Aloy and Link are in one of Kakariko Village's stores that sells arrows. In spite of the urgency of their mission, the duo are not quick to carry it out.
"So are you two together?" the shopkeeper whispered to Aloy while Link is searching amongst the arrows. Aloy recognizes her from amongst to the group of people who came to watch as she herself was brought into the village as she is the only Sheikah with black hair.
"Ah, no," Aloy whispered back as she shakes her head slightly.
"If that's the case then he can nock an arrow with me anytime," the shopkeeper noted whimsically, and her tone turns dour. "Something my good-for-nothing husband can't do anymore because he loves his cuccos more than me."
"Okay," Aloy mused uneasily, then turns. "Hey Link, have you got any arrows selected yet?"
Link nods and purchases them. They leave and visit yet another store.
"Welcome to Enchanted, my high-end boutique!" The woman clerk said enthusiastically. "We exclusively stock the special garments of the Claree Collection! In fact, that stealth chest guard over there is highly recommended! Oh, and we also buy anything you don't need, so just talk to me when you're ready!"
"The Claree Collection?" Aloy asked.
"As in a high-end collection created by me, Claree," the clerk answered. "But of course! I've personally selected each and every item in here using my flawless fashion sense. It's all highly recommended. Each item has its own unique features and abilities, so take a good look!"
Aloy and Link examine the clothing. On one side are an elegant close-fitting tunic with a hood and trousers. On the other side are a sleek looking stealth chest guard of various blues with the Sheikah Eye on its chest, complementing it are tights and a mask with a wig. Link buys the elegant tunic and matching trousers using rupees; something Aloy notes to parallel the shards used back in her world. He tries them on behind a screen and emerges wearing them.
"Looks good on you," Aloy said with approval. "So, ready to go visit this Great Fairy now?"
Link nods and they leave the boutique. They look to where they had first entered the village.
"There's a shrine up there," Aloy said. "Because I passed by it last night. There's . . . something up back that way I was able to pick up on my focus. That's this device on the side of my head. With it, I can read the surroundings and access the technology of my world."
The duo go up the hill and soon encounter the shrine Aloy had passed last night. Link walks up to that shrine as he takes out the Sheikah Slate, then places it against the pedestal alongside the door. The orange turns to blue and the symbol down on the platform glows. The door opens as each bar swings inward from either side to reveal a small space with a glowing circle inside on the floor.
"So that thing can give you access to these shrines!" Aloy marveled.
Link answers yes and tells Aloy to come with him, together they enter the interior and stand upon the glowing area of the floor.
"Okay, so what-?" Aloy began, only to be interrupted by the platform suddenly going down.
The platform carries them down into the shrine within a clear blue-tinged forcefield in the form of a tube. They reach the bottom and the field disappears so that they emerge from the platform. Aloy looks around.
The interior is a huge space with short columns that each have a conical crystal atop them that emit a blue light. On the walls around them are holders that also have a blue glowing crystal in them as well. There are also skylights up above, or at least they look to be such. Coolness pervades the place. The floor, walls, and ceiling are of the same material as the shrine, with the tiled floor being a dark yellowish color. Way in the back is a black metal mesh wall with an entrance that has bars over it. Beyond it, she can see something glowing orange. On either side near Aloy and Link are a chest with an orange glowing circle upon them.
"Wow, I don't think the Old Ones ever made anything like these places," Aloy marveled.
Aloy looks at Link and notices his puzzled expression.
"Back in my world, they were people who created a wonderful civilization, but went extinct when machines they created got out of their control and destroyed all life," she explained. "But before that happened, they created another machine that resurrected life after they were gone. My mother oversaw its creation, but was already hundreds of years dead by the time I was born. I was born from a glass tank by the way."
Link gives Aloy a blank look while blinking thoughtfully. He next directs her attention to the chests, one of which Aloy walks over to and presses on the orange circle, making it turn blue and open. Aloy finds a brownish teardrop-shaped shield with gold edges and a Sheikah symbol on it done in gold as well. As for Link, he finds a sword with a slightly curved single edged blade with a tiny blade jutting out from the crossguard.
"This is of no use to me," Aloy explained, handing him the shield. "But I think you can make better use of it. My Shield Weaver will-"
That is when rumbling is heard and the floor shakes slightly. They look to see a floor rise in the middle of the room. On that floor is some sort of machine with three metallic tentacle legs protruding from out of its base. On its base is a dome with a single blue light for an eye. The dome elevates to reveal complex machinery and a rod-like arm sprouts from that machinery to reveal a glowing blue thin blade. Aloy reads it with her focus and it comes up as unknown.
