Note: This has been long in the making, ever since I graduated college, but with time and over the years, working things out, I think it's time to at least get the beginnings of it up. Don't know how much interest this'll garner, but I hope to catch someone's eye at least. I'll admit, I'm super worried about getting something wrong, as well as this being swept under the rug due to the new titles coming out in the series. Not blaming them or anything, as they look like fantastic games, I'm just worried that content that doesn't have to do with Breath of the Wild might not be as checked out as others.

With that said, I ask that you give your input on whether or not this has garnered your interest and if you want more.

Thank you!

Prologue

The Overdue Letter

It was a truth she had not been willing to admit for some time. In fact, even now, it was a bitter fact she had wished to avoid, if not for her own pride. Yet as her eyes squinted and scrunched to better gage where she was indeed going, the small flame of the candle doing little to guide her way, the woman had to ultimately (at least) come to accept that, perhaps, some of the others' concerns for her and her mobility held some merit.

Perhaps though. Just perhaps. After all, she had found her way to the table, had she not?

Setting down the candle on the wooden surface, she sighed as she then realized she could barely see the piece of paper before her, let alone where the ink well was. At the very least, she could feel around and sense the fluff of the quill brushing against her aged fingertips.

Carefully and with quite a span between each step, she finally managed to properly dip the quill into the ink and make her first mark on the paper, her message ready to be written. A message that, despite all she knew (or rather, didn't know), should've been sent a long time ago.

'26th of March Sixth Year in The Reign of Chancellor Rostoram Harkinian Hyrule'

Even after all this time, it still pained her to address that another was in the position of ruling. It was no fault of the Chancellor in any way, the poor boy. If anything, selfishly, it just served as a further reminder to her, as well as his Majesty of what…who had been lost.

'My Dearest Old Friend, The Hardy Bender,

I bid you good tidings. It has been far too long since we have last spoken, written form or otherwise, and I deeply apologize for my lack of maintaining communication with you in these past few years. '

Hmm…not bad of a beginning. If she had more ink, she'd lengthen the long overdue greeting, as well as her apology. Still, she wasn't writing this with the intent to fill it with pleasantries.

'And indeed, it is now that I truly regret not contacting you then, however necessary it was. As perhaps then, I would be able to share something far more positive in nature. Yet I would not be writing to you if it were of not of the utmost importance regarding the children.'

She hoped it had been that way since she had last seen them. She prayed so every night. What was she doing, getting off topic like this? She had work to do!

'My clan has come to me and his Majesty Chancellor of a great many deal of raids and vicious attacks occurring in several villages and hamlets all over Hyrule, though I assume that due to your line of work, you have also possibly heard of it yourself, especially in a place already so full of merchants and gossip.'

Her lips tightened at the mention of that place. While yes, if there was any news of what had occurred that had leaked out, it'd certainly be 'there'. The question was whether or not anyone would believe it, let alone care. Ultimately though, there was only one in her mind that she wished to hear her words, so as long as he heeded her, that was all that mattered.

For now, at least.

'The destruction is unfathomable. The survivors that we and the Royal Guard have been able to save are but few. Neither my clan nor his Majesty is certain on what to make of these raids either. Settlements are burnt to the ground and little if anything or anyone is left, yet from the small handful of those who the Goddesses surely blessed and spared in order to alert us of these happenings, it does not appear that they are interested in material riches or baubles.'

Her once steady hand began to tremble slightly, she making sure to move the end of the quill from the paper, lest she go and make a mark due to her shaking. "Pull yourself together, you old fool." She chastised herself. "Save it for when you can afford it." A long, rattled breath echoed throughout the room, the old woman regaining her composure once again before she went back to writing.

'Dear Graces, please let me get this done without any mistakes.'

She had wished to explain more. To relay everything. Of how the first instance was so unexpected and swift that no one knew what to make of it. And even more, until but a few days prior, she had allowed herself to simply believe it was just a one time incident! Tragic as it was, it was no indication that something else was amiss.

And perhaps, a few hours ago…she would've believed that still.

'I saw him.' She thought, reminiscing on what had convinced her there was more at play here. 'In the ruins…standing there as if he were some lost child…I saw him.'

'I write to you, not to simply inform you of what I do know. I write to also present what I do not. These attacks are being looked into, and we are beginning an investigation in the matter even as I write this. Yet even as I do so, even as I admit that there is little to nothing that we can neither confirm nor deny at this very moment, I cannot help but alert you that upon hearing of such things, I have felt it.'

Whether she liked it or not, her predictions, her 'other sight' as her people have called it, was not enough to convince the authorities that there was more to these attacks than simply bizarre raids that were more interested in simply causing destruction rather than actual theft.

'And from what I've heard and now seen…people.'

'It is faint, and perhaps too soon to judge, and without the authority of his Highness, I can only do so much. Not even he knows, and for a time, he cannot. No one, but you or I know of the children's fates, let alone where they reside now. But if I do not act on this, if I do not at least alert of you of even some sort of nonexistent, invisible danger that you perhaps may find at your doorstep, I shall be responsible for both the possible shedding of your blood and theirs.'

As much as the thought of it disgusted and reviled her…she couldn't deny it as a possibility. More than ever now.

'That cannot happen,'

It couldn't be stopped, the lone droplet trailing its way down her old, wrinkled cheek.

'I have sworn this to 'her'.'

