A Quest to Seal the Darkness

by Ebblenubble

One century ago, a disaster struck the kingdom of Hyrule. The knights were slaughtered, the citizens were scared, and the princess was trapped. Those who survived the event lived with the knowledge that, when the princess lost her power, Hyrule would be destroyed. In the present, she calls out to her hero, not knowing that another hero is out there. One journey, two legends. Enjoy!

3. Chapter 2, Birth of a Legend

A/N - So, this chapter is still... under construction, to say. Because I've copied and pasted everything from the story pre-update, everything (except this A/N, duh) has also lost its formatting. Don't worry, this chapter basically hasn't been changed as much as the next two will be. I'll get to this eventually, but yeah, it's kind of a mess.

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Chapter Two, Birth of a Legend

He finished writing his first entry, before he shut the little adventure log, just as the moving platform in the shrine reached the top. He walked to the edge of the small platform outside of the shrine, looking around for a second, until he heard the old man shout from the skies, again. Like last time, he landed in front of Link (but off of the platform) with his paraglider. "Well, it seems you managed to get your hands on a Spirit Orb. Well done!" he congratulated.

Link gave him a curious look, tilting his head a little. 'How… how did he know that? There's no way he could know that. He only knew that treasure was in here, not a Spirit Orb… unless he knew that the treasure *was* that Spirit Orb.' The old man now had his staff back in his hands, but Link was still in his head, meaning he didn't notice that as he asked, "How do you know?"

"Do you not feel it?" the old man inquired, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Feel… what?"

"That feeling of power, wisdom, and courage *surging* through your veins. You don't feel it?"

He looked at his arms, as if looking for a visible sign to explain and confirm what the old man had told him, but saw nothing special. "I… I don't feel it. I'm sorry." He dropped them back to his sides. 'What… what does he mean?'

"Well, either way, it radiates off of you, courageous one," he said, gesturing at him. "That is the treasure I wanted you to look for, but before I continue about the present, how about I recall the past? You already know that your Sheikah Slate has something to do with the Sheikah tribe, that much I know that you know, but do you know about the tribe that made it?"

He quietly giggled a little and smiled. "I could hardly even remember my own name when I woke up. So, tell me."

"To avoid spending all night here, let me tell you about the most important parts." He put a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, before beginning. "Long ago, there was a tribe called the Sheikah, who had technology far ahead of our time, and used it to save Hyrule from threats time and time again. Until one day, their technology and most of their members vanished from the public eye.

"While they still exist today, they live far more humble lives than the glorious ones that their ancestors once had. It really is a shame how something can be lost so easily, and how circumstances can tear people apart." He looked to the ground sadly, murmuring, "Just like 100 years ago…." He paused for a moment, presumably mourning the loss of his mysterious loved one silently. Link physically felt awful to even see him mourn. "Anyhow, as I mentioned, I wanted you to grab the Spirit Orb from this shrine, right?"

"Yeah," he replied, with a hint of anxiety in his voice. With the old man's tone, it felt like there was going to be a catch to this deal, and he wasn't exactly ecstatic to find out what it was.

"I will be truthful and admit I may have changed our deal a little while you were away. You see, there are three more shrines across this plateau, and I want you to gather the Spirit Orbs from all of them. Not just one," the old man told him.

In his mind, he took a quiet sigh of relief, knowing that this catch could've been far worse. "That can't be too bad."

"Oho ho! And here I was thinking you'd whine and cry." Link felt a bit hurt by this small comment, but continued diligently listening. "Very well then, but before you go, I do have a tip. It's always a good idea to go to high places to find shrines, because of their bright glow and often low elevation. So, how about…" he turned around, skimming his sight through the skies, until his eyes landed on the tower. "how about you scale that tower again?"

"Sure!" He took two running steps, until the old man poked the bottom end of his staff into Link's chest.

"Now, now, slow down." He lowered his staff. "You see, you don't have to climb that tower again."

Link took two steps back, now standing where he was when their conversation started. "How do I get up there then?"

"Open your map on your Sheikah Slate." He took out his Sheikah Slate, and looked at the map. "You should see those blue symbols on your map. Those symbols represent where Travel Gates are." He put away his Sheikah Slate to continue listening to the old man. "As their name suggests, they allow you to travel to them instantaneously, so long as you stand on a Travel Gate and tap the symbol, too." He turned around. "I will warn you, the experience can be quite… unpleasant," Link shuddered slightly after that last, stretched-out word. "but I am sure someone with such a resilient mind like yours could deal with unpleasantries." The old man walked away from him, stopping near the edge of the big lake that he had swam across to get to this shrine.

