Aloy and Link arrive at that shrine next to the pond behind the Woodland Stable. On their way over they encountered Pikango and Link showed him another picture on the Sheikah Slate. This one being of a park of some sort with Hyrule Castle in the background.
Link opens the shrine, then he and Aloy enter it. The interior of the shrine has the duo facing a metal railing of intricate design. The voice of a monk named Mirro Shaz greets them telepathically, offering them this trial in the name of the Goddess Hylia.
The duo go right and come upon a shaft with the same railing going down either side of them, but has horizontally placed metal bars going down across from them.
"So do we drop down?" Aloy asked, only for a platform to rise back up and they step upon it and ride it back down to the bottom.
They step off and are greeted by the sight of a large space that has raised pathways going toward a sphere with pulsating orange markings. Above it is a tube, to their left is a chest and to their right is an orange crystal switch. Going to the left alongside them is a raised pathway that stops up to a wall. In the foreground of the objects is a metal railing and beyond it is a large pool of water with another platform further out that has an arch with a Sheikah Eye on it.
Link tells Aloy that he will be using Revali's Gale and to join him to show her something across the water. Aloy does so and is soon airborne for awhile and looks across the water, then sees it: a glowing indentation.
"Now I get it!" Aloy exclaimed. "We have to get that sphere over there in some manner."
They drift down and land. "But how are we going to get it over there, Link? We can't swim with it."
Link walks over to the chest and opens it, finding an iron sledgehammer. He hands it to Aloy and then takes out the Sheikah Slate and walks over to stand on the other side of the sphere. He uses Stasis on it and urges Aloy to hit it. She does so, finding it to be as if she is hitting an object too massive to move. Link keeps urging Aloy to keep on hitting it before Stasis wears off and she does so.
The Stasis wears off and the sphere goes flying, but lands in the water. Link strikes the switch next to himself and another sphere falls from the tube above it. Link uses Stasis on the sphere once again while telling Aloy to hit it again and she is quick to do so. She keeps hitting it over and over until Stasis wears off and the sphere goes flying. It goes into the water again. Link tells her it was a little off to the left and hits the switch to get another sphere to come down. He coaxes her to get her to aim right, then uses Stasis on the sphere once again.
This time Aloy swings to make sure that the hammer hits at a downward angle so that it will have more lift, and from the front so that it will not fly off course. She keeps hitting it in that manner until Stasis wears off and the sphere flies high and over the course. There is a moment of silence, then Link suggests that maybe she put too much power into it and the sphere overshot the course.
"This is harder than it looks," Aloy sighed, then hefts her sledgehammer. "Alright. Again."
Link hits the switch and another sphere falls down. He freezes it and Aloy hits it in the same manner she did as the last one, but refrains from hitting it one more time. Stasis wears off and the sphere goes flying like the last one did. For a moment nothing happens, until a ringing hum is heard from the course, followed by a rumble to their left. They look to see a wide section of the wall rising where the raised walkway ended. It has two raised platforms on either side each with a ladder and up above is a large greyish wall that looks to be made of either metal or stone. Aloy and Link smile at each other and walk over to the area in question. There is a greyish block in a rail that is set in the middle at an upward diagonal that passes underneath that wall, and over a small pool of water too.
"I think we know what we have to do here," Aloy said while taking up position with the sledgehammer raised and Link points the Sheikah Slate at the stone. He uses Stasis and Aloy hits it repeatedly until Stasis wears off and the stone flies up the railing to hit the hinge door, causing it to fall and form a ramp up to another room. The stone slides back down.
Aloy puts the sledgehammer down as Link puts the Sheikah Slate away. They climb their respective ladders and up the newly formed ramp to where the monk is located. The monk wears a wide brimmed Impa like hat with a simple cloth hanging down to partially obscure his mummified face. His left hand is clasping his left ankle while his right hand is raised with a forefinger up, as if shushing the duo to be quiet.
Link pauses as he stares at something off to his and Aloy's left and says that it looks like a hallway to somewhere else.
"Link, you promised that you wouldn't go out of your way to get treasure chests, remember?" Aloy warned. "And if I suspect that another sphere will need to be struck, then it's definitely not worth it."
Link sighs with a nod and tells her that she is right, then walks up to the monk and touches the blue forcefield to get their reward. The duo receive their shared spirit orb and return outside.
They go past the stable and up the road on their right as they can see the Sheikah Tower looming high, with something partially encasing the top. There is also a short wooden tower near it with a large horned animal skull next to it. They go up the road and up the hill to what looks to be an area of desolation.
"It looks like a camp of some sort was here a long time ago," Aloy noted as she scans about the place with her focus. "Definitely one hundred years ago. And it was military in nature as well. Now . . . Ganon's forces occupy this hill." As she sees the images of Bokoblins and Moblins about the place.
That is when Aloy gives pause as she looks from their next destination down to the stable and back.
