but we can find the source of the sludge,” Zelda said, her eyes trained on Mipha Court as she glided down to it. “If we eliminate that source, then the domain will be better off.”

Rauru disappeared into her right arm as she neared the court. “Of course,” he agreed. “I only worry how the Zora will fare while their prince is gone.” 

Once she was close enough to the ground, Zelda closed her paraglider and dropped onto the grass. She hurried to where Sidon usually stood, and was surprised to find him locked in an argument with his fiance, Lady Yona. 

Behind them, in the pool of water, stood Yona’s attendants. They had taken up Sidon’s position to, with their water manipulation abilities, separate the sludge from the water. Their power was significantly weaker than Sidon’s, but they were managing. Beside them, a Zora guard kept watch.

“—far too dangerous for you to be here!” Sidon was saying as Zelda neared. 

“Darling,” Yona began patiently, “I came here because there is something I need to speak with you about. I have been thinking for quite some time…” she trailed off when she caught Zelda’s eye. 

Sidon turned. “Oh, Zelda.” He cleared his throat. “Have you solved the riddle?” 

Zelda nodded hesitantly as she glanced between Yona and Sidon. The air felt… tense. Nonetheless, she told the two Zora about what she had done with the king’s scale, and how that had brought a waterfall crashing down into the East Reservoir Lake. “Sidon, that waterfall… it’s how we’ll get to the Water Temple—to the Sacred Stone,” she said. “You need to come with me.” 

Sidon turned away. “I can’t.” 

Zelda’s face fell. “What?” The other two Zora were purifying the water, albeit not as quickly as Sidon, but they could manage until they eradicated the source of the sludge. Was Sidon afraid of what his father would think about his role as a sage? 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” Sidon repeated. “I need to stay here.”

Yona placed a hand on his arm “My love, I may not know much about this Water Temple and Sacred Stone, but this is what I came here to speak with you about. For a long time now, I’ve been concerned that you’re holding yourself back and not acting as freely as you used to.” 

Sidon glanced at her, brow furrowing. He looked confused, but guilt glimmered in his gold eyes as well. “Yona…” 

Before he could continue speaking, Zelda caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She whirled around and drew her sword. The black lizalfos horn, which she had fused to a weapon back at Death Mountain, glinted in the moonlight. 

Out in the middle of the field next to Mipha Court, sludge bubbled from the ground. It morphed and grew in size, when, all at once, a large mass encased in sludge erupted up and out of it. The monster was nothing more but a bulbous mouth; it had no arms or legs. Its body tilted so that its mouth faced them, and jagged, white teeth bordering a circular mouth bared at them as it let out a gurgling roar. 

“A like-like?” Zelda sputtered. She had seen them during her travels, but only in caves and in the Fire Temple. They seemed to adapt to their environment, as the ones in the Fire Temple had been encompassed in volcanic scales and had been able to spit fire balls at her and Yunobo.  

“It’s covered in sludge,” Sidon said, now gripping Mipha’s trident with both hands. “Could it be the foul beast that harmed my father?” 

“Sidon!” Yona called from behind. “We can take care of the water, at least for a little while. Do not fret about the domain.”

Sidon was quiet for a moment. He glanced between the pools of water and the like-like, a troubled expression on his face. Finally, he nodded. “You are right, as ever. It is up to you, milady!” He turned to Zelda. “Zelda, let us vanquish this beast together!”

With that, the two of them launched themselves at the like-like. Zelda knew that these monsters were stationary. However, as they ran towards it, the like-like reared back and shot a shower of sludge into the air. Sidon and Zelda staggered back to avoid getting hit, and Zelda grimaced as the field became completely blanketed in sludge. That wasn’t good.

“Sidon, stay back,” she told the Zora. “The sludge it’s toxic. We can’t risk you getting hurt.” 

“I can’t let you fight that thing on your own!” Sidon protested. 

“I’ll be fine,” Zelda replied. She dismissed her sword to instead grab her bow and arrow. She shot at the like-like, but the arrow only harmlessly bounced off of the monster’s sludge. In retaliation, the like-like spat a blast of sludge her way, and she hastily dodged out of the way. The sludge landed somewhere behind her with a squelch. She shifted to the side so that her back wasn’t to the court and stepped right into a patch of sludge. She internally cursed. 

“It’s protecting itself with the sludge!” Sidon exclaimed. “We need to clear it with water. I can use the water from Ruta’s Fountain—

“Great, then do it!” 

“—but I need to be near a source of water.” 

She gritted her teeth. The like-like chucked another blob of sludge at her, and she crouched as it sailed over her head. Her boots were stuck in the puddle of sludge she stepped in. After a moment of struggle, she managed to pry herself out of the sludge, but the remnants of it made her boots stick to the ground with every step. 

With a grunt, Sidon flung out a hand. A tendril of water flung out of the pool of water beside him. It almost reached the like-like, but not quite. As it fell to the ground, the sludge underneath it was swept away.

Sidon couldn’t get close to this thing. His water couldn’t reach it either. She fused her last splash fruit to an arrow. She launched the projectile at the sludge, but the meager amount of water in the fruit did nothing to the monster itself. It only cleared away the patches of sludge on the ground. 

“Splash fruits won’t work!” Zelda shouted. She dodged another glob of sludge. She felt the air shift around it as it sailed right by her head. 

“Of course!” Sidon exclaimed, as if an idea had just popped into his head. “I can encase you in water from Ruta’s Fountain, which you can then use to attack the monster! I’ll provide support whenever I can.” 

Zelda hurried over to Sidon. She left a trail of brown footprints in her wake. She could work with that; she just couldn’t let the like-like target Mipha Court and the other Zora who were struggling to keep the waters clean. 

When she came up to Sidon, the Zora reached out towards the water. His hands began to glow with that ethereal, blue light, and a stream of water rose up out of the pool. It arched through the air, guided by Sidon’s steady hands. He directed the water at Zelda, and it obeyed. It encased her much like Daruk’s protection. 

“I won’t be able to maintain this for long,” Sidon said, voice strained. He had to keep his eyes and hands trained on the water surrounding Zelda. “Go!” 

Zelda sprinted towards the like-like, using the path Sidon had carved with his previous attack. It was strange running with water around her. Everything sounded muted and looked wavey, like she was looking through glass that hadn’t been properly melted and formed. 

As she charged the like-like, it shot a blast of sludge at her. It bounced harmlessly off of the water shield, though the force of the blow made the water wobble dangerously. “Attack, Zelda!” Sidon shouted. 

She didn’t hesitate. She swung her sword, and the water shield collapsed into her weapon before it shot forward directly into the like-like. The sludge covering the monster was blown away, revealing a pale, gray body and a bright purple mouth. 

From behind, she could hear Sidon running towards her. At the same time, the like-like opened up its mouth, revealing its weak-point: a purple sack, almost like a uvula. Zelda had fought a few like-like before, and she knew that when its mouth opened wide like this, it was about to lunge. With a grunt, she jumped forward and stabbed her sword directly into the uvula. 

The like-like reeled back. Before Zelda could continue attacking it, however, it tilted backwards and burrowed right into the ground, disappearing. Zelda froze as Sidon came up beside her. He had his trident at the ready.

“Where did it go?” Sidon gasped, whirling around. 

To their side, the like-like rose out of the ground, once again covered in sludge. It reared back, and Zelda’s eyes widened. “Sidon, get back!” she shouted, just as the like-like spouted out another barrage of sludge. 

Her and Sidon just barely managed to get out of the way as the sludge rained down. Patches once again littered the ground. In their rush to dodge, she and Sidon were now on the other side of the field, separated from the court by a lake of sludge. With them out of the way, the like-like leered at Yona and the other Zora. 

“No!” Sidon screamed. He rushed forward and leapt over the patches of sludge, trying desperately to make his way to Mipha Court. 

“Sidon, wait!” Zelda yelled. She instinctively went to summon another splash fruit to clear the way before remembering that she didn’t have any left. Frantically, she swiped through the pad until she came to one of her flasks of water. She summoned it before rushing after Sidon, who waded through one of the patches of sludge. 

The Zora guard who had accompanied Lady Yona faced off against the like-like. He stood away from the Mipha Court to draw its fire. The sludge monster shot blasts of sludge at them, and although the guard dodged, the ground slowly became more and more polluted. The Zora guard was running out of room to move. 

Heart pounding, Zelda threw out the water from her flask. The sludge blocking them from Mipha Court dissolved, and Sidon sprinted forward. Zelda chased after him. Just as the like-like reared back to send another burst of sludge at the Zora guard, Sidon manipulated a ball of water out of the pool, and with a furious shout, threw it right at the monster. 

The sludge covering the monster disappeared immediately, and Sidon lunged at it, trident in hand. The like-like collapsed to the ground, uvula lolling out of its mouth, and Sidon repeatedly stabbed it with his trident. 

Before Zelda could even join the fight, Sidon jabbed his trident into the like-like’s uvula one last time, and the monster reeled back with a pain-filled, gurgly cry. It writhed for a moment, spurting bits of sludge, before it sunk down into itself, turned into a dark shade of purple, and vanished with a puff of purple smoke. 

“That—that was fast,” Zelda said, panting heavily. She startled back when Sidon suddenly ran past her to Yona. 

“Yona!” he cried. His hands were on Yona’s shoulders, and he frantically scanned her for injuries. He ignored the layer of sludge that caked his feet and legs from when he had recklessly waded through it. 

Zelda grimaced at the sight. “Sidon—” she began. 

“Yona, are you alright? Please tell me you’re alright. The like-like didn’t harm you, did it? Did any sludge fall on you? I—” 

Yona placed her hands over Sidon’s. “Sidon, my love, I am unharmed,” she said softly. The other Zora had gathered back in Mipha Court. One of them guided the Zora guard into one of the pools to clean off the bits of sludge that had landed on him. 

Sidon physically sagged, and he pulled Yona into a tight hug. “Thank goodness,” he breathed. “If something had happened to you, I…” his voice trailed off as he suddenly pulled away. He let go of Yona and cleared his throat. “Well, in any case, it is possible that another monster will appear. I suggest that you return to the domain at once.” 

Yona shook her head. Gently, she led Sidon to the edge of the nearest pool, and wordlessly guided him to sit down and put his feet in the water. “Thank you for the sentiment, but Sidon… you must consider what Princess Zelda has told you,” she said. “You need to accompany her to the Water Temple—to eradicate the source of this vile sludge. You can leave this place to us.” 

Sidon blinked, taken aback. “But I can’t—I can’t just leave you alone in this dangerous place! What if more monsters appear? What if the sludge overcomes you and your attendants? What if you can’t cleanse the water?” 

“Did you not entrust that task to us already?” Yona pointed out. “And besides, we will not be alone for long. I sent someone to gather more guards in case of another attack. We shall be just fine.”

“But…”

Yona sighed. “Sidon, my darling… I truly appreciate that you worry so for my safety. It speaks to the kindness of your heart. But you are the Prince of the Zora. One day, you will lead the people of your beloved domain.”

King Dorephan’s words echoed in Zelda’s mind. “Perhaps the time is nearing for me to pass the title of king on to Sidon.” Her heart clenched as she continued to watch. The rest of the Zora looked on as well, though a few of them tried their best to act like they weren’t. 

“I can see right through you, whether you want me to or not,” Yona continued. Her voice, gentle yet firm, painfully reminded Zelda of the late Zora Champion, Mipha. “You are yielding to the fear of losing someone you love again. You are afraid that what happened will happen again.”

Zelda’s heart sank. It had been many years now since Mipha’s death, but no amount of time could heal a wound like grief. She thought of Sidon’s hesitance to accept the role of a sage due to Mipha’s demise. She bit the inside of her cheek. 

Sidon stood up from the pool. The sludge had been cleared away. He hesitated. “I…” 

“You must overcome your past and face whatever the future holds with courage,” Yona told him. She took his hands into her own, but he pulled away. 

“Yona… I…”

Yona forcibly took hold of his hands. “Enough is enough!” she cried. “You are not acting like yourself, Sidon! I have seen you these past weeks… you have been getting lost in the past, but you must keep moving ever onward! Follow your heart, just as you always do!” 

Zelda was startled by the force of her words. She had seen a similar outburst from Mipha before, but it was rare. That only accentuated the times when she did raise her voice. She really was like Mipha. Gentle, but firm when necessary.

Sidon stared at her for a moment. Several emotions flickered over his face. 

“It is all right.” Yona brought a hand up to cup her fiance’s face. She smiled. “I will be alright, and you will be too. I swear it. I am not going anywhere.” 

A shaky breath escaped Sidon’s chest. He brought up his hand to cover Yona’s, similar to how she had done earlier, and slightly leaned into her touch. “I… I see,” he murmured, closing his eyes. “I was giving in to my fear of once more losing someone I love…” He opened his eyes, and their golden hue looked a little brighter. “You are right, Yona.” He pulled away and held onto her hands. He lifted them to his chest. “I will not give in to this fear, nor forsake my trust in you.” 

Yona let out a little laugh. “There’s the Sidon I know.” 

Sidon pulled away. “I leave this place to you, my love. I trust you. All of you,” he turned to the other Zora gathered there; a few of them startled at being addressed, obviously worried about having been caught eavesdropping, but Sidon didn’t seem to care. They all nodded. Their Zora Prince returned the gesture with one of his own.

Then, with a gentle hand, as if he were handling a flower, he placed his hand on Yona’s cheek. “Be safe, my love,” he murmured. 

The two Zora embraced, and Zelda’s heart ached . The empty space beside her had never felt so present. She had been trying to focus on the missions at hand, had been trying her very best to serve her kingdom and solve the phenomena and gather the sages and fix what she broke, but— 

But now loneliness crashed down on her like a hinox. She had feared and worried for Link this entire time—oh how scared she was for him—but now, with the expression of love given so freely between the two Zora, she was hit with just how much she missed Link. She couldn’t look to her side and share a secret glance. She couldn’t subtly brush her hand against his to remind herself that he was still with her.