Link glanced to his right, and saw a worn and rusted metal crate, which was the same one he had seen earlier, with two more identical crates on the other side of a small pond.

'Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see what's inside of those boxes.' He hopped off of the small little platform, and walked towards the crates. As he neared, he noticed the little symbol of wings and a tower in the middle of the crate, but it wasn't something he paid much attention to. He activated Magnesis, lifted the crate into the sky, and then, after ensuring that it wouldn't fall on his skull, he dropped it. It shattered and fell into many pieces of metal shrapnel that clattered to the ground, dropping a baked apple. He grabbed it, and walked towards the edge of the nearby pond to pull the other two.

He glanced down at the pond for a second, and noticed two metal chests underneath the surface of the water, along with a long metal beam. He looked back up, and pulled the other two metal crates across the pond with relative ease. Then, he shattered them both in the same way he had broken the first, and once he had collected the objects within the crates (an arrow and another baked apple), he turned back to the pond.

He reached under the pond with Magnesis and grabbed both of the chests, which were both surprisingly in good condition, before putting them gently on land. Their design was similar to the purple chest from earlier, except they were made out of undyed silver, and their top halves had two golden lines separating the silver into thirds rather than just two symbols. He opened one of them, finding a rock that contained a large stone of amber, which was surrounded by smaller little pebbles of the same material. He went to the other one and opened it, finding a rock that contained a chipped piece of opal, which was right next to a satisfyingly smooth opal.

After collecting the ore from the chests, he returned to the Travel Gate atop the little platform outside of the shrine, as the sun morphed into a burning orange glow and began to set. He pulled out his Sheikah Slate on the map page, and used his fingers to zoom in on the Great Plateau Tower, which was the name of the tower he had descended earlier, before slowly reaching to tap it. 'Unpleasant….' He pulled his hand back a bit. He paused for a moment, one that felt like it lasted forever. 'I mean… well it would still be… oh well. It's just going to be unpleasant, right? Right?' He shook his head, and quickly tapped the symbol with his eyes shut.

He awoke in a blue void... or at least… he thought it was blue.

He couldn't actually see anything, nor could he feel anything, smell anything, or hear anything, either. He was completely senseless, in a literal way. He waited, and waited, and waited, while in complete silence and darkness. "Loading being…" the mechanical voice said. Another second passed, until he felt a massive exploding pain in his head, while his ears were overloaded with every single word that he had heard so far played at 100 times its original volume, as his eyes were exposed to large, bright, flashing lights, and as he smelled a pungent odor combined with an awfully vile taste in his mouth.

It was the worst thing ever, and it was relentless. It beat his senses horrendously, and it felt like it would never end, even if it had gone on for a short period of time. He couldn't even think anymore, he constantly spat out anything that could be in his mouth, he did his best to shut his eyes (but the lights still went past his eyelids), and he tried covering his ears which barely muffled the noise. It grew so awful, that he almost began wishing for death… until… it stopped. Everything was suddenly replaced by a mix of orange and black, the quiet whistling of the wind, and the feeling of his feet on the ground.

It was over, much to the relief of Link. Although, it still left him so agonizingly disoriented.

"Unpleasant, isn't it?" the old man asked from the left side of Link. Link opened his eyes and looked at the old man, who was smiling cheerfully at him.

It had only taken a short moment to get here, but it seemed like the old man had been idling up here, like he was here minutes ago. After taking a moment to hold his head and blink a few times, he shook his head, and looked at the old man. "How did you get up here so quickly?" he asked, still a bit dizzy.

"I must've forgotten to tell you that, despite my age, I am quite the acrobat," the old man cheerfully and factually answered

"But… why did you just stand in one spot until I teleported?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I… I don't really enjoy being watched while I exercise. It just doesn't feel right for me."

"I—"

"Let us change the subject, yes?" Link nodded with a hint of confusion and reluctance. "Now, I wanted you to join me up here in order to look for shrines, but I assume that, from such a distance, one would struggle to spot the shrines with the bare eye. That is why your Sheikah Slate has a scope feature, which allows you to hone in on objects far in the distance, and allows you to pin objects, making them visible through your scope and on your map."