"Okay, we're in for a fight," Aloy said as she takes out her bow and equips a tearblast arrow.
She launches it, only for the machine to casually swat it aside.
"Great, a machine smart enough to deflect arrows," Aloy grumbled as she puts away her bow, then takes out her spear. "Then it looks like we'll have to get up close and personal with it."
Together, they rush at the machine. The machine swings its sword and Aloy deflects the blow while Link thrusts at it with the sword he had taken out of that chest, striking the machine.
"Let me try something!" Aloy stated as she points the end of her spear at it.
She attempts to override it, but it does not work.
"So I guess I can't do anything to that tech," Aloy mused.
The machine swings at Link. Aloy takes the opportunity to swipe at it, hitting it hard and causing it to move back. Link follows up with a blow of his own. They take turns striking the machine and parrying its attacks. At one point, Link does a back flip as it takes a swing at him. Link rushes forward and delivers a barrage of speedy strikes upon it. Aloy grabs the tearblast arrow it had deflected and drives it into its eye, then quickly lets go. The arrow makes that telltale droning buzz that increases in pitch until it explodes, causing the machine to unleash a fountain of sparks and crumble. It explodes, leaving behind its blade and two ancient screws.
"We did it!" Aloy trumped.
YOU HAVE DONE WELL TO LEARN THESE CRUCIAL SKILLS. NOW PROCEED.
"What . . . ?! Who . . . ?!" Aloy gasped with a bewildered look while looking around. The voice had reverberated through her mind.
In the back, they see the bars rise to the next room. Link takes a moment to pick up the blue sword and the ancient screws. Link explains that the parts are useful for creating various things as he could pawn them off on someone looking for such things.
"Good idea," Aloy mused. "Back in my world, I always scavenged machines that I destroyed afterwards for parts."
Together, they enter the other room that is also lit by various blue crystals perched upon columns or holders on the walls. Before them are two sets of stairs with a chest midway. Link opens the chest to take out an iridiscent opal and stores it away. They walk up to the end of which Aloy cannot help but to gawk at.
There is a platform with a set of steps leading up to it, surrounded by a clear blue-tinged forcefield with the Sheikah Eye. Within that forcefield is another smaller platform of which a man is sitting upon with crossed legs and raised fists before himself pressed together. The man in question has blackish skin and long flowing white hair and looks to be emancipated. He is wearing a white cloth over his face with the Sheikah Eye on it, along with a hat similar to Impa's, minus the metal on it. He also wears pants with a red belt, bangles on his wrists and anklets, and a necklace.
Aloy reads the man and makes a discovery.
"That man is dead," she noted. "And looks to have been so for thousands of years."
Link walks up the steps and touches the shield. The eye disappears in a glow that spreads over the shield, which suddenly shatters into hundreds of light filaments and disappears.
YOUR TRIUMPH OVER THE TEST OF STRENGTH SUBVERTS A PROPHECY OF RUIN. FROM THE ASHES OF HYRULE, TWO HEROES RISE. IN THE NAME OF GODDESS HYLIA, I BESTOW UPON THE BOTH OF YOU THIS SPIRIT ORB.
That voice had spoken once again, causing Aloy to look around.
"Wait, was that him talking?" She gasped at the dead man.
A glow appears on the man's chest and a crystalline sphere surrounded by mist comes flying out of it. The sphere has a winged symbol within it and its color phases between purple and blue. The sphere splits into two, one enters Link and streaks of light swirl about him and into his chest, and the other enters Aloy. She feels as if something fills her up all over and throughout her being; making her feel herself more intently.
"Whoa, what a rush!" Aloy gasped.
MAY THE GODDESS SMILE UPON YOU BOTH.
The corpse begins dissolving into motes and drifts away until there is only an empty space left.
"I guess we're finished here," Aloy said.
Link agrees and they turn to leave the shrine. Once outside, they go up the hill and walk past where Aloy had went last night to sleep and was discovered early this morning. They arrive before a colossal green ball covered in blunt thorns. No, not a ball but huge leaves closed up. There are huge mushrooms around it situated upon tall stalks, with a pile of them serving as stairs.
"So this must be where this Great Fairy Cotera lives," Aloy said aloud with a tone of bewilderment. "Wait, what are those things flying around it?"
Link tells her that those are fairies and even explains what they are.
