Link was in shock as he and Zra rode into Shadule. Everyone was on high alert; everyone that could fight was armed, and sentries lined the town walls. The tradesmen that hadn't been taken by the cultists went back to work, filling the smithys and other trade shops, outfitting those that remained. With most of the men gone, women had stepped up to the plate, all of them decked out in armour and practicing on training dummies. In the centre of town, a massive pyre burned, and piled upon it were bodies of cultists, shadow beasts, and the strange undead creatures Link had fought before.
Link whistled in surprise. "Tell me these weren't all hiding in your town?"
Zra laughed. "Nope, but they did come from Cultist patrols and attacks. They thought that taking most of our able-bodied citizens made us weak, so it took them a while to get the message."
"And have you found their base of operations?"
Zra shook her head. "No, but they always seem to know what we're doing. It is as though they have eyes everywhere."
"Then they must be close." The Ordonian replied, climbing off of his nightmare. Several Twili ran up to them, saluting as they arrived.
"Lord Link! Welcome back to Shadule. The town is back under our control."
"How's the fight been these past few days?" He asked.
"We've repelled an attack from holdouts, and managed to rescue several of our kidnapped citizens from camps to our south." The militiawoman brushed the hair out of her eyes. "Still no sign of the governor, I'm afraid."
Zra's hands tightened into fists. "They'll pay for taking him. I'll slay ten for every day they've kept him from me."
"Zra, keep a cool head, your people need a leader that can keep them on track." Link cautioned.
"You're right. But when I find those bastards, the gloves are off." She replied darkly.
Midna slowly awoke in the same place she had fallen unconscious. She knew better than to give herself away this time and kept her eyes shut, instead listening to her captors.
She heard soft boots padding away at the stone floor as a cultist walked in. "What is it, my son? What news of our wayward children?"
"My Lord, I am afraid that the Hylian still lives, and is searching for the false Princess. He will be upon us soon." Midna recognized the voice, she had heard it many times during her tenure as sovereign, but she could not recall its owner among the hundreds of Twili she had met every day, and she dared not open her eyes to check.
"Very well, if he searches for her, he will find her when we deem appropriate. His presence will only aid the ritual in the end; our Lord's resurrection calls for the blood of his enemies. What better sacrifice than the Hero of Courage?"
"None, my Lord."
The footsteps left the chamber and Midna's mind was racing at a thousand kilometres a minute. It's a trap! Oh if only I could get a message to Link, he could destroy them immediately. We cannot let them resurrect Ganon!
As she pondered a way to get the message out, Midna heard the Cultist Leader's harder boots clicking on the stone floor, walking to the opposite wall, where a large mural stood. Midna hadn't had a chance to get a good look at it, but she was sure it had Zant and Ganon upon it. "Oh Dark Lord, the one true god, Ganon. May the Prophet Majora hasten your return, and may our true king return under your watchful gaze!"
Well. Good to know he's as crazy as he is bold.
A table sat near the town centre, upon it was a complete map of the surrounding area of Shadule Province. Every outpost, town, village, and even the smallest floating island was marked upon it. Several areas were marked off with big red X's.
"Alright, so your soldiers haven't turned up anything regarding the location of the base?" Link asked, poring over the map.
"Nope, nothing. These X's represent camps, but the cultists in them wouldn't allow themselves to be captured." Zra replied.
"And these islands?" Link asked, pointing to several small islands off of the 'coast' of Shadule.
Zra shook her head. "None of them are big enough. And most of them are completely unstable. We need to update our maps every third week to account for their decay."
Link rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Zra, ever heard of digging below your enemy's foundation?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is there an island below this?"
Zra's eyes widened and she called over one of Shadule's few natural philosophers. An elderly balding Twili, his wizened eyes hidden behind half-moon glasses, approached.
"Ralan, those ground-quakes a few months back, could that have been another island coming up below us?" the Governess asked.
Ralan pushed his glasses up his nose and pondered for a few moments. "I believe it to be possible. However, according to certain more recent reports, no new landmasses appeared on Shadule following the last quake. I will say that it was slightly off schedule."
"What about below, did we check there?"
"No, certainly not. There was no need at the time. No natural movement in the void would cause an island outside our layer to affect us."
"Well, it seems we've found their base of operations." Link said. "It was damned crafty of them to disguise their movements as a groundquake."
"Well that's all well and good, but how do we get down there? We can't warp down if we don't know where it is."
"Got any rope?"
