In the land of Hyrule, specifically the region dominated by the Zora, Prince Sidon gently moved a patch of fake foliage so he could enter the shrine hidden behind it.
Sidon was a more shark-like Zora, his face and underbelly as white as snow and the rest of his body red like blood. His teeth were sharp and pointed, his eyes were yellow, and his head looked somewhat like an arrowhead.
Few people knew of this Shrine of Resurrection: only him, his father, and the other elders. When Mipha awoke, none of them wanted her to be greeted by a massive gaggle of other Zora.
One hundred years ago, it was Sidon's father who dragged his barely breathing sister back home and into the Shrine of Resurrection, where Sidon was tasked with watching over his sister until she awoke again.
Mipha had been placed in a pool of water-like liquid. She looked almost identical to him except she was about a foot shorter, and her head didn't have the hammerhead-like protrusions that his did. Her face was serene, almost like she was having one of the best dreams of her life.
Probably about her 'Knight Prince' as Sidon used to call the elf-eared hero when he was young, a simple way to tease his sister.
As he set his tridents against the wall, he failed to hear the sound of liquid draining and sloshing.
"Good morning, sister," Sidon greeted the sleeping Mipha, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
"Good morning brother!"
"GREAT JABU-JABU'S GHOST!"
Out of pure shock, Sidon grabbed one of his tridents and chucked it at the wall, only for it to be caught by Mipha.
"Oh Sidon, how I've missed you!" Mipha cried as she ran forward and tackle-hugged her younger brother.
"Mipha, you're finally awake!" The taller Zora returned the hug, lifting Mipha up in the process.
"You've gotten so big! You must be well over seven feet tall now; I never thought I'd see the day." Mipha smiled, tears brimming at her eyes.
"I'm only a little over a hundred; I've still got some growing to do," Sidon chuckled.
The two embraced for another minute before Mipha pulled away abruptly, heading towards the exit and taking one of his tridents.
"Um, where are you going?" Sidon asked. "We need to get you to Father and the elders."
"Tell them of my awakening, but I can't be there yet…" Mipha walked to the exit and turned back to him.
"I made a promise, one hundred years ago."
Mipha wiped the last bit of Bokoblin blood from her trident as she entered the Temple of Time, seeing the red haired, six-foot-seven Gerudo Champion, Urbosa, and the navy blue feathered Rito Champion, Revali relaxing on the steps leading to the shrine of Hylia.
"Nice to see you again, Mipha. Unfortunately we're still waiting on Daruk," Revali told her.
"He never was too good with directions; he's probably lost somewhere," Mipha sighed.
The moment she said that, a massive Goron with wild white hair and beard crashed through the ceiling with a Bokoblin under his hammer-like weapon.
"You know, Daruk, you probably shouldn't be desecrating religious buildings," Urbosa said, as if there wasn't a half dead monster hanging limply from his weapon.
Daruk shrugged. "I don't think it counts as desecrating if the building's already kinda wrecked."
"Fair point."
"You look like you had a rough time getting over here," Revali pointed out, gesturing to Daruk's tattered and slightly ripped champion garb.
"Yeah, Vah Rudania almost squashed me on the way here," Daruk grumbled.
"I also have experienced some trouble with Vah Ruta. It appears to have created a perpetual downpour in the Zora Domain, and the rain has almost overflowed the eastern reservoir," Mipha added.
"So what do we do now? We need a plan to turn the rogue Divine Beasts back to our side," Revali said.
"First, we wait for Link," Urbosa told him.
"Oh yeah, where is the little guy?" Daruk asked, scratching his head with one of his massive fingers.
"Probably off somewhere being redundant," Revali answered.
Urbosa could see faint hints of 'I should stab him' on Mipha's face.
"Well, it might be smart to go check his Shrine of Resurrection; he might just still be sleeping," Urbosa suggested.
The four Champions walked up the dirt path to the hidden shrine, sending Mipha inside once they saw it was opened.
After a few minutes, she emerged from the ancient structure. "The bed is empty; Link's awake," she told the others.
"Then where is he? He's holding us up," Revali grumbled.
"Is it possible he just forgot that we promised to regroup at the Temple of Time if anything went wrong?" Daruk suggested.
"It's most likely that he is simply wandering the Great Plateau. I find it hard to believe that he got off," Urbosa surmised.
As they went to walk back to the temple, they saw a large, hollow skull-shaped rock sitting nearby in an otherwise empty field.
A Bokoblin nest.
"Ugh, I hate these little guys," Daruk grunted.
Urbosa scoffed. "We should take it out; we don't want them swarming the temple, now do we?"