"Mmhmm." He turned and took one step, until he realized that this was probably the best opportunity to see if the old man knew more than he was letting on. He turned back around, asking, "You know, I've been wondering… how do you know about all of this?" He felt as if being direct about his thoughts would make him sound like a jerk and or insane, so he went for something with a semblance of subtlety.

"That is a story for another time. Now, go try out your scope." Link nodded, and turned around once more, taking a few steps before turning to his right and walking to the edge straight ahead.

As he walked, his mind grew to be a beehive of thoughts and theories, the latter of which often left him with more questions than answers. 'He knows something… but what? If he's willing to lend me his stuff, then why can't he just be honest with me? That slate… he knows about it… but how? That cave has been shut for a century, but he knows of it. Maybe he put it in there… but then… why didn't he wake me up? And how would she know about it if he had it? And… ugh… I can't do this. If I don't want people to die, then I just have to go along with it.' He stopped at the very edge, with one of his feet a little bit ahead of the other, as he pulled out his Sheikah Slate and turned on his scope.

The first shrine he found was in a mossy, dirty, and otherwise disheveled maze called the Eastern Abbey, which was the closest to the Great Plateau Tower. The second one he found was on a ledge at the eastern end of a snowy mountain, which was named Mount Hylia, which was also a bit far from the tower. The last one he found was on a hill, at the very west end of Mount Hylia, that being the part where actual snow formed, which was the farthest from the tower.

He descended the tower, and hopped off of the small elevated base of it, before jogging in the direction of his second shrine. After moving around a small hill, he noticed a large, toothless skull off in the distance, so he jogged over to it out of curiosity. When he neared, he noticed two small lanterns hanging from its ceiling, and in the very center of its eyeholes. Outside of the structure was a wooden tower, with a red creature standing guard on top of it. As per usual, he aimed for its head with his bow, and loosed an arrow, which landed in its snout, taking it down.

He inched a little closer to the skull, getting underneath its right eye socket, and noticed a few more red barrels right underneath the lantern in its left eye socket. Although, from his angle, the shot would've been risky, if not impossible, to land without getting spotted. He looked up at the eye socket he was under, thinking, 'Please be symmetrical.' He took a couple of steps back, and aimed for the lantern in its right eye socket. After charging his shot, he loosed an arrow at the rope holding the lantern up, causing it to fall, in turn creating a large explosion within the confines of the skull, and also causing every creature inside to scream in agony.

Once the screams were replaced by the soft crackling of fire, he went to the mush pile left behind by the outside guard, and took its arrows and horn, although he didn't have any room in his pouch for its bow. So, he took a quick peek inside of the skull structure, and saw something both terrifying and incredible. It was the shadow of a red creature, slowly crawling out of a pyre of fire, as they all began to die down. It stood up and wobbled a bit, as the flame behind it went out, and its features became visible.

It had thick brown cloth around its forearms, so thick it almost looked like it was rubber from a distance. On its chest was an animal hide vest without sleeves, and only covering the right side of its chest. Off-white warpaint was drawn across its eyes and upper arms, right behind the forehand wrapping. It also held a club, with sharp and jagged bone spikes wrapped to it. It shared the form of the red creatures, except it was a sickly blue, the kind pictured with a deadly illness. Its eyes burned pink, like it was only filled with evil and cruelty. In its ears was some dark mottling, or potentially it could've been even more warpaint. And it was covered in several bruises and burn marks scattered throughout its body.

It looked at him, and made a snorty scream, before it charged towards him. At the last moment, it jumped into the air, but Link rolled out of the way before it slammed down onto him, causing it to fall face-first into the floor. He quickly ran to it, taking out his club, before he hit its back four times. After a moment of nothing, he backed up, and waited. It slowly used its hands to push itself back up, and once it stood, it glared at him with eyes filled with instinctual rage.

Looking into its eyes made his body physically shiver.

It charged, and Link barely raised his shield before it began to wail on it relentlessly and violently, slowly making his shield crack from the top down. He glanced down at its feet, and, out of some form of desperation, he stomped on one of its feet with all of his strength, as he heard the soft squishing as the creature backed up. He caught a glance of a small mush pile (the size of its toe) where his foot once was.

