The three goddesses of Hyrule were up in their palace in the Sacred Realm, looking down at the events unfolding, as the Guardians went rogue, killing nearly everyone in Hyrule Castle Town, as well as heavily wounding the chosen hero, Link, enough so he had to be put in the Slumber of Restoration. Farore sighed as she watched the Shiekah place his body in the Shrine, sealing him inside. Meanwhile Nayru watched as Zelda went to Hyrule Castle to deal with Calamity Ganon solo for a hundred years, while Din shook her head, ashamed of all the damage that her piece of the Triforce, stolen millennia upon millennia ago, could cause. Sure, he didn't possess it now, but she had come to associate Ganondorf with her piece as strongly as her sisters associated their champions with their pieces.
"Do...do you 2 ever think we fucked up?" Farore asks her sisters, green hair falling around her face. "Demise's curse has lasted for SO LONG. I know through our champions, we must keep up the fight, but...do you 2 ever get tired of it?," she further asks with a sigh, looking down at her champion immersed in the healing bath, with only boxers to protect his modesty. Not that it hid him to her emerald eyes. After all, if rock and metal could not hide her champion from her, mere fabric had no chance. "I for one know I feel I'm cursing Link, to be reborn, again and again, never to truly know peace. Not to mention how we've had to jump him across the timelines. That was...challenging to keep track of."
"Sis, I agree with you a hundred percent, and one part of me thinks all that was my fault," Nayru says as she watches Zelda head deeper into Hyrule Castle. "Hylia's latest incarnation has had it just as rough, only unlocking her sealing power now. It's almost a classic dual student tale, isn't it?" She asks, blue eyes twinkling with a mixture of emotions. "Two students, both taking similar studies, at the same time. One will excel and ace their studies. The other...always struggles. Link got the ace role, and Zelda was the struggler here."
"Hey, at least you two HAVE champions. I have nobody," Din turns to them, some anger growing in her red eyes, and a firey aura growing around her. "No, LESS than nobody. I'm the one who's Triforce piece is associated with Hyrule's primary villain! To a degree...I'm the bad guy!" she continues angrily, even her normally firey red hair seemed to ignite now.
"Even if it's NOT that damned Gerudo, it's always something. Remember Vaati?" Nayru and Farore nodded, but Din wasn't done. "Or Majora? Not to mention...those two from what you named the 'Adult Timeline,' Nayru," she continues. "Bellum and Malladus. A giant, soul-sucking squid, combined with ANOTHER demon king. Both stopped by a version of Link that was probably a bit too young for that. And Bellum was only the second adventure of the same Link that rescued his sister, and restored the Master Sword." Din sighs, calming down for a bit, and sitting down with her sisters, her dress barely concealing the muscles within. "But yeah, it pains me just as much when this happens."
"And the most our champions can usually do is just reseal the pig," Farore says as they all turn their attention to the castle. "Speaking of, Nayru, what's the deal with Ganondorf's obsession with them? I mean, in his Ganon form, he ALWAYS looks like one. Not to mention that some of the Moblin variants look like pigs too."
Nayru sighs, as she pushes her lenseless glasses up her face. "Even with all my wisdom, I can't give you that answer," she says with a small laugh. "Wisdom does not encompass all things. There's things even I don't know."
"Well I will say sis, it's a good thing the timeline merger happened," Din smiles, changing the subject again. "Keeping track of those 3 was EXHAUSTING. And sending Link and Zelda between them all. Good thing none of their adventures ever happened simultaneously, right?"
"True," Nayru confirms. "Right after that great split, in the adventure I named 'Ocarina of Time,' the next one is obviously 'Majora's Mask,'" she says, able to remember the names by which she gave every adventure of Link's. Often she gave them names based on important items, such as the ones she had already mentioned, as well as such like "The Wind Waker," "Phantom Hourglass," or "Four Swords." Others got named after important people, like "Twilight Princess," or the mess that was the twin adventures starring Din and her's oracles, in Holodrum and Labrynna respectively. "The adult timeline stuff took a few centuries or so to kick off. Ah, Outset Island was quite the beauty. Good job there, Din," she flashes a smile at her sister.
"Thanks Nayru," Din responds, flexing her arms, muscles clearly showing underneath her tanned skin. "Though it was a group effort, wasn't it Farore?"