They weren’t traveling together. They couldn’t ride their horses side by side, she couldn’t watch Link dote on his steed, she couldn’t lean her head on his shoulder and gaze into a comfortable fire, and she couldn’t listen to his quiet humming whenever he cooked for her. 

He was gone, and she had no idea where he could possibly be. Even worse, the illusion was back. Not only was it tarnishing Link’s image and wreaking havoc, hurting people, but it was a painful reminder of the one Zelda didn’t have at her side anymore. It was a reminder she couldn’t ignore. 

Sidon turned to Zelda, and she desperately shoved all of her emotion down as quickly as possible. “I still do not know how my father will feel upon hearing about my role as the Sage of Water,” the Zora Prince said, “but I will face my destiny. I will not shirk my duty to my people nor to Hyrule!” 

Zelda felt strangely disconnected, but she tried to force herself into the present moment. “Are you sure…?” she asked. 

“If I am to be completely honest, I am not,” Sidon replied, “but I never let that stop me before! I trusted Link to cleanse the Divine Beast, even when such a feat seemed impossible. Now I must accompany you to the Water Temple, even if I am unsure what our future may hold. We shall blaze on ahead!” 

He flashed a smile at her. His eyes weren’t quite as bright as before, and his grin looked a little strained, but Zelda could tell that the Zora Prince was doing his best to feel as confident as he used to. 

She mimicked his smile. “To the Water Temple,” she agreed, while in her chest, her heart longed and yearned. 

Chapter Text

The waterfall connecting the surface to the sky islands was extremely long. It took Zelda several minutes to swim all the way up. By the time she did make it to the top, bursting out of the water, she was exhausted. She could barely hang onto her paraglider when she fished it out of the Purah Pad. 

However, as she glided down onto the island, she felt… strange. Light. Her arms didn’t strain nearly as much as they usually did when she used the paraglider, and she moved at a much slower pace than usual as well. She was barely even descending. 

With a furrowing of her brow, she closed the paraglider, and gasped as she seemed to fall in slow motion. Her boots lightly touched onto the ground with barely any shock to her ankles and knees. She lifted her arms and let them fall experimentally. It felt like she was full of air, like she didn’t weigh anything at all. 

She already knew Link would’ve loved this. 

She took in the collection of islands that she now stood on. Much like the island of the skyfish, these islands were all made of the same, blue stone, and they were all carved and detailed. There were about three separate islands before her, each one higher than the last, and pooling onto the highest was the end of a brown, polluted waterfall. Zelda traced the rushing water upwards to its source. It poured from the edge of a massive sky island, upon which rested the ruins of what was once a grand structure. 

At her side, her right arm flashed, and she heard Rauru’s voice say, “That’s the Water Temple, the source of all water in the Lanayru Region. Or at least, it was in my time.” 

“Incredible…” Zelda breathed. The island itself resembled a giant fish. Its centerpiece was the biggest and curved along the edges, and the stone flared outward on either side like fins. Scattered atop the blue stone were an assortment of ruins, all of which vaguely resembled the architecture and design of Zora’s Domain. 

“Zelda!” Sidon exclaimed. Zelda jumped and turned. “This place is so strange,” Sidon said excitedly, jogging towards her. Except, with the lighter air, it kind of looked like he was skipping. “My body… it feels light as a feather!” 

Zelda’s right arm flashed as Rauru appeared at her side, and Sidon jumped back with a gasp. “There is a unique air to this place, yes,” he said, smiling. “Greetings, Prince Sidon. I am Rauru.” 

“Great Scales!” Sidon gasped. “You’re the king Zelda was talking about! King Rauru!” He hastily bent into a bow. 

“Please, Prince Sidon, there is no need for that,” Rauru assured, and when Sidon straightened, he continued. “Yes, I was the first king of Hyrule, but you no longer need to address me as such. I am now simply a guide for Princess Zelda to help her gather the sages.” 

At those words, Zelda glanced at him. Rauru presented himself in a pleasant manner, but she had spent enough time with him to recognize the subtle undertone of shame in his voice. 

“And… and you believe me to be the Sage of Water?” Sidon asked, eyes wide. 

Zelda nodded. She needed to focus on the mission at hand. “You are the most logical choice,” she said. “You are the prince of your people, you have a mastery over your water manipulation, and you are a capable warrior.” 

Sidon’s face flushed at the praise. “Well—uh—not as capable as Link, but I thank you.” 

Zelda’s heart clenched at the mention of Link, but she tried not to let it show. At her side, Rauru chuckled lightly. “All of your friends seem to struggle with trusting themselves, Zelda,” he mused. 

“Ah!” Sidon exclaimed, golden eyes wide. “There I go again!” He sighed. “Lady Yona was right. I haven’t been like myself at all, have I?” 

Sidon and Rauru continued to joke with one another, but Zelda tuned them out. She glanced over her shoulder, back at the domain. Somewhere down there, even further below, Link was on his own. He didn’t have Rauru or Sidon or any of the others. 

“Zelda?” Rauru gently nudged her, pulling her from her thoughts. She looked up at him, then at Sidon. Both of them watched her with a worried expression. 

“I’m sorry,” she sighed. It was getting harder to motivate and discipline herself. “Let’s continue on, Sidon. The Water Temple is just up there.” She gestured to the giant structure floating in the sky. 

As they began to make their way towards the temple, Rauru disappeared back into her right arm. Sidon walked alongside her, but Zelda didn’t try to make conversation. Her mind kept drifting, following the whims of her heart. 

That is, until Sidon spoke to her. “I know it is not necessarily my place to pry, but Zelda… there is something troubling you.” He paused, and Zelda knew what he was about to say. “It’s… it is Link, isn’t it?” 

Zelda let out another sigh. She didn’t want to talk about that right now. 

Sidon, however, seemed to read her sigh as an invitation to continue. “I understand. One would think that loving another would make you stronger, but I fear it has only made me more afraid.” 

Zelda nearly tripped over her own two feet. “W-what?” she sputtered. 

Sidon paused. Genuine confusion creased his brow. “You’re worried for Link, are you not?” 

“Wh—I—of course I am!” Zelda exclaimed. Her face rapidly heated. Sidon was implying that his relationship with Yona, his fiance , was the same as her relationship with Link, and that made her heart both sing and fumble like a bokoblin in water. “But—but love… ?”

Sidon blinked at her. “Are you not…?”

Oh, that just made Zelda’s face even more red. She was sure she looked like a tomato, and she couldn’t blame it on the cold. 

Sidon had assumed her and Link were lovers. Lovers . 

She had never, never admitted her feelings for Link. She hadn’t written about them, and she had never spoken about them to anyone—not even to herself. Her feelings towards Link were something she kept stored and protected deep in her heart, because she did not want to ruin the relationship they already had. 

Their relationship had started off…rough, to say the least. Her consistent failures at awakening her power made her bitter, and when Link, the prodigious swordsman, who had excelled far quicker than any soldier and knight in history , came into her life with the master sword already in hand, with his destiny seemingly already fulfilled, her bitterness had shifted in pure, vitriol envy. 

That only worsened when he was assigned as her personal knight. She was forced to travel everywhere with him, and despite it not being his fault, she had treated him poorly. Her contempt had only been worsened by his silent, stoic demeanor. Back then, he’d been like the guardians—robotic, mechanical, and seemingly single-minded. 

But with the more time they spent together, she learned how very wrong she was. Yes, Link was silent and stoic, but beneath that stony exterior, he was so much more. He was passionate about sword fighting, he was reckless, he was a glutton, he was a lover of horses, and he was quiet in his care but so very genuine. 

With that discovery, her envy had been washed away, and care had sprouted in its place. And the more they traveled together before the Calamity, the more Link opened up to her, the more that care grew. After the Calamity, during those few years in which they traversed Hyrule together, her care blossomed into something deeper. It was during that time, when she got to be with a Link without any burden on his shoulders, that she grew to love him. 

But she never sought to make those feelings heard. They had settled into a stealthy rhythm. She looked out for him, and he looked out for her. They stayed together because that was what they had always done, and it was what they would always do. 

She didn’t want to disrupt that. Their relationship was safe, it was familiar, and if she lost that, if she lost Link because of some silly little feelings and dreams stirring in her heart, she wouldn’t ever find peace. 

So love wasn’t mentioned. They were more than friends, but they weren’t lovers, because the idea of romance threatened to shake that familiarity that Zelda held so dear. 

And besides, it was easier to focus on what was. She would do anything for Link, and she knew that he would do anything for him. 

Abruptly, Zelda whirled around and marched to a gap in between two islands. “Let’s keep going!” she exclaimed. 

“Wait, Zelda—” Sidon started. 

She interrupted him by snagging a nearby stone slab with Ultrahand. The shock of the Zonai ability immediately threw Sidon off of his previous line of thought. He reeled back then jumped forward in awe. Zelda, happy with the distraction, and desperately trying to ignore the way her heart was doing backflips in her ribcage, explained all of the Zonai abilities to him as she moved the stone slab to act as a makeshift bridge between the islands. 

“Fuse is how I made my sword, actually,” she rambled as they crossed the bridge. “I fused a black lizalfos horn to a sword, since any metal weapons have been decaying after the Upheaval…” 

She continued on, barely pausing to breathe. She didn’t want to talk about her complicated bundle of emotions concerning Link and their relationship. They needed to focus on getting to the Water Temple, anyway. 

Right. The mission. Focus on the mission. 

They eventually made it to the final sky island before the temple. Up a set of stairs, they found a tall combat construct stationed in the center of the island. On either side of the construct were two altars. One held a Zonai blade, and the other a beam emitter. 

The construct itself looked much more elaborate than the common constructs Zelda had faced in the past. Its head was long and thin, with three orange eyes placed in a vertical line, and a long, spiked horn on top. Its neck and arms were long and thin, made up of rings connected by green light. It didn’t have hands. Instead, one arm ended in a bow, and the other ended in the hilt of a sword. 

Zelda and Sidon crouched at the bottom of the stairs and peered up at the construct. “I haven’t seen a construct like that before,” Zelda murmured. Her sword was already out from when she’d been showing it to Sidon. “We’ll have to be careful.” 

“Right,” Sidon agreed with a nod. He seemed to have, mercifully, dropped the subject of Link and Zelda’s relationship. He gestured towards the construct. “After you.” 

With a preparatory inhale, Zelda charged up the stairs. Sidon kept pace with her, trident out and ready. The construct perked up when it spotted them, and it raised its right hand—the one with the hilt of a sword—into the air. Both Zelda and Sidon faltered when a green light shot out its hand, latched onto the Zonai blade, and brought the blade onto the hilt. It fused the two parts together with a flash of green light. 

“It can use Fuse!” Sidon gasped. 

“It’s a captain construct,” Rauru said, appearing beside them. “They’re the most advanced of our combat constructs besides the flux constructs. Be careful.” 

With its new sword, the construct hovered towards them. Zelda and Sidon split apart, and while Zelda distracted it, Sidon lunged forward with his trident. He caught the construct's left arm in the prongs. He twisted his weapon and attempted to break off the arm. The construct, with its bow pinned by the trident, attempted to swing its sword down on him. 

Zelda jumped forward and blocked the attack with her sword while Sidon wrestled with the construct’s left arm. The construct turned its attention onto Zelda and attempted to swipe at her instead. She ducked under the attack and sliced through its core. 

It lurched back and raised its left arm, forcing Sidon to disengage his trident. “It’s going to shoot!” Zelda yelled, just as the construct pointed its bow at her. She jumped to the side, narrowly missing the arrow that streaked through the air where her head had just been, and Sidon lunged forward once again, this time sticking his trident right where the bow was connected to the construct’s arm. 

With a grunt, he twisted his weapon, and the bow popped off with a shower of green sparks. The construct retreated, but Zelda didn’t let it fuse the beam emitter to its now empty hand. She stabbed her sword right into its sparking core, and Sidon jabbed his trident into the same area. 

The constructs light sputtered, head swiveling, body twitching, before it finally crumbled into a lifeless pile of Zonai stone and technology. 

“Aha!” Sidon exclaimed. “We’ve vanquished the mighty construct!” 

“Smart move with your trident,” Zelda said. 

Sidon planted the end of the trident onto the ground, holding it like a king might hold a grand staff. “One of the many strengths of such a glorious weapon!” 

Zelda chuckled as she crouched down to examine the Zonai parts. She fished out the bow from the pile and stored it into the pad, then picked up the Zonai sword. The blade was made from a blue-green energy. Curious, she used Fuse to stick the constructs long, jagged horn onto the hilt, and the energy swirled into the new attachment with a cheery chime. It seemed that the Zonai had created weapons purely for the use of Fuse. 

She stood and gave the sword a few practice swings. It felt sturdy, even more so than her other weapons. She grinned. “It may not be as great as a trident, but now we’ve got another weapon in our arsenal.” She stored it into the pad. 

“Perfect! We are well prepared to take on the source of this sludge.” 

“That we are,” she agreed. She gestured towards the waterfall. “After you, Sidon,” she said, echoing his words from earlier. 

The Zora prince jogged towards the waterfall. “Onward!” he cried.

Now that she was behind Sidon, Zelda let her smile fall. 

Please be okay, Link , she prayed. Please . 

*     *     *

Link stirred and blearily cracked his eyes open. He didn’t know what woke him; he hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep. His stomach ached, and he distantly wondered how long it had been since he had eaten or drinken anything. 

He was still stuck in the little alcove in the wall. With his back to the wall, he sat on the ground and stared at the gloom-infused wood before him. He knew that, past the wood was the cavern and, most likely, Ganondorf. 

A harsh breath shoved out of his chest, and he reeled back when a puff of smoke-like gloom burst out of his breath. He breathed again, and another puff followed. With every exhale, there was another cloud of gloom. Disgust welled within him. That was proof that the gloom had invaded every inch of him. Just like the Divine Beasts, just like the guardians, he was corrupted, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t even break out of this tiny room. 

His head thunked against the wood as he let it fall back. He hated this. He hated the stillness, the waiting . Before the Calamity and even during it, he had never been this still. He had always been moving, always traveling, fighting, never stopping. 

