Chapter Text
Without any light, Revali loses all perception of the space around him. They could have fallen for a minute, they could have fallen for an hour, he couldn’t say. Their fall was a blind cyclone of rocks, colliding bodies, and the roar of air as they plummeted down.
The slope they rode down was steep. It leveled out suddenly, and Revali rolled several more rotations before he had slowed to a stop.
He groans. Slowly, he pushes himself on to his elbows. There’s a distinctly felt bruise forming over his entire body and he thinks his head feathers were bent out of place during the fall.
As he discretely tries to fix them, the Champions begin to gather themselves from their own landing spots. They seemed to have rolled into another cave. Voices and the dragging of feet echo loudly. Someone coughs and Revali hears a grumble on his left.
When he’s on his feet, he does a swift inspection of the room they’re in. It’s large, judging by the echo. Lining the walls is that barely-there, familiar glow of luminous stones. Their blue light is comforting after the black void of the fall, but there is still that itch of something at the back of his mind.
The Princess stands, dusting herself off. ”What happened? Where are we?”
“Maybe the ten-ton boulder that’s been following us around can answer that question,” Revali mutters.
Really, is it such a surprise that the floor gave out with the hulking Goron with them? A deep laugh rumbles and a playful shove nearly sends him to the floor.
“It doesn’t matter where we are: the only way appears to be forward,” Urbosa says. At her lead, the group begins moving at a crawling pace.
It seems everyone is willing to put aside the previous argument, and Revali is perfectly okay with that. With the immediate danger of cave’s structural stability and the question of how they’re going to get out, the topic now seems pedestrian.
In happily ignoring that, though, he can’t help but feel uneasy. He’s not a paranoid parakeet, but he knows to trust his instincts and right now, something is telling him this is off. He’s waiting for a shadow to move, or for the floor to fall out from under him again, or something. There’s a tingling sensation at the base of his neck and he can’t decide if it’s telling him to fight or flee.
When the princess gasps, it nearly sends his heart to his throat.
She picks up her pace, and the group can do nothing but follow. There’s no urgency in their movement, and when he looks to their destination, he sees why: they are simply going towards the far side of the cave.
But the princess doesn’t stop there. When she gets to the wall, she stands so close she's nearly molding herself to the stone. This peaks Revali’s interest.
Curious, he follows her. In the faint lighting, he sees perhaps the most surprising thing all day: it’s the symbol of the triforce, etched directly into the stone walls. The luminous stones cast stark shadows around the room. It’s hard to see but, eyes straining, he deduces evidence of more carvings; a lot of the surrounding rock is uneven.
Mipha pulls up alongside him and gasps, her smooth scales tapping on the ground as she takes a step closer to the engravings.
Behind him, a voice booms in what must be a Goron whisper, “How strange. Who made it?” A low rumble sounds--Daruk traces a finger across the stone, obviously inspecting an image.
Mipha follows, her wide eyes focused on the tip of her finger as it drags over invisible divets and protrusions.
Revali snips his beak in frustration, willing his eyes to see through the darkness. What are his fellow Champions seeing that he isn’t?
He narrows his eyes to slits. Revali just needs to try harder, surely.
He folds his wings behind his back and leans forward as if enraptured with a particularly abstract painting. Nothing reveals itself.
Hmm, perhaps he is not yet trying his hardest. He tilts his head to the left, and when no striking image spawns, he tilts his head to the right. Then upside down. He opens his eyes as wide as he can. Still, nothing.
Perhaps, maybe, he can see the faint definition of a line. Right there. Maybe.
Revali shakes his head in anger.
The rest of the group has been having a discussion amongst themselves, ignoring how obvious it is that he is out of the loop. Rito are not particularly gifted with the best night vision, which he is made even more aware of when he is the only one in the group gifted with this particular weakness.
“How long do you think these have been here?”
“If I were to guess, your Highness?” Urbosa says, inspecting something to the direct right of the triforce. “They were probably made around the same time as the first Battle of Calamity.”