"All that grass, trees, pigs, crabs and fish. It was a nice little island," Farore reminisces, adjusting some of the flowers in her hair.
Nayru looks up, noticing the setting sun. "Well sisters, it's late. I mean, we have a hundred years until Link wakes up, but still, we'll have to plan our strategy for him in the meantime." And so they broke apart, each of the goddesses going to a different wing of their palace.
Almost the full century passed since the day Calamity Ganon had awakened, with roughly only a year to go until Link was scheduled to wake up. Each of the goddesses had been helping the people of Hyrule in their own way, while not busy with their hobbies. Din loved to train in her personal dojo, Nayru loved to spend time in her vast library, and Farore had her garden full of flowers and birds.
It was one day that Nayru wandered into a section of her library that she had perused before, dealing with alternate universes. Some of her favorites came from this section, as she loved learning about other worlds. Including the nature of their own father, who they didn't truly know that much about.
A new book caught her eye, all black with a strange symbol on the spine. Opening it, the book described horrors to her. A realm of fire, full of monsters beyond imagining, demons that loved nothing more than to devour flesh and souls. The illustrations even sent a chill down Nayru's spine, as the demons they depicted were full of teeth, odd mouths, claws, horns, and beyond. From odd skeleton demons the book called "Revenants," to the skulls known as "Lost Souls," as well as the hulking "Tyrants," and everything in between. "Hell," as the book described, was truly a place to avoid. Even now, Hyrule is positively PARADISE compared to Hell, she thought, about to put the book away.
But the next few chapters caught her eye. For they described something even the demons were terrified of. Something that made the most powerful denizens of Hell quake in fear. A being that as she read on...almost caused pity to rise within Nayru, as well as a comparison to Hyrule. For just like how Hyrule always lived under the shadow of Demise's curse, Hell lived under the shadow of—Wait, really? She thought as she turned the page.
Occupying one full page, was an illustration of a man. Where she had been used to a book filled with demons that made even the foulest Hyrule monster seem pleasant by comparison, the one that terrified them was just an ordinary man it seemed. Though he was clad in strange green armor the likes of which Nayru had never seen, far more advanced than anything the best Hylian smith's forge had turned out. All that could be seen of the man himself was at his elbows, exposed to the air, while even the man's face was hidden behind a glass plate in his helmet. But what grabbed her attention was some of the attachments. Adorning his left arm was a blade, currently extended in the illustration, but based on the design, Nayru believed it could retract to alongside his arm. And there was...something, on his left shoulder as well, another strange weapon that made Nayru think of some of the cannons that had once been found all over the adult timeline.
"Doom Slayer," she read out loud, pushing lenseless glasses further up her round face, tying back her blue hair. Her equally blue eyes sparkled with wonder, awe, and even a dash of fear as she read on. This man, also referred to by such titles as Hellwalker, and Unchained Predator, was discussed as if he himself was a monster, in much the same way the people of Hyrule would talk about Ganon, Calamity or no.
If anything, Doom Slayer sounded WORSE than them, because the Doom Slayer didn't seek to rule Hell. He didn't seek domination, he sought ONLY to kill demons, all in exceedingly barbaric and cruel ways. There were many graphic illustrations of the Doom Slayer murdering demons, often with strange weapons in hand that further made Nayru think of cannons, but carried in the hand. He was also depicted once with a strange sword, who's blade was...was that energy? Red glowing energy? But there were also illustrations that depicted him killing with just his fists, and not in clean simple ways either. There was one that depicted him ripping a demon in half, blood and guts spilling everywhere in graphic detail. Nayru thanked all the stars in the heavens that as a goddess, her stomach was rock solid, as a mortal would've likely lost multiple meals over these pictures.
Little was depicted of his origins. Only that he "chose the path of perpetual torment," and sought "Vengeance against the dark lords, who had wronged him." What he be like, here? Nayru wondered as she read on. A thought that made her further think. Ganondorf seemed truly unkillable, no matter what Link and Zelda did, no matter the timeline, nor the circumstances. Not to mention when others, like the aformentioned Majora, Vaati, and beyond showed their faces. Though at least Termina can exist in peace. Nobody knows much of the Giants, and the only mortals even CLOSE to Four Peni—I mean Stone Tower Temple were that researcher and his daughter.