That wasn’t to say he hadn’t ever felt powerless. He felt powerless when he could only kneel as King Rhoam cruelly scolded his daughter. He felt powerless when Zelda sobbed before the goddess statues, begging to hear something, anything , and questioning her worth and her purpose. He felt powerless when, after destroying hordes upon hordes of corrupted guardians, his strength had failed him, and Zelda had stepped in to defend him. 

And after that, after Zelda’s power awakened and eradicated the nearby guardians, his body had betrayed him. His heart slowed in his chest and his eyes drifted shut on their own accord as Zelda fruitlessly, desperately claimed that he would be just fine.

He never wanted to feel like that again. He wanted to feel like he was in control—that he could do something . 

But now he couldn’t. He was, quite literally, not in control of his body anymore. He couldn’t fight. The master sword was gone—shattered like glass. He couldn’t seal away evil with golden light. 

He hated it. Frustration broiled within him, but there was nowhere for it to go. He felt like he was going to burst. He suddenly became aware of how small the alcove was, and that only heightened his restlessness. He wanted to do something, he wanted out, he wanted to fight—!

With a rumble and a gross-sounding slither, the wood before him warped, pulled apart, and exposed the cavern. Before he could even react, a gloom hand reached in and yanked him out. The hand practically threw him into the center of the cavern. He caught himself on his hands and cringed as a shock of pain rocketed up his right arm. 

“Pardon the manhandling,” Ganondorf spoke, words dripping with sarcasm. His voice was still weaker than before, but he maintained that condescending air. “I was afraid you couldn’t walk on your own.” 

A spike of anger stabbed through Link, and he forced himself to his feet. He wavered dangerously, but he was stubborn enough to stay upright. His breath was thin in his chest, and smoky gloom seeped out of his mouth. 

“Very impressive,” Ganondorf sneered. “Now, you’re probably wondering why I disrupted your rest.” He peered down on him from his throne. “You see, there is something… intriguing about you.” 

Link stayed stubbornly quiet. He had no desire to speak with Ganondorf, and besides, the demon seemed to love hearing himself talk. 

“It is your spirit,” he rasped. His eyes, piercing the smoky gloom that drifted around him, narrowed. “Haven’t you wondered how you resisted my corruption for so long? Even now, I will readily admit that you have proven difficult to control.”

That made Link want to laugh. He didn’t think Ganondorf would be one to admit something like that. 

“Your spirit is stubborn,” the demon continued, “and it is powerful. It is the only thing keeping me from using you to raze Hyrule to the ground, as is the unfortunate reality that my power has leaked throughout the millennia in which Rauru kept me sealed.” 

So that was why he was stuck on this throne. That was why he wasn’t constantly controlling him. It also explained the smoke-like gloom that continuously swirled around him, almost like a faint, smoky cocoon. He was conserving his power—collecting it. 

That meant he had time. Zelda had time. 

Ganondorf must have sensed something, must have seen something in Link’s face, because he chuckled, low and hoarse. “Do not hope, saboteur. Did you forget?” He leaned forward, orange eyes blazing with mirth and glee. “Even in my weakened state, I shattered your beloved sword. You and your Golden Princess could do nothing against me.” 

Link’s stomach twisted. The image of the master sword’s shining blade bursting into hundreds of useless pieces flashed in his mind. After breaking, it vanished in a faint pulse of blue light. He could only hope that didn’t mean it was gone for good but simply somewhere else.

It was a sobering reminder. The sacred sword, said to cleanse and cleave any evil, any blemish, had failed—just as he had. 

He had done nothing. He was powerless.

And something within him, ancient yet young, something that fueled him, strengthened him, wavered for the first time in one hundred years. 

Ganondorf leaned back in his throne, relaxed, composed, even with skin stretched taut over decrepit bones. “Hm,” he hummed. Disappointment dampened his gleeful tone from before. Somehow, that felt worse than the sarcasm and derision. “Perhaps I overestimated the spirit of the hero.” 

And when a gloom hand dragged Link back into the tiny alcove, as pain flared within him at the mere touch of the gloom, he didn’t fight. 

*     *     *

Zelda swung her Zonai sword at the water wheel. A wave of water erupted from the blade and rammed into the wheel. The wheel spun from the force of the water, and a green outline lit up around it. “Perfect!” Sidon exclaimed, beaming. “That’s the last one.”

Once they had arrived at the temple, they had found the source of the sludge. It was a large mound, constantly oozing and spitting out globs of sludge, almost like a kind of fountain. It had sat right where Rauru said the Sacred Stone was supposed to be. If they wanted to access the stone, they would need to get rid of the sludge. 

A large contraption had loomed behind the fountain, which consisted of five giant vases set up in a line. Over each of these vases hung five faucets, shaped to resemble the head of Divine Beast Vah Ruta. When they had tried activating the mechanism, only one of the faucets had responded—not nearly enough water to completely clear away the spurting sludge. 

From there, the Sage of Water had spoken to them and told them to seek out the four remaining water wheels to turn on the faucets. The sage had then marked the locations of said wheels on the Purah Pad. 

It had taken the entire day to find all of the water wheels. Zelda and Sidon had encountered many combat constructs, so much so that Zelda’s sword made from the black lizalfos horn eventually broke. She had resorted to using her Zonai sword, and Sidon had found her a Zora spear which she fused an electric lizalfos horn to. She was very excited to try using that weapon, due to the electric effect it would have on enemies, but for now it remained safely stored in the pad. 

Zelda let out a sigh of relief as her and Sidon turned from the last water wheel. The sun had long since set, and the night chill was really getting to her. It didn’t help that her clothes hadn’t been dry ever since they had set foot in this temple; there were pools of water everywhere, and the way they got from one portion of the temple to the next was from riding in giant bubbles of water that hovered through the air. 

With all Zelda had seen so far in her troubles, giant floating bubbles of water were really not all that surprising, especially when she considered the way everything seemed to float here thanks to the lightweight effect. 

With that last faucet turned on, Zelda and Sidon made their way back to the main floor of the temple: a large, flat, circular platform. The Zonai console used to tilt the vases onto the fountain of sludge sat at the very back of the platform, which they now walked towards. 

Overhead, the moon shone brightly, illuminating the temple and giving it a strange, luminescent effect. It was really quite beautiful, if one could ignore the patches of sludge everywhere and the giant mass constantly bubbling and spurting. 

Zelda couldn’t wait to see the temple without the sludge dirtying its appearance. 

“There is most likely a monster of some sort waiting to attack us,” Zelda said to Sidon. She had her right hand raised, hesitating to activate the console. 

“Of course,” Sidon agreed, Mipha’s trident in hand, “and we shall vanquish it without trouble, just like that like-like!” 

Zelda admired the optimism. She smiled to herself as she pressed her hand against the green energy within the Zonai console. 

A great rumble shook the temple, and the five vases tilted downward. Torrents of water poured out of them and cascaded down a rounded slate that guided the water right onto the fountain of sludge. Droplets of water and mist tickled Zelda’s nose from the amount of rushing water as it pounded the sludge away. 

All of the sludge was nearly gone when a large chunk of it suddenly sprung out. It arched over Zelda’s head and landed somewhere behind her. She turned. The water splashed the back of her head from behind. 

“Aha! Look, Zelda, the sludge has dissolved!” Sidon exclaimed.

“Sidon,” Zelda warned. She kept her eyes trained on the mass of sludge that now bubbled in the center of the platform. Sidon turned. 

“Another like-like?” he wondered aloud. 

From out of the sludge, a purple shape suddenly leapt straight up. It was curled in a ball, but once it reached the peak of its jump, its limbs snapped out. That seemed to make it lose control, as it then fell promptly on its face. 

“What in the—?” Zelda sputtered. 

The thing jumped to its feet. It was rather… small, nearly a meter in height. Short, stubby legs carried its meager wait, and long, wimpy-looking arms waggled at its sides. Its head was the biggest part of it—round and bulbous. On either side of its head, two yellow eyes bulged, and a mouth much like a fish protruded beneath like a snout. Its coloring consisted of different shades of purple, and certain parts of it glowed faintly. 

It looked like an octorok, almost, but a lot… uglier. 

Sidon let out hesitant laugh. “ This is the source of the sludge…?” 

“That is Mucktorok,” Rauru said from the arm. “Do not underestimate—” 

As if on cue, the little creature inhaled deeply, and its head expanded like an octo balloon. It jumped into the air, tilted its face down, and let out a torrent of sludge onto the ground beneath it. From the sludge, a much larger monster erupted out. It looked like a fish, with a pointed snout, teeth, and sharp fins, and it was made entirely of sludge with glowing, purple accents. 

The little creature landed in the fish-like monster and disappeared within its sludge-body. The great fish let out a roar before it buried into the pool of sludge that had formed around it. Only its top fin, shaped like a triangle, stuck out of it. 

Sidon blinked. “...Oh.” 

“Get ready,” Zelda said, drawing her sword. “The faucets—can you use the water from them?”

Sidon nodded. He turned and, with his ability, took some of the water from the faucets and cloaked Zelda in a shield. “I’ll remain back here, near the water,” he said. “I’ll join the fight if you need.” 

“Best of luck,” Rauru said. “Mucktorok is fast. It tormented the Zora in my era before they created the Water Temple. Be ready.” 

The fish monster swam about the platform. The pool of sludge moved with it and left a trail of brown in its wake. Zelda tightened her grip on her sword. “I’ll be just fine,” she said, before sprinting right for the sludge monster. 

As she neared it, the monster leapt out of its pool, like a fish jumping out of water. When it landed, a shockwave of sludge erupted from it. Zelda braced herself, but the water surrounding her protected her from the attack. Before the monster could swim away, she swung her sword in its direction, and the burst of water from her blade slammed right into it. 

As the water made contact, the large monster threw itself up into the air. When it landed, its form fell apart and melted down into the pool of sludge, unveiling Mucktorok. Zelda pounced on it immediately. Her blade dug through its bulbous head, leaving a sizable gash that spurted purple blood. It let out a gurgly-sounding shriek, like a human would sound underwater, before scurrying away like a wet rodent.

“You got it!” Sidon exclaimed. He ran up beside her as she chased after the monster. 

“Just barely,” she huffed. Mucktorok scrambled away from them. Goddess above, this thing was fast. She summoned her bow and an arrow and tried to shoot it, but the lithe monster dodged the projectile with ease.

They couldn’t reach it before it spouted out more sludge, and the large fish monster returned. “Get back to the water!” Zelda shouted. 

Both her and Sidon ran back to the faucets. Sidon began manipulating the water as Zelda turned back towards the fish monster, which was once again swimming about with its pool of sludge. 

Water enveloped her, obscuring her vision slightly, and she charged towards the monster. It tried the shockwave attack again, but the shield protected Zelda from any harm, letting her send another blast of water at the monster. 

Just like before, the sludge gave away, and Mucktorok ran away. Zelda tried swiping at it, but it swiftly dodged her attack. However, before it could summon the sludge beast again, Sidon ran up and stabbed his trident through one of its lanky arms. Again, the monster shrieked and writhed about like a fish out of water. 

“We’ve got it now!” Sidon exclaimed, raising his trident. Zelda mimicked his movements with her sword, but before either of them could attack, Mucktorok turned its head, inhaled, and spat out a glob of sludge right into Sidon’s face. 

“Sidon!” Zelda yelped, head whipping to him even as the monster scrambled away. It left a trail of purple blood in its wake. 

Sidon sputtered and wiped at his face with his hands, his trident discarded on the ground. The sludge wasn’t giving away, no matter how much Sidon tried to paw it off. Frantically, Zelda pulled out the Purah Pad and summoned one of her flasks of water. She splashed the water onto Sidon. 

The sludge dissolved and sloughed off of his face, but it left residue behind. Sidon’s eyes were squeezed shut, and when he tried to crack them open, he winced in pain. He coughed violently. “Sidon, are you okay?” Zelda asked. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and her face paled.

Instead of the large fish, Mucktorok had created a massive octorok—one Zelda had never seen before. It was twice the size of a guardian with a bulbous head and long tentacles, all entirely made of sludge and faint purple light. 

“I can’t—I can’t see—” Sidon stuttered. 

Zelda placed herself in front of Sidon and summoned another flask of water. She only had two left. The sludge monster whipped a tentacle at them, and she flicked the flask. Water sprayed out like a mock-shield. The tentacle flinched back. A rumbling hiss sounded from the monster. 

She didn’t wait to see if it would attack again. She grabbed Sidon’s arm and sprinted to the faucets, dragging Sidon with her. Once they got to the faucets, she summoned her last flask and gave it to Sidon. “This is the last one I have,” she told him. “I can’t reach the faucets to fill them back up, and I doubt it’ll be enough for that . I need your power, Sidon.” 

Sidon poured the water over his eyes. Some of the residue sludge dissolved, and he could manage to crack open one eye. “Great Scales!” he cried, having just seen the massive sludge monster. Then resolve settled over his face, and he nodded. “I’ll do my best to support you,” he promised. His words were confident, but his voice sounded significantly weaker. He was breathing heavily as well. His demeanor reminded Zelda of King Dorephan. Some of the sludge must’ve gotten inside of him. 

The sludge beast let out a gurgling roar. Sidon had his hands held out, face creased in intense concentration. “I need time,” he gritted out. A great rumbling came from the faucets. 

“Got it,” Zelda replied. She darted towards the massive sludge monster. It swiped one of its tentacles at her, and she ducked beneath it. The beast didn’t have a face or any obvious weak points. She guessed it was invincible to all attacks except water. Still, she swapped out her sword for the electric spear and dashed around the monster's side. Its tentacles followed, slamming into the ground where she had been seconds before and swiping at her. When one got too close, she jabbed her spear into its mud-like mass. Electricity arched across the limb, and while it didn’t damage it, the tentacle flinched back. 

She risked a glance at Sidon, and her eyes widened. The Zora Prince had gathered a gigantic sphere of water above his head. It was as big as the monster, perhaps even more so. His arms were raised, and Zelda could see the way they trembled beneath the weight of the water even with the distance. 