"I just realize something right now," she said. "This place is near the stable, so how come they're not attacking the place?"
Link suggests that maybe they can defend themselves a lot better than they appear to be capable of.
"So why don't the people of the stable come up here and exterminate them?" Aloy asked.
Link tells her about the blood moon, about what it does, and even claims that he had personally witnessed it that night before reaching Kakariko Village.
"I experienced that too!" Aloy gasped. "I saw the reddishness of the surroundings and those red flankers as well! I was even told about it beforehand, but didn't believe it . . . The things I felt during that moment. I kept feeling that if I moved, something was going to attack me." Then looks down the hill once again. "And since that blood moon was not a first time thing nor a one time thing, no matter how many times they go and slay a bunch of nearby monsters and even destroy their bodies . . . those very same monsters will only come back from the dead."
Link tells her yes.
"Damn . . . and I thought my world had it rough . . . At least whenever machines were destroyed, they were merely replaced by others from a cauldron."
Link pats her shoulder and tells her that when Calamity Ganon is destroyed, the blood moons should end and they would be able to exterminate all of Ganon's monsters permanently.
The duo climb up the hillside where there are wooden platforms around. As they are heading upward, two barrels come rolling downhill ahead of them. They round a rock formation and surprise a black Bokoblin, which they are quick to kill as Aloy shoves her spear through its throat while Link is quick to shove the ancient spear through its heart.
"It's a good thing we killed it right away," Aloy said gravely as she points with her spear at a red barrel, meaning explosive.
They continue up the hillside and would look to be stopped by large platforms of planking jutting outward. But they manage to get past them and come upon a lake with the Woodland Sheikah Tower looming high before them.
"It's a lake of mud," Aloy noted with a frown. "There's no way we can swim in that. And there's another one of those Wizzrobes. Is that a meteor rod he's carrying?" As Aloy takes her own out. "Fight fire with fire."
The Wizzrobe notices them and waves at them. It then turns invisible, and only its rippling steps in the air can be seen as it comes toward them. That is when a rock suddenly strikes Aloy, her Shield Weaver protecting her.
"An Octorok," Aloy stated as she scans the mud lake and sees the outline of just such a creature.
She is quick to take out her war bow and an arrow to take aim and wait for it to pop up. Sure enough the Octorok pops up, ready to spit another rock at her. But she is quick to release and the arrow strikes it before it could spit a rock. It sinks back into the mud and does not come back up. She turns her attention to the meteor Wizzrobe as Link is busy fighting it with a bow, the falcon bow to be exact. Whenever it appears, Link lets an arrow loose into it. Aloy joins in as she too launches arrows at it and ends up running out of regular arrows.
"Time to fight fire with fire," Aloy said as she puts her bow away and takes out the meteor rod.
When the Wizzrobe appears, Aloy swings the rod and three fireballs fly from it, one of which hits the Wizzrobe to make it burn. It turns invisible once again and prances about, the telltale ripples being seen in the air of where its footfalls are. The Wizzrobe reappears and again she lets loose with fireballs, or more accurately meteors. Again and again, she hurls fireballs at the Wizzrobe whenever it appears. The Wizzrobe gets burned every time. Upon hurling more fireballs at it, the meteor rod breaks.
"I guess that's the end of that," Aloy said, then takes out her hunter bow. "I guess I can use ice arrows on it this time."
But the Wizzrobe finally dies, leaving behind another meteor rod, which ends up falling into the mud lake.
"That's that," Aloy said as she puts her bow and ice arrow.
Link points out a nearby wooden tower that has one side that serves as both a wall and a ladder. They climb up to the top and have a look around. They see that the base of the tower has part of a rock cave skull around it. There is a wooden rampart attached to the tower, which in turn is connected to towers and ramparts. A black Moblin is on one of them shaking its fist at them.
"I guess he's upset that he can't get to us," Aloy mused. "But I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing that he won't be able to climb the tower to get at us." As she takes out her sharpshot bow and a bomb arrow.
She takes aim at the Moblin and fires. The bomb arrow hits the Moblin and explodes, causing the Moblin to stagger. Link also hits it with a bomb arrow and the Moblin is knocked back and this time falls into the mud lake and sinks.
"Now then," Aloy mused as she puts her bow away and looks up at the Sheikah Tower. "Let's get up there. My gut's telling me to join you."
Link jumps, whips out his paraglider, and glides toward the part of the skull cave. From there, he reaches the side to begin his climb up it. Aloy follows as well. In their climb upward, the duo rest at the platforms up along the way and eventually reach the top. They are confronted by the other part of the skull cave. Link then exclaims that he gets it now as those monsters had built their skull cave around the Sheikah Tower when they were still tucked in the ground. And when he activated them to rise, this one had broken through its skull cave imprisonment. He next activates this Sheikah Tower and gets the map upgrade. From there, they get their bearings of the road and glide down to it to continue on their way up toward the Lost Woods, also known as Korok Forest.
