Concept art of this temple's boss, the Corrupted Queen, and some art of the un-corrupted Deku queen, have been put up on the garden-eel-draws tumblr! Follow the dungeon 3 tag on the pinned navigation post, and you'll find it. This dungeon's boss is inspired by Thunderblight Ganon, in a departure from the more classic-style bosses I've had so far. Last week I had a review-splosion and I'm so excited! Thanks so much! Seeing that number jump was really an ego-boost. I think if comments and questions continue coming in, I'll have more answer sections like this one, though probably shorter lol:
[EDIT 7/17/2021, because I forgot a warning] *SPOILERS*
Does this story even timeline?
Kind of? It's definitely set in the gray area between Spirit Tracks and the Sheikah Civilization of BOTW, but I'm cherry-picking my favorite bits of Zelda canon without regard for timelines and throwing them 2,500-ish years into the future of the Great Flood. It's not so much an anything-goes crossover as it is carefully curated chaos.
Will Hylian fairies appear? What about Hylian magic?
Fairies both Great and small will appear. Because I removed the Force Fairies (no extra lives here!), the little fairies will save these kids from permadeath once they start getting into more dangerous temples, though definitely not the trauma of dying *evil cackle*. Great Fairies will boost existing enchantments on some objects/clothing...for a price $$$. As for magic, a lot of this will come to fruition after the big setting shift I have planned, but here's a list: Hylian potions (I'll explain the system when we get there), the magic-enhanced foods of BOTW (with a modified system), Moon Pearls, enchanted items, and the beginnings of Sheikah techno-magic. Spell scrolls are this story's equivalent of Pieces of Heart, and they'll all have spells related to Zelda magic/items. For instance, the Sunburst Spell is adapted from the ReDead-stunning Sun's Song in Ocarina of Time. I'm also making up a foundation for Hylian magic that will be important later: item enchanting, which is how Hermione made her Magic Rod.
Will Harry become more Hylian/get the Triforce mark?
I wasn't planning on it, since I'm intentionally leaving the Triforce Trio stuff out of this. This whole kerfuffle is just Vaati taking his massive ego out on the world(s) at large using a new and dangerous trick; Ganon's still stuck at the bottom of the Great Sea with a sword through his head. Draco is having his genetic weirdness because his odd ancestry is recent (great-grandparent recent. I'll explain when it's relevant) and the Hylian magic he's come in contact with has amplified it. If people really want the Harrys to start getting the pointy ears, though, let me know in the reviews.
Will the Harrys get ALL of Link's canon powers and abilities?
The short answer is "definitely not EVERYTHING", but I'll elaborate. Green is doing sword practice every morning to narrow the gap in strength and skill between the Harrys and a 13yo Link. I'll probably have him find a more detailed swordsmanship manual or a trainer in Hyrule, too. Concerning spells like Farore's Wind or music-based magic, some of those abilities will be integrated as spell scrolls later on. I'll be incorporating BOTW's armor system once we get to Hyrule, so the Harrys won't be squishy wizards forever. I have a summonable items/equipment list for the dungeons that includes canon items (like the Magic Lamp), story-adapted canon items (Lenses of Truth), and canon-inspired items (Vine Whip). The reason why the Harrys won't receive every possible ability from across Zelda canon it'd just straight up break the "game"; a big part of including an item/spell/ability is figuring out how to limit its abilities, how said power-up might render other items in the player's arsenal useless, and how it might destroy any sense of challenge. This isn't a full game-fic, with health bars and HUDs, but it is being crafted according to certain principles of Zelda game design, including not letting the Hero get so OP that the adventure becomes a boring breeze.
To Enku:
1. I should totally have Maple and Syrup make an appearance as potion-sellers, especially since Sleepy Toadstools will be an optional potions ingredient! Great idea!
2. I'm a huge fan of supernatural manga and I'm very familiar with youkai, spirits, and gods in the Shinto sense of the word. The spirits of Hyrule won't be a major part of the story, but they'll definitely appear. I'll be blending a few ideas from Celtic fairy folklore into how certain spirits interact with humans due to Hyrule's Euro/Japanese setting, but you don't have to worry about me confusing Shinto Buddhism with Christian concepts. As for what will show up, I'm sticking close to Wind Waker and BOTW on that front.
3. Answered in the above section^^^
*END SPOILERS*
Okay, back to the show! Content warning for blood and serious injury. I don't describe any gore, but someone gets hit in a hardcore "not getting up" kinda way.
