This story is in celebration of Breath of the Wild's second anniversary. Can you believe it has been two whole years since the game came out?! Time slips by like sand through one's fingers! Anyway, this was inspired when I used the shield clipping exploit to get out of bounds in the Trial of the Sword. I had a real blast exploring the place, seeing the rooms from the outside, and breaking into the break rooms to collect all the stuff therein. It struck me as rather peaceful and lonely.
Breath of the Wild, Link, the Guardians and the Trial of the Sword all belong to Nintendo. This is still fan fiction.
Square-Cornered World - by Pseudo Twili
Link's ears were filled with the increasing frequency of the guardian's whirring countdown to a punishingly bright laser. Pale blue energy leaked from the severed ends of the five legs he had whacked off, and still the machine pursued him like one magnet to another, its hull scraping on the ground as it scrabbled at the grassy turf with its one remaining appendage.
The monks of the trial had seen fit to provide him with a couple of horses, one of which he caught easily before tangling with the guardian. However, as soon as he leapt from the animal's back with an arrow nocked on his bowstring, the horse bolted. He couldn't even spare a look to see where it had run; all he knew was that it wasn't close enough to mount it again and make another pass at the automaton.
He had few arrows left, wishing to save them for the trials he felt sure still lay ahead. Raising the rusty shield he'd picked up earlier, he took a step back, preparing to brace himself for the blast and to turn it back at the right moment. His back met the wall and he tensed, feeling cornered. A split second later the guardian's blue eye glowed more intensely, a pulse of ancient energy emanated from it, and then a searingly hot, nearly white blast screamed toward him.
His back found no give in the wall; his throat felt like it was coated with sand. He could feel the heat of the beam in that moment as he thrust his shield forward in a motion that would have injured the shoulder and arm of a lesser man. Then, to his surprise and bewilderment, he slipped backward, landing hard on the grass. He scrambled to his feet, the rusty shield still on his arm and his only thoughts centered on finishing the guardian before it could try to blast him again.
The automaton's turret swiveled around as it searched for anything moving, but it did not lock onto Link again. He stood and stared at it, wondering rather stupidly what was wrong with the thing. He put his hand out in front of him and felt the wall. Was it possible that he had somehow fallen through it? He put the worn-out shield away and used both hands to feel the invisible surface before him. He looked past it to the guardian again, but he was still perfectly safe from it. There was hardly a time that he faced a guardian that his breath didn't rattle in his throat and his heart pound like a drum in his ears, even before he remembered why. He had become quite proficient at dispatching them, but here in the monks' trial he hadn't his usual weapons at his disposal.
Allowing himself a long, shaking breath, he turned around. A sense of calm came over him as he beheld a perfectly blue sky and green grassland that stretched far out before him. His heart, its beat still thumping away a mite too fast, gave a little swell, and to his lips came a wisp of a smile; it was a feeling similar to when he looked out to a Hyrule he did not know, full of promise and secrets, and ready to be explored.
The short, soft blades of grass tickled his bare feet. He wiggled them around, relishing the slightly springy feel of the earth beneath him, almost as if he could feel the heartbeat of the world that way. His smile widened somewhat as he slowly recalled a time, a century ago, when he had removed his boots, rolled up his trousers and gone into a shallow pool of water to gather some fleet lotus flowers for the princess to examine. He had refrained from capturing the frogs that darted away from his noisy splashes.
He let his wanderlust take him away from the room in which he'd been battling the guardian. Grass, shallow water and flowers made up the terrain between that and the other enclosures where he'd been fighting. He stopped and stared at each one, some without enemies as he'd already defeated them. He still had more guardians and a white-maned lynel to fight, but for the time he wanted to explore. The denizens of the trial seemed content to wander their respective rooms, perplexed beyond measure only when he let out a shrill whistle.