Silence.
Revali. Doesn’t. Understand.
The feathers on the back of his neck rise.
What is it? Some stupid images carved into a piece of rock in the middle of nowhere can’t be that important! And if they were, why haven’t they told him?
Surely a fellow Champion and pilot of a Hylia-forsaken Divine Beast should be included in their ramblings? Why aren’t they speaking plainly?
Mipha responds, her words hesitant, ”That...can’t be right.”
“How could they know?” The Princess again. “Not even my father knew who the pilots would be until you five proved yourselves worthy. And yet, our ancestors had the knowledge ten thousand years ago?”
Revali, Master of the Great Eagle Bow, Rito warrior, and clucking Vah Medoh pilot will not shout. He will not, no matter how many fools tempt him, raise his voice like a fledgling. He is mature now: he is looked up to by so, so, so so so so many people: people who are easily impressionable in the face of his influence.
He will not make a scene. He will calmly and respectfully ask his...peers to explain what they are seeing, and they will, similarly, respond with patience.
Revali takes a deep breath, and he already feels calmer. His shoulders relax and, removing his eyes from the still frustratingly black wall, addresses the Champions with as much calm he can muster.
“What are you--”
“We should tell the Sheikah about this.”
Revali couldn’t believe his ears. Link—Link—had interrupted him.
The beleaguering audacity!
The lack of respect!
He can barely see the boy’s yellow hair in the low light. He briefly considered violence but reasoned that the Hylian was too far away for him to strangle.
Before any other Champion could cut him off again, Revali rushed out, “What are you insufferable dimwits talking about.”
He hadn’t meant to add the insult, but his quickly gathered calm had dissipated the moment the Knight had opened his mouth.
Silence. Again.
As one, everyone in the cave turns to Revali. At least, he thinks they do based on the ensuing shuffling. Nothing is said.
He stares blankly for several moments before snapping, “Would you like me to repeat myself?”
“I was just about to ask why you were being so quiet. You haven’t gloated for at least ten minutes,” Urbosa says. She sighs, "I should have known not to take the silence for granted.”
“What do you mean, Revali?” Daruk says, chains clinking as he reaches out once more to trace the wall. “We’re talkin’ ‘bout the carvings right here. Fascinating, aren’t they? What d’ya think of them?”
Revali can’t suppress a sharp click of his beak. Do they really not understand?
“I don’t see any carving, you duck. It’s so dark in this room I can hardly see a thing! Truthfully,” he continues, “If the Sheikah had the technology to make indestructible metal and robot protectors you would think they would create some sort of fire-less light source, or something. But no! They’d rather stumble around in the dark! What a devastating design flaw.” Revali sniffs.
Thankfully, this time there is no drawn-out silence following his words.
“There is a good dozen or so luminous stones lighting up the room. How can you not see?” Urbosa says.
Yes, Revali knew that. But the light they emit is not enough to illuminate the carvings. Surely, she is being obtuse on purpose? It certainly isn’t funny if she is.
“What do you mean ‘how can I not see’?”Revali releases a deep breath: he’s offended, blinded, and surrounded by people he feels equally threatened by and resigned to never surpass in anything of value. Words build in his beak: curses, threats, and a spicy side of ranting when he’s interrupted by the sound of flint on stone.
There’s a spark, something bright and real, and wool is caught in an instant. A flame is nurtured and finally, there is illumination.
The light first shines on Mipha, the wielder of the torch, then Link, the one who lit it. The fire grows and then the entire cave is lit up: the rest of the Champions, the Princess, and the elusive cave carving that had got everyone in a frenzy.
Pleased, Revali takes in the sight of the Champions. Then he notices the wall and his interest is caught. He steps back to observe it with a critical eye.
It spans across several feet, stretching from floor to ceiling. The triforce is the focal point, supported on four sides by strangely familiar figures. Surrounding the center are beautiful depictions of the lands of Hyrule: there is Death Mountain, the Hebra slopes, a raging ocean and a calm desert.