Still, it made her wonder...could this "Doom Slayer" solve their problems? Would he WANT to help? Or would they be unleashing something even worse onto Hyrule? Not to mention...how would they get him here?
Further reading hinted at the answer to that last question though. A summoning ritual. But Nayru wanted to consult her sisters first, as this was NOT a decision to make solo. She gathered up the book, markiing her place, as she went to find Din and Farore.
Din was in her gym, dressed in her workout attire of light clothes similar to some things the Gerudo wore, wiping sweat from her forehead upon seeing her sister with the book. "Din, there's something to discuss, but with all of us," Nayru explains, as Din chugs water from her bottle, changing out of her workout clothes and into one of her dresses with but a wave of her hand.
Farore meanwhile was in her garden, talking with all her bird friends as her sisters approached. "Not here," Nayru explains, as she holds up the book, and all the birds flew off, as Farore followed her sisters to the palace's meeting room.
"Look here," Nayru says as her sisters gather around her. "This book was in the alternate universe section of my library. And it goes into a LOT of detail about this...man," she says, pausing due to the fact that even in her own mind, she had trouble believing he was just a man, as she opened the book to the primary illustration of the man in question. Together, the goddesses read page after page, saw picture after picture, the Slayer's feats of savagery bare for all to see.
"Well Farore, he's wearing green. So that must mean you automatically like him," Din says with a smirk, jabbing her sister with her elbow.
"Woah, look at this," Farore responds when she's handed the book, as one set of pages was a dual page illustration. They saw the Slayer, but now he looked small, standing on top of a building of unfamiliar architecture, but ruined, doing battle with an ENORMOUS demon taller than the building he was on. A demon larger than anything Hyrule had ever seen. Not to mention the fact the building itself was full of smaller, but still threatening, demons. The caption stated he was battling the "Icon of Sin." "Do you SEE this thing?" She asks her sisters. "That monster's bigger than basically every version of Ganon, Vaati, Bellum, and beyond, put together. And he STILL wanted to fight it? I thought Link had courage, but this guy...honest answer, I think even I would fear fighting the Icon of Sin," she says in awe, prompting some glances from her sisters.
"Not to mention the power he must have to pull it off," Din adds, when her turn with the book comes. An earlier illustration showed the Slayer, standing over a freshly fallen demon, but the demon was emitting various forms of energy, that the Slayer absorbed. "'He drew strength from his fallen foes,'" Din reads, and another illustration showed the man, in different, simpler armor, battling a demon the book called a Titan, which was tall for a demon, but not as tall as the Icon of Sin. "Look at this guy. He didn't even have his current armor yet at this point in the illustration, and he STILL killed something this big! Can ANYTHING stop this man? His power must be enormous!"
"I see you two approve," Nayru says with a chuckle. "But here's the proposal. Some of the last few pages include a summoning ritual. Apparently he 'slew his great opposite', and now sleeps, waiting to be called once again. He...could be an answer to our problems. Instead of the constant recurring sicknesses known as Ganondorf and his ilk...this man might be able to solve all our problems. Break that cycle, forever," she explains. "I mean, the other day, we talked about how we fucked up," she says, taking a glance down at Hyrule, which almost didn't seem that bad, except for all the Guardians and Divine Beasts running rampant, as well as the ruined castle.
"That 'other day' was 50 years ago," Farore responds, eyeing a picture of the Slayer about to assault some massive city. But he had help this time, as many other soldiers poured out of portals to help him, as well as some metal giants. "But I see where you're coming from. This guy might be able to put them all down, for good."
"Of course, the issue is would he?" Din asks. "Does that book ever explain WHY he does what he does?" She asks Nayru.
"It's vague on that. Only that he answers to noone, and seeks to 'avenge what he lost,'" Nayru responds when her turn with the book comes. "So...should we do it?" She asks her sisters. "Attempt the summoning ritual? We'll need..." she double checks what's needed. "Chalk for the circle, candles, a rabbit," she raises an eyebrow at that entry, "some ammunition of various types, and a fuel source."