"That would be most unfortunate," Mipha nodded.
Revali pulled his bow from his back and shut one eye tight, pulling back the bowstring and holding his breath as he aimed for a lantern visibly hanging from the ceiling.
The lantern's cord cut and it dropped down out of sight. It must have struck something volatile, as the whole nest was swallowed by an explosion and several flaming Bokoblins ran out, screaming for their lives.
"Excellent shot, Revali!" Mipha cheered.
"Thank you, but…" Revali showed the other three the arrow still in his hands, "...I never let go of the bow string."
"What? Then who—"
Daruk was cut off as they heard a war cry resound through the field. They tilted their heads just in time to see a man wearing old, worn clothes and a black hood cut straight through a Bokoblin and spray its blood against the grass.
The hooded figure sliced up two more Bokoblins. One of them lived through it, but died when the man stomped its head apart. The final Bokoblin tried to charge at him with its flaming boko bat, but died with an arrow lodged between its eyes.
With curious gazes, the Champions watched the hooded man search the Bokoblins corpses and take a boko bat before running off in the direction of Central Hyrule.
As he ran, his hood flapped around, and they caught the tiniest glimpse of long, pointy ears.
"Something about the way that guy fights…" Daruk muttered
"The skill."
"The brutality."
"It's almost familiar," Urbosa finished for them
The Champions headed back to the temple, where Urbosa noticed a blue gleam coming off of the floor.
"What did you find, Urbosa?" Mipha asked, standing on her toes to look over her shoulder.
"An earring. It looks like it's from the pair I gave to Link as a gift," Urbosa answered, holding the light blue piece of jewelry in between her fingers.
"You've never given any of us gifts," Daruk pouted.
Urbosa rolled her eyes. "I'll buy you a nice necklace when I have the chance."
"So, Link was here, but isn't now?" Mipha asked skeptically, "Why wouldn't he stay?"
"Maybe he woke up earlier than we did. It's possible that he stayed for a while and when we didn't show, he went somewhere to go and find us. We should check Kakariko village," Urbosa suggested.
"That would be an incredibly stupid thing to do, which is exactly why I'm confident that it's what Link did. Let's go," Revali said, gesturing for his companions to follow him.
Urbosa tucked the earring into her pocket. She could give it to Link when she saw him again. Hopefully she wouldn't have to remind him what it meant.
Daruk had always loved Kakariko village. It was different from his home near Death Mountain, surrounded on all sides by mountains and thick, lush forests. It was a cool, calm place to simply relax.
Unfortunately, it wasn't built for people who were nine feet tall.
He ducked under the door as he entered the home of Impa, one of the few remaining Sheikah monks alive, along with Purah and Robbie.
Impa was a short, wrinkly woman with snow white hair. She wore a large round hat and sat atop a tower of cloth to boost her height.
"Well, Champions, it has been some time," the elderly woman greeted.
"Hello, Impa, it has indeed been too long since we last saw each other," Revali nodded.
"Oh yes. I'd like to introduce you to my granddaughter, Paya." Impa gestured to her right and they saw a young woman quietly sweeping the floor.
Paya had long white hair tied in a bun on the top but flowing freely otherwise. She also had the Sheikha symbol tattooed on her face.
"Lovely to meet you, but that's not why we came here," Mipha said.
"You came looking for Link, I know," Impa smiled.
Paya began to audibly sweep faster.
"Yes, we have. We were supposed to meet at the Temple of Time, but he never showed," Urbosa explained.
"You're in luck. Link was here—"
Mipha breathed a sigh of relief.
"—three weeks ago."
"The little guy's been awake for weeks?" Daruk shouted in surprise.
Revali could practically hear Paya's heartbeat begin to quicken.
"I know not of his current location. But I do know that he's somewhere between here and Hateno," Impa told them.
"G-grandmother? I've finished cleaning; would you mind if I go now?" Paya asked, beads of sweat dripping down her forehead.
"Hm? Oh, yes dear, you may go."
Paya bowed to her and then the champions, before hurriedly running out of the building.
"So we're all in agreement that she's hiding something, yes?" Revali asked.
"Definitely," everybody else said in unison.
"Then you might not want to lose her," Impa said.
The Champions turned to leave, but stopped when Impa held up a single boney finger. "By the way. You might want to check his Shrine of Resurrection soon."
"Why?" Mipha asked.
Impa just chuckled.
"Cryptic old witch," Revali muttered as he started to leave again.
"Thank you!"
Paya moved the wooden plank covering the cave Link was living in. She had been kinda taking care of him for the past few weeks, making sure he ate and bandaged his wounds.