Harry pushed the giant key into its matching lock. It slid in smoothly and turned itself once it had clicked into place. He took a steadying breath as the door split apart and moved aside. His hands were dancing with nervous jitters. While he and Blue had discussed possible uses of this temple's weapon, there was no telling what the final monster would be. Hermione, Draco, and Blue were slowed down to varying degrees by injuries, so he had to keep that in mind as well.
'Would it be easier if it were just the four of me doing this?' he thought as he led the eight-member group through the door. He honestly wasn't sure. Four people would be fewer to keep track of and worry about, but it would mean each temple would take twice as long and any injuries they suffered would incapacitate the entire group at once instead of certain members. There was something in his spirit that felt uneasy with bringing outside people into this, though. It was a sword-induced feeling that he was on the fence about agreeing with.
The room they entered was as big as the one they'd left, only mercifully cool. The ceiling was a pale green dome with a ring of tall, narrow windows just under its edge letting in fresh air that diluted the constant stink of rotting leaves. At ground level lay a wide stretch of grayish dirt edged by lavender tiles and surrounded by a rancid green moat. They stood on one of the two bridges crossing that gap—the other bridge leading to a locked stone door across the room. Once the last person's feet had left the wooden structure, it crumbled and fell apart into the waiting water.
Harry continued walking toward the middle of the wide battlefield with his head on a swivel. No torches, no golden hooks. He didn't have the Lenses of Truth on, but he doubted there were any illusions or Hylian ghosts. If there was a puzzle to solve in order to fight this monster, it was going to be built into the beast itself. He wondered what it might be. A mutated Peahat, maybe? Or a larger, more mobile Beamos? He shuddered at the thought. Merlin, he hoped it wasn't a scarier Beamos. The small ones were bad enough.
A bubbling puddle formed at the center of the room. Harry stopped and waited for the shadow to make his entrance. What would he have to say this time?
Shadow Harry burst out of the ground, flinging wisps of inky smoke into the air, and rushed at Harry. Before the boy could react, he was being yanked forward by the front of his robes. The spirit's bared fangs were centimeters from his nose.
Behind him, Harry heard a clamor of voices crying out and swords being drawn. Someone shot a light spell that Shadow Harry slapped aside with barely a sideways glance.
"Where are we?" he demanded in a low hiss. "What language do you hear me speaking? What country is this? What calendar do you use? Do you even know what Hyrule is?"
"Er…" Harry's brain was frantically playing catch-up. Shadow Harry had seemed so confident and in-control every other time Harry had seen him that it seemed absurd for him to ask such basic questions. He was helping Vaati throw chunks of Hyrule out-of-time, and he didn't even know when he was depositing those pieces? How? "We're in Scotland, speaking English. I don't know what the calendar is called. Erm, it might be Anno Domini?"
The shadow gave him a slight shake, making the group behind him start up another round of protests. Harry barely heard them, too busy having his soul flayed open by Shadow Harry's sickening eyes. There was something so off about how the dingy yellow swam and swirled with occasional flickers of red, and yet something deep in the instinctual part of his brain wasn't letting him look away.
"And Hyrule? Was this place Hyrule at any point? Is it on any maps?"
"Er, it might have been? It's not on any maps. We didn't even hear the name until this book about it showed up in the castle."
Shadow Harry swore and let him go. He swept a few steps back in a billow of roiling smoke. "No wonder the boss keeps going on about how great your world is. The darkness of this place is giving him a sugar-high," he growled through his teeth. "He didn't think, and so he sent me out to cause havoc in the wrong place because he thinks all dark magic is the same. I'm the Shadow of Hyrule, not," his glowing eyes narrowed venomously, "the Shadow of bloody Scotland."
Harry and a couple of his brothers tittered. The Shadow of Scotland had a certain absurd ring to it.
The creature sighed. "Okay, look, kid." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to make an honest attempt to kill you and your friends in a minute and I'm very much not on your side, but I also really, really hate being in this place. It feels like being covered in a full-body glove because the kingdom I'm actually connected to is unfathomably far away right now. So!" He clapped his hands, making Harry start. "I want you look into using that Moon—oh, wait, shouldn't say that. Er, you know that thing I gave Yellow? It isn't just a good crystal ball. There has to be a soft spot somewhere on the school grounds where it'll do something, with as much magic as the boss has been throwing around. If you come across one of those places, just…tell me the next time I sic a monster on you or blow up your school, alright? I want to get out of here even more than you want me gone, even if it'll get me punished again. If the boss won't let me touch anything in his precious new world, then I'll just go to the old one and play there instead, you get me?"