It made another snorty scream, as he smacked it across the face with his club, knocking it down once again. The flapping of wings next to his right ear caught his attention, as it quickly grew louder. Thinking quickly, he leaned back slightly, barely avoiding being shanked by the short fangs of a batlike creature. He leaned forward slightly, before turning to his left to examine the creature. Its wings had one sharp bone spike in the middle, with three fangs below its head, which was overtaken by one large, orange, glassy eye.

He smacked down the bat creature, just as another swooped in, grazing the scar under his eye, causing him to feel a sharp, searing pain right where it was. He quickly overcame the pain through sheer adrenaline, before he smacked down the other bat, just as he avoided another attack from the blue creature. With all of his strength, he screamed and slammed his club against the skull of the blue creature, causing it to slam into the skull wall with a massive thud and loud crack, also shattering his own club. With that, it finally melted into a purple mush, along with the eyes and wings of the bat creature.

He checked the scar beneath his eye, wiping away the blood with the cuff of his sleeve, before he searched the inside of the skull. He went here first so that way any valuable, but most likely burning, objects could be recovered. The only things that he picked out, that he could carry considering he had no room for bows or weapons, were ash covered monster parts, like horns. The blue creature also dropped an unhealthily yellow and dull fang, alongside pulsing, wet, purple guts. Although, there was one diamond in the rough, excluding the monstrous chest on the wooden tower, that being the blue creature's weapon.

It, for the most part, was exactly like the club he had now, minus the fact that the weapon was shaved down to the same width as the handle, and that two jagged bone spikes were strapped to it with vine ropes. It looked to focus on stabbing power over beating power, and he was all for it. After he was finished searching the remains of all of the monsters, he turned to the tower at the very back of the skull, with the monstrous chest sitting, almost expectantly, atop of it. He waltzed over, and climbed up the short ladder, soon finding himself right in front of the chest.

He used his fingers to pry it open, before pushing the lid all the way back. He reached inside, and found a bundle of five arrows, but the tips were replaced with a red gem in the shape of a stylized flame. 'Hm… this looks interesting. Wonder what I can use it for.' He placed the bundle into his pouch, and turned around, skipping off of the tower before running outside of the skull to finish scavenging. There wasn't much, outside of the guard's arrows and miscellaneous monster parts, like the bat's wings and the blue creature's horn.

He looked in the direction of the tower for a moment, before leaving the skull. Right behind the skull was actually a large set of fairly steep hills, which he slowly jogged up, soon finding himself overlooking the maze from a vantage point. The whole place was mostly wrecked, with torn down walls, lots of rubble, dirt, dust, and moss, and with quite a few of the overturned urns from earlier in many different poses. Some were mid-climb up a wall, and others which had all of their legs and half of their bodies underground.

He jogged off of the steep hill, stopping near a tree that was close to a pond. He looked at the pond for a second, thinking, 'If that were to have a chest… eh, it's worth a shot.' He walked to the edge of the pond and looked down, seeing a metal chest calmly sitting against a stone that was embedded in the bottom of the pond. He activated Magnesis, and pulled the chest out of the water and onto the land, before opening it to find a piece of amber ore.

He collected the amber, before walking over to the very front of the Eastern Abbey. He looked inside of the place, noticing a small pile of rocks in front of the archway that was in front of the shrine. He went towards the shrine, going around any overturned urn things (and rubble) along the way. While halfway through the field near the left side, he heard the quiet whirring and clanking of mechanical parts coming from the right side. He didn't grant the sounds much attention, until the noises grew louder, and louder, until a loud and abrupt mechanical screeching overtook his hearing, causing him to crumple to his knees in agony as he desperately covered his ears.

Then the screeching stopped, and was replaced by a deep, digital, and heavily garbled voice that did its best to speak normally. "Tar…. Obje… eliminate… Cala…. Lasers active." He turned to his right while standing up, and saw where the voice and sounds were coming from. It was one of the overturned urns with all of its legs stuck in the ground, but this one seemed to be… active. In between its beige lines and squiggles was a burning pink glow, as its bright blue eye stared directly at him. Across its whole form there was moss, dust, and rust surrounding it and its joints.