“Zelda!” Rauru cried. A sticky mass wrapped around Zelda and pinned her arms to her sides. She yelped as a tentacle lifted her into the air. In her shock, the electric spear slipped from her hands. 

“Sidon!” she screamed. She gagged at the feeling of the slimy, toxic sludge pressing in on her. The smell was terrible from this close—it stabbed at the insides of her nostrils and made her lightheaded. 

With a wordless cry, Sidon launched the massive sphere of water. It soared through the air like a boulder from a trebuchet. Zelda’s face paled. This wasn’t going to be fun. 

The water slammed into her and the monster as if it really was a boulder. The tentacle around her waist immediately disappeared, and she cried out as she fell. Water got in her mouth, and she squeezed her eyes shut on instinct. 

It felt like she was underwater, until suddenly, she slammed onto the floor of the temple, and the water splashed out around her. She forced herself to her hands and knees, coughing and spluttering. 

“Are you alright?” Rauru asked. 

“Just fine,” she croaked. 

“Zelda!” Sidon cried. She heard her feet pounding on the floor as he sprinted towards her. “Oh scales, I’m so sorry!” 

She got to her feet, and her eyes snapped to Mucktorok. It was lying facedown on the floor. Its whole body shook as it got to its wobbly feet. “Get it!” she shouted. Both she and Sidon dashed to Mucktorok. Zelda scooped up her spear on the way, and, before the creature could wobble away, she stabbed it with the electrified blade. 

The effect was instantaneous. Electricity crawled over the monster, leaving it immobilized on the ground. Zelda pulled her spear back, and Mucktorok tried to escape, but walls formed from the puddles on the ground from Sidon’s attack. Sidon marched right up to the monster, one hand outstretched and flexed to keep the water in place. In his other hand, he readied his trident. 

“For my father,” he spat, before ramming his trident directly into Mucktorok’s bulbous head. 

Mucktorok let out a gurgly screech, its skinny arms flailing. Sidon yanked his trident out of its head, and the monster’s body suddenly shrunk in on itself, as if all of its air and water had been sucked out of it. Pink and black spoke began to spurt from its wounds. Zelda knew what that 

meant. She grabbed Sidon’s wrist, turned tail, and ran. 

“Zelda—?” Sidon sputtered.

“Behind the console!” Zelda shouted, not looking back. “It’s going to explode!” 

They made it behind the Zonai console, and they both ducked for cover. “It’s going to what? ” Sidon exclaimed right as the monster exploded in a massive burst of pink light. The shockwave slammed right into the console, but the Zonai tech stayed secure, shielding them from the blast. 

“Great scales!” Sidon cursed. Once the explosion dissipated, he poked his head out from behind the console. “Is—is it dead?”

Zelda hesitantly peered over the console. There was nothing there but stray patches of sludge. She couldn’t see Mucktorok anywhere. Her arm flashed with its signature pale green as Rauru confirmed. “It’s gone.”

“Brilliant!” Sidon cheered. “That was quite the—” he cut himself off with a harsh cough, and he sagged onto the ground. 

“Sidon!” Zelda gasped, going down with him. The sludge was still affecting him. It didn’t harm her because due to its toxicity only harming Zora. She didn’t realize just how bad Sidon’s condition had gotten. He looked sickly. She looked him over, brow creased in worry. “I—I don’t have any more water,” she stuttered. “I can try getting to the faucets, but I—” 

“Zelda,” Rauru interrupted gently. He appeared beside her. When she looked up at him, he pointed to where they had fought Mucktorok. Worry curdling in her gut, she peeked over the console. Much to her surprise, the patches of sludge scattered about the temple were disintegrating. “It seems that, with the source of the sludge eradicated, the remaining sludge can’t sustain itself,” Rauru said. 

Zelda glanced back at Sidon, and sure enough, the sludge staining his face peeled off and vanished. In mere seconds, he could fully open his eyes, and color returned to his scales. “Aha!” Sidon exclaimed, jumping to his feet. He leapt out from behind the console and threw his arms out wide. “I feel remarkable! The air is clear, Zelda! It’s like the sludge was never here!”

A sudden thought popped into her head as she followed Sidon from out behind the console. “Sidon, your father! He must be cured as well!” 

Sidon’s face lit up like a sunrise. With a joyous laugh, he picked Zelda up and swung her around. Zelda let out yelp which quickly dissolved into a laugh of her own. 

Behind them, no longer covered in sludge, the ancient Sage of Water’s Sacred Stone hovered upon a stone structure shaped like a lotus flower. It glowed with an angelic light and beckoned to its rightful new wielder. 

*     *     *

Link awoke to a gloom hand dragging him out of the alcove. He barely had time to orient himself before the hand threw him onto the ground. He spotted skeletal feet, and he lurched back in shock. His arms trembled from merely holding up his weight. 

Ganondorf stood before him, no longer bound to his throne. Panic pounded in Link’s skull. Did that mean he had collected his power? Were they out of time? 

“I’ve waited for far too long,” Ganondorf murmured in front of him. “That cursed princess… She is a fool if she believes that gathering the sages will accomplish anything,” he muttered. “Her and that arrogant Rauru… fools, both of them. They think they can come against me.” 

Exhaustion washed over Link, and his head sagged forward. His stomach cramped. Distantly, he wondered when the last time he had eaten was. 

A spindly hand grabbed his face in an iron grip and forced his head up. The touch burned. It seared through his skin and into his skull. His vision blurred from the pain. He couldn’t see anything but a bright, angry red that glowed before him. 

He faintly heard Ganondorf’s voice, but it sounded like he was far, far away. “I will show them the consequences of such foolish acts,” he growled. “I will show them how this war will end.” The red glow grew brighter. Link felt the gloom within him stir, and his body fell numb. He couldn’t even feel his panic anymore. 

The distinctive whoosh of a portal opening emanated from behind, and a gloom hand pulled him in. When it threw him back out, he landed on grass. His vision slowly cleared. 

It was dark. A cold wind played with his hair. His body moved on its own and jerkily clambered to its feet. He stood atop a hill, overlooking green hills and colorful leaves—yellow, orange, and brown. 

A dark red slowly encroached Link’s vision as the gloom broiled and surged within him. He could feel his consciousness fading. The last thing he saw before being entirely swallowed by gloom was a familiar quaint town built upon an isolated plateau. 

Chapter Text

When Sidon received his Sacred Stone, it amplified his ability so that he could now summon water of his own. No longer would he have to remain by a water source to use his power. It was limited, of course, but still powerful.

When Zelda and Sidon returned to Zora’s Domain, a feast was thrown in their honor. King Dorephan hosted it himself. With Mucktorok defeated, all those afflicted by the sludge had been healed. Not only that, but the waters had cleared, and all blemishes and stains from the sludge had vanished. The domain had returned to its prior beauty. 

The feast lasted well into the night. In fact, it was still ongoing, but Zelda had left a while ago. She could only bear to watch Sidon and his fiance dote on one another before it became too much. Now she sat at the peak of Ploymous Mountain. Mipha’s Statue, which had been moved to the newly erected court, stood behind her, glowing ethereal in the moonlight. 

The waterfall that had led Zelda and Sidon up to the Water Temple was still there, endlessly cascading down into the East Reservoir. Zelda watched its rushing waters. Clouds of mist puffed out from where it made contact with the still waters of the reservoir.

Her right arm, which rested in her lap, had gained another ring after Sidon had become the next Sage of Water. She now had three rings. Three sages. Three friends who had pledged their service to her and her cause. Distantly, she thought back to what Rauru had told her all those weeks ago back in Hebra. 

“You are not alone in this.” 

And he was right. She had the Rito, Gorons, and now the Zora with her. But even so, she still felt so achingly alone. Link was supposed to be at her side, both as her appointed knight and as her… friend. 

In her lap, her hands clenched into fists. Her nails cut into her palms, wrinkling the leather from her fingerless gloves. Before the festival, she had changed out of the Zora armor and back into the familiar comforts of her Hylian garb. 

The sound of footsteps came from behind. She whipped her head around and dropped her hood. Sidon walked towards her, dressed in ceremonial garb. Beautiful silver jewelry adorned his chest, head, and hips. But even with the new jewelry, Mipha’s trident still rested on his back. 

“Mind if I join you?” the Zora Prince asked. 

Zelda scooted over to make room. 

With a small smile, Sidon took Mipha’s trident off of his back and gently set it beside him as he sat down next to her and dangled his legs over the edge. The two of them sat there for a while, listening to the gentle trickle of water from the court and the light whistling of the night wind. If Zelda strained her ears, she could just make out the distant sounds of the feast down in the domain—the cheery music, the laughter. 

“It is a beautiful night,” Sidon murmured, finally breaking the companionable quiet. 

Zelda nodded silently. 

“My father spoke to me in private,” Sidon continued. “He wishes to pass the crown onto me, once the issues with the Upheaval have been resolved.” 

Zelda turned to Sidon. She expected him to be excited, perhaps a bit nervous, but he only looked morose. “Are you… happy about that?” she asked hesitantly. 

“Of course. I love my people, and I will gladly serve and lead them as their king, but…” he sighed. “Mipha would’ve been the one taking the crown, had she not…”

“...Oh,” Zelda murmured. She glanced over her shoulder at Mipha’s statue. From where they sat, she couldn’t see the statue’s face, but she knew its expression. Calm. Serene. 

“But, it is as Yona said. I can not linger in the past.” It was obvious that Sidon was trying to force cheeriness into his voice, but it fell flat. 

Zelda’s brow furrowed. She agreed with Yona, but… “Sidon,” she put a hand over Sidon’s, prompting him to look at her. “You can still grieve. You don’t have to completely move on. You can still mourn.” 

Sidon’s lip wavered, and he hastily turned away. He brushed a hand over his eyes. “A king needs to be strong,” he choked out. 

“Strong, yes, but he also needs to have heart.” She thought of Rauru’s despondent demeanor, his silent grief and pain-filled eyes. She thought of how he hid the moment the illusion mentioned his late wife. She wondered if Rauru was listening as she said, “you can not ignore your grief.” 

Sidon chuckled weakly. “You sound like Link. He always told me to not smile all the time. Not in a cruel way, of course. I think he meant that one should cry every once in a while. It was one of the first things he said to me. You can imagine my surprise.” He snorted. “I always told him that he should take his own advice. Have you ever seen him cry?” 

“Once, actually.”

“Really?”

Zelda nodded. She looked out over the reservoir, gaze lingering on the moonlight's reflection in the dark waters. “When he defeated the Calamity. He cried when we reunited, but I can hardly fault him for it. I was a sobbing mess when I was finally freed.” 

“Ah… of course,” Sidon chuckled. Zelda raised an eyebrow at him, and he nudged her playfully. “Of course he cried only when he reunited with you. I should’ve expected as much! He really cares about you. I would know.” 

Zelda felt her cheeks heat, and she quickly looked away. Now she was the one trying to subtly hide her face. “You can’t say things like that, Sidon,” she complained. 

Sidon let out a hearty laugh, and Zelda found herself smiling. 

Until reality returned to her. 

Her smile slipped from her face, and her eyes returned to the dark waters far, far below. In the night, and due to the distance, the reservoir looked nearly black. It looked infinite, like an abyss, or, Zelda thought bitterly, like the Depths. 

Sidon noticed the shift in mood, as he murmured a quiet, “I am sorry.” 

Zelda shook her head. “It is not your fault.” 

“We will find him,” Sidon promised. “I know we will.” 

Zelda didn’t have anything to say to that. A long quiet stretched between them. Despite her best efforts, Zelda’s lip trembled, and her eyes began to burn. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if she could physically hold herself together. “I’m scared,” she whispered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sidon turn to her. She closed her eyes and hunched in on herself. She couldn’t keep this in anymore. She couldn’t ignore it. “I’m so scared.” 

“You have every right to be, my friend.” Sidon replied. 

A shudder wracked her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her cries. She felt a cool hand on her shoulder, and she didn’t resist as Sidon pulled her into an embrace. 

“What if he’s dead?” Zelda choked out past her cries. “He could be dead, and we wouldn’t know.” 

“I do not have an answer,” Sidon said quietly, “but we can not lose hope. It is as Yona said. We must have faith in our friends.” 

“I do,” Zelda cried, “but I’m still terrified .” 

Sidon’s arms tightened around her. He did not have anything more to say. They stayed there for a moment longer, until her arm, partially blocked by the hug, flashed, and Rauru appeared. “Zelda,” he began. Zelda pulled away from Sidon to look at him, though Sidon kept a supportive arm around her. 

Rauru hovered barely an inch above the ground, giving the illusion of him actually standing upon it. He had his hands clasped in front of him, and his ears drooped. “Zelda,” he repeated. He inhaled and released a trembling breath. “I… I am so sorry,” he murmured, as if it were a confession. “I placed this burden upon you. I was unable to defeat Ganondorf, and so I willingly chose to pass that impossible task onto you, the Golden Princess, and onto your swordsman, Link.” 

Zelda got to her feet. She heard Sidon do the same behind her and she fully faced Rauru. “Don’t say that,” she said. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “Please don’t blame yourself, Rauru.”

“You are so very noble,” Rauru said. “You are strong both in heart and mind, and you… you don’t deserve this burden. Neither of you do.” 

“I willingly made my vow,” Sidon proclaimed. He stepped up to stand side-by-side with Zelda. “Whether or not you had a hand in the Demon King’s power, I would have always accepted my destiny.” 

Rauru’s eyes glimmered with near-invisible tears. He sounded choked up. “The fate of Hyrule is in very fortunate hands.” 

Zelda reached forward and took hold of Rauru’s hand. “I don’t want you to feel guilty about this,” she murmured. 

“I believe, in time, the sting of shame will fade,” Rauru replied. He squeezed Zelda’s hand. “Thank you, Zelda, Sidon. I—I am so very happy we were able to meet.”

Atop the peak of Ploymous Mountain, with Mipha’s statue overlooking a celebrating domain, the three of them—an ancient king, a golden princess, and a crown prince—embraced and held onto one another for courage and strength. And for a moment, just a moment, with the moon glowing in the sparkling night sky, its light reflecting and shimmering off of the Water Temple high above, Zelda felt as if everything would be okay. 