"You want us to use the Moon Pearl to…what?" Harry asked, bewildered. "What else does it do?"
"I'd be specific, but the boss keeps half an ear out for everything I say. If I drop a keyword, I might as well summon him into the room." Shadow Harry shrugged apologetically. "Anyway, monster time! I think this one will give you a good challenge." He snapped his fingers, shoving Harry back with a wave of dark magic, and bubbled back into the ground.
Harry took a few steps back, retreating into the group behind him. "What was that?" Ron hissed at him. "First he blows up the school, and now he's asking stupid questions?"
"I think he's just as confused as we are," Harry said. "It sounds like Vaati just gave him orders instead of telling him what was going on."
There was a tremor beneath their feet. The group, realizing the ground was made of loose dirt, scattered toward the tiled edges of the battlefield as the rumbling grew stronger. Harry unsheathed his sword, the last of the four to do so.
The center of the battlefield began shaking, then sinking, before exploding in a fountain of gray dust. Thick green tentacles spiked like rose vines emerged from the cloud and then blurred in a verdant hurricane, whipping the obscuring cloud apart.
Hovering in the middle of the room was a vaguely humanoid abomination formed from flower petals, dying leaves, and spiny vines. Its flowery purple head looked like some variation of a Deku Baba with a ring-shaped orange mouth, while its pinched waist and swollen abdomen were reminiscent of a wasp. Wriggling tendrils ringed its neck and formed four long arms that waved at its sides. It wasn't a large monster; in fact, even though it was less human-looking than the last one, it was about the same size as a person. Was that a good thing?
The creature loosed an ululating shriek and burst into movement. It shot across the room with stunning speed. Harry moved on pure instinct the second he saw a flicker in front of him and only just got his sword up in time to meet the vines that had whipped toward his face. It wasn't a forceful hit, despite how difficult it had been to block it; Harry was easily able to keep his balance. He took advantage of this by launching a one-handed swipe at his attacker, but the monster was gone in a smear of autumn colors before his sword was halfway through its arc.
After flashing across the room in an erratic zig-zag, the monster took a swipe at Malfoy. The boy had no chance to react—and even if he had, he didn't have anything to defend himself with at close range. Spiked vines ripped across his back, leaving twin lines of red. The monster took a moment to admire its work and then zipped off again.
Harry ran to stand over Malfoy in case the demented flower decided it was best to attack weakened prey. The aristocrat had just crumpled upon being hit. He lay on the ground with his eyes wide and unfocused in pain and terror, breathing in wheezing pants. Dog whined in distress and laid at Malfoy's side, then stood up and paced next to his master. He looked up pleadingly at Harry.
"If he's down, he's down. All we can do is keep him from getting hit again," Harry said grimly.
Keeping up his guard when the monster was so incredibly fast and unpredictable was one of the most paranoia-inducing things he'd ever had to do. His muscles were already starting to cry out from how hard he had tensed up. He could barely see this thing coming, the only warning sound it made was a whoosh of wind, and he had no idea what its weakness was. It had to have one; he wasn't sure why, but every Hylian beast could be beaten in at least one specific fashion. How could they affect this thing using the whip provided by the temple? Was there any other Hylian spell or artifact that would hurt it? The only way to find out was to test what few options were available.
He went for his wand to try a light spell, only to see the air vibrate in front of him. A curse flashed in his mind as he jerked back and raised his sword. He'd been distracted, and now—
Jagged lines of pain lit up along the underside of his left arm. He staggered, his sword now up in a correct defense, but the monster was already off taking a swing at Yellow.
'At least it's more about sucker-punches than pressing the advantage,' he thought ruefully. His arm was throbbing, but he could still move it and he wasn't feeling any frightening numbness. He'd live. In the meantime, he need to figure out how the hell he was supposed to kill the monster before it wore them down with its sneak-attacks.
'It must have something to do with the whip,' he thought. What was the whip good for? It latched onto things. What part of this creature could the whip latch onto?
The monster slowed down to swoop at Ron, who ducked behind his shield. A glint of gold caught Harry's eye before the monster vanished again.