She knew he had to end it soon. Paya could see that Link was tired; battling monsters constantly had taken its toll on him.
Paya knew that she should've told the Champions where he was, but she just couldn't for some reason. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't.
Link sat on a log by the fire. His hood was down and his weapons were propped against the wall behind him.
"Good evening, Link. I brought some food." Paya waved, holding up a bundle of steaks and other assorted items.
Link turned and nodded graciously before going back to stoking the fire.
Paya just smiled, Link wasn't one for talking, but, for the most part, neither was she, so it all worked out.
"Well, this place is far from the ritz, but I could see why someone like you would like it," a voice said out of nowhere.
Link and Paya both jumped to their feet to see the Champions enter the cave, except for Daruk who was forced to look in from outside.
"Link, thank the goddess we finally found you!" Mipha exclaimed, running to hug him.
Only for Link to jump back a few feet.
The Zora princess stopped dead in her tracks, her arms still extended. "Link? It's me; why did you jump away?"
Link just looked between all of them, confusion visible on his face. 'How do you know my name?' he signed.
"What're you talkin' about little guy? We're friends," Daruk half chuckled from outside.
'Who are you?'
"Link, would you quit fooling around? We have to go stop the Divine Beasts; now where's your fabled sword?" Revali asked.
'...I don't know you.'
The Champions' faces fell, even Revali's. Once again, Mipha tried to embrace the Hylian, tears threatening to spill down her scaly skin.
"You can't have forgotten me Link, I just don't believe i—"
Mipha was cut off as a sword appeared inches from her throat.
Link took the rest of his weapons and began to slowly back out of the cave. Once out, he sheathed his sword and signed one last time to the Champions.
'Don't follow me, or you will end up regretting it.'
With that, he let out a few sharp whistles and a horse came galloping over a grassy hill. Link mounted it and cracked the reins, causing the horse to whine loudly and take off in the other direction.
Now that Link's back was turned, Revali nabbed his bow from his back and took aim. Just as he was about to let the string go however, a trident was thrown at him, knocking the bow down and sending the arrow into the ground.
"What are you doing? You can't shoot him!" Mipha yelled.
"I wasn't going to shoot him; I was trying to graze his horse so it would buck him off! Now he's gotten away!" Revali yelled back.
"Revali, that was a stupid plan and you know it. Mipha, Revali was only trying to help," Urbosa said like a mother scolding her children. "What matters now is finding him."
"I-I'll find him. I know where his backup hideout is; I can get him to calm down," Paya offered.
"How paranoid do you have to be to have a backup hideout?" Revali muttered.
"You need to go to his Shrine of Resurrection though; his Champion's tunic was hidden there. If you can show that to him, maybe he'll remember you. After that, head to Hateno; I'll meet you there," Paya continued.
"I want to go with you. I can't just leave him out there on his own."
"No, Mipha, we stick together, at least for now. Last time we split up, we all nearly died," Urbosa ordered.
Mipha looked like she wanted to argue, but instead she simply sighed and nodded.
"I can't believe we didn't realize that the little guy who killed all those Bokoblins down there was Link," Daruk grumbled as he stared down at the empty nest.
"How could he not remember us, after all we've been through?" Mipha heartbrokenly sighed.
"Well, we're about to find out," Revali said.
The four entered the Shrine of Resurrection, once again finding Link's empty bed. Daruk attempted to use the control panel on the right side of the bed, but Revali stopped him.
"What's wrong? I'm smart enough to work this thing," Daruk insisted.
"I don't doubt that, but a single finger of yours is bigger than the entire console," Revali countered, activating the panel and bringing up a holographic screen.
"Life restoration: complete. Basic knowledge restoration: complete. Combat knowledge restoration: complete. I don't understand what the problem is?" Urbosa groaned.
"Uh, maybe that?" Daruk pointed his large finger at the screen.
"Memory restoration: critical failure. This stupid thing took away his memories!" Mipha yelled.
"Hm... so he really doesn't remember us," Urbosa whispered.
"Well, Paya did say that his Champion's tunic could make him remember. We need to go show it to him," Mipha said as she showed them the light blue uniform.
"Is that the smartest decision though?"
"What are you talkin' about Revali?" Daruk asked.
"Look, the princess may have Calamity Ganon trapped within Hyrule castle for now, but how long is that going to last? She grows weaker by the day, and if the Calamity escapes, it's over for all of us! I say that we ignore Link for now, let him be a dirty vagrant wandering the plains. We need to storm Hyrule cast—"
Revali was cut off by the trident that slammed into the wall next to him.
"We will not leave him behind! You've always hated Link just because he's better than you!" Mipha screamed.