Princess Zelda strode into the 'Wonders of the Goddesses', a large lab dedicated to the sciences and the exploration of the vast mysteries of the realm, with single-minded purpose. Natural Philosophers darted from station, some carrying large maps, others handling powerful artefacts or minerals, and some just lugging tools around.
But her eyes passed over all this in disinterest. Her true goal lay at the far end of the lab, behind a massive sealed door. The Princess made her way into the sealed chamber to see the greatest minds of Hyrule experimenting with tiny pieces of glass, treating them with extreme caution, as if the shards would explode at any point. To any outside observer this would have seemed ridiculous, but the caution was well-advised. These small glass shards were all that remained of the Mirror of Twilight, and every effort had been made to try and discover how it had worked. Destroyed, the mirror was no threat, but every Hyrulian that saw the horrors brought forth by Zant and Ganon feared an artefact of its power falling into the wrong hands once more.
The Philosophers were so wrapped up in their research that none noticed their sovereign walk into the room. She approached the head researcher and tapped on his shoulder. Luckily, he had not been holding anything, or he likely would have dropped it if the surprise he displayed at her touch was any indication.
"Princess!" He gasped, catching his breath. "I apologize for my inattentiveness! I was entirely enthralled. This artefact is such an enigma."
"How so? What have you discovered?"
"We originally thought that it was merely the magic of the goddesses." He replied, picking up a large shard from the desk. "But do you see this inscription along the inner edge?"
"Is that... Sheikah?" The Princess asked, confusion growing in her voice.
"Yes. The dark magic of the Sheikah is somehow combined with the light magicks of the goddesses to stabilize the portal between the two realms, and neither can activate it. We even called in that old hermit woman that lives in the old Sheikah village. Impa, I believe her name is. So far the only thing we have found that could possibly eke out a response from the shards is some sort of resonating pattern, like a song or melody."
"And have you found the pattern?" Zelda asked, taking the shard from the researcher.
"It is proving difficult. None of the Hyrulian songs of power work, and we know too little of Sheikah magic to piece it together."
"Keep trying, and keep me notified." Zelda replied as she exited. Her walk back to the temporary Royal Domicile was plagued by worry. I hope that Link was wrong about the troubles of the Twilight Realm, She thought, and before she could stop it, her mind added. And if he's not, I hope it stays there.
Link and Zra shimmied down their ropes for what seemed like hours, hanging precariously over the void that made up a majority of the Twilight Realm. One slip up could have sent them falling into nothingness, lost forever. The featureless wall of Shadule's main 'continent', the edge of which was right outside Shadule Village's border, was the only sight the duo had as they moved down at an agonizingly slow pace. Eventually the wall gave way to the jagged underside of the continent, appearing for all intents and purposes to have been torn straight from an earthly foundation and cast into the void to float.
"Look! That must be their island!" Link called out. And sure enough, floating in the displaced 'wake' of Shadule's continent was a small island, barely big enough for the massive fortress that sat atop it.
"Well I'll be damned. It's floating in Shadule's wake. Taking that position would explain the quake a few months ago." The Governess shook her head. "But how are we going to get over there?"
"Well, lucky for us, the Zora make excellent grappling hooks, even if that temple was a pain in the ass." Link replied jokingly. He tightened his legs around the rope and pulled a Clawshot from his pack. Extending his right hand and readying the claw in his left, he called out to his companion. "Take my hand and let go of the rope when I say. This'll be tricky, but you have to trust me!"
Zra looked at the Lord-Regent as if he was mad. "Are you fucking crazy? You can't make this!"
"I can, trust me. Do it for your husband!" He implored, extending his hand even further.
Zra sighed and reached out her own hand, "If we fall, I am going to hunt you down in the afterlife, and I am going to make it hell, if we both aren't going there to start with."
"I'll meet you there." Link replied, taking her hand. He took careful aim with the Clawshot before yelling. "Let go now!" Both of them released the rope as the seemingly infinite chain fired from the Clawshot, grabbing hold of the edge of the island, then became taut. Link and Zra stopped falling and began zipping towards their goal. A long string of obscenities flowed from the Governess' mouth until they reached solid ground. Link swung her over the ledge onto the island, which she then grabbed hold of, seeming to try and hug the land as the Ordonian climbed up.
"I really hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence," She panted. "I hate not having the ground beneath my feet."
"Well, I don't see us having to go to the City in the Sky any time soon, so you should be fine." Link replied, drawing the Master Sword. "You ready?"