"Look for the ring it's wearing!" Blue shouted from across the room. He had paired up with Hermione, her with her Hylian staff out and him with his sword raised in the same block Harry was using. "It has vines hanging off the back of its head, and they're holding a big ring! Use your whip on that!" The monster dived at them and he beat its tentacles back with his sword. Hermione compounded their counterattack with a blast of fire from her staff. It was enough to make the beast hover in place for a few precious seconds.
Yellow, being at the best angle, sprinted up behind the creature and flung his whip at the large spiked ring guarding its back. The monster shrieked and tried to fly off while Yellow pulled as hard as he could. His heels slid across the floor. Red, Blue, and Harry ran over to add their strength to his. As one, they gave one mighty yank.
The mutated flower dropped out of the air and landed hard on its head. It flopped over onto its front, weakly attempting to stand. The tentacles guarding its back lost their grip on the golden ring and hung slack, revealing a large multicolored eye peering out of the creature's short torso.
Weak point spotted.
The Harrys converged. Harry lost himself in the soothing unison of moving as one. His individual pains fell away, leaving him as fast and strong as any other member of his group. That moment of satisfaction was broken, however, when the creature writhing under their assault flung a shap rain of glittering gemstones in their direction and sped away. The Harrys scrambled faster than ever to collect gems before scattering to protect their more vulnerable teammates.
Appearing in the middle of the room, the monster caterwauled in anger. It tucked its arms in tight, the tendrils winding around its slender waist multiple times. Then it began to spin.
Harry could only keep his sword up and race to figure out what the thing was planning to do before it became a pressing problem. Create a tornado? Use its momentum to fling its extendable arms out extra wide? Drill through the—?
He sheathed his sword and hauled Malfoy over his shoulder as the monster shot down. It sliced through the ground like it was warm butter. "Get off of the dirt!" he shouted, although everyone else was already hustling. He stumbled under Malfoy's dead weight as he made his way for more solid ground. The ground under his feet began to vibrate.
'Gogogogogo!' he mentally babbled at his straining legs. His knees were screaming for mercy, but he had none to give. If he got hit by that drill, he'd have bigger worries than a torn ligament. Or worse, maybe he'd stop having any worries at all.
His feet hit stone just as the ground behind him erupted. The force of the explosion catapulted him and Malfoy right into the moat around the battlefield.
For the second time that day, Harry was subjected to the blinding, smothering murk of the temple's waters. He instinctively flailed, unable to tell which way was up in the green darkness, only being dragged in some direction by the weight over his shoulder. Then the weight lifted and he was being moved in another direction by a hard pull at the back of his robes. He went limp and let himself be guided. Seconds later, he surfaced. Still blinded, he prioritized sucking in air before wiping the slime from his eyes. Once he had his vision back, he saw Malfoy bobbing in front of him. The boy was pressed up against the short rise of stone separating the battlefield from the water around it, insistently shooing Dog. His pet kept reaching out for him, attempting to get him back on dry land and whining in confusion when the Slytherin refused.
"I'm not going back up there! That thing will kill me!" Malfoy cried. "I'm fine right here in the muck, thank you."
Dog slapped the ground. "Arrr!"
"I'm better off swimming, I keep telling you!" Malfoy snapped. "It's better than running myself ragged while that thing tries to take my head off."
Harry swam up to the wall at his fastest doggy-paddle. "Fine, you can stay here and keep people from drowning," he said quickly. "Just help me get back up there, will you?"
"Ordering around the injured now, are you? What a caring leader you are," the aristocrat said snidely. Even so, he dove under the water and gave Harry a boost to help him climb out.
"Thanks!" Harry called over his shoulder as he dashed off.
He unsheathed his sword and charged back into the fray. Since Blue and Hermione had a good combination going, he stood across from them at such an angle that he'd be able to catch the creature by its hair ring if they slowed it down again. Dog joined him with an anxious grumble and halfhearted wag of his tail.
"Think about it: if he were up here, he'd be hiding behind me anyway," Harry said. "He's the most injured out of any of us, so he's safer down there." Harry didn't blame the boy for wanting to keep out of sight. The lash he'd taken to the back had looked awful; it wasn't cowardice to want to stay out of reach after taking such a heavy hit. It was the sensible thing to do.