"This truly is a . . . strange world," Aloy said with humorous unease as she reaches out tentatively to touch one of the fairies. The fairy responds by touching her finger and even stands upon it. Aloy can see that it is a tiny humanoid feminine creature with wings.
Link reaches out and takes the fairy and puts it into his pack. Aloy winces at what he did. On their way here, she had watched him pick up various plants and insects, as he told her that he can make either food or brew potions with them. But he assures her that the fairy will not be cooked, but merely enchant the items then take their leave, or even relieve their health if diminished, thus relieving Aloy's concern.
They approach the ball-like object and it pulsates.
"Boy, girl," a garbled voice spoke from within it. "Sweet boy, sweet girl . . . Please . . . Listen to my story."
Aloy and Link stare at each other with bemusement.
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Aloy said.
"I am the Great Fairy Cotera," the voice said. "This place was once a beautiful spring . . . but as time passed, fewer and fewer travelers arrived to offer me rupees. As a result, my power has abandoned me. I'm nearly powerless now, so I beg your help. I need rupees to become whole again. All I need is one hundred rupees . . . Once my power has beeen restored, I can help you do great things, boy, girl. Now . . . If you have rupees, hand them over to me. Quickly!"
Aloy yelps as she jumps back with shock over the sudden appearance of an enormous long-nailed female hand wearing red nailpolish and a silvery wristlet thrusting out as if to grab them. "There's definitely nothing like that back in my world!"
"In order for me to regain my power," Cotera continued while still holding her hand out, "I need one hundred rupees."
Link takes out six red rupees and hands them over to Cotera.
"Thank you," Cotera said as she snatches them and pulls her hand back in quickly. "You are too kind."
The leave petals pulsate more profoundly and purple mist shoots up out of the top.
"Aah," Cotera exclaimed. "The power . . . It's overflowing!" Her tone reaching a crescendo of ecstacy.
The leaf petals burst wide open and lie flat, causing Aloy to fall back with a squeak as her heart skips a beat. Though Link is a little more reserved as he is somewhat used to the bizarreness that is to be found in his world. A giant woman bursts up out of a pool of water, with arms spread wide and an expression of joy as she towers over them. She is a curvy full figured buxom woman with a heart shaped face with fairy wings behind her pointed ears, pale skin, and white blonde hair done up in a pompadour but with a forelock hanging forward. She is wearing makeup, jewelry, and a brassiere of garish design. The interior of the flower is adorned with gold around its edges. Aloy reads Cotera with her focus, so that it reads, Great Fairy Cotera.
"D-Don't worry, that fairy he took won't be harmed," Aloy waved assuredly with an uneasy grin up at Cotera, who leans over with hand resting on face looking down at them with an amused expression.
"Oh, what a feeling!" Cotera said, this time in a soft crystaline voice. "That first breath of fresh air after an eternity of decay . . . It's just so intoxicating! Thanks to you, I've been returned to my former glory. And as they say-one good turn deserves another. I can help you, boy, girl."
"H-How?" Aloy asked.
"I can upgrade your garments," Cotera answered. "Including that shield around you."
And so it goes. Aloy and Link offer up various materials of which Cotera takes and melds them into a mist of which she blows over Link then Aloy, upgrading their clothing, and in Aloy's case, her Shield Weaver so that it is made stronger.
"My sisters are scattered throughout the rest of Hyrule," Cotera next said. "Visit them if ever you're in need of upgrades. I'm sure they will help you."
Cotera then slips back underwater as quickly as she had appeared.
"Well," Aloy said. "That was an interesting experience. Next, we should go to this Hateno Village to get that Sheikah Slate of yours upgraded."
They leave to return to where the entrance of the village is. Waiting there, is a horse that Link rode in upon.
"Oh, you came here on one of those horses, did you?" Aloy said with a tone of uncertainty.
Link verifies it so and next asks her a question.
"I know of no such creature that exists back in my world," Aloy answered. "The closest we have resembling horses are machines called broadbacks. If we had one here, I could override it with the device in the end of my spear and ride it like you ride your horse."
Link nods in understanding and takes the reins of his horse, then leads it into a walk with Aloy falling in step with them.
They return down the trail and cross the bridge. Link points up another road that leads away toward mountains, explaining that is where Hateno Village is located. They reach the stable and Link puts the horse up. He tells Aloy that since she is not use to such creatures, there is no point in training her to get use to them, let alone learn how to catch one. So it is at the Outskirt Stable that Link puts the horse up.
Aloy and Link head toward Hateno Village.