From its eye beamed a red translucent laser, pointed vaguely in his direction. The distorted voice spoke again. "Aiming for… tar… must… eliminate." The laser began to move closer to him, and once it landed on his chest, it began to go for his head. A beeping sound emitted from the mechanical thing, quickly increasing in speed as it began to climb up his body. With some primal instinct, he knew something with complete and utter certainty.

He only had a few seconds before this thing did whatever its objective wanted it to do.

He glanced to his left, and saw another mechanical thing which was thankfully deactivated like the rest. 'Go, go, go!' The beeping became extremely rapid, just as he ran to the mechanical thing, and desperately rolled behind it. The sound of something firing was quickly followed by a massive explosion near him. Right as he finished his roll, a piece of stone rubble slammed into the mechanical thing, mere inches from his head. He looked at the wall he was previously in front of, and was horrified to see that the wall's pieces had flung across the entirety of the Eastern Abbey, and that the wall was little more than small shards of stone. "Tar… lost… reacquiring…."

He looked up at the mechanical thing he was behind, and took a sigh of relief, breathlessly commenting, "It can't see me." He inched around the mechanical thing in the direction of the shrine, and noticed a pillar not far from him. He took a deep breath, before sprinting towards the pillar, barely avoiding being spotted by that mechanical thing. He pressed himself against the wall, catching his breath, still listening to the beeping. After taking a second to ensure his safety, he looked towards the wall in front of the shrine, and scaled over it, vaulting over the edge, relieved that he was alive.

As he landed, he noticed the shrine, and took two steps toward it. Or rather, he *tried* to take two steps. One of his feet was trapped by something, something clenching his angle with three bony points. He looked down, and saw a skeletal hand grasping for his ankle. At which point, he, somewhat nonchalantly, used his other foot to shatter all of the fingers with a swift kick.

Suddenly, he was sent flying back into the base of the platform outside of the shrine, as a dirt explosion occurred right beneath his feet. Out of it crawled a skeletal creature, and once the dust and dirt subsided, its form was revealed. It only had two bands of gray fabric around its bony wrists. He recognized the form instantly. It was the equivalent of the red and blue creatures, minus its skin, and with fiery orange eyes instead of pink or blue, as it wielded a small and dull blade.

It screeched at him with what he could only describe as a raspier scream than the snorty ones the red and blue creatures had, before lifting its sword and running at him, continuing to scream. It approached swiftly, only granting him time to bring out his club, and not his shield. It brought down its blade, but not before he lifted up his club to block it while holding the handle at the end opposite to it, entering a clash. It pushed its blade against his club with a surprising amount of force, cutting his club in half slowly. He pushed back, but that left them at a stalemate, and didn't stop his club from being cut into two.

'It expects me to push back… let's subvert that, then.' He stopped pushing back, letting the creature push harder, strangling him with his own club. However, only moments after his breath got caught in his throat, he pushed quickly with all of his strength, sending the creature onto its back. He stood up, and then hit the creature once right in its ribs, sending its pieces flying.

There was a moment of pause, but not silence, as there were some quiet thuds not too far from him. He looked over at the thudding, spotting the head bouncing up and down, just as its body magically reformed, and knelt down with its arms wide like a parent to their child. The head bounced one more time, and began to roll towards the body. All throughout, one thing ran through Link's mind. 'The head leads the body.' Before the head reached the body, he kicked it like a ball with all of his might, sending it into one of the walls surrounding the shrine, shattering it into bony fragments, causing the body to crumble and melt into nothing, outside of three body parts. As the sun crept along the horizon, he grabbed its horn and fang.

He placed the fang into his pouch, before picking up the other part. With no doubt in his mind, he knew the other part was its arm, with its fingers somehow still wriggling around, and the arm occasionally doing a full jolt. He slowly looked up at the shattered skull fragments not too far from himself, which were slowly turning into purple soup, before looking back at the arm and using one of his own hands to squeeze one of the fingers. It only took about half of his strength to shatter the finger entirely, at which point the arm spent a good moment jolting around. 'If it can't last against my hand, it won't last against some monster's face.' He tossed it onto the ground, before turning to its sword, picking it up, turning back to the shrine, and walking up to the pedestal.

He scanned his Sheikah Slate, opening the door before he walked onto the platform within, which descended underneath the ground. Once it stopped, he walked off of the platform, and noticed a pedestal with a stone above it in the left corner once again. There was also a small ramp in the middle of the room, descending a little before reaching a flat area, with two cracked stone blocks blocking the way ahead.