“You’re blind,” a voice says directly into his ear. The Knight, begging to get winged in the face, is like stone when Revali whips around with a glare.
“Yeah, and it appears you’re not a mute. Seems like we’re all learning something new today.”
With the return of his vision, Revali can clearly see the Knight’s responding expression. He’s not sure what it means when a Hylian pokes their tongue out of their mouth, but it seems like a rather impolite gesture.
Frustrated, he turns his back to Link, instead training his glare at the wall. He raises his voice to address the other Champions, ”What’s this about then?”
The princess, who seemed to be entertaining herself by touching every part of the sculpture, turns to him in excitement. She splays her palm flat to the wall and say, ”It’s a prophecy. It must be a forgotten legend that intertwines with the return of the Calamity.”
Doubt sits heavy on Revali’s tongue, but the princess continues. ”Look at the resemblance to the tapestries of the Calamity. This is the princess, and this is the knight with the sword that seals the darkness. But here, these four figures have never been seen in any records before.”
She tells the truth: on either side of the triforce are the princess and knight. They are kneeling as they do in every tapestry Revali has ever seen in reference to the Calamity’s return. Yet, there are four new figures that are as foreign as they are familiar.
Surrounding the princess and knight can only be depictions of the four pilots of the Divine Beasts.
A Goron is on the southern-most part of the engraving, supporting the other figures. His palms are open and his face is kind. Revali must simply be imagining his likeness to another Goron he knows: one with chains on his wrists and full white beard.
On the right is a Gerudo. She’s tall and strong, with red hair that whips around her like a weapon. Her lips reveal peeling laughter and there is a silent power about her: one that is not addressed but known all the same. The left is owned by a little Zora. Her stance is slight, but not weak. She exudes an aura of calm, but not compliance. There is a wisdom that is betrayed by her eyes and an understanding displayed in the twist of her smile. She and the Gerudo both have a hand fisted, almost as if they were drawn mid-strike.
Despite how uncanny the carvings are to the Champions he knows, he refuses to believe that their fate has been pre-determined.
Let the little hero and goddess incarnate be the fruits of an ancient prophecy; he has little say in where their futures lie. But Revali made himself. It took years, and heartache, and he’s still closing the cracks with each passing day, but he did it. He chose to become the best; he chose to master the bow and wind; he fought and fought to carve his destiny into the tough marble of Hyrule’s history; he claimed his fame on the back of a beast of divinity.
So at the sight of a carving with stark similarity to his own plumage, Revali dismissed the engraving in whole.
There is a Rito on the topmost part of the carving. He is arching gracefully upwards, his wings spread in mid-flight, and one wide eye is staring out at the viewer. Even Revali’s scarf is immortalized, flowing in silk ribbons behind him.
He shuffles uncomfortably.
“It makes you wonder, doesn't it? About the technology our ancestors had. And what do you think about the line connecting all the figures together? It looks kind of like a loop, or a circle.”
Revali had, in fact, noticed the circle. He had deduced it as an artistic choice, not giving it a second thought. And with that, Revali was ready to leave. He had seen all the cave had to offer and, turns out it wasn’t all that interesting.
“Perhaps it represents the circle of life? As in, the cycle of birth and death,” Mipha adds.
The princess lights up in consideration and resumes her studying with passion. Urbosa, to his surprise, also steps closer to the wall. She attempts apathy, but he can see the glint of curiosity in her eyes.
“I’m impressed at the detail. They even got my pauldrons.” She touches, feather light, at the stone, and Revali thinks he feels the ground shake. Bringing her attention higher, she clicks her tongue in pity. ”It’s a shame they didn’t extend the same grace to you, Revali. They depicted you with all the characteristics of a frenzied cuckoo, I’m afraid.”
Well, Revali relents, it’s good to know that Urbosa isn’t taking this seriously either.