The next day, Zelda gave a reluctant goodbye to Sidon, Yona, King Dorephan, and the rest of the Zora and traveled back to Lookout Landing. When she arrived, she noticed that a few Gorons had taken up residence there. The fort was beginning to get quite crowded now with the different races joining the efforts, but Zelda could not be happier about it. It warmed her heart to see the people of Hyrule banding together. 

After checking in with Josha and Robbie, who were still studying the Depths and leading the search team for Link, Zelda went up to Purah’s lab. When she opened the door, she expected to see Purah furiously working away, and while the Sheikah scientist was bent over a table, she wasn’t scribbling away with a quill or sifting through hefty books. Instead, she had a single piece of parchment in her hand and a deep frown on her face. 

“Purah?” Zelda hesitantly greeted, shutting the door behind her. 

The Sheikah startled at her voice, and she slapped the parchment face down onto the table. “Princess! You’re back!” she exclaimed. “How’s the situation over at Zora’s Domain?”

“Everything’s sorted out,” Zelda told her, eying the parchment.

“Good, good! I’m glad to hear that. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Gorons are here to help us now. Yunobo was in contact with me the other day, and he told me that he’s set up a search team himself to scour the Eldin region for Link. He really is a—” 

“Purah…” Zelda interrupted gently. She took a few steps forward. As she neared, Purah snatched the parchment and hid it behind her back. Dread bubbled in Zelda’s gut. “Purah, what’s that parchment?” she asked. “Did something happen?” 

The Sheikah avoided her gaze and nervously gnawed on her lip. Zelda leaned forward and kept her eyes trained on Purah until she finally relented. She let out a sigh and handed the parchment to Zelda. “We received this just yesterday,” she said. 

Zelda read through it. Her heart sank with every word. It was a letter from Tarrey Town. A distress message. A call for help. 

“I’ve already sent out some Rito, as well as some of our soldiers from the Monster Crew,” Purah went on. “I didn’t want to tell you right away because…” 

Zelda read the last few words on the message. Her heart sank all the way to her boots. “Link is leading the force of monsters,” she read. She lifted her eyes from the scribbled words on the page. “The illusion?” 

“It would seem so,” Purah replied with a sigh, “but the people of Tarrey Town don’t know it’s an illusion. For all they know, Link is actually the one attacking them.” 

Zelda dropped the letter onto the table and pulled out the Purah Pad. “Woah there, Princess,” Purah exclaimed. She put a hand on the pad and pushed it down. “I told you, I already sent Rito and Hylians there to aid them—” 

“I’m going, Purah,” Zelda snapped. She took a step back. “I have to see this for myself. I have to tell them that it’s just an illusion. Not only that, but I need to help them! They’re my people, Purah!” 

Purah sighed. “I know. And I know that I can’t stop you. Just remember… it’s not actually Link, okay? Whatever you see over there… It wasn’t him.” 

Zelda, focused on the pad, nodded distractedly. “Of course.” 

“And Zelda, please be safe,” Purah added. “This is different from what we’ve seen before. Monsters have never done a coordinated attack like this, especially not on full-on towns. This is the illusions doing, and we know now that the illusion is intelligent. Watch yourself, alright?” 

Zelda gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. The illusion already deceived me once. I won’t let it happen again.” 

She selected the Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower—the closest tower to Tarrey Town—and vanished in a flurry of strands of light. When she next opened her eyes, she was standing at the tower overlooking the region of Akkala. 

Akkala had always been, in Zelda’s opinion, the most beautiful of all the regions. It consisted of rolling green hills, Lake Akkala that glimmered a deep navy blue, the coastline, and swathes of colorful forests. No matter the time of year, the leaves were always red, yellow, and orange. The forests gave the illusion of swirls of fire burning in wild green. 

And, of course, was the Akkala Citadel—a behemoth of a fortress built over a mountain. Stone walls covered the rock like a shell. For a long time, the fortress had been thought to be indestructible, untouchable, but the Calamity had proven otherwise. In that fateful attack, the citadel had been the Hyrulean Army’s final stand. 

Once a proud fortress, the citadel was now but a grave. 

From where Zelda stood, the citadel was behind her. She could practically feel its presence, but she ignored it. Her eyes darted to the little plateau where Tarrey Town would normally glitter both in daylight at moonlight, but now, with the sun shining overhead, she could only see smoke. 

Without hesitation, she pulled out her paraglider and leapt off of the mountain. As she glided closer to the town, the extent of the damage became clear. 

Nearly half of the homes were reduced to smoldering piles of blackened wood. The entrance gate had fallen, and the small statue of the Goddess had been tipped over. It now remained stuck upside down in the fountain, face submerged in the shallow water. Scorch marks marred the ground and the remaining homes, and shards of weapons and rubble lay scattered about. 

As Zelda landed amidst the rubble, bile rose in her throat. Tarrey Town looked like Castle Town when it had been ravaged by the Calamity. She could still remember the screams. She could still feel the ground rumble. She could still smell the smoke that had clogged the air. 

“Princess!” A voice called from behind. 

Zelda whipped around and drew her Zonai sword on instinct. Towards the back of the town, (as the homes were built in a circle around the edges of the plateau,) a hand stuck out of one of the remaining homes. It waved back and forth at her. She hesitantly made her way towards it and noticed that the rest of the homes had been boarded up. 

“Princess, quick, get inside!” the voice belonging to the hand exclaimed. It sounded familiar—low, gruff, and slightly monotone. 

“Hudson?” Zelda guessed. 

There was a loud scraping sound from inside of furniture being dragged aside before the door swung open. Hudson and Rhondson stood in the doorway. They looked worse for wear. Their hair was disheveled, and there were tears and burns on their clothes. Zelda had never seen Rhondson look so dirty. She held her appearance to a high standard, both from her nature as a tailor and a Gerudo. 

Behind them, more townsfolk crowded in the home. Zelda recognized all of them. After the Calamity, she and Link had visited Tarrey Town often. Link was very fond of the place, as he helped found it and built it up. He had invited people from all of the other regions to help populate the freshly built homes. There were Zora, Gorons, Rito, and, with Rhondson and her and Hudson’s young daughter, Gerudo. 

“What happened here?” Zelda asked as Rhondson pulled her in. Hudson pushed a bookshelf back in place to barricade the door. 

“We’ve been attacked by monsters,” one of the townsfolk answered. 

“It’s a horde!” another exclaimed. 

“Link is leading them!” another called out. A wave of murmurs drifted amongst the crowd at that. The majority of them looked scared and sad, but a few looked furious. 

“We’ve been trying to fend the monsters off,” Hudson said, “but there are too many of them. Their attacks are organized, and they… I—I hate to admit it, Princess, but they really are being led by Link. I don’t know what’s going on.” 

Zelda shook her head. “No, no, there’s an explanation,” she said hastily, waving her hands. She turned to the gathered townsfolk and raised her voice. “People of Tarrey Town, please listen. I’ve come here to aid you after Lookout Landing received your distress message. I have also come with an explanation. The Link you’ve been seeing… he is an illusion.” 

“An illusion?” someone echoed. “But how?” 

“That’s not possible!” another argued. 

Everyone started to collectively speak, voices rising. Most of them sounded afraid, but a few were angry. Zelda had to shout to be heard over them. “It’s true! I have seen this illusion before, as have many others. It is a creation of malice, of gloom! It came from the Upheaval!” She hesitated to inform the townsfolk of the Demon King; she didn’t want to cause mass panic. 

Hushed whispers bounced back and forth between the townsfolk, until one voice spoke up, coming from a man who shoved his way in front of the crowd. “He’s no illusion!” he said sharply. He was shirtless, but bloodied bandages were wrapped around his torso. He had a cane that he heavily leaned against, not because of age, but because of his injuries. Zelda remembered his name to be Hagie. “I confronted him when the town was first attacked. Tackled him right onto the ground! And he stabbed me! He can’t be an illusion, Princess, because I could touch him!”

Zelda held up her hands in a placating gesture. Inside, her heart rushed about like a frightened rabbit, but she forced herself to remain outwardly calm. “It is not a typical illusion,” she said. “It’s a sort of creature, an intelligent creature, that can change its appearance. I assure you, it is not Link.” 

Hagie didn’t immediately argue, but he glared at her. Link would’ve probably snapped at him, but Zelda couldn’t blame him. His town had just been destroyed by the hero who had helped in its creation. Everyone here, not just Hagie, were confused, hurt, scared, and angry. 

“Link or not, we’re still getting attacked,” Rhondson pointed out, her arms crossed. “They’ve been coming almost every hour, and I doubt they’ll stop now.” 

“Then we’ll fight them off,” Zelda said firmly. 

“We’ve tried that!” someone exclaimed. “We’ve been fighting them, but we don’t stand any chance against the illusion.” 

“I’ll deal with the illusion,” Zelda claimed. “I have dealt with it before. Please, trust me on this.” 

Another wave of murmurings washed over the crowd. Hudson and Rhondson shared a glance. Zelda noticed their daughter rush up to them and grab Rhondson’s leg. The Gerudo picked her up and held her close. 

“I promise you, I will not let any harm befall you,” Zelda promised. “Not anymore.” 

She didn’t know if it was a promise she would be able to keep, but by the goddesses above, she was going to try. 

Glances were exchanged, more mutterings were passed around, until finally, the crowd came to a collective agreement. They all nodded to her and said some variation of “okay,” and “we’ll help.” 

Zelda’s heart warmed. “Thank you. Who can still fight?” 

Seven hands went up, including Hudson and Hagie. He raised his hand until one of the women stepped forward and pushed his hand back down with a shake of her head. That left six. Zelda internally winced. Those weren’t good odds. 

“Thank you, all,” she said. “Arm yourself, please. Use anything you can find,” she ordered, injecting as much authority into her voice as she could. The people obeyed and quickly moved about the house to do as she asked. When she saw Fyson, the Rito, struggling to find a weapon, she handed off her wooden bow and quill of arrows to them. She much preferred fighting only with a sword, anyway. 

She turned to Rhondson and Hudson, who now held a large hammer from his tool belt. “How many monsters have there been? How big is this horde?” 

Hudson and Rhondson shared a glance. “It’s… big, your highness,” Rhondson said grimly. “I would say there have been about… twenty monsters?”

“Describe them, please. What kind of monsters?” 

“The majority of them are bokoblins,” Hudson answered. “Mostly orange, but a few of them are blue. From what I can remember, there were about five moblins and one boss bokoblin. But that one didn’t join the fight. I remember it stayed in the back, on the outskirts of the battle near Link, or… the illusion of Link.” 

“It looked like the boss bokoblin was almost… protecting the illusion,” Rhondson said hesitantly. “Hagie was able to attack it, yes, but he was forced to retreat when the illusion… retaliated and when the boss bokoblin charged him.” She sighed. “He barely made it out of there alive.” 

“Hudson!” A voice shouted from the upper floor of the home. “They’re back! They’re back!”

The townsfolk all froze for one second before they all erupted in frantic movement. The five, excluding Hudson, that volunteered to fight shouldered their way through the crowd to the front of the home. They all wielded various weapons and wore makeshift armor. Of them Zelda recognized Greyson, the Goron who clutched a giant hammer, and Fyson, the Rito who now wielded her bow and arrows. 

From the upper floor, the voice continued to yell. “It’s the horde! Lots of bokoblins, a few moblins, and the boss bokoblin!” 

“Can you see Link?” Hudson shouted back. 

There was a moment's pause before, “No, I can’t!” 

“He’ll probably turn up later,” Rhondson murmured. 

“Good,” Zelda said, her grip tightening on her sword. “I’ll confront it when it appears.” 

The bookshelf blocking the door was dragged aside. It made a horrible screeching noise as it scraped the wooden floor. The five with weapons, now with Hudson and Zelda, gathered at the door and, with a preparatory inhale, burst out of the home. 

The noonday sun blinded Zelda for a few seconds, but when her eyes adjusted, they widened at the sight of the monster horde. There were plenty of bokoblins, all of them scrambling across the stone bridge, waving clubs and rusted swords in the air. Behind them lumbered the moblins, and behind them stood the boss bokoblin. The giant monster raised its horn and blew into it. The bokoblins and moblins roared and screeched in response. 

The people of Tarrey Town responded with their own shouts and cries, and the two sides clashed. Zelda stabbed her sword into the first red bokoblin that rushed up to her and disarmed the other with Ultrahand. The fight quickly dissolved into chaos, and she lost sight of the other townsfolk. Still, she pushed on, fighting her way through the horde to get to the boss bokoblin. Rauru warned her of any stray attacks as she recklessly shoved her way through. 

One moblin swung its massive club at her, and she caught it with Ultrahand. She tore the weapon from the monster’s meaty hand and swung the club through the crowd of monsters in front of her. They all went flying into the one beside them, quickly dissolving into a tangled pile of limbs and weapons. She hurried past them, deeper into the horde.

As she sliced the neck of another bokoblin, she thought she saw a flash of blue. Her head whipped towards it, and her eyes caught Link’s. He had been confidently striding across the bridge, rusted sword in hand, but once he made eye contact with her, he froze in the middle of the bridge. Just like the other times Zelda had seen him, he was dressed in his Champion’s Leathers, and his right arm was completely bandaged. 

Zelda harshly shook her head. No, that wasn’t Link. It wasn’t . It was the illusion—the trickster. 

With a cry, she charged forward. A blue bokoblin tried to lunge at her, but she easily sidestepped the attack. The illusion took a hesitant step back, then another, before turning tail and sprinting away. 

“No!” Zelda shouted, reaching out a hand, only to yank it back when a massive wooden club slammed down onto the ground inches from face. She found herself face to face with a blue moblin. It let out a gurgling roar, its long, disgusting snout waving back and forth. Its bright orange tongue lolled out of its mouth and flicked spittle in her face. 

From the Purah Pad on her hip, Zelda dismissed her Zonai sword and summoned her Zora spear that had the electric lizalfos horn for its blade. “Get out of my way,” she snarled, and lunged forward. 