He glanced over to the pedestal, until he was jump scared as a booming, echoing, and strained but eager voice happily exclaimed, "Link! The hero we needed 100 years ago! You have arrived! It is so wonderful to see you once more!" After calming himself, he stood up properly, realizing that he had flinched violently once the voice had begun to speak. The voice spoke once more in a calmer tone. "Well, if you make it through this shrine, I can see you face to face! And you will receive your rune and Spirit Orb, of course."

Link walked over to the pedestal, inserted his Sheikah Slate into it, and waited for the little blue droplet to fall onto his Sheikah Slate, which it did fairly quickly. "Rune extracted." He picked it out of the pedestal, and turned it to look at the screen, seeing two more runes, which surprised him a little. They were both under the name of the Remote Bomb, with two different forms. One of them was circular, with the other being more square, but they both had a separated top section which had a small ring on top of it.

'A ring… could that link to….' He hung his Sheikah Slate back onto his belt, and inserted his left pointer finger into the little ring (on the opposite side of the handle). He yanked it out, and felt a little more weight on his left hand. He lifted it back up to his face, showing a round bomb with fancy wormy dealies and rings of dark beige across its center, a cross of short beige lines at the top and bottom, and with a ring at the top that his finger was inserted into. He smiled proudly in the near cyan blue glow, as little wisps of blue essence escaped the shell, and floated into the air, slowly vanishing. He walked to the top of the ramp, before rolling the bomb gently downwards, until it stopped right in front of the cracked stone cubes.

He pulled up his Sheikah Slate, noticing that the only thing there was was the bright cyan logo of the round bomb pulsing, with small orange text beneath it, giving him the prompt to detonate the bomb. He looked over at the cubes, and tapped the icon, seeing the round bomb explode, leaving behind flying rubble and a puff of smoke mixed with another blue explosion. He walked down the ramp as the smoke began to clear, and arrived in front of the puff of smoke just as finished clearing, showing the square tunnel that led ahead.

The last block on the left of the tunnel was a cracked stone cube rather than one made from that strange material, leaving him to blow it up and clear the way forward, which he did. He looked down the little second tunnel that was revealed, seeing a ladder at the end, leading into the next room. He got to the ladder and scaled it, and once both of his feet were on solid ground, he looked to his right. There were three platforms, one of them being the one he stood upon, another being across a fairly large abyss (which had a large cracked rock wall on it), and a small one made with the dark gray material and lined with the beige, marked with a blue eye symbol that grew bright and dim as it went from platform to platform.

'Alright… step on the platform, toss and detonate a bomb before it reaches the other side, then get off.' The platform returned to his side, and he quickly walked over to the edge right in front of it, before stepping onto the platform. "Ow!" His foot recoiled and he tripped on his other foot, making him fall backwards, landing on his back. He looked back up at the platform, just in time to see a little electric mesh fade away into nothingness. He got back on his feet, and began to conjure up a backup plan. 'Okay… so then… no, the round bomb would roll off… aha!'

He pulled out his Sheikah Slate, and switched to the square bomb, before putting it back onto his belt and yanking the ring. The square bomb was mostly the same as the round one, but with the fancy wormy dealies and rings of dark beige crawling around the edges instead. The platform returned, and he hastily dropped the bomb onto the platform, and stepped back as he pulled out his Sheikah Slate. As he hoped, the bomb stood stable on the platform, and once it stopped at the other side, he detonated the bomb, destroying each and every cube on the other side. It also seemed to short out the electrical mesh, as it beamed brightly for a moment, before it went dim (and stayed dim) and the logo stopped pulsing.

The platform slowly began to return, and, for no clear reason he could think of, he glanced into the abyss. His stomach instantly twisted. It went all the way down, with absolutely no end in sight. It was utterly sickening. The platform returned, and he slowly stepped onto it, doing his all in order to pry his eyes away from the void, but he still kept looking at it. All that ran through his head was, 'Wh… what would happen if… if I fell?' He rather would've been questioning everything and everyone around him about his own past than standing on a tiny platform above an abyss. His bigger fear was that he would fall forever, rather than find a bottom to crash onto. Even so, that second fate still had him conjuring horrific possible outcomes. Before he even really knew it, the platform reached the end, and he swiftly stepped off, taking just a moment to look back as the platform continued its cycle. He shuddered, but was relieved to be on fully solid ground, now.

