Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

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Chapter 10- Darkness Rediscovered

In a series of caverns far, far below Hyrule Castle, a handheld torch further illuminates the chamber, already somewhat illuminated from glowing rocks in the walls of the passage. The torch is being held by Revali, with Daruk following close behind.

"These tunnels keep going deeper," Revali mutters.

"I know. Deeper than any mining tunnels we've ever dug in or around Death Mountain. And it doesn't look like a mining shaft. What is this place?" Daruk mutters.

The previous day, the four Champions had arrived in Castle Town where the inhabitants of Hyrule Castle have evacuated to because of the gloom seeping up from underneath Hyrule Castle. By the time they arrived, guards searching the castle had found the opening of a passage heading into the ground, deep in the castle's deepest chambers.

The king, who was now staying in a home in Castle Town, had a private meeting with the four Champions. He had revealed that he had always known of this passage's existence, as its knowledge had been passed down through the royal family, but along with the knowledge that nobody should ever enter it. However, with the rising gloom, the king made the decision to go against that long standing tradition.

With the appearance of Zonai ruins across Hyrule, the king had issued orders to the four Champions. He had sent Urbosa and Mipha to visit the newly appeared Zonai ruins and investigate them, while Revali and Daruk were to enter the passage and explore it, to see if the source of the gloom could be identified.

Revali and Urbosa have descended far into the earth, and with no sign of an end to the passage. The pair are really starting to feel confused about what is down here in this passage.

As the two pass through what looks like a doorway cut through the stone, Revali and Daruk enter a chamber that the two immediately realize is not a simple cave. Looking around, they see that the walls and ceiling have been intricately carved. Pillars have been carved out of the rock, and statues on plinths. Various designs, especially dragon heads, are carved into the walls, as well as a series of glyphs.

"What the-?" Revali mutters as he looks around.

"Ruins," Daruk mutters.

Revali and Daruk begin wandering along the walls of the chamber, examining the various carvings and statues along the walls of the chamber, spending almost a minute examining in silence. Revali is the one to finally break the silence as he says, "I could be mistaken, but these seem to bear resemblance to architecture designs of that ancient Zonai race I've heard about."

"Maybe," Daruk responds, not as well versed in such matters as Revali and not sure either way.

Revali is quiet for a few more moments as he looks around the chamber before he says, "Let's move on."

He heads for the door at the far end of the chamber, Daruk following close behind him. As they approach the door, they see large statues of tall figures with long ears flanking the doorway. Revali privately muses if these are meant to be Zonai individuals, but presses on. The pair walk down a small staircase and a short hallway before exiting into a much larger chamber. As they enter, they suddenly spot three Keese moving towards them.

Without even needing to say anything, Daruk draws his massive sword, the Boulder Breaker, and swings it in one massive stroke, killing all three Keese in one massive swing.

Revali smirks and snorts in derison at the Keese. However, a second later, Revali notices something. Raising the torch a bit, he and Daruk are shocked to see an array of murals along the wall.

"What are these?" Revali muses as he and Daruk walk up to examine the murals.

The two examine the murals for several moments. The first two seem to show a Zonai descending from the sky to meet Hylians, bringing with it tear-dropped shaped objects, and a Zonai joining together with a Hylian woman.

It is on the third and fourth murals that their attention is really drawn. In the third mural, the image seems to depict a large man with a long mane of hair stealing something from the Hylian woman in the previous image. And then, in the fourth image, the large man, now with his appearance changed to be even more imposing, commanding hordes of monsters in a battle against the races of Hyrule.

Revali and Daruk stand there in silence as they examine the murals. Revali is the one who finally speaks as he says, "This must be from the ancient past. Maybe even past Ganon's time." He pauses, then says, "Could this be depicting the Imprisoning War I read about once?"

Daruk then looks over at where they can tell the murals continue, but the remaining murals are concealed by rocky debris. "Hmm. I wonder what these ones show," he says. Then, hefting his massive sword, Daruk leaps forward and swings his sword into the debris. With several strokes, Daruk smashes his way through the debris, exposing the remaining murals.

Daruk and Revali stand there, looking at the last three murals. The fifth one shows the dark figure from the previous two at the to of the image, and below him are six individuals, with their leader being a Zonai. Then, the sixth shows four individuals surrounding what looks like a temple that is rising into the sky, a teardrop shape above each of the individuals. As they look closer, the four individuals look like a Rito, a Goron, a Zora, and a Gerudo.

Then, they turn their attention to the final mural. An individuals is depicted wielding the Master Sword, and standing around him are six individuals. They are all standing before the temple in the previous image, and swirling around behind the temple are three dragons. There are also carvings that seem to be depicting the image as shining with rays of light.

"What is this?" Daruk mutters.

"I don't know," Revali mutters. He looks around, noticing that the gloom is getting even thicker. "This gloom is getting thicker, and this room seems to be important. It can't be too much further to find something that will give us a clue as to where this is all coming from."

"Okay. But be on your guard," Daruk says.

"Always," Revali says with a smirk, his hand briefly twitching in the direction of his bow on his back.

Revali leads the way once more as he and Daruk walk through a doorway leading onward. The passage beyond it is narrow, and filled with even more gloom. Before long, it takes a sharp left turn, and then begins descending down a steep staircase. The two Champions descend the staircase slowly, cautious of whatever may lie ahead.

Finally, the two seem to reach the bottom of the staircase, emerging onto a ledge on the edge of a massive chamber. And right in the center of the chamber, the two can see a spiral of green energy rising towards the ceiling.

"What is that?" Daruk wonders aloud.

"I don't like this. Move carefully," Revali says before leading the way forward.

