Sacrifice
A Crysis x Legend of Zelda Fanfic

Trials

Disclaimer: I do not own either Crysis or Legend of Zelda. Nor do I own any canon characters, settings, plot points, etc. I do however own my original characters, settings, and plot points, etc. I also make no money from this endeavor, so please don't sue me.

AN: I'm back! And I even have a new chapter to share with you!

Please note that all previous chapters have been rewritten in the third-person. The plot of the story hasn't changed, and no revelations were added to those chapters, but I believe they are a far more enjoyable read than they were before.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

"To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence." — Mark Twain

Gerudo Fortress, Gerudo Desert
One day after first entering the fortress.

The woman crashed to the ground, landing on the unforgiving soil that made up the sparring arena with an audible 'thump'. Quickly rolling to the side, she was just fast enough to avoid a blow aimed at her head that would have knocked her out had it connected.

Quickly recovering, she lashed out with her legs, forcing her opponent to jump back and giving her the space she needed to roll to her feet, mirroring her opponent's defensive stance.

Each of them carefully surveyed the other, looking for any weaknesses. Unfortunately, for them both, other than the fatigue they were both suffering from, there was precious little to exploit. The match had been going on for nearly an hour, far longer than any but the most determined opponents would last. Not that anything less would have satisfied either of us, the woman thought, her lips twitching into the faintest of smirks as she identified a fleeting opportunity to strike.

She took it.

Feinting left, she drove her right fist into Prophet's armpit, drawing a satisfying grunt of pain from her opponent as his left arm went limp. Satisfaction that was quickly erased as her legs were kicked out from under her. Damnit, she thought furiously, I always forget he fights with his legs!

Gerudo fighting styles predominantly focus on the upper body for offense, while relegating the lower body to defensive, evasive, and positioning moves. As such, Prophet's use of full-body combat techniques, using both the upper and lower body for offense, defense, and positioning had been crippling to say the least. This was especially true amongst the older Gerudos who, after years of training, had developed a subconscious assumption that attacks only came from the upper body.

As the most senior and experienced Gerudo around, Rue was hit harder by this than most. But she wasn't about to just give up her position as top combatant. Her indomitable determination to win, or at least avoid losing was the main reason why she, despite being nearly 60 years old (a feat in and of itself given the hostile desert environment Gerudos live in), was still considered to be the best hand-to-hand combatant the Gerudo had to offer!

Too bad she didn't have a choice in the matter. By the time her bearings returned after this latest encounter with the ground, Rue found herself pinned by Prophet. With a snarl, she struggled to break free of her newfound captor, barely managing to lift the heavy bastard a few millimeters before her strength gave out and her gains were lost. She was beaten.

Grimacing, she uttered the words she hadn't said in nearly thirty years, "I yield". And just like that, a legend began.

Unknown Location
Unspecified Time & Date

Unbeknownst to Prophet, the Gerudos, or indeed, the world at large, he was being watched closely. He had attracted the attention of three very powerful beings indeed. Having seen the destruction wrought by Ganondorf, they had taken a special interest in the activities of powerful individuals. And while most of their attention was focused on the man who was growing ever more powerful and who had army ravaging Hyllian trade routes, Din had taken a special interest in this newest arrival to their domain. The Gerudo were her people after all, and it would be remiss of her to let them have another leader like Ganondorf. At least, that was what she told herself.

The reality of the matter was that she was bored, and he was something interesting. Prophet was unlike anything she had seen before, and for an immortal goddess who was supposedly there at the time of creation, that was saying something. For the first time she could remember, she was…surprised. It took quite a bit to surprise a nearly omniscient being such as herself, but this 'Prophet' had somehow managed it. More worrying however, was that even though she knew of him, he was still a closed book to her.

His history was a complete mystery to her, she'd never heard of the homeland he claimed hail from (and she was absolutely sure that she'd know of any country that produced such powerful warriors), much less the cataclysmic events that lead to its downfall. Which made it all the more infuriating when she found out that all but his surface thoughts were completely inaccessible to her. It was almost like there was some other being thwarting all her attempts to access the deeper parts of his mind. But that wasn't possible; it would have required that the other person have either a strong magical connection or direct physical contact, neither of which was present in Prophet's case.

More infuriating than even her inability to access Prophet's deep thoughts was her inability to understand those she could access. After trying and failing to translate it for several minutes Din gave up for the moment. Nayru! she thought in frustration, What kind of idiot, would design a language as convoluted, ambiguous, and grammatically testy, as this 'English' is?!

Shaking her head and frowning, she moved her attention to the trials he would soon undergo, modifying some of them to suit her needs and replacing others altogether, the goddess quickly constructed a new set of trials. These new trials would test not only his eligibility for kingship, but his character and the moral fiber of his being as well. Stepping back to admire her work for a moment before rejoining her sisters, she couldn't help but smirk.

One way or another, she'd know what kind of person he was by the end of those tests.