The moblin tried swinging at her again, but its movements were slow and clumsy. She evaded the attack and jabbed her spear into its side. She didn’t need to aim for anything vital, as the electricity within the horn took effect immediately. It completely immobilized the moblin. With a grunt, she sank the spear further into its gut. She didn’t wait for its body to puff into smoke before she chased after the illusion. 

She could see it standing in the middle of the natural rock bridge. It stared at her, standing as stiff as a statue. Zelda stepped out onto the bridge, but she couldn’t make it any further before the boss bokoblin blocked her path. Its lumbering mass completely took up the bridge. 

Zelda gritted her teeth in frustration. “Rauru, keep the illusion in your sight,” she said under her breath. 

Her right arm flashed bright green in response, and Rauru appeared a moment after. “I’ll alert you if it runs or vanishes,” he promised before flying off. 

The boss bokoblin let out a booming roar. That was all the warning Zelda got before its club came swinging at her horizontally. She stumbled back, caught off guard, and the tip of the club whacked into her chest. She choked on a breath as she was thrown back. She harshly landed on the ground, and she rolled a few times from the momentum. She had dropped her spear, which now lay on the ground between her and the boss bokoblin. 

“Ow,” she muttered. With a groan, she shakily got to her feet. Her chest ached, no doubt bruised already. She summoned a hearty elixir and downed it as anger boiled within her. This monster, all of the monsters, had attacked an innocent village. Tarrey Town was supposed to be quiet and quaint, removed from the conflicts and business of Central Hyrule. It was a safe haven and one of Link’s proudest accomplishments. This horde had ruined that. The Demon King had ruined it. Zelda’s nails dug into her palms. 

She sprinted at the boss bokoblin, snatching the spear on her way. The monster hadn’t moved from its place, obviously reluctant to abandon its post. It tried to swing at her with its club, but Zelda caught its weapon with Ultrahand. The Zonai technology, represented by a green outline around the club, held it in place as she jabbed her spear into the monster’s bulbous belly button. Electricity cascaded along the boss bokoblin’s red skin, causing it to fall onto one knee and seize. Before the electricity dissipated, Zelda, using its bent knee like a springboard, jumped up, traded out her spear for her sword, and plunged the blade right into the monster’s face. 

A pained growl gurgled from the boss bokoblin’s throat before it vanished in a puff of vile smoke. Zelda, no longer on top of it, deftly dropped to the ground. Panting, she whirled around, and her eyes narrowed onto the illusion. It was still frozen in the center of the bridge. In the corner of her eye, she spotted Rauru hovering near one of the ruined buildings.

With her path clear, she stalked towards the illusion, knuckles white around the hilt of her sword. She hated seeing this thing again, seeing it wear Link’s face. It had tarnished his name, had made the people of Tarrey Town that Link so loved fear him, hate him. 

She didn’t even know if it was possible to get rid of an illusion entirely, as it had reappeared even after using her sacred power on it, but she swore in Hylia’s name that she was going to try. 

She expected the illusion to turn and run again or disappear as she approached, but it did neither. It just kept staring at her, face impassive, body stiff. It didn’t move even when Zelda got close enough to see its red eyes, close enough to see the clouds of gloom-like smoke that puffed out of its mouth at every breath. 

She stopped a few feet away. This was… strange. She thought the illusion would’ve started mocking her by now or, Hylia forbid, started acting like Link, as if she didn’t already know the truth. 

Rauru glided up beside her, but she kept her eyes trained on the illusion. Its fingers twitched, then its hands, before it took a jerky, hesitant step back. It looked like it was struggling to control its own body. 

As Zelda stared into the illusions red, malice-like eyes, she felt something deep within her spark. It was warm, powerful, and familiar. After years, she had only felt it one other time—when she had first eliminated this illusion in the Depths. She grabbed onto the spark before it could fizzle out, determination thrumming in her heart. 

The illusion suddenly stumbled backwards like a newborn colt. Its hands flew up to its head and grasped at its blond hair. Its face screwed up in pain, and it violently shook its head, as if trying to dislodge something. The puffs of gloom from its mouth came quicker, as if its breath were racing. Its clothes changed, flashing between red and blue, red and blue. 

Zelda faltered. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing. In the flickers, it almost looked like the illusion was wearing a… Yiga’s uniform?

“Rauru…?” she said hesitantly, instinctively leaning away from the illusion.

From behind the illusion, a pool of gloom appeared from the ground. Behind Zelda, she heard multiple shrieks from bokoblins, and she turned to see the pig-like monsters rushing towards her, ignoring the townsfolk that were behind them. The townsfolk, from the quick glance Zelda got of them, looked relatively fine. They chased after the bokoblins, weapons raised. 

Simultaneously, the pool of gloom expanded, forcing Zelda to take a step back. From the gloom, a skeletal hand made of the vile substance rose. A single, blazing orange eye stared at her from its palm. She reeled back in shock and disgust. “Great Hylia!” she cursed. 

The hand lunged forward and grabbed the illusion of Link, whose eyes suddenly sprung wide open. Its eyes were blue, and they looked… afraid? Its mouth opened as if it were about to shout, but not a single sound escaped its lips before the hand pulled it back and down into what looked like a vortex. The illusion disappeared, as did the gloom hand, and finally, the pool of gloom followed. 

Zelda stared at where the illusion had been pulled into the vortex, dumbfounded. There were no signs that it or the gloom hand had ever been there. 

“Zelda!” Rauru cried in warning. 

Zelda whipped around just in time to avoid a crude, rusted sword from cutting her head off. The bokoblin wielding the weapon screeched at her. Zelda shook her head and forced herself to focus. That flicker of her power was long gone, but she didn’t need it to handle the rest of these monsters. She could worry about whatever that was after Tarrey Town was freed. 

*     *     *

Link came too down in the cavern. Feeling rushed through his body, and his eyes snapped open with a gasp. He couldn’t stop himself from crumbling to his hands and knees. His body ached . His breath heaved, visible due to the smoky gloom. 

“Curse that Golden Princess!” A voice growled. Ganondorf. Link glanced up to see the demon pacing back and forth. He was still off of his throne, leaving a wake of smoky gloom, and positively fuming. “Curse her sacred power! Curse her, curse it all!” 

Link dropped his head to stare at the stone beneath him, unable to keep holding it up. Thick, smoky gloom curled around his hands and knees, kicked up like dust that had been previously settled on the floor. 

He struggled to remember the attack. After overlooking Tarrey Town, the gloom had taken control, and he hadn’t been aware. It was like he had been underwater, but then, at some point, his head had surfaced, beckoned by something familiar. 

It had been just a hint of something warm, like a flickering spark. It had felt exactly like when Zelda had reached out to him to awaken him from the Shrine of Resurrection. For a moment, just a brief moment, everything—the pain, the red, the muffled sound—fell away. 

He had gasped for fresh air, and he saw her. Zelda. She had been there—right there! Just a few paces away, weapon in hand, dressed in a Hylian tunic, gaping at him in shock. But just as quick as it had come, the moment was dashed when a hand grabbed him and yanked him into a portal. 

Now he was here. But back in Tarrey Town, he had felt Zelda’s power—and he knew it was hers, as he had seen her standing right before him! 

And for the first time ever since he had fallen into the Depths, Link felt hope—powerful, clear, bright hope—swell within him. His hands, still holding him up, curled into fists, knuckles scraping against the stone. 

Zelda was alive. She was up on the surface fighting for Hyrule. And finally, after years , her power had returned to her. It wasn’t gone. 

Resolve settled in Link’s heart. He wouldn’t stop fighting. He couldn’t . 

In front of him, Ganondorf paced, leaving flurries of gloom in his wake. Link forced himself to his feet. Ganondorf’s head snapped to him. “Think yourself defiant now, do you?” he growled. His skin, pulled taut over his skeletal form, twisted in fury. He took a threatening step forward, but Link held his ground. “What you felt up there was nothing . If your Golden Princess could really wield her power, then you wouldn’t be here.” 

Ganondorf’s stone flared with a dark, red light, and Link felt the gloom within him surge. His body stiffened involuntarily. “Your princess is a failure,” Ganondorf snarled. “As are you. It is infuriating that the prophecy only brought me a useless princess and a pathetic knight.” 

Link’s eyes narrowed. His right arm pulsed in pain, but its aching had long grown familiar to him. Fury pumped in his chest right alongside his heart. Zelda was far from useless. Before the Calamity, even before she had awakened her power, she had been nothing but strong. She had persisted even in the face of repeated failures. 

And once the Calamity raged across the land, she faced the horrid beast with nothing but her power. She marched right back to the castle, coated in smoke and ash, completely and utterly alone, and she had sealed herself away with Calamity Ganon. There, she remained for one-hundred years, a century , holding back the behemoth until Link recovered. 

Even after that, after the Calamity’s defeat, she never shirked her duties. She never shied away from challenge nor from failure. And while she had accomplished a great many things, that wasn’t what Link admired about her. No, he admired her bravery, her determination even when she felt afraid, even when she felt inadequate. 

Her heart was so incredibly strong, and that was what Link loved. 

All of this and more burned within Link as he fought and wrestled with the gloom within him. He strained against its hold, and suddenly, like the snap of a branch, his hand twitched. The angry glow of Ganondorf’s stone faltered. Link’s other hand followed, then his face, and he grinned on his own accord. He smiled up at the man powerful enough to raise a castle into the air. 

Ganondorf’s face collapsed into hatred, and his hand snapped through the air. He gripped Link’s hair. “Your defiance means nothing,” he seethed, orange eyes blazing with loathing. “I will make you pay. I’ll make all of them pay!” The gloom within Link fell dormant, but before he could regain his composure, Ganondorf dragged him by the hair and threw him into the alcove. 

Pain washed over him, and Link scrambled to his feet just as the gloom wood sealed him within. Even with the wood separating them, he still heard Ganondorf raging within the cavern. 

“ I’ll make them pay! ” he shouted, voice muffled by the wood. 

Link stepped back until his back hit the stone wall, and he let himself sag to the ground. His whole body protested at the movement, but he could hardly care. He had moved . While under the control of gloom, he had moved both of his hands. That was more than he could have ever thought to accomplish before. The gloom, Ganondorf’s power, had always felt so overwhelming, but now… with having felt Zelda’s light, and from having moved on his own free will, it didn’t seem so all-powerful. 

Yes, Ganondorf’s anger was terrifying—it felt like a living, breathing creature, wild and untamed—and yes, his heart raced in his chest like a spooked horse, but he couldn’t keep the grin off of his face. He let out a breathless, near-silent laugh, and rubbed a hand over his face. 

This wasn’t hopeless. As long as Zelda fought on the surface above, he could too. 

*     *     *

With both the illusion of Link and the boss bokoblin gone, the remaining monsters were disorganized in their attack. While it wasn’t easy, the townsfolk and Zelda were able to exterminate the rest of the monsters. They didn’t let a single one escape for fear of them returning stronger. 

By the end of the battle, the sun had begun its descent towards the horizon, and a chilled, evening breeze had picked up to clear away the smoke and dust. Storm clouds gathered in the distance. 

No one was fatally injured or killed in the attack, thank Hylia, though there were plenty of injuries to go around. The townsfolk hiding in the remaining houses came pouring out once all of the monsters had been cleared away, and they treated the wounded. Zelda brewed more hearty elixirs with the monster parts from the battle for the more grievous injuries. 

Once everyone was treated, Zelda promised Hudson that, once she returned to Lookout Landing, she would send volunteers to help rebuild Tarrey Town and to defend it from any further monster attacks. Hudson and Rhondson thanked her profusely, as had the other townsfolk when Zelda said goodbye to them. It hurt that Tarrey Town had been so heavily damaged, but Zelda could only thank the Goddess that no one was fatally harmed. 

With one last goodbye to Hudson, she teleported back to Lookout Landing. She pulled Purah aside immediately. Once they made it into her lab, she locked the door. Night had fully fallen, and a light rain had begun outside. 

“Zelda? What is this about?” Purah asked, fixing her glasses. 

“Tarrey Town is okay,” Zelda began. “We were able to drive away the monsters. No one was seriously injured. And during the battle, I saw the illusion, and I—I felt it.”

Purah’s eyes widened. Zelda didn’t even need to say it. “Your power!” she exclaimed. “You felt your power?” 

“Yes. It was just a spark, barely anything, but it was there.” 

“That’s great news!” Purah exclaimed. “How did it happen?”

Zelda faltered. Anxiety thrummed in her chest. Ever since the attack, she couldn’t stop thinking about those few precious seconds in which the illusion reacted to her power. She couldn’t get the image of Link’s horrified face out of her mind as the hand yanked him into that portal. 

“I cornered the illusion,” she started hesitantly. “That’s when I felt my power. And the illusion… it reacted to it. It looked like it was in pain, and then it… it looked afraid.” 

“Of course it would be afraid,” Purah said. “It probably felt your power, your sacred power of light that can banish all evil . It probably recognized you as a real threat.” 

“This felt different,” Zelda argued. “A portal opened up with some sort of gloom hand, and when the hand pulled the illusion into the portal, it looked so scared. Why would it look frightened by its retreat?” 

She started to pace. A horrible thought popped into her mind. What if that had really been Link? What if that had been her last chance to save him? She tried to reason that thought away. That was impossible. Malice and gloom couldn’t possess a living being. That would kill them.

With a flash of pale green light, Rauru appeared. He set a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her from pacing. “I am sure there is a reasonable explanation,” he murmured. 

From behind him, Purah nodded. “The fear from its supposed retreat could’ve come from a variety of reasons—your power, the Demon King… we can’t panic over that split second of emotion you saw from the thing. And besides, the more pressing matter is your power , Zelda. You finally felt it again after all these years! You think it’s fully returning to you?” 

“Possibly.” Zelda sighed, “but it was barely anything. I… I don’t want to get my hopes up.” 

“But it is your power to bear,” Rauru said. “It is intrinsically tied to you. You’re the Golden Princess.” 