The monster launched itself into a tornado of spinning vines and sped in Ron, Yellow, and Red's direction. Harry could see the panic in his brothers' eyes as they brought up their swords. Honestly, he had no idea what they could do to defend against such an attack. He took out his whip and ran to help.
Ron barged forward with his shield raised. "Come on, go for me, you—!" His voice was drowned out by the resounding clang of his shield as it met the attack. Then he was sent tumbling over the dirt, across a narrow section of tile, and into the moat.
A bellow of outrage from Hermione rang through the room. "Incendio! Incendio! Incendio! You'd better not have broken his arm!" Hermione bellowed with her Magic Rod raised and braced like a gun. "Incendio!"
The barrage of exploding fire spells bounced her target from side to side in the air, each hit stunning it just long enough for it to be caught by the next. Harry scrambled to take advantage of the opening. Quickly as he could, he switched his wand for his whip and flung the claws at the monster's golden ring. As he started to skid, the other Harrys gathered behind him without needing to be called. They all pulled in once coordinated heave and the creature was brought down for the second time.
Again, they slashed viciously at the red and gold eye on its back. Harry didn't consider himself a violent person, but he reveled in the feeling. Attacking enemies like this was when he was the most in sync with himself. Even when he had been one person, he hadn't resonated with himself so clearly.
The monster assaulted them with gemstones again and jetted out of reach. This time, though, when the Harrys swept the ground for gems, they felt their swords give a telltale thrum. "Yes, they're shiny again!" Red crowed, waving his sword. It left a flickering after-image in the air.
Some of the tension left Harry's aching shoulders. If their swords were powered up, that meant they would definitely be able to defeat the monster the next time they knocked it down.
There came a yelp from off to his left. Ron was tossed onto the platform from the moat. "The water is foul enough without your sorry arse stinking it up!" Malfoy spat.
Ron picked himself from where he'd fallen in the dirt. "I didn't fall in on purpose, you barmy merman!" he shouted back. "How the hell did you lift me up like that?"
"Call me a merman again, and I'll curse your tongue out!"
"Argue later!" Harry cut in. The monster was going into its drilling spin again. "Ron, stay on the tiles!"
Harry ran, glad he hadn't been too far from the edge of the platform. He quickly made it to the strip of stone. Dog perched awkwardly on it next to him.
The ground didn't rumble on their side of the room, though. Instead, the creature burst from the dirt on the other side of the arena. It knocked Yellow to the ground in a way that sent a burst of pain through Harry's jaw and tongue, and Red caught his knee hard on the tiles before he fell into the water on the other side. Malfoy gave an annoyed harrumph before swimming off to save him.
Harry took deep breaths and weathered the pain. He was starting to feel lightheaded and his heart was hammering harder than he thought was warranted. Was it only from his brothers' injuries, or…?
Dog tugged at his left sleeve and snuffled at his hand. Harry looked down. Blood was dripping at a steady rate from his fingers. In fact, he now noticed that the most of the underside of that arm now felt wet and there was a dotted trail in the dirt accompanying his footprints. Huh.
Well, he'd just have to beat this monster before he passed out, then, wouldn't he? The pain wasn't enough to put him down (which was why he hadn't really thought much of the injury), so he was still hale enough to pull off one more round of attacks.
"Thanks for telling me," he said to Dog. "I'll be a little more careful now."
Dog fixed him with a scathing look.
"Alright, a bit more than 'a little'."
On the other side of the room, Malfoy had pushed Red back onto dry land. Red stood up with a groan and took a limping step that sent an echo of pain through Harry's knee. Yellow helped him walk a safe distance from the edge of the platform and the two raised their swords in identical defensive poses.
The creature zipped to the center of the room again. Instead of trying for another drill-attack, like Harry expected, it flung its arms out wide before going into a whirl. Settling the spiked end of its vine-wrapped abdomen on the dirt, it turned into a deadly top spinning perfectly in one spot. Harry and Dog hunkered down as the hurricane threatened to whisk them off their feet. The top layer of dirt from around the battlefield was flung into the air, rendering the small monster almost invisible. Sharp winds full of dust sanded Harry's face and made his eyes water. Even without the visual smokescreen, just having dirt in his eyes made it so much harder to see! He kept his sword up as the windstorm died down, ignoring the pain in his arm and the dizziness setting in.
There was a shift in the gray cloud. Harry tensed his shoulders and tightened his two-handed grip. A flash to the side made him spin and slash.