Gerudo Fortress, Gerudo Desert

Even through the suit, you could tell that Prophet was more than a bit satisfied with recent events. Having just finished trouncing the (former) champion of hand-to-hand combat, he had a right to be. But that wasn't the true source of his satisfaction. No, his satisfaction stemmed from a related, but completely different source. He'd discovered that his suit had an undocumented 'Sparring Mode' built right in.

It seemed that when he had designed the suit, Hargreave had anticipated the need for a way to keep the wearer's skills sharp. In previous generations of the Nano Suit this wouldn't have been a problem; suit wearers could just spar with each other. With the Nano Suit 2.0 being a unique prototype however, that simply wasn't possible. Rather than allow his masterpiece to be marred by this flaw, miniscule as it was, Hargreave had developed a 'Sparring Mode', which allowed the wearer to safely spar with unsuited individuals.

When Sparring Mode was activated, the suit's Ionic Electroactive Polymer Liquid Armor was set to mimic human skin, the HUD deactivated, and the wearer's reflexes, stamina, and strength were set to their pre-suit levels, dynamically adjusted by SECOND to compensate for the added bulk of the suit. The end-result allowed a person wearing the suit to spar with others without risking their opponent becoming nothing more than a bloody smear on the wall.

Of course, Prophet thought, wincing as he recalled the searing pain Rue's right hook to his armpit had caused, it also meant that painful strikes were actually, well, painful.

Shaking off the memory, Prophet made his way over to the ever-present Gerudo pair Anvira and Neeshka, who had watched the fight with great interest. Neeshka was currently looking at him with a little awe and quite a bit of envy, while Anvira looked like an enormous weight had just been lifted off her shoulders.

Ever since Rue had issued a surprise challenge to him earlier that morning, Anvira had been nearly beside herself with worry. However, she'd done a good job hiding it. A very good job, actually. In fact, if it hadn't been for SECOND's rather extensive database of human emotional states and the extensive sensor suite of the suit, he never would have known.

"So," Prophet began, "now that that's over with, why don't we finish up our conversation from earlier? I believe you were just about to tell me more about this 'rite' everyone keeps assuming I know all about."

"You…you don't know?" Anvira asked, a note of surprise in her voice. "But you barely even hesitated to agree to undergo it when we were back in that building!"

"I didn't have a lot of good options at the time," he admitted, a little sheepishly, "I was in an unknown location, at an unknown time, trying to interact with an unknown people who had unknown cultural expectations & taboos. I was also unarmed. And the ceph were attacking.

"Your offer gave me the opportunity to clear up several of those unknowns while gaining only a single additional one. It also meant I wouldn't be running about blindly trying to find my way out of a ceph-infested structure. Being able to save a few lives along the way just made it all the more appealing."

Visibly bristling at the insinuation that she couldn't defend herself, Anvira quickly retorted, "We would've made it out of there safely on our own! There were no ceph along the way and-"

"Maybe you would have," Prophet conceded, cutting her off, "maybe you would have been able to drag Neeshka all the way to the entrance on your own. But what then? In case you've forgotten, the ceph were right outside the door, busy decimating Lenora's forces. Would you have been able to get to them in time without me thinning their numbers from afar? And what about the ceph that flanked us? Would Neeshka have been able to kill it without me acting as a distraction?"

Pausing to give her a moment to think about it he continued, "The right person, in the right place, at the right time, can make all the difference in the world, Anvira. Had I not been there, not a single Gerudo would have made it out of that ambush alive; had you not been there, Neeshka would likely be dead, killed in her sleep by the ceph; and had she not been there, I would still be trapped in that stasis cage."

"But," he said waving away any reply Anvira might have had, "we're getting off topic, I believe you were just about to tell me about the rite". The way he said it made it clear that it wasn't a question.

As Anvira visibly worked to calm herself, Neeshka decided to answer the question in her stead. "The Rite of the Gerudo is undertaken by all initiates. Its purpose is to ensure that any given initiate will be an asset, rather than a liability to the Gerudo people. The rite is composed of a series of trials, each of which tests a different portion of your skills. For example, a trail testing your combat ability and endurance may pit you against a series of enemies that you must defeat. The nature of the trials depends on the nature of the person being tested, the role they will serve if admitted to the Gerudo, and the whims of the Goddess of Sands, so each person goes through a different rite. Should you pass the trials, you need only take the Gerudo Oath to be considered one of the Gerudo."

Even before Neeshka had finished, Prophet was thinking furiously. If he was understanding what she was saying correctly, he had essentially agreed to join the Gerudo. Granted, he'd have to make it through the trials first, but he was confident in his abilities. What really concerned him was what being a Gerudo entailed, or more specifically, whether it would aid or inhibit him from upholding the oath he made to both Michael and himself.

"I see," Prophet began, "Suppose I pass these trials and am sworn in, what then?" Seeing her puzzled look he elaborated, "I mean, what does being Gerudo entail, what rights, responsibilities, and obligations are given or expected of every Gerudo?"