Zra drew her own blade, the runes on the pitch black blade glowing with magic. "Always."
The door was unguarded, and it seemed that the cult was planning to mobilize. As Zra and Link moved through the eerie fortress, they noticed that a lot of desks and rooms had been completely cleared out, as if their owners wanted to make sure nobody could follow them. There were no signs of life until they reached a massive chamber, similar to a chapel. Lines of pews ran up and down the room, and a massive statue of Ganon dominated the far wall. Busts of Zant, or at least his helmet, decorated the side wall.
"Misguided fools." Zra growled, swinging her blade at a bust, slicing apart Zant's marble head. As the stone shattered in pieces against the floor, loud and distorted roars sounded, and four shadow beasts dropped from the ceiling.
Link was ready in an instant, shield up and blade ready, while Zra held her blade in a sturdy two-handed grip, forgoing a shield for more powerful swings.
"Well, I can't say I didn't see a trap coming." The Ordonian said.
"What do you think? Take two each?" Zra asked as the combatants circled each other.
Link nodded and charged, the Governess at his side. Cutting down the middle, they separated the four beasts into more manageable pairs and went to work. One of the beasts brought a massive arm down, trying to crush the Hylian beneath its weight, only to lose it as the Master Sword cut an arc through the air, separating the appendage from its owner and causing it to crash into a pew to Link's right. He caught a blow from the other on his shield and countered by driving his blade deep into the monster's heart. Its partner wailed in pain, clutching the stump that used to house its arm. As the second fell still and dead, Link removed the Master Sword from its chest and leapt onto the other's back, laying deep lacerations into it as it tried to shake him off. Eventually the creature slowed as blood loss and shock overtook it, and it too collapsed and died.
Link looked over to check Zra's progress only to see that her own monsters were on their last legs. One of them literally, its right leg amputated at the knee and bleeding heavily. Using both hands, she plunged her blade into it's neck and twisted, wrenching the vile monster's head from its shoulders. The remaining one began to howl, and Link prepared himself for his own to rise from the dead, only for Zra to quickly flick her heavy sword and sever the beast's vocal chords, leaving it incapable of any noise whatsoever. It lumbered towards her only to have its head completely removed with another flick of the sword.
Link relaxed and whistled in admiration. "Well that's a clever idea. Stop them roaring altogether."
"You never tried that?" Zra asked, wiping her brow with her gauntlet.
"To be honest, never even crossed my mind." he said, sheathing his weapon. "Let's get moving, if this is the chapel, the prisons can't be far." Proceeding through the door on the other side of the Chapel, the duo came into another long hallway that seemed to go on forever, with doors at regular intervals. Choosing at random, Link opened one and came face to face with a veritable army of the Undead creatures from before. Slamming the door shut, Link turned to Zra. "I think we've found what they do to captives. Let's pick another door."
The second door was much easier to get through, they entered into another hallway, only this one was lined along the sides with three levels of cells. Each cell was filthy, but empty, not a soul in sight. Zra's hopes fell. "Do you think he was in that room back there? A drooling zombie?"
Link put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, he's too high profile to be turned into a brain dead monster. They're probably keeping him at another location, maybe he's with Midna!"
For the first time in what seemed to be ages, the Hero of Time appeared before Link. Took you long enough. We could have used your help. The Ordonian thought at the spirit.
"I'm not exactly corporeal, you know." Came the spirit's reply. "And yes I can read your thoughts." The ancient hero walked over to the door on the opposite end of the prison block. "Follow me, I can sense my artefact. It is likely they plan on moving your princess soon; the magical barrier that shielded this place from me is weakening."
"Zra, follow me!" Link yelled as he took off after the spirit, the Hero of Time matching his speed as they sprinted through the labyrinthian fortress, meeting little resistance. They finally came to a large door, from which magic and a strange tune emanated.
Midna was on her feet, surrounded on all sides by cultists fully dressed as their infernal king, helmets and all. Whether the traitor with the familiar voice was among them, Midna could not tell. She was completely powerless, magic dampening manacles around her wrist attached to the cult leader by unbreakable chains. Warp magic began to encircle the group, leaking out into the room and saturating every surface with magic. A strange tune began to play from seemingly nowhere and Midna felt her legs become Twilit particles as she warped with them. Something was... different about this magic, it was no ordinary warp spell, and she had no idea where they were warping to. As her neck became particles she saw the door blow open, and saw Link staring at her in disbelief. She called his name as the last of her was teleported across the realm.