The monster met his attack with an angry screech. He caught a glimpse of the smoking cut he'd put in two of its arms before it retreated.
He heard another trilling cry from the creature a few yards off and then a lightning bolt of agony struck his torso, flashing from belly to sternum in an instant. His legs folded under him and he flopped onto the dirt. He clawed and flailed at nothing, unable to process the flood of terrible sensation running through him. One hand clutched spasmodically at his gut. For a bewildered moment, he thought he might actually be holding his innards in. He could hardly remember what he'd been doing before he'd been on the ground.
Conscious thought didn't entirely return when the pain released him. Instead, he climbed to his feet and followed the pull in his soul. He ran through the dust cloud without paying heed to the sounds around him. One of his brothers was hurt. He needed to end this to help his brother.
He arrived at the side of Blue, who was being attended to by a frantic Hermione. Blue was…he was not in a good state. He was still and pale, his eyes wide as he drew wet breaths and stared at the ceiling with unfocused eyes. Harry didn't dare look below Blue's face, at whatever wound had sprayed so much blood across the dry dirt. Yellow and Red were already at Blue's side, their eyes no less blank with blind terror than their downed sibling's.
Harry spoke with a level of authority he had never consciously been capable of. "Protect him," he commanded Red.
"Protect him," Red echoed.
"Follow me," Harry told Yellow.
"Follow you," Yellow intoned.
"Hermione, I need your staff," Harry said. Between healing spells, she slapped it into his hand. Harry stood up and walked toward the middle of the platform with sure steps. The dust cloud was clearing up now. He could see the monster through it in flashes as it danced in the air between potential targets.
Harry sheathed his sword. In one hand he held his whip, and in the other he carried Hermione's staff. Yellow guarded him with his sword raised.
With a whirl of his hand overhead, Harry leveled an overpowered jet of white fire at the monster. He could feel the staff take something from him. His breath froze in his lungs for a moment, the strength in his arm briefly fading. Hermione must have had an impressive amount of endurance to cast four Incendios at once. He wasn't going to get that many shots.
The monster zipped back and watched the burst of fire fly past it. Then it set its sights on Harry. It went back into its nigh-invisible zig-zagging, moving closer and jerking back to mess up his timing. Harry gritted his teeth. Out of the three abominations he'd fought so far, this one was the most intelligent.
Patience. He pushed a breath out through his teeth. Too quick, and the monster would get the opening it needed to claw him. Too slow, and the same would happen.
A space to his right twitched. He and Yellow whirled in unison to face it. Yellow struck, slicing the tip off of one of the monster's arms.
"Incendio!" Harry caught the beast with a spell to its chest. He and Yellow dashed behind it, Harry shoving the staff in his pocket and brandishing his whip. Snagging the gold ring at the monster's back, he gripped the weapon with both hands and yanked with all the energy he had left. His left hand was twitching in pain and slick with blood, so he clamped his right hand over it and squeezed down on his weakening fingers. Yellow joined him, then Red, then Ron in Blue's place. The four of them brought the beast down for the last time.
The three Harrys sliced away at its glowing weak spot, all of them feeling the hollow ache of their downed brother. Luckily their swords, powered up as they were, had enough magical force to make up the difference. With one final stab to its weeping, multicolored eye, Harry sent the monster into its death throes.
Harry finally let himself fall to his knees as he watched the twisting, screaming creature rise up into the air. It was over. They'd beaten it. A delirious smile graced his face as he landed in the dirt.
Gouts of purple smoke burst from the monster in all directions, sinking to the ground in billowing curtains as the body continued to hang in the air. Then the shadowy lump dropped. It landed with a hollow wooden thunk.
Harry watched the smoke clear in confusion. The creature hadn't disappeared? That was new.
Then the smoke cleared and he understood why. It hadn't been a monster they'd been fighting at all, but a Deku Scrub twisted beyond all recognition. Laying daintily where the creature had fallen was a tall, elegant-looking Deku Scrub wearing slim robes fashioned from vibrant green leaves and purple petals. A spray of pale leaves formed a crown on her brow. Large golden beads hung from the lavender flower buds atop her head and a smooth metal hoop secured the long violet petals cascading down her back.
He said the first thing that came to mind. "Huh. So that's where the ring came from."
The temple's spell scroll descended from above and settled gently behind the Deku Scrub, who was beginning to stir. Yellow, having the most energy after the fight, was the first to make a tentative approach.