He turned back around and noticed a pathway printed onto the ground, which he began to walk down and follow. His focus switched from the path onto the massive open room that lay before him. Straight ahead was the monk, sitting in a similar pose to Oman Au, up on a higher floor which had a ladder over to the right end of the room, but the floor above said ladder was buried beneath cracked stone cubes.

To his right a little ways away was a large diagonal pillar, jerkily, swiftly, and forcefully extending and retracting after a few seconds of delay, which had a small circular tunnel leading into its base. To his left were two pillars a fair distance away doing the same thing as the one on his right, however the two of them had one platform opposite of itself. The closer one had another pillar, passing an orange glowing ball back and forth, while the farther one had a small, cuboid object on the other side, which was indistinguishable from this distance.

Link first approached the pillar closest to him, that being the one on his right, and examined the little tunnel leading into its base. He looked back over at the pile of cracked blocks right where the ladder ended, and looked back at the pillar, just as it pushed out with force. "Maybe…." He changed his rune to the spherical Remote Bomb, and inserted it into the tunnel, just as the pillar retracted. It rolled to the very base of the pillar, and soon after, the pillar blasted the Remote Bomb into the air at pretty high speeds, causing it to embed itself into one of the cubes.

He smiled proudly.

Before detonating the bomb, he glanced back over at the other two pillars, and went to investigate the farthest one, as the closer one seemed to only serve as a form of hint in case he didn't figure out how to get rid of the stone cubes. Once he arrived, he noticed that there really wasn't anything else that he hadn't seen from a distance, outside of the fact that he now recognized the circular lock on the cube-like object, meaning that it was a chest.

He was left confused as to how he could get it, if it were even possible. But the chest had to be retrievable… somehow. 'That pillar goes fast enough to launch things… I mean, that would work, but… well, I suppose in the worst case scenario it'll just hurt.' Once the pillar retracted, he hopped onto the base of it, and leaned against it, placing one of his feet on it as well. He took a couple deep breaths, and then… it launched.

Right before he was sent flying, he placed his other foot onto the pillar, and jumped, sending him even further. He was launched into the air, arms moving in a circular motion, legs flailing desperately, and heart pumping. He looked down at the little platform, which looked even smaller because of how high he was. The world felt frozen, but it was so exhilarating, to be there, so high up, going at a moderate speed through the air. "WOOHOO!" he cheered, as he quickly descended towards the platform, landing in a perfect parkour roll, his breathing heavy.

He stood up, took a few more deep breaths, and walked towards the chest. It was far more rigid than the metal chest from earlier, with actual corners. Outside of the beige parts, the rest was made out of the dark gray material, and it was lacking any indents on its dark gray sides. But still, the circular lock remained, so he opened the chest using his Sheikah Slate, and found a piece of amber stored into the chest. He stood up and glanced over at the cracked block pile, before he pulled out his Sheikah Slate and moved it to the rune page, and detonated the bomb. One loud sound of crashing stone rubble later, he jumped from the platform and jogged to the ladder, scaling it and getting to the digital box that held the new monk.

He was practically identical to Oman Au, although… Link swore that his hands weren't in the same pose or position as Oman Au's, but he couldn't exactly figure out why that was the case. He just felt like this new monk's hands were closer to their right than their left. He tapped the eye symbol, making the cage fade away, and also making the monk's voice speak enthusiastically.

"You did it! I knew you could! I mean, this puzzle was made more for you to understand your rune, but that is besides the point. I suppose I must've gotten wrapped up in the excitement, as I have forgotten to introduce myself, my apologies. My name is Ja Baij, the creator of this sacred trial, and creator of the rune you now hold. It was fairly dangerous during testing, but I am glad that you haven't gone and blown yourself up yet." Ja Baij gave a loud chuckle, while Link gave a nervous laugh. "And with your skill and cleverness, I am more than honored to bestow you with your reward, that being a sacred Spirit Orb." From his chest spewed a Spirit Orb, which flew into Link's, which actually felt twice as better now that he was expecting it. "I *know* that you will not fail us, Link. Go, and save us all." And just like that, he faded into nothingness.