“I’ve struggled with it my whole life, Rauru,” Zelda said morosely. “Before, it was supposed to awaken within me to seal the Calamity away, but… it didn’t come until Link was already… gone.” 

Rauru’s head tilted to the side. “In the Shrine of Resurrection?” he asked.

Zelda’s heart twisted. Painful memories flickered in her mind. She so clearly remembered the moment when she felt the life leave Link’s body. She remembered the way he had sagged in her arms, completely limp. 

Purah stepped forward. “Rauru, Link… fell during the battle at Fort Hateno.” 

Rauru’s eyes widened. “You mean…” 

“He died,” Zelda said flatly, eyes trained on the floor. Overhead, the rain pittered and pattered on the roof of the lab. “That’s why he was sent to the Shrine of Resurrection. He died because my power didn’t awaken in time. He died defending me.”

“Woah, woah, Zelda,” Purah interrupted, waving her hands, “we’ve talked about this. What happened that day… It wasn’t your fault.” 

Zelda pursed her lips and didn’t say anything. She had been told that multiple times from multiple people. Link had been the most insistent, but even so, she could never quite shake her guilt. Her failure to awaken her power in time would forever haunt her. 

Beside her, Rauru had fallen quiet. Zelda’s eyes skirted around the lab. Somewhere in here, Purah had safely stored Rauru’s Sacred Stone. It was here, waiting for her to take hold of it and accept her role and duty as the Sage of Light. 

And what excuse did she have now to deny it? She had felt her power multiple times now. She had called upon it. 

But even still, doubts nagged at her. What if the stone didn’t do anything for her? What if it rejected her? What if the stone amplified her power to such an extent that it fully consumed her? 

“Gerudo Town,” she said abruptly. She couldn’t think about all of this—her failure with the Calamity, the Sacred Stone… She needed to focus on the next step. “I’ll go there next. Do you have any information about the phenomenon there?” 

Purah gave her a look, one Zelda was quite acquainted with. She knew that the Sheikah would bring up her guilt later. Rauru was also giving her a look, one that told Zelda that he knew she was purposefully avoiding the Sacred Stone. 

Fortunately, both of them decided to move on for now. Purah turned to the map of Hyrule spread out on the table. “We’ve been receiving reports of new monsters called Gibdos, but that’s about it. There’s a massive sand shroud, making any kind of communication rather difficult. Though, near Gerudo Canyon, we have received lots of reports about extreme weather and temperature. Scorching hot in the day, freezing cold at night.” 

Peering at the map, Zelda nodded. “I’ll travel to the tower there—” 

“ Tomorrow ,” Rauru interrupted, his voice firm. “You need rest.” 

“That’s just what I was going to say!” Purah exclaimed. “I knew I liked you, Mr. Zonai.”

Zelda huffed and turned away from the map. She wanted to go there now, to focus on the next thing to prevent all of her guilt and fear and doubt from overwhelming her, but she knew just how stubborn Purah was, and Rauru’s gaze had turned pleading. “Fine,” she sighed.

Tomorrow, she told herself. I’ll leave at first light tomorrow.  

Chapter Text

The Gerudo Canyon Skyview Tower was built atop a high plateau. It gave Zelda a clear view of the entire desert. Just as Purah had said, a massive cloud of sand covered nearly the entire desert. She couldn’t see Gerudo Town through the shroud, but fortunately, Kara Kara Bazaar, an oasis set in between the canyon and the town far out in the desert, was settled just on the fringe of the shroud. She could see the bazaar quite clearly, even more so thanks to the makeshift lighthouse—a skinny tower with a big light strapped to its top. 

Overhead, the sun beat down on her mercilessly. It was quite early in the morning, but the heat was already unbearable. Wiping sweat off of her forehead, Zelda used her other hand to summon a chilly elixir from the Purah Pad. Before leaving Lookout Landing, she had stocked up on multiple chilly and spicy elixirs to combat the extreme temperatures. She had also replenished her stock of hearty elixirs, of course. 

She downed the elixir. The blue liquid was cold, and she could feel it rush down her throat and spread throughout her body. It cooled her down significantly that, even with her long-sleeved tunic, trousers, and boots of her Hylian clothes, the desert’s heat no longer had any effect on her. 

“Thank you, elixir,” she muttered under her breath before fishing out her paraglider from the pad. She had about fifteen minutes before its effects would wear off. Hopefully, by then, she would be in Gerudo Town, where she would be protected by the desert’s harsh climate. 

She leapt off of the plateau and unfurled her paraglider. She kept her eyes trained on the yellow light within Kara Kara Bazaar. She wouldn’t be able to glide all the way to Gerudo Town with how far into the desert it was, but she would be able to make it to the bazaar. 

By the time she finally touched down into the bazaar, her arms felt sore. She rolled her shoulders as she walked into the oasis, wincing as her muscles twinged. Link had always made paragliding look so easy. She glanced around the bazaar and ignored the twinge in her heart at the thought of Link.

The bazaar was built around a pond of water. It was made up of various tents and stalls, each decorated with colorful fabric. At the far end of the pond stood a stone building that acted as both a storage unit and a watchtower. It was on top of that building where the makeshift lighthouse had been built. 

Near the water, a natural coolness wafted from the waters. It was nature’s way of combatting the heat and, for now, the musty sand that swirled through the air. The sand shroud wasn’t covering the bazaar, as she had observed earlier, but it was still close by. 

Plenty of Gerudo and Hylian wandered about the bazaar. She even spotted a few Rito. She supposed the sand shroud wasn’t much of an issue for the bird folk, with their wings and all, but even so, the oasis was far emptier than it usually was. Multiple stands were empty. 

Despite recognizing a few of the people, she didn’t stop to say hello. She pulled her hood up to hide her face and hurried through the bazaar, eager to get to Gerudo Town as fast as possible. 

As she made her way, she spotted a group of three Hylian men looking very disgruntled. She guessed they had tried to get into Gerudo Town after hearing how luxurious the place was, only to be turned away by the guards at the gate. She never really understood the Gerudo’s rule of only allowing women into their town, but she supposed it made sense. There was only one male Gerudo born every hundred years. With them being all women, it was understandable that they would be adverse to men, or “voe,” as they were called in the Gerudo language. 

Before the Calamity, when Link acted as her appointed knight and she was still bitter towards him, she would often flee into the town to avoid him. There, she would spend her days with Lady Urbosa. Her heart ached at the thought of the late champion. Urbosa had been like a mother to her—steadfast, gentle, with a kind yet mischievous heart. 

During the Calamity, when she was trapped with Calamity Ganon in the castle, she was quite curious to see how Link would speak with the chief, Riju, when he could not enter the town. Much to her surprise, he had disguised himself as a girl and had trotted right in. It was quite amusing, really, to see him pitch his voice higher and try to act like a girl. Riju had, of course, seen right through him, but fortunately, after he appeased Vah Naboris, he was welcomed into the town as himself. 

As Zelda ventured away from Kara Kara Bazaar, the sand shroud worsened. It became much thicker, and she had to hold a hand to her face to avoid getting sand peppered in her eyes. Soon after, she could no longer see the bazaar behind her anymore with the shroud obscuring her vision. It wasn’t long before she lost her sense of direction. She had to call on Rauru so he could fly up above the shroud, pinpoint the direction, then guide her through it. His form gave off a faint, pale green light that acted as a guiding beacon. 

Eventually, her elixir wore off, and the desert’s heat immediately became oppressive and overwhelming. It felt as if it had a physical weight to it, only worsened by the sand in the air. Sweat formed on her brow, and she hastily summoned another chilly elixir and gulped it down. She had another fifteen minutes, now. When Rauru gave her a concerned glance, she gave him a thumbs up. She just needed to get to the town in fifteen minutes.

After a while of trudging through the sand, Rauru gave her a warning as she spotted a figure in the distance. At first, she thought it was a Hylian lost in the sand shroud, but she quickly realized that it definitely wasn’t. It was a monster, one that Zelda had never seen before. Rauru told her that it was one of those gibdo. Zelda hesitantly drew her sword and hesitantly approached it.

It noticed her near instantly, and she reeled back in disgust at the sight of it. It was vaguely humanoid, but its arms were long enough for its lanky hands to drag along the ground, and its torso was nothing but a skeletal spine. Its rib cage was visible in a similar fashion. Above that, it had two armor-like plates, almost like an insect carapace, and its face was flat with two pincers for a mouth and two glowing, white circles for eyes. 

It snapped its pincers and lumbered towards her. Thankfully, it was surprisingly slow. She relaxed slightly as it ambled towards her. These things, while terrifying and absolutely disgusting, didn’t seem to be too powerful. 

She lunged at it and swung her sword at its spine, intending to crush or cut it, but the blade harmlessly bounced off of the bone. Her eyes widened, and she barely had enough time to scramble back as the gibdo swung one of its clawed hands at her with an insect-like chitter. She backed away a few steps, breathing hard, and the gibdo merely continued to shamble towards her. 

She took back her previous statement. These things were powerful. 

She took another several steps back to maintain the distance between her and the monster. “Are these things invincible?” she asked Rauru, who hovered beside her, the sand and wind harmlessly passing through him. 

“I rarely saw these creatures in my era,” Rauru said. “Sonia and I only ever saw them in caves or sandstorms. From what I can remember, they are vulnerable to light.” 

“Light, hm?” Zelda hummed. The sand shroud was probably protecting them, then. From her Purah Pad, she traded out her sword for her spear. The electric horn sparked and crackled as she brandished it before her. 

The gibdo continued its approach, slowly but steadily, undeterred by the spear. Zelda took a deep breath before once again lunging at the thing. She jabbed her spear into its chest and, surprisingly, when the electricity surged, the monster's body went bone-white, and it let out a shriek. 

The electricity immobilized it, and Zelda tried stabbing it again. This time, the blade of her spear sunk into its carapace, and shortly after, the gibdo limply fell to the ground and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

“Aha! They’re weak to lightning!” Zelda exclaimed, a sense of accomplishment thrumming within her. 

“I suppose that makes sense,” Rauru commented. 

Zelda quickly glanced through the Purah Pad, hoping that she had picked up any other electric items or monster parts to fuse to more weapons, but she couldn’t find any. She tightened her grip on her spear and prayed that it wouldn’t break anytime soon. 

Rauru found the right direction, and they pressed onward. When Zelda tried to look at the map on the pad, the screen showed nothing but static. The shroud was blocking signals. She wouldn’t be able to fast travel anywhere or use the map. She thanked Goddess Hylia that she had Rauru with her. 

Time wore on. She didn’t know how long she had been trekking. Her elixir hadn’t worn off yet, fortunately, so it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes, but it felt like much longer. Her legs burned from sloughing through the deep sand, and her face stung from being repeatedly pelted by tiny bits of sand. Her mouth had gone dry as well. She had wrapped her hood around her face like a makeshift mask, but it didn’t do too much against the harsh elements. 

She sighed. She missed Zora’s Domain. There was plenty of water there.

After a few more minutes, Rauru’s form flickered, and he had to, reluctantly, rest in her arm for a while before he could continue to manifest. He pointed her in a direction and told to go in a straight line. She did so to the best of her ability, focusing on keeping her feet pointed straight ahead. 

Suddenly, her foot slipped downward. With a yelp, she threw herself back and landed in the sand on her behind. She hadn’t seen it before, thanks to the thick shroud, but a narrow canyon stretched across the ground in front of her. She had almost fallen into it. 

When in Hylia’s name did this get here? She got to her feet and hesitantly inched towards the edge. She peered down. She could see the bottom just fine; she wagered that the drop wasn’t more then ten feet. Some ruins were scattered about the bottom of the canyon, and a few gibdo wandered aimlessly. She shuddered and stepped back. She definitely wasn’t going to go down there. Link probably wouldn’t have hesitated, but she wanted to think about her options before blindly barreling ahead. 

The existence of this canyon concerned her. It hadn’t been there before the Upheaval. If something this large had appeared, not to mention the shroud itself and the gibdos, then what had become of Gerudo Town?

She forced herself to focus on the present moment and weighed her options. She could wait here until Rauru was reenergized, she could try crossing the canyon, or she could try walking around. After a few seconds of internal debate, she settled on trying to cross it. If she waited here, she would only waste her elixir, and if she tried walking around, she would likely end up lost. 

She scanned her surroundings, trying to see if there was anything she could use Ultrahand on to create a makeshift bridge, but she couldn’t find anything. A sigh heaved out of her chest as she realized what she would have to do—glide into the canyon and climb back out. 

Or—wait! She brightened. She could use Ascend! One of the canyon walls had a little inlet at the bottom. She could ascend up through that. With that plan in mind, she summoned her paraglider and glided into the rift. The gibdos noticed her and started shambling towards her, but she merely jogged up to the inlet and, using Ascend, swam up through the rock and popped out on the surface, now on the other side of the canyon. 

When she fully jumped out of the rock, leaving a trail of green light behind her, the stone beneath her began to give away. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she dove off of the rock and into the sand. She whirled around and frantically crawled backwards as a massive chunk of the rock broke off and fell into the canyon. It landed on the bottom of the rift with a deep, muted thump . 

“Great Hylia,” Zelda cursed under her breath. Maybe she shouldn’t have trusted the side of an old canyon that obviously didn’t have a secure base. 

Her right arm glowed as Rauru spoke. “Are you alright, Zelda?” 

She shakily got to her feet, not even bothering to try brushing the sand off of her. It was all over her now, and she could feel it inside of her clothes and her boots as well. “Um, yeah,” she said weakly. She turned around and hurried away from the canyon. “I’m wide awake now, if that’s what you were wondering.” 

She heard Rauru chuckle. “I’m glad to hear that, but please, watch your step.”

She snorted. “A bit too late for that warning, don’t you think?” 

There was a beat of quiet. “...Well, yes,” he finally agreed, sounding exasperated. Zelda laughed, more out of relief for avoiding the fall than anything. 

As she continued her trek, her elixir wore off. She downed another, but her supply was beginning to run low. She didn’t think it would take her this long to cross the desert. After a quick glance at the pad, she realized that she only had four left. That was an hour in total. Hopefully, she would get to the town in that amount of time.