"Erm, are you okay?" he asked.
The Deku Scrub raised her head, blinking blearily. "Where am I?" she croaked. She coughed up a puff of dark smoke.
Yellow only heard a phrase in an alien language. "Er…"
Harry staggered to his feet and deposited himself on the ground close enough to serve as a translator. "You're in a country called Scotland, far away from Hyrule. A mage called Vaati took you and your people here," he explained. "He forced you to fight anyone who tried to free you."
She gasped and sat up, her eyes going wide. "Vaati?"
"Yeah, have you heard of him?"
"He hasn't been seen since long before the Old Kingdom drowned! How did he get loose?"
"The Four Sword can only hold him in for so long." Harry gestured to himself and Yellow. "I know we don't look like it, but we're the new hero. Unless the usual blond bloke shows up and asks for his sword, I guess. I'm Harry. What's your name?"
"P-Primrose. Queen Primrose of the Kokiri Isle Deku Court," she stammered. "Where…Where have they all gone? Where are my people?"
"Your daughter and some of her guards are at the edge of the forest. I think everyone else got scattered around in here." He waved at their surroundings. "Can you walk? It's probably best to get you out of this place."
The queen climbed to her feet and held out a blocky wooden hand to help him up. "The better question is whether you can walk, child. What did I do to you?"
"I'll be fine. We just need to pick up that scroll and everyone'll get fixed up," Harry said. He accepted the outstretched hand and she pulled him to his feet. Yellow, meanwhile, collected the scroll.
Enduring the flood of knowledge was becoming easier with repetition. Not any less painful, but less torturous to ride out. When he was able to think again, he was pleased to find that his aches and pains had lifted away. Harry jogged in place and flexed his now-uninjured arms. He felt so light!
"How is everyone?" he asked the room at large.
Blue paused in casting mending spells on his robe to give him a thumbs-up. Red tested his previously injured knee and flashed Harry a grin. Ron and Hermione, who had escaped serious injuries during the fight, gave him twin "we're okays". Malfoy climbed out of the moat and sullenly let Dog sit on him to lick his face clean. Everyone was energized, healed, and alive.
Harry felt his heart unclench. Especially at the sight of Blue, conscious and standing under his own power. He never wanted to see one of his brothers laying silent and bloody on the ground again.
"Let's go. Once my brothers and I destroy the spell over this place, things should start being put right," he told Primrose. "I don't know what will happen, exactly, but the Deku Scrubs that got sent here might be able to go back."
"Perhaps," she said uncertainly. "Although the kind of magic that seems to have been involved here makes me doubt it will be easily undone."
Harry suddenly wished Blue could speak Hylian. Belle hadn't been exaggerating when she'd said her mother was well-studied. "Hold on, you know what kind of magic Vaati's using?"
"Given that I am in an entirely different country in a temple from the Old Kingdom and speaking to the non-Hylian bearer of a Hylian sword that has been lost for eons, I would say that Vaati has found a way to tangle the strings of time and space. There are legendary artifacts and spells that can manipulate one or the other, but he has violated both to bring my people and this building here." She looked up at the rounded ceiling, marveling, "I've only seen architecture like this in salt-petrified historical records."
Blue cupped his hands around his mouth, calling out, "Green, ask her what Moon Pearls are for!"
"Oh, right! Er, do you know what Moon Pearls do?" Harry asked the queen. "We've used one as a crystal ball, but is there anything else?"
Primrose rubbed the underside of her snout in thought. "Moon Pearls…? Those are certainly uncommon these days. The practice of divination fell out of favor after the Great Flood—not that it was ever popular in the first place," she mused. "According to some of the stranger legends from before the flood, Moon Pearls can open stable gateways between worlds on rare days when the divine barrier between them grows thin enough for things to fall through. What worlds these gates cross, I couldn't tell you. Do they transverse time? Space? Both?" She shrugged. "If such magic is real and you intend to use it, do so with care. The other end of the portal could lead to the ruins at the bottom of the Great Sea or the hottest depths of Death Mountain and you wouldn't realize it until you went through. The legends are very clear that the openings are doors, not windows."
A chill traveled up Harry's spine. He was very glad he'd spoken to Primrose about this before blindly following Shadow Harry's request. "Good to know!" he squeaked.
Yellow poked him in the side. "What did she say?" he whispered.