"Most of all that's easy," Farore says. "I have some rabbits in my garden. Don't tell me we have to kill it, do we?" She asks, Nayru shaking her head. "Oh good," she says with a sigh. "But as for ammunition...I have some arrows of various types. I'll just gather some of all the types I have, and hope it works," Farore says, tapping her chin. "Oh, and even some deku seeds for a slingshot."
"As for fuel...lantern oil seems to be a good bet," Din adds. "So where are we doing this?"
"I was thinking the unused basement store room," Nayru says as her sisters nod then head off to gather materials. Nayru herself did the same, with the chalk and the candles, heading for said store room. "Ok, so I draw it like this," she mutters to herself, as she draws the diagram depicted. She noticed that some of the designs included many symbols associated with the man, with his mark in the center, as well as other iconography that included his helmet, and even the strange weapons he wielded. I know we're usually the ones who get prayed to, but if I wasn't a goddess, I would CERTAINLY be praying this is the correct thing to do. She thought as she also set the candles in place.
Soon enough, Din came down with a bottle of lantern oil, setting it on one corner of the pentagram. "I REALLY hope we know what we're doing here," Din echoes her sisters thoughts. "This is likely either your best decision you've made, or your worst," she adds as she lights the candles with a wave of her hand, giving the storeroom an eerie atmosphere that made them both swallow nervously.
"It's not too late you know," Nayru points out, squeezing her sister's hand. "We can call the whole thing off."
"N-no, let's go through with this," Din says nervously as Farore comes down.
"Ok, I've got a rabbit in a cage," she says, holding it up with one hand. "Poor guy's nervous, but willing," she adds as she sets him down at another corner. "And I have the arrows and seeds. Let's see here," she says as she consults the book. "Hmmm...of all the types I brought? I think we'll only need some of these," she explains. "Ok, so I think we can put some deku seeds here...regular arrows here, and bomb arrows here," she says as she sets each down in place. "Spooky down here. Couldn't we do this somewhere less spooky? Shadow Temple perhaps? Bongo Bongo's chamber would work, if we can do this on a huge drum. Or the Earth Temple Link and Medli explored. Jalhalla's chamber could also work just fine," she jokes nervously. "Assuming this is still a good idea."
"You're the Courage goddess and you're nervous. Even cracking jokes about other spooky places we could do this in," Din laughs nervously. "Never thought I'd see the day."
"Hey, I'm still willing," Farore adds with a huff. "Though we should probably get this overwith before we change our minds."
"Yeah, good idea," Nayru says as the 3 stand around the circle, and join hands. "I'll go first, so you 2 know what to say, and we have to say it together," she explains, then clears her throat.
"We who are plagued by evil, call upon evil to meet its doom," she says, swallowing a nervous lump. "The blood of innumerable innocents has been spilled, so we invoke Eternal Rage. We summon the Predator, to once more Unchain him upon that which blights our land. We summon you, O Mighty Slayer, to once more rip and tear, until it is done." Even saying the words felt like she was about to unleash something upon Hyrule she shouldn't. But her sisters squeezing her hands helped Nayru to calm her heart.
She gives them a countdown, and all 3 goddesses repeat it together, multiple times. The atmosphere only seemed to press in, and everyone was wondering if it was working, when darkness filled the room, and a strong wind blew out all the candles. Even with eyes that would see in darkness that would blind mortals, they could barely make out the room, or anything in it.
"Did...did it work?" Farore asks nervously with a dry throat.
Din summoned a fireball. "This better have worked or I will be SO PISS—" She says angrily, until the 3 of them notice what was in the center of the room now, that wasn't there before. A black stone sarcophagus, with the same ominous red mark that was everywhere in the book glowing on top.
"So...this is it?" Farore asks. "Is he in there? Is he alive?" She continues, putting her ear to the sarcophagus. "I don't hear anything."
"Hmmm, can we..." Nayru asks, and leans on the edge of the lid, which moved slightly. "Farore, move the rabbit. Or hell...release it back into the garden. Din, I think we'll need your muscles here."
Din grins and flexes as she moves the lid slightly, while Farore takes the rabbit away. "I think I can do it, but I'll wait until you 2 are both present, and out of the way," Din says, relighting all the candles in the meantime.
"So you DO have a brain," Nayru jabs with a smirk, earning her a glare from her sister.