He says, “They drew you quite flatteringly, I’d say. They took a lot of artistic liberties; it doesn’t look like you at all.”
To his surprise, she laughs. Her cackling laughter echoes around the room and Revali startles: that is the first time he made her laugh. He feels a spark of pride, just for a moment.
It’s rather quickly chased away by that ever-present feeling he’s felt since the Ancient Doors opened that morning. Something is weird about this cave, and he hasn’t decided if it’s good or bad yet.
The Rito are known for their ownership of the skies. Revali doesn’t tend to take flight in the face of danger, but something is telling him to spread his wings and fly as fast and far as he can: from the cave, but specifically from this strange prophecy.
During his pondering, Urbosa had been dragged into a conversation with the Princess. The rest of the group is engaged in a debate of their own, and Revali is trying to ignore how every brush of the carving sends the room into a bout of shivers. It’s almost as if the room itself can feel how fragile the air is—can feel the minute, fundamental changes that are taking place.
There’s a light tap on his arm.
Mipha drags him into the debate. ”These depictions of the four biomes must foretell something, don’t you agree, Revali? The Zora in the image is surrounded by waves. Could this mean a tidal wave is imminent for Zora’s Domain?”
Behind her, Link has taken to poking at the engraving of the Master sword. Revali swears the ground grumbles with each point of contact.
“It’s just art,” Revali says. He doesn’t want to think about the engraving too much. He’s starting on a headache already.
“See, Mipha, you mustn’t worry so much.” Daruk pats her on the shoulder good-naturedly. “I interpreted it a bit differently. I think it’s tryn’a say all parts of Hyrule are unified, in a way.”
Then, wouldn‘t you know it, another miracle is bestowed upon them.
“I still think we need to tell the Sheikah about this. It could be dangerous.” Link says. And really, that in itself should have been a sign that something was off. Revali has only heard Link speak single sentences at a time, and certainly not twice a day.
He feels restless. Uneasiness sends his wings to lift and settle, then lift, then resettle. His feathers itch to take flight. Revali looks to the ceiling, claustrophobic and feeling like the walls could close in any moment.
Something is wrong—something is wrong?
As Revali watches, the Princess once again trails her hand over the wall, but this time her palm settles over the triforce. That oppressing feeling of something something something reaches an apex. The floor begins to shake aggressively again.
Ohh, sometimes Revali really hates being right.
Thinking that the floor will give out again, he reaches out to steady himself. Unfortunately, the closest thing ends up being the prophecy engraving. His wing reaches out, and as soon as he makes contact, a blinding light fills the room.
The shaking stops immediately afterwards, but Revali doesn’t notice: he and the Champions had collapsed, unconscious, to the floor.
---/\---
In those brief seconds between Before and After, Revali didn’t think about much, and he doesn't really like to remember the things he did think about.
All he could see within the darkness of his mind was the drawing of him in the prophecy. He thought about the large, green pupil looking out towards the viewer. Revali thought he could feel it, then, looking directly at him.
All seeing.
All knowing.
The eye did not blink during those few moments, and he could still feel it staring as he was thrust into consciousness.
There was a crack, a pop, and his mind burst. He felt things that didn’t belong be shoved in. It wasn’t exactly painful, but the suddenness was startling.
He woke up.
---/\---
When Revali opened his eyes, he was laying flat on his back, his wing outstretched towards the wall.
He simply blinked for a few moments, reorientating himself. That was...a bit unusual.
As he sat up, he watched everyone else as they recovered. The Knight was dutifully hovering over the Princess. Mipha was nearby as well, asking if anyone had any injuries. Daruk was looking up at the ceiling as if expecting rocks to fall loose and Urbosa was looking skeptically around the room.
Bizarrely, no one seems to be looking for an exit.
“That was, if nothing else, an experience,” Revali stands, dusting himself off. ”I think we got all we needed. Shall we conclude today’s “Champions’ Adventure” while we’re still standing and not crushed under a pile of rocks?”
He shuffles towards when they came from, trying to urge the group to leave.