"The Moon Pearl opens portals to different places. Places that could kill us if we're not careful," Harry whispered back. To the queen, he said, "Okay, we should really get out of here. If Vaati's messing with time and space, we need to put this temple back where it's supposed to be as soon as possible."
She still seemed skeptical about them being able to undo Vaati's magic, but stepped aside and gestured toward the open exit. "Lead the way, Hero."
The group quickly filed into the next room and the four Harrys made a beeline for the electrified eyes guarding the staircase out of the temple. Harry collected the floating square-cut emerald hovering in front of the eyes as an afterthought. He still didn't know what those House-colored gems were for. Did they also tie Vaati's curse to the Hogwarts grounds? Maybe he'd ask Shadow Harry the next time he saw him; the spirit was already under orders to kill him with monsters, so what could it hurt to risk annoying him a little?
Harry readied his sword. His brothers copied the motion. Then they brought their blades down in a coordinated slice. The eyes shattered one by one and their electric stink cleared from the air.
He gave Primrose a nervous smile. "Let's see whether this fixes something."
Her eyes curved in wry amusement. "We'll see whether your optimism bears out." She walked up the stairs and vanished into the bright light streaming in from above.
The children poured out of the temple with great enthusiasm. Harry didn't care where the stairway led them, just that they'd finally be out. He longed to smell fresh air and see clear water again.
They emerged from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was as smooth a transition as walking up any other staircase, no matter how little sense that made. The moon hung overhead, streaming silver light across the dewy grass of the Hogwarts grounds and the tiled roof of Hagrid's hut. Cool, clean air streamed into his lungs. He breathed it in greedily and noticed the others doing the same.
Dog barked and pranced excitedly, his tail wagging hard enough to become a weapon. He seized Malfoy's sleeve and started towing him toward the castle. Malfoy drifted along behind him, too tired to complain. The other members of the group peeled off and followed in their wake. The energy boost from the spell scroll was wearing off and the muscle aches they would face tomorrow were setting in.
Harry lingered at the edge of the forest. Looking around, he noticed Queen Primrose was nowhere to be seen. He switched his glasses for the Lenses of Truth and turned toward the gap in the trees they had walked out from. There was no sign of the wall of vines that had encircled the forest, nor of any Deku burrows arranged in a neat line. The other temples had vanished without a trace as soon as they'd left, presumably returned to their original times and locations. He hoped the same happened to displaced people as well as buildings. Turning his back to the forest, he caught up to his brothers as they trudged off to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a day full of angry teachers and exhausted napping, but he felt today's adventure was worth it.
Item Get: Vine Whip
So! I've officially dropped The Bomb I've been hinting at since the second dungeon. This story has all been taking place in the Dark World so far! It absolutely wasn't my intention when I first started out, but then I realized Harry has green eyes and black hair like a certain rabbit-themed boy, and a lightbulb went off. That's when the temptation to throw in a dose of Link Between Worlds lore hit me, and I knew I was fully lost to Crossover Madness.
Dark World Lore Drop (which I might have to rework later, lest it bite me in the butt):
Lorule was destroyed a long time ago. A Hero of Lorule (not Ravio, because I love my boi) fell in battle from his wounds before he could slay a powerful mage threatening the end of the kingdom, allowing the mage to turn everything and everyone in the heart of the country to stone in a final blast of vengeful magic. The surviving citizenry scattered, integrating into populations worldwide and losing their distinctive ears, but passing down their connection to magic. Races such as the Gorons, Gerudo, and Zoras either died out, blended into the human population, or became magical creatures. Beings of great power like Great Fairies, world spirits, and the Goddesses themselves withered from a lack of belief and mistreatment of the land, fading away. Later civilizations built on top of the lost kingdom until only the faintest memory of its existence remained in the form of Hogwarts Castle and the secrets hidden far below it.
Though irrevocably shattered by the fate of Lorule, a Golden Power continues to shine in the Dark World, supplying magic to the wizarding populace and spreading its threads through the land. It can no longer hold the form of a Triforce, having spent so long as dust anchored within the Earth. With no goddesses to guide it or Loruleans to remember it, the power lies unguarded and mostly inert in the realm of mortals, only accessed in modest amounts by wizards and witches. It needs no protection, however, for it forms the foundation of the Dark World itself; to pull at its current moorings would weaken the integrity of an entire dimension, causing untold strangeness to leak through from another realm as the land turns to lifeless wastes. Surely no one would risk that...