"He is not better than me!" Revali shouted back.
"Would you two stop it!" Urbosa cut in. "We're supposed to be teammates, guys."
Mipha and Revali gave one last angry glance at each other before separating a few feet.
"Good. Now, I can see why Revali said that; he has somewhat of a point," Urbosa began.
"But the Master Sword is the only thing that can beat Calamity Ganon, and Link's the only one who can wield it," Daruk finished.
Mipha and Revali simply huffed in response.
Urbosa sighed, "You don't have to like each other, but you certainly have to cooperate with each other. So let's just all agree to keep our arguments to ourselves as we travel to Hateno, yes?" She may have asked, but her voice told everyone that there was no room for argument.
Looks of confusion spread across the faces of the Champions as they looked upon the town of Hateno. Some buildings had scorch marks on them, others had large chunks destroyed off of them, and some remained untouched. Needless to say, the town was a wreck.
The people of Hateno were all working to rebuild the town though, townsfolk running every which way to fix all that was broken.
"Excuse me!" Urbosa called up to a carpenter in the middle of fixing a roof.
"Howdy!" he called back, waving his hammer at them.
"What happened here?" Mipha asked, gazing at the destruction around them.
"Monster attacks. We really thought we were done for, but then the Phantom of the Dual Peaks rode in here and slaughtered all of them," the carpenter chuckled.
He then pointed behind them, and they turned around to see a whole wheelbarrow full of Bokoblin and Moblin corpses: decapitated, eviscerated, bifurcated, defenestrated—if a violent death existed, one of these monsters had experienced it.
"Phantom of the Dual Peaks?" Daruk asked.
"Legend has it that he's a Hylian who went hiking up one of the mountains and was eaten alive by monsters. He wanders around on a horse that's made of shadows, he wears clothing that's practically torn to shreds, and his face is hidden by a black hood," the carpenter answered.
"That's no urban legend," Revali muttered.
"Come, we've done enough talking to this Hylian Voe," Urbosa said, motioning for the others to follow.
"...hey, uh, Voe isn't some kind of slur is it? I need to know whether I should feel offended or not!" the Hylian called after her.
The four walked up to the Hateno tech lab, hoping to find Paya and Link there, but the place looked empty. Assuming Purah was simply helping the townsfolk and they had just failed to notice her, they sat in wait, hoping that she could help them find the two.
After about two minutes of waiting however, they heard a loud shriek pierce through the air.
They quickly shot to their feet and ran over to the edge of the cliff overlooking Hateno beach, where Daruk pulled a spyglass from his back pocket.
"Since when have you had this?" Mipha asked.
"I took it from Kakariko village," Daruk said as he looked for the source of the scream.
He then noticed the dirty looks the other three were giving him.
"I left rupees for it, I swear!"
Daruk went back to looking through the spyglass, but after a few seconds, let it fall slack from his fingers.
Link groaned as the Bokoblins celebrated around his broken body. He had failed. Paya was cowering against a rock as a brown Bokoblin stalked ever closer towards her.
The one Moblin among them raised his club and began to bring it down on Link's skull; he braced himself for the impact. This was supposed to be a simple job: kill a few Bokoblins and bring the sheep back. Instead, he was overwhelmed, outnumbered even by his standards, and overpowered.
He felt like he had failed his entire life's purpose.
Link patiently awaited for his brains to be splattered against the grass, but it never came. Instead, he heard a boom and watched the Moblin fall to the ground, its head utterly destroyed by what seemed to be a bomb arrow.
Three of the four remaining Bokoblins were paralyzed by lightning strikes, then one of them was impaled through the back of the chest and the other two were crushed into a red paste by an unseen force.
Link, confident enough in his ability to kill at least one Bokoblin even in his current state, picked up a Lizal spear and stalked toward the monster cornering Paya.
With one swift thrust, he pierced through the Bokoblin's neck. Link began to pull the spear up, but not before placing his foot against the Bokoblin's heel. Sickening crunching and tearing sounds could be heard as he tore a vertical line through the Bokoblin's head, the two pieces flopping apart like a beautiful rose of carnage
His shirt was so soaked red with blood, he may as well have dyed it the color, and his hood had been cut to shreds and fallen apart. Link was about to sign a quick thanks to those who had saved him when the pain he had been fighting consumed every fiber of his being, and he passed out.
So, this is a bit different from what I normally do, I usually just stick to MHA stuff but I just got really hooked on this game and this idea, so here you go. Discord links:
Epsi's Hoard: https/discord.gg/enz3cHPFJ8
LoM: https/discord.gg/zCwn3FKW6d
That's it for now, Peace.