"Alright, I'm back," Farore says once she's standing beside Din and Nayru. "Should we do it together?" She suggests. "I mean, Din, you might be able to do it all yourself. But...it seems fitting. We summoned him together, after all."
"Ok, on 3?" Din asks, and after the countdown, the three of them push the sarcophagus lid off, falling to the floor with a loud clatter. But the goddesses paid no mind, eager to see what lay within.
Inside was a man, wearing the same green armor as depicted in all his illustrations. Even the attachment on his shoulder, and the blade attached to his wrist were both present, but retracted. The only change was his helmet. Instead of it being on his head, it was sitting on his chest, gauntleted hands folded up just below it on his stomach. So naturally, the 3 goddesses were eager to see his face, as all the illustrations hardly shown any of it, only vague outlines through the man's helmet.
But here it was plain to see, though he seemed so ordinary. Short cut hair sat atop this man's head, with strong facial features all the way down. His eyes were closed in apparent sleep, which was a small disappointment.
"This is him? The Doom Slayer?" Din asks. "Well I will say, if I didn't know what we've read about, and just done...I'd just assume he's an ordinary mortal. Is...he still alive?" She asks, and Farore presses 2 of her slender fingers into his exposed neck.
"Man's got a pulse," she says as she pulls her fingers away. "And judging by what I could feel...he's got a strong heart under that armor."
"Handsome though, isn't he?" Nayru comments absentmindedly, as she got closer to him. "There's a rugged toughness to him I'm not sure any Hylian has had."
"Nayru!" Farore chides her sister, causing Nayru to blush once she realized what she had said.
"Still, I'd love to see this guy on the battlefield," Din says, reaching for his shoulders. "Hey, Doom Slayer, wake up!" She says as she shakes them. "Does that book say anything about how to wake him up?" She asks Nayru.
Nayru flips through the pages, looking for an answer. "None that I can find. But...how's this? Din...can you pick him up?" Din responds by crouching, then sliding her arms under the man, picking him up bridal style.
"Wow, this guy's heavy!" Din comments, as Farore also grabs the man's helmet, eagerly inspecting every detail. "So what do we do with him?"
"Bring him to one of the spare bedrooms," Nayru says, as the 3 goddesses head out of the basement and to a spare bedroom, that even itself was on par with the bedrooms some of the kings of Hyrule had slept in. Din lowered him onto the bed, as Farore set his helmet on the nearby dresser.
"Don't want to keep examining it?" Din asks her, though they all look at his helmet.
"There's only so much I can learn from it, by itself," Farore shrugs, but with a smile, but one that fades. "Plus? I get a feeling that when he wakes up, he might be upset if his helmet is missing."
"Fair enough," Din chuckles. "So, do we keep watch over him?"
"Not directly," Nayru suggests as she pulls a stone out of her pocket. "The old royal family gossip stone. The one Tetra had slipped into Link's pocket before firing him at the Forsaken Fortress," she comments as she sets it on the nightstand next to him.
"It's still hard to believe he's done all that," Farore says as she checks his vitals again. "He doesn't even look that old. How old does that book say he is?" She asks, now trying to stare through his armor to assess his vitals within.
"Let's see..." Nayru says as she flips through the book. "It's hard to say. Hell measures time differently. AND some things suggest he's time traveled too. Let's see, earliest mentions of him say he showed up in Hell..." she sucked in her breath when she saw the number. "Billions of years ago? Trillions? Even this book isn't sure," she says, earning shocked looks from her sisters.
"Trillions?" Din echoes. "WE are not that old. And...he was born a mortal, did I get that right?"
"Seems so," Nayru says as she flips through the book. "Though it doesn't give much detail there."
"Anyway, shall we leave the man alone?" Farore asks. "We won't help him any, standing around him, crowding him."
Din gives a small huff of laughter. "You should feel honored. You're the first mortal, if you're still a mortal, that's ever entered our palace here in the Sacred Realm," she says towards the Slayer as the others file out, though lingering at the door. "Not even Link and Zelda have ever been in here, and they're our chosen champions through the years. You'd better be grateful when you wake up mister. Just don't eat us out of house and home."
"Now now Din, no need to be like that," Nayru says as they finally leave the room, shutting the door behind them.