The old woman had to stop for a moment, if not just to keep her freshly falling tears from staining the paper and smearing the ink. She buried her face in the folds of her robes, yet she didn't know if that was enough to deafen the noise. Her sobs, subdued and strained as they were, couldn't have been contained to this single room, as much as she wished it so.

And as if to confirm her fears,

"Granny?"

A young, concerned voice called out for her, the source drawing closer and closer to her personal chambers, the shadow just mere inches away from the curtain barrier.

"Everything is fine, dear." The old woman quickly sputtered out. "I'm just…needing some time alone."

She didn't wish to lie, lying was something she had forbidden the young woman on the other side of her room's entrance to ever do. And very scarcely did she ever commit it herself. Still, she didn't want her to come in, to see her in such a pathetic, pitiful state, and her response only seemed to incite the young woman to enter her grandmother's chambers, her tanned fingers grasping onto the cloth barrier.

"Granny, you're not fine. What are you-"

"Child." She interrupted, her intrusive guest's hand stopping the moment the word left her lips. "It is in the late hours of the night. I am wishing to complete this task before I go to bed." She explained, her tone not hostile, yet firm and clear. "Speaking of which, what are you doing up this late? You KNOW you have morning exercises at dawn."

That got her going, the sound of her scampering down the hall she had just traveled to her own bed chambers made the old woman chuckle slightly. And it wasn't a lie either. She DID have morning exercises tomorrow. So, if anything, she was doing her a service in getting her to bed.

'Thank you, prune.' She silently thanked the still running youth. 'I needed that.'

Wiping away any lingering moisture from her face, she went back to completing the last portion of her much belated message.

'I pray to The Three that this is not so. That perhaps, Nayru, in Her infinite wisdom, wishes to test me and see if I act accordingly. If that is the case, then I shall oblige. Shall it not be such, yet instead Her bestowing upon me an early warning, the outcome of this reaching you will be the same. In this case, I have decided a false alarm is better than none at all.'

False alarm…oh, why did she go and add that?

'I saw him.'

Still…it could've just been a wanderer. There was no mistaking what she had seen, yet the reason for the youth's still being there when he was clearly no longer…

She still didn't know.

So, for now…it had to be either or. She wasn't done investigating it, far from it. Yet for now, that one, brief sighting was all she could go on.

She would definitely be taking a trip to the site tomorrow.

'I have prayed every day since our departure that you are healthy and well, and that he is as well. Perhaps, should Their Graces see me fit to do so, I shall see him before I go and get my fool self killed. Perhaps they shall go along together.'

Goddesses no. Oh, please, please, please, no. The former would be far preferable. Still…before that…how long had it been? Sixteen, seventeen years? Ah, no. Eighteen with this year. 'That's right. Their birthdays…they'll be coming up shortly.'

She could only hope and pray that would be all that would come.

'With my Regards and the Graces' Blessing,

The Old Crone'

There. Finished. And just at the right time too.

Setting down her quill, she lifted the paper up, her old, haggard eyes scanning over the letters. Her writing style had been getting a little sloppy over the years, yet for the most part, it was readable enough. She would send it to be delivered first thing tomorrow morning. Yet for now, shameful as it was for her to admit, all she wished for right now was for some sleep.

Grabbing the candle, she set it on the small stand next to her bed, removing her robes from her aged form, and slowly making her way down to lay on the mattress which was almost as old as she. No, not just that. This very bed had nearly only a couple or so years on her. Still, like her, it stood and served as it needed to.

She prayed that she'd be provided such strength in these times.

Turning to face the still flickering candle, she licked the tips of her wrinkled, old fingers before reaching for the wick. And with one, swift motion, the two moist digits touched, snuffing out the small flame, leaving the small room to be engulfed in all encompassing darkness.

'I pray to hear from you soon, old friend.' The elderly woman thought, her eyes threatening to close and sleep to overtake her before she finished her last conscious statement. 'And I pray, just as much, that I am able to see their faces before I finally am taken from this world…'

The old woman was left torn between whether or not she had truly done the right thing. Would this piece of paper either bring her closure and assurance, or would it only serve as the catalyst to what she feared and prayed wouldn't come? Such thoughts, despite the heavy veil of sleep that overtook her, would come to plague her in the days following the sending of her letter.

She, however, was far from the only person with those 'two' on her mind.

Let alone the only being.

Far past her room and the dwelling of her and her clan by the foot of the towering Death Mountain, territory of the Gorons, another mind contemplated and pondered on the very same subject. Past the massive body that was Lake Hylia, whose very waters flowed down from the combined streams of both Zora River and the falls of Gerudo Valley, all of which once belonged to the Zoras at one time, wondered of what their next plan of action should be. Was it better to wait, or go out and leave nothing to chance? Past even the Gerudo Valley, whose borders were notorious for the housing of rather unsavory, dangerous individuals and creatures, the deserts that lay past the Badlands supposedly housing even worse, someone was steadily growing weary and impatient.

Someone, from a time where the land of Hyrule, let alone the lands surrounding the small country, were no more than unclaimed, untouched, unspoiled fields and plains.

Someone whom had seen and partook in historical events that, unfortunately for them, were forgotten by the peoples of this generation. Their name, should it have even been spoken, no one would know that it belonged to them, let alone what such a name once meant.

Someone, whom, from the prison and bonds placed upon them long ago by the Three that made this world and all else outside of it, registered that, once again, they were being fed.

And they were, ever so hungry.

Note: Again, please leave a review if you should be so kind, as they are the best motivators for continuing. And I'll admit that this is a very important passion project to me, so anything I can get would be appreciated.