Visibly swallowing, Neeshka looked over at Anvira, eyes pleading for help. "Don't look at me!" Anvira exclaimed, raising her hands as if put a barrier between the two, "You're the one who chose to answer! I'm just an uninvolved bystander."

Neeshka's pleading look quickly turned into a glare fierce enough to make warriors flee in terror, civilians cower in fear, and merchants hastily give out generous discounts. It was also completely ineffective on Anvira, veteran glare warrior that she was. In fact, she looked quite pleased with herself, returning the glare with her own unrepentant grin.

Sighing in defeat, Neeshka turned back to me, a melodramatically morose look on her face, muttering a just audible, "You try to help out and look where it gets you…"

With a shake of her head, she straightened up, looked me in the visor, and asked "Where would you like me to start?"

8 hours later and a great deal more informed…

Leaning back in heavy wooden chair, Prophet let out a sigh. The information he'd just received painted a bittersweet picture for him. After it became apparent that he had a lot of questions, Neeshka and Anvira had decided to move the conversation indoors, specifically the law section of the library. Surprisingly, the chairs they had there were sturdy enough to take his armored weight with ease.

After a few hours of questioning the two women, he learned of the role he would serve should he join the Gerudos. King, he'd thought incredulously at the time, they want me, a complete stranger, to be their king.

It had taken nearly half an hour after that for the two women to convince him that, no they were not joking, and no he couldn't join the Gerudo in any other capacity. On a side note, their expressions at even being asked the latter question were priceless. He made sure to have SECOND save a copy to his ever-growing Gerudo archives. Their explanation for why this was took several hours and forced him to delve into some of the more religious aspects of their culture.

Ultimately, though, he was forced to conclude that despite their meritocratic and matriarchal outward appearance, the Gerudo were, at their core, a patriarchy. A patriarchy that was, as impossible as it seemed, completely devoid of men. That fun little fact had thrown him for another loop, and Anvira had been forced to explain how only one Gerudo male was born every century, and how, regardless of the father, all children of Gerudos were themselves full-blooded Gerudos.

To Prophet this just screamed 'bio engineered', and he nearly started barraging the two with questions, but he somehow managed to bite his tongue and keep silent. It wouldn't due to jump to conclusions based on hearsay. Not that that stopped him from instructing SECOND to analyze any Gerudo biological samples he might come into contact with for signs of them being the victims of bioweapons.

Moving on, he'd pestered them about what was expected of a Gerudo king. His main fear being that they wouldn't allow him onto the battlefield or would expect other things of him that would keep him from fulfilling his oath to prevent another extinction-level event. To great relief, it turned out that Gerudo were firm believers in the 'lead from the front' leadership style. In fact, one of the main reasons the Gerudo trained so vigorously was to prevent their leaders from being easy pickings in an engagement.

At the time he'd been delighted, it seemed as if taking this position would allow him to pursue his goals unhindered, and even give him additional forces to do so! That was before he learned why the Elite Guards were called the Elite Guards, from what he could tell, they were a force nearly identical to Roman Praetorians, acting as bodyguards and at times special forces. While that sounded well and good, it was the expectation that at least two squads of them would surround him at all times that soured him on the idea. There was no way he could be stealthy in those conditions!

And then there were the administrative duties he'd be responsible for. If he was lucky, he'd be able to delegate most of them. But with how his relationship with Rue was going so far, it wasn't hard to imagine her gleefully 'yielding' responsibility for all the necessary paperwork of leadership to him.

Still, after weighing the pros and cons of it, Prophet had to admit that it was a pretty swell offer, especially considering how long they'd known him. In one fell swoop it would provide him with a significant military force under his command, political standing to both Gerudo and foreigners, much more information on the world around him than he currently possessed, and perhaps, just perhaps, the chance to redeem himself for his failure.

It would also shield Anvira from being on the wrong side of politics. Though no one had said it directly, from the bits and pieces he'd gathered he was fairly certain that her fate was tied to his now. Should he fail, her judgment called into question, and every decision she made or opinion she expressed would be viewed with extreme skepticism and his failing would forever be used against her. He didn't think she'd be able to recover from such a blow to her credibility. On the other hand, if he succeeded, she would be praised for her good judge of character and for knowing when to take action.

Normally the consequences confined to a single person wouldn't have concerned him, sacrifice was necessary for victory after all and one person was a small sacrifice in the scheme of things, but something wouldn't let him do that in this case. He now knew that when she'd made the offer to help him she'd taken a huge risk. She'd trusted him with her future. Could he really justify breaking that trust and condemning her to being a pariah just to fulfill his desire to be free of any obligation to others? The answer was no, he couldn't.

With that in mind, he looked up at the two nervous Gerudo. No doubt they were wondering whether he would renege on his promise. "So," he said, drawing out the word and getting their attention, "when do I start the rite?"