Some rosy pink flowers caught his eye and he carefully knelt next to them. He didn't know if he'd ever seen anything quite like them before. There were so many varieties of flowers in Hyrule and he knew rather little about them; the princess would scold him for paying so little attention to her lectures on that subject. He did, however, remember the silent princess, as if the image of it had been seared to his very mind.
Pulling the Sheikah slate from his belt, he snapped several pictures of the pink blooms, smiling more to himself as he thought how pleased she would be to see them. He went around capturing pictures of every other flower he could find. After a while he'd seen so many of them that he wasn't sure if they were the same flowers or not. Regardless, he continued until he had filled up his album.
He paused as he noticed the time on his slate. He tilted his head toward the sky, staring up at its never-ending expanse of blue. That's peculiar, he thought. Does night never come to this place?
Rising and stretching the kinks out of his legs, he pulled a baked apple out of his pouch. Not even in this world devised by the monks to test him did his hunger leave him. Fortunately they also provided him with the necessary materials to survive, though he did not have the luxury of wolfing down a dozen roasted bass in one sitting and still have more to spare. He went through everything he'd gathered, figuring that he had enough to sustain him if he explored a bit more.
After returning everything to his pouch, he stood and held his hand over his eyes as he tried to see through the glare of the sun. Then he began to walk, his steps coming quicker until he was sprinting. The wind was gentle, almost non-existent against his face, and the sun he hardly felt through the thick red fabric of his tunic. It was a sensation unlike any other he'd yet experienced in his extensive travels throughout Hyrule, one that he relished. His one thought was to keep running and preserve that feeling.
However, he was required to come to a halt quite suddenly, the sudden gusts of wind almost enough to keep him back. Mere feet away, the grass which so delighted his bare feet met a sudden end. It was so abrupt, unlike any natural cliff he'd seen, as if the creators of that world had no interest in the terrain. He peered down, seeing the perfectly vertical wall as it stretched far downward to what looked to him to be an expanse of water that dwarfed that of the land.
The wind tore at his hair and tunic as though warning him away from the edge, but he paid it no heed as he ran along the end of the world. He maintained a sprint until he reached the corner of the world, coming together at an exact right angle. Again he peered down, marveling at what a strange thing such near-perfect geometry was in any sort of terrain. His curiosity further piqued as to the size of the world he monks had taken him to, he continued along the edge of that world.
Once he had determined that the whole area seemed to be of a rectangular shape, he ate another apple, a fish and some stamina shrooms. The tiny bit of apple core that was left he dropped off the side, peering after it until he could see it no more. Even when he used the scope function of his slate, he could not see where it had gone.
He pulled himself to his feet and maintained a slower pace back to the room from which he'd inadvertently escaped. Before he attempted to get back inside, he stooped once more and plucked a few of the rosy blooms he'd first noticed, tucking them carefully away in his pouch. He hoped they would still be in fair condition when he was able to show them to the princess.
He put first one hand to the wall and then the other, pushing his weight against it. The magic of the place seemed to recognize that he was on the wrong side, and the wall seemed to melt for just a moment while he passed through. He drew his sword and shield again, swiveling his head and casting his eyes about, searching for the guardian. It was on the other side of the ruined fountain and it had not yet spotted him. He dashed toward it, ready to sever its last leg and pound its circuits into oblivion.
As grateful as he was for the respite, he hadn't forgotten the urgency which called to him like a whisper of wind. The Master Sword was calling to his being, waiting. Outside the trial the princess was as well. He would sooner give up his life to defeat Ganon than to lose the faith of the one who waited for him.
~ Fin ~
Did you know that if you first escape from the Dark Beast Ganon battle, then enable warping, you can enter the Trial of the Sword and use the Master Cycle Zero therein?
This story was a little different in the fact that it has no dialog. I've written stories with less dialog, but none so scanty as this one. What did you think of the one-shot? Did it even make sense? It's kinda fun to break the boundaries not only in the game, but in writing too! Haha! Feel free to let me know what you thought about it.
03-03-2019 ~ Published