As the two approach the spiral of energy, they finally get a look at what is its source. Bent over backwards, but still standing somewhat upright, is a mummified body, it's blackened skin drawn tight and dry over bone and muscle, and a mane of dark raid hair flowing from its head. The spiral of energy trails upwards from skeletal arm planted against the mummy's chest. As the two Champions approach, the arm twitches, then falls away from its position on the mummy's chest. As it does, a teardrop shaped stone, big enough to fit in a Hylian's hand, falls off the arm and rolls towards the two Champions. Revali bends down to pick it up, examining it as Daruk hefts his sword warily while staring at the mummy. As Revali examines the stone, he is drawn to the brilliant light he can see within the stone.

Then, the sound of a thudding heartbeat rings out. Revali snaps his head, quickly stowing the stone away and drawing his bow from his back, ready to fight if necessary.

In front of them, the mummy twitches. Once, then twice. Then, it begins to writhe, the sound of its bones grating hitting their ears. The mummy seems to be trying to right itself before falling backwards again, but catching itself. Then, the mummy's head twitches towards them…and its eyes snap open, revealing burning orange pupils.

Almost immediately, a massive swarm of what looks a lot like Malice erupts from the mummy's chest, flying right towards the two Champions. With a war cry, Daruk leaps in front of Revali, summoning his impenetrable energy shield with Daruk's Protection. Revali crouches behind Daruk's shield as the thick, concentrated gloom splashes against Daruk's shield. Finally, it seems to cease, but sends out a shockwave that sends both Daruk and Revali flying back.

Daruk is shaken for a moment after being hurled into rock, but quickly recovers his senses and calls out to Revali, "You okay, Revali?"

"Fine," Revali grunts as he draws his bow and fits arrows to it.

The mummy looks at them before it begins to pull itself upright. "You…you are the Champions. The ones that helped to thwart my most recent puppet." He then seems to let out a laugh before saying again, "I am disappointed."

"Who are you, vile creature?!" Daruk demands as he stands up, brandishing his massive sword.

"Maybe I just just put an arrow through your mouth when you open it to answer that question," Revali says defiantly.

Again, the mummy laughs. "Such defiance. But it will avail you nought. I am free, and all will fall before me." Then, the mummy gathers a ball of gloom in his hands before shooting it upwards in a massive jet. The jet of gloom slams into a pillar at the top of the chamber, and Revali and Daruk watch in shock as it begins to rise, pushing up and out of the chamber. At the same time, a shockwave rushes out from the mummy, again pushing down Daruk and Revali.

The jet of gloom continues to shoot up against the pillar for more than a minute. And up on the surface, inhabitants of not only Castle Town, but many other settlements across Hyrule, watch in amazement as most of Hyrule Castle begins to rise out of the ground and up into the air.

Watching this, King Rhoam doesn't take long to shout, "Sound the alarm! Evacuate the town!" Alarm horns begin to sound, and the inhabitants quickly begin to evacuate Castle Town.

Down in the depths, Revali and Daruk struggle to regain their feet. Even though it seems nearly impossible to do so, they are determined to stand up against this mysterious figure. Then, they notice the center of the chamber beginning to give way, and after a moment, the mummy falls into a chasm beginning to open in the center of the chamber.

Revali and Daruk are torn for a moment, wondering what to do. Then, the rock under Daruk's feet crack and break apart, and Daruk falls into the expanding chasm.

"Daruk!" Revali yells out. He jumps over the edge to fly down after him, but soon spots the glow of Daruk's protective shield, right before he hears the Goron chief bellow, "Get out of here!"

Torn for a moment and wanting to try and rescue Daruk, Revali quickly realizes its hopeless, and he turns back the way he came. He flaps his wings as hard as he can, flying at top speed back the way he came, determined to get back to the surface.

As Revali flies back up towards the surface, in the chasm, Daruk continues to fall, trying to maintain the shield around himself, knowing its his only chance of survival with such a fall. Several times, he bashes against rocks on the way down, but he manages to hold the shield.

Finally, after what seem like a very long fall, Daruk slams into the bottom of the chasm. His shield protects him from the impact, but is also dispelled.

Daruk is dazed for a little while, trying to recover his senses. As he does, he suddenly hears a laugh. Looking up, he sees the mummy in front of him, now standing on its feet. The mummy laughs as he says, "Well, well. It seems you will be my first victim."

However, before the mummy can do anything, a bright light suddenly shines above Daruk. The Goron looks up, and to his surprise, sees the arm that had restrained the mummy, floating just above his head. Almost as if on instinct, Daruk reaches out his hand towards it. The arm lashes out and grabs Daruk's hand, and then suddenly yanks him off the ground and into a mass of green light. It then vanishes, along with Daruk, leaving the mummy slightly confused.

A short time later, up on the surface, Revali finally reaches the surface. As he bursts out of the passage, he is shocked to see Hyrule Castle floating in the air. Revali climbs underneath it to get a better view. However, he is quickly distracted by the sight of Daruk standing one of the few towers of the castle that was not lifted up.

Revali flies down and lands in front of Daruk. "Daruk. How did you get here?" he asks.

Daruk looks at him, and it's then that Revali notices he is holding the arm that had been restraining the mummy. "I'm not sure. I feel into the chasm, and then this arm showed up and pulled me to the surface."

Revali stands there in silence for a minute, trying to process everything that has just happened and trying to make sense of it. After a minute, he says, "We need to get back to Castle Town and warn the king."

And, I'll end there.

So, my modified storyline of Tears of the Kingdom has begun. If you noticed my changes to the last three murals, just wait, and you'll get an explanation for the last two later on in this story.

Next chapter will be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!