Urbosa didn’t move an inch. She raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed.
“We need to find out what just happened. It’s not normal for people to simultaneously collapse.” She jerked her head, indicating a path. “Me and Daruk can head this way, further down the tunnel. Everyone should expect to--”
Yellow electricity lights up the room for a second. Revali snaps his head over just in time to see Urbosa and Daruk jump apart. Mipha’s hand is raised to her mouth in shock, but Revali is angry.
“What do you think you’re doing! You want to bring the cave down on top of us?”
Urbosa looks more surprised than Mipha. “I-I had just touched him! Only for a second. The strangest thing happened, too, it was like...”
Daruk’s brow is furrowed. He and Urbosa hold a stare for a moment. The Goron takes a deep breath, looking down at his palms.
“It was...indescribable, really. I don’ even know how to describe it. Mipha, do ya’ mind if I...?”
When she nods, Daruk reaches out to her. He hesitates a moment, then gently touches her shoulder.
This time, Revali is watching intently. They both flinch at contact. Mipha’s healing magic briefly flares up and the two are bathed in an unnatural light. After a moment though, her magic retreats and the two are left staring at each other, their facial expressions changing the longer the contact is maintained.
After 10 awkward seconds of silence, Revali considers whistling to pass the time.
”What?” Mipha says. It’s more of an exclamation than a question, and the two separate.
Mipha’s hand is clenching around her spear and her eyes are wide, staring around the cave with a look of wonder. She looks to be deep in thought. When her gaze lands on him, she lights up.
“Revali! Look, you have to see this too.”
This is strange, he’s thinking. Leaving it to him to be the only one to not get a concussion.
Are they experiencing group psychosis?
Whatever it is, he strictly wants no part of it.
She comes up to him and before he could react, wraps her hand around his lower arm. Then, the most implausible thing happens.
—oh this is so exciting! Wow, how interesting! Oh, hello Revali! How are you? Hello! This is Mipha! This happened with Daruk too. Somehow we can talk through our minds. Isn’t this cool!
...Oh, you don’t seem very excited, Revali. Is that...hmm. Are you feeling worried? Oh my, I hadn’t thought—
Revali wrentched himself away. He stared at her. He opened his beak, then closed it.
Despite the exchange taking place only in his mind, he still feels strange when he looks around the room realizes that no one else heard. Her voice had sounded so clear in his mind.
His fists clench. What had she heard from him?
(That eye. Staring out. All seeing: all knowing.)
He walks a few paces away from her, needing a moment to rationalize what was happening. Revali didn’t take into account Daruk, however, and had put himself well within range.
“Hey there, doin’ okay—?” The Goron reached out, and as soon as they touched that same flood of foreign thoughts filled his head.
...what is going on—what a crazy day this turned out to be. Is he okay? He looked spooked for a moment—oh. Hey Revali. I know this is crazy, but you should really calm down.
Within meaning to, a gust of wind erupted between them. This shocked the both of them into pulling away. Almost immediately, the wind stopped.
His thoughts had an almost desperate taste to them just then. He tried running through explanation after explanation—he apparently also had a concussion, the group psychosis was contagious, he was dreaming—but none of them made any sense. He considered himself a pretty sensible guy: he wasn’t going to randomly go crazy after spontaneously blacking out.
There had to be a logical answer for this.
Urbosa seemed to have composed herself pretty well. “I’m sure we can find a perfectly reasonable, sensical reason for all of this. Now,” she continues, ”who is going to provide one?”
From the other side of the room, having been momentarily forgotten, the Princess moves. Her eyes are wide and her breathing is quick. Revali’s stomach plummets when he notices that her hand is shaking as she points.
The wall, once beautifully engraved and painted in their likeness only moments before, is scorched black. It looks like the whole prophecy had been burned right off the stone.
The only thing that remained was the circle.
Forget logical conclusions. Revali decides he must have been cursed.
“Oh duck”, he mutters.