Aloy and Link reach the threshold of the Lost Woods. It is misty and the sun is blotted out. Flecks of pollen fall like snow all around them. They stand before an arch that looks to have once been part of a wall. There is a lit brazier. Crows are perched about the arch with some on the ground before them.
"Is it just me or does it feel as if those crows are watching us with intent," Aloy said, and Link does admit that he feels a sharper intelligence from them than regular crows.
The duo walk forward and the crows take flight. Past the arch, they look around at the leafless deciduous trees and notice another burning brazier in the distance to their right and walk up to that one. They notice another up ahead in the distance and walk up to it. Then another still.
"I guess we just have to follow these braziers," Aloy suggested, with Link agreeing.
The duo walk up to each brazier they see. Upon reaching the last one, they do not see another brazier. Aloy uses her focus to look around.
"There's two more over there," she said.
They walk up to them and find a torch resting against one of them of which Link picks up. Aloy looks around as she uses her focus to read their surroundings.
"I don't see any more braziers," she admitted. "In fact, I don't really see much of anything for that matter."
Link tells her that they just cannot go walking in whatever direction they suspect might lead them out as the entire forest does not seem to have that sense of trail through it.
"You got that right," Aloy said while looking around with her focus. "There's not even a single track here. I can't even find our own tracks for that matter! This place is truly strange."
Link tells her that he does not think anybody will come along and guide them through, and even goes on to say that they will need to take the initiative and find their way through the Lost Woods, then lights the torch.
"You're right," Aloy sighed. "Let's just hope that we figure out where the exit is before we get hopelessly lost."
The duo begin their journey as they walk through the misty forest of leafless deciduous trees as pollen continues to fall like snow. Large oak trees are around them now, with monstrous faces in their trunks and their branches resembling hands ready to grab the duo. At one point, embers from the torch blow into Aloy's face, causing her to quickly flinch to avoid getting burned or her hair to catch fire. They continue onward with their meandering. Again, Aloy has to quickly dodge embers as they blow from Link's torch.
"I'm getting on your other side before you burn me," Aloy said flusteredly.
Link blames it on the wind. That is when embers from the torch once again cross in front of them.
"Damn but this breeze keeps shifting," Aloy said.
The breeze keeps shifting and that is when Aloy speaks up about something.
"Okay, that is really weird. The wind keeps changing directions."
Link comments on it too. They continue walking and again the breeze changes.
"Hold on a moment," Aloy said, prompting Link to stop. "Let's wait here for a moment."
The duo stand there looking around the misty forest of monstrous oaks that look like they are about to attack the duo. A breeze keeps blowing.
"Okay, let's go," Aloy said.
They get not two steps before the wind shifts. Again, Aloy tells Link to hold and they stand there amid the mysterious forest. A breeze keeps blowing, but in the direction that it had shifted. And again, Aloy tells Link to come and this time walk in the direction the breeze is blowing. The breeze shifts again.
"Notice how the wind changes like that!" Aloy stated. "It's almost as if . . . it wants us to go in the direction it's blowing."
Link then suggests they should do so and follow the wind.
The duo walk, twisting and turning with each direction that the breeze blows and soon find themselves before a stone wall and walk past it to find that they are being funneled along by a narrow path with cliff sides. The air begins to clear and brighten.
"Finally, I think we're getting out of this weird place," Aloy said with relief.
They come upon a large stone tunnel, short and cracked.
"Hey, did you see that?" Aloy stated as she scans with her focus at the sight of tiny figures, some hovering in the air and some on the ground, that were quick to scamper out of sight. "There were strange people around!"
Link tells her it was Koroks.
The duo walk through the tunnel and soon find themselves in an old growth forest of tall lush deciduous trees, mainly oak. The surroundings are dim and the rays of sunlight filter down through the canopy of leaves. Up ahead, they see something sticking up and walk up to it.
They find themselves upon a short stone platform in the shape of a triangle with large oval shaped stone carvings at either point. In the center of that triangle is another much smaller triangular platform, but with a sword jammed down into it. It has a silvery blade with a blue sheeny hilt that has crisscross patterns on it and wing shaped bladeguards. Aloy scans the sword and reads it simply as sword. Moreover, her focus detects it as almost . . . alive.
That is when she notices something about the area the sword rests within.
The stone bench at Elisabet's home was also within a triangle! Could that be a coincidence?!
"So that's the sword you have to get in order to defeat Calamity Ganon," Aloy mused, then turns to Link. "I guess you have to pull it out then."
Link walks up to the sword and squats as he gingerly clasps its hilt in both hands, only to freeze up. Aloy notices that his eyes take on that faraway look.
He's remembering something.
Link releases as if the sword gave him a shock.
"What is you remembered?" Aloy asked.
That is when a grumbling is heard.
"Who is that?" A softspoken though rumbling bass of a voice asked. "Did I doze off again?"