*     *     *

Link only saw flashes. One moment a gloom hand wrapped its spindly fingers around his torso, the next he stood on a hilltop looking down on a stable. One moment he heard screams and shouts of panic, the next he saw and smelt burning wood. 

He did what he could to fight against it. Ganondorf was using his body again, parading him around to sow fear and destruction. He couldn’t tell where he was, nor who or what he was attacking, but he did everything in his power to try and prevent it. 

But it was difficult. He couldn’t feel anything—anything physical, that is. A heavy weight, as if he were filled with water, muffled all sensation. His other senses only returned to him in flashes—brief, random increments. 

Another flash. He recognized the Wetland Stable. Another flash. The wooden horse head built above all of the stables lay in a heap at his feet. Two men dressed in stable attire backed away from him, clutching bloodied arms and sides. Link stepped forward and, against his will, raised his sword. A surge of panic shot through him, and he strained against the gloom. He couldn’t hurt anyone—not again—! 

His arm stiffened, paused, just long enough for the two men to run away. After that, his mind sank under, and his world was reduced to a haze of red. Throughout it all, he could sense only a glowing happiness, almost giddiness, that radiated from the gloom within him. Throughout it all, he could only feel his cheeks aching from smiling against his will. 

*     *     *

Gerudo Town was abandoned. Zelda warily ventured in. The only sound came from the whistling of the wind, the pattering of dust and sand being thrown about, and from her own shaky breaths. Not only was the town empty, but it was in ruins. 

The stalls lined along the main road were broken and lying in heaps of snapped wood and ripped fabric. The roads and entrances of buildings were flooded with sand. The torches that once lit the town were tipped over, some smashed into splintered shards. Even a few of the palm trees that proudly grew in this oasis of a town were cut down, and the waterways were completely dried up—the blue, decorative stone cracked and worn. 

She found a few gibdo roaming the town, and while she made quick work of them with her electric spear, she felt no satisfaction in killing the horrid things—not when Gerudo Town, usually such a lively and colorful place, looked like this. “Hello?” she called out, her voice slightly muffled by her hood-turned-mask. She stepped into the main square of the town. One of her boots crunched on a branch from a fallen palm tree. 

“Hello?” she shouted again, louder this time. “Is anyone here?” 

A gibdo answered her call as it shambled out of a store. She dispatched it and continued to search the town. Rauru, fully rejuvenated, appeared to search the outskirts as Zelda made her way to the chieftains home—Riju’s home. She stopped before she could enter, however, as in the steps that led up to the palace, a large hole had opened up. It led to a tunnel that sloped downward. 

She cupped a hand around her mouth. “Rauru!” 

The Zonai flew through a wall and came to her side. “What is—oh.” He noticed the tunnel. “Do you not recognize this? It’s the entrance to the shelter.” 

Zelda blinked. “The Gerudo have an underground shelter?” 

“It seems they sealed up the entrance sometime after my era,” Rauru commented. He gestured to the way the hole in the stairs looked like it had been broken open. 

Rauru retreated into her right arm as Zelda hurried down the steps. Clouds of sand puffed up with every step. A relieved grin broke over her face when she spotted a Gerudo guard standing at the end of the tunnel. She guarded a circular stone door, and when she spotted Zelda, she fell into a defensive stance and brandished her spear. “Who goes there?” she barked. 

Zelda pulled her hood-mask down, and the guard immediately pulled her spear back. “Princess Zelda?” she exclaimed. 

“What is this place? Are the other Gerudo safe? Is Lady Riju safe?” She couldn’t help the slew of questions. Her apprehension from everything—the shroud, the gibdos, and now the state of the town, had been gnawing on her all day. 

“This is the Gerudo Shelter,” the guard answered, though she was obviously still reeling from the surprise visitor. “We retreated down here ever since the Upheaval. Did you receive our distress messages?”

“Only one,” Zelda answered. Her heart sank a little at that. This was the last region she had visited. As such, these people had suffered the longest. They seemed to have been fending for themselves just fine with the shelter, but she still felt guilty. She wondered what would have happened if she had left the other regions for this long. Would the Rito have starved? Would the illusion have harmed Yunobo and Goron City? Would have all of Hyrule’s waters gotten polluted? 

She internally shook herself. Focus on the problem at hand. “And Lady Riju?” she prompted. 

“She is at the Northern Ruins, Princess.”

Zelda immediately pulled out the Purah Pad and opened the map. Down here in the tunnel, protected from the sand shroud, the map was able to appear, though the image was a tad blurry, and it kept flickering and glitching. Still, she managed to find the North Gerudo Ruins. It wasn’t too far. 

She thanked the guard, who kept staring at her as if she were a ghost, before hurrying out of Gerudo Town. She fixed her hood into a makeshift mask, and, once again, Rauru acted as her guide. This time, she stayed on her guard, but she didn’t run into any more rifts or gibdos. She did have to drink another elixir, however, which left her with three more. 

A while later, she arrived at the ruins, which were a collection of stone pillars, arches, stairs, and platforms. As she stepped into the ruins, a sudden, deep boom rattled the ground. She flinched back in surprise. “Riju?” she shouted. She summoned her spear. “Lady Riju?” 

A sharp cry rang out, shortly followed by another boom . Zelda rushed towards the sound. That was Riju, she was sure of it!

She came around the corner of a ruin, and there stood the Chief of the Gerudo. Lady Riju wore her usual attire: a black skirt embroidered with hanging jewels, a plated chest piece, and a metal guard on each of her arms. Her red hair, cut to her shoulders, was grouped in sections held together by glittering, golden jewelry. Atop her head proudly rested the golden crown of the Gerudo.

A few years prior, she had just been appointed chief when Link came to her town to cleanse Divine Beast Vah Naboris. At that time, she had still been just a teenager, but she had proven herself capable in assisting Link. As Zelda watched from the castle, she couldn’t help but be reminded of Lady Urbosa. 

After the Calamity, it had been a tad awkward between her and Riju, as she and Link were already good friends while she was the outsider. That had been a common instance, in fact, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that she was the legendary princess from a century ago. 

Fortunately, she and Riju became fast friends. Zelda helped her grow into her role as chief, and in turn, she had taught her how to shield surf behind sand seals. At first, Zelda could barely stay on for more than a second, but with Riju’s help, she learned to master it. It was actually quite fun, if a little unstable. 

It wasn’t long before they saw each other as sisters. They had even cut their hair short together after an evening in the town.

Riju’s electric green eyes widened when she caught sight of Zelda. She had her dual swords out, but she slipped them into her decorative sheaths on her back as Zelda came towards her. “Princess Zelda!” she exclaimed, rushing forward. “You’re alive!” 

She grabbed Zelda into a hug, and Zelda let out a light laugh. Her and the chief weren’t actually too far apart in age. Riju was just a couple years younger than her, if one ignored the whole ‘is actually a hundred years old’ thing. 

Riju pulled away but kept her hands on her shoulders. Her eyes scanned her, as if she were making sure she was real, and she brushed some of the sand off of her shirt. “You look awful! What in Hylia’s name happened? I heard you and Link had disappeared beneath Hyrule Castle! How are you—and where’s…?”

Zelda gently took hold of her hands. “There is much I need to tell you,” she said, “but first… I—I saw Gerudo Town. What happened?”

Riju’s face fell, and her eyes darted away. “It was the Upheaval,” she began grimly. “We received word of Hyrule Castle rising into the sky—of you and Link disappearing. That was when the sand shroud came, along with the gibdos. Those horrible monsters attacked our town. We tried to fend them off, but our weapons proved useless against them.”

“They aren’t hurt by regular weapons,” Zelda said. “I encountered a few of them through the desert. I was only able to take them down with this.” She summoned her spear and showed her the electric horn used as the blade. 

Riju nodded knowingly. “Yes. They are weak against any elemental attack—fire, ice… and my lightning.” She glanced over her shoulder, and Zelda followed her line of sight. In the distance, a single training dummy had been set up. Black scorch marks surrounded it. Riju sighed. “I realized that my lightning is incredibly strong against them, and so I’ve been training with it. But I… I’m hardly accurate. I only recently discovered this power, as you may know.” 

“It’s from Lady Urbosa, isn’t it?” Zelda said quietly. 

“Yes.” 

Zelda swallowed. Not for the first time, she wondered if, given the opportunity, the champions would have been the sages. Each of them had unique abilities. Lady Urbosa had control over lightning. At the time, along with her status as chief, that had made her the perfect candidate to pilot Vah Naboris. And look where that had led her. 

“When I discovered that my lightning was effective against the gibdo, however, it was too late,” Riju continued. “We were forced to retreat into the shelter beneath the town. Ever since then, I’ve been training here, honing my ability. As you can see, I… I haven’t made much progress,” she huffed. 

She shook her head. “But enough about that. Zelda, you must tell me what happened to you and Link, as well as with the rest of Hyrule. With this sand shroud and the gibdos, we Gerudo haven’t been able to communicate with anyone outside of the desert.” 

With a preparatory inhale, Zelda told Riju everything. She told her about her and Link’s encounter with the Demon King, about Link’s disappearance, about the other regional phenomena that had been affecting the other regions of Hyrule, and she told her about the sages. It was at that point that she introduced her to Rauru, who proposed the idea of her being the Sage of Lightning. 

By the end of it, Riju’s brow was furrowed in deep thought. “Hm… I see,” she muttered. “So all of this is because of this ‘Demon King?’” she scowled at the name. “Well, then. I will be eager to help you in your efforts to destroy him. I would do anything for you and Link, Zelda. I’ll gladly take up the mantle as the Sage of Lightning, but first… we must find a way to get rid of this sand shroud. My people can’t survive for much longer without access to the rest of the desert and Hyrule.”

“Of course,” Zelda agreed. “I will do everything I can to help you and your people.” 

“If I may,” Rauru began, “the other regional phenomena were created by Ganondorf to keep the sages from receiving their Sacred Stones. It is only logical that this sand shroud was created for the same reason.” 

“Is there a temple where the Sacred Stone is being kept?” Zelda asked. 

Rauru nodded. “Yes. The Lightning Temple.” 

Riju gasped. “Wait! This Sacred Stone and the Lightning Temple… I’ve heard of it!” 

Zelda blinked in surprise. “Really?” 

“Within the Gerudo shelter, I found a mural hidden in one of the back rooms. It spoke of a ‘lightning stone.’ I didn’t think anything of it until now.” 

Rauru hummed in thought. “I’ve never heard anything about this mural. It must’ve been created after I sealed Ganondorf.” 

“Just like with the other sages, the Sage of Lightning must’ve hidden her Sacred Stone away in her temple to protect it,” Zelda said, “and she must’ve left the mural behind for the next sage.” 

“Then we must head to Gerudo Town immediately,” Riju proclaimed. 

Zelda turned, and Rauru disappeared into her right arm, but before they darted into the ruins, Riju caught her arm. Zelda glanced back, and the chief gave her a soft smile. Her vibrant green eyes shimmered with faint tears. “I—I’m glad you’re alright, Zelda,” she murmured. “I was terrified when I heard you and Link went missing.” 

Zelda’s heart twisted, and she pulled Riju into another hug. “I’m glad to see you alright as well,” she said softly. She pulled away and held up a fist. “We’ll make this right. I promise.” 

Riju nodded, and together, they rushed out of the ruins. Just as they stepped into the desert, the ground suddenly shook. In the distance, right where Gerudo Town was, three tornadoes sprung into the air. Zelda and Riju jumped back in shock. 

“Great Hylia!” Zelda cursed. 

Just as soon as they appeared, the tornadoes vanished into the sand shroud. “Oh, not again,” Riju muttered under her breath. She broke out into a sprint, and Zelda hastily followed after her. Rauru nearly reappeared to guide them back, but Riju seemed to already know her way, even with the shroud. Zelda supposed she would—not only did the Gerudo intimately know their desert, Riju herself had said she had come to the ruins multiple times to train. 

As they neared the town, Zelda spotted what had seemingly appeared from those tornadoes. Outside, near each entrance to the square-shaped town, a strange pillar of sand loomed. It was shaped like a mushroom, and in the “stem,” a purple bulge slowly pulsed with light like a heartbeat. They were tall, too. The “caps” of the pillars easily towered over the town. 

“What in Hylia’s name is that?” Zelda exclaimed, gaping. 

Riju stared up at the nearest mushroom-shaped pillar. “It’s a Gibdo Hive,” she said gravely. “There’s three of them. Oh, goddesses above…” 

“A Hive?” Zelda echoed, head whipping to Riju. “You mean—” 

“Gibdo will be spawning from those things any moment now,” Riju explained as she hurried into the town. Buliara, Riju’s assistant and bodyguard, barked out orders to guards and soldiers as they bustled about the town. She was a large woman, broad-shouldered and muscled. She was taller than an average Gerudo, and they were already naturally taller than Hylians. The only exception to that was Riju, who was the same height as Zelda, (which made her slightly taller than Link, a fact that both she and Zelda teased him about). 

“Set up the barricades!” she commanded. “Prepare the circuit!”

“Buliara!” Riju called as she and Zelda ran up to her. 

“Lady Riju!” she exclaimed. “It is good you are here. Three Gibdo Hives have appeared around Gerudo Town. I have begun preparations for the incoming attack.” 

Riju gave a short nod. “Good. Find all of the elemental materials you can, and fortify the shelter. We can not let the gibdo get inside. Oh, and Buliara, I want to try my new plan.” 

Buliara glanced at Zelda, then back to Riju. “Understood,” she said before turning back to the remaining guards and relaying the orders to them. Zelda watched the Gerudo run amok. The town was a flurry of action. Some civilians even came out of the shelter to help in passing out weapons, setting up barricades, and barring entrances to stores and homes. Even with how chaotic it seemed, everyone moved with purpose, as if they had done all of this before. 

With the state of the town, it was obvious it had. How often had they gotten attacked by Gibdo Hives like this? How long had they had to fend for themselves? 

Familiar guilt threatened to rise, and Zelda shoved it down. She turned to her friend. “Riju, what can I do?” she asked.