Link backtracked out of the shrine, and quickly found himself back outside on the platform, breathing in the somewhat chilly night air. 'One down, two to go.' Just in case he'd ever have to return here, he tossed a spherical bomb towards the small pile of rocks by the entrance, and detonated it. Rather than going through, however, he turned towards the back wall to scale it. The last thing he wanted was to encounter that mechanical thing once more. He stood on top of the wall, examining his surroundings, spotting a large ditch next to some stone structures, which lined the edge of the plateau.

He jumped off and walked to the stone triangle, climbing up to the top of it and examining the object. It was actually a sword, identical to the rusted one from a while ago, except it was clean and with blue fabric professionally wrapped around the handle rather than haphazardly. He remembered the existence of his rusty blade, and chose to ditch it for this new one. He turned to his right, and hopped into the ditch, landing hard, which caused small dust clouds to fly above him before vanishing. Nearby, he heard the plucking of a string, identical to the sound he heard before meeting a Korok. 'A Korok? I mean… he did say he had friends… maybe….' He stood and followed the plucking, until he arrived at its source, that being a large metal door.

He activated Magnesis, and lifted it up, before tossing it off of the Great Plateau. Beneath the door was a rock, and when he approached it, the plucking grew louder, while still remaining subtle to some extent. He put his hands underneath the rock, and lifted it, before tossing it aside. A moment passed before a green puff of smoke and tiny leaves swiftly popped up and faded away, unveiling a Korok.

This one was far different from the last one. While still maintaining the darker and lighter skin pattern, it had a slightly lighter cardinal red color, with a small and round green leaf mask with an indent at the very top, and a slightly pointy bottom. The mask had three lines on its upper right side, with two lines and one dot on its left. Eyeholes. It also had a line at the bottom of the mask, probably acting as a mouth. It also held two small sticks adorned with red berries in both of its nubs.

"Boo!" the Korok said, making Link smile softly, basking in the innocent presence once more. "Ha ha! Did I scare you?"

"Erm… sorry, not really," he quietly replied, being as polite as he could be about it.

"Aw, dang it," the Korok disappointedly said, slouching a little. Its back quickly straightened as it looked back up. "Anywho, here's your seed!" The little yellow seed flew from the Korok and into Link's pouch, which opened and closed on its own. "Well, too—" The loud echoed clattering of metal against a hard surface made Link flinch, while making the Korok jump, flail, and yelp before instantly vanishing. Link paused, took in the situation, and laughed softly for a moment.

After collecting himself, he went to the opposite end of the ditch, and climbed out, before moving forward, and out of the maze. Along the way, two skeletal creatures popped out of the ground, with one of them holding a stick bow, and the other barehanded. 'Ambush.' He ran to the one with the bow while unsheathing his sword and shield (for his last club was unusable yet he still had it), before slamming its skull with the side of his blade. The skull shattered into tiny bits, making the body fall apart. He dodged the arm of the other creature, which he cut off before twirling and slamming its skull with the side of his blade, taking them both down.

He took their horns and fangs, before continuing towards the tree and the steep hill. Once he arrived, he scaled the steep hill, and checked his Sheikah Slate to see where he had to go next. As it so happened, the next shrine was mostly directly ahead of where he was standing, so he hung his Sheikah Slate and began to jog ahead. Soon, he found himself hazily walking along, his arms slack, his legs hardly bending, and his neck weak. He wanted to just fall over, and pass out.

Stopping to stretch (which only woke him up a little), he looked around, and noticed a campfire not far from his left, which was close to a tree and was overtaken by two red creatures. He walked over (doing his best to keep himself upright), unsheathing his sword as he approached the back of one of the creatures. He was only spotted by the other just as he stabbed the back of the first one's head. The other creature tried to lunge at him, jumping into the air with only its bare hands, but he stepped out of the way and cut it down with ease.

He went towards the tree, specifically to see if it had apples or not, but instead saw a modestly sized yellow object dangling from a branch, with smaller little specks flying around it. He walked a little closer to it, sheathing his sword, and stared at it for a few moments. He reached out his right hand to touch it, and… "GYAH!" A sharp pain zapped across Link's whole body, as he jolted and took a few steps back, looking at where the pain came from. His right hand, specifically his ring finger, was now red and somewhat swollen. As he clutched his wrist, he looked back up at the branch, now able to identify the yellow object without an issue.

It was a beehive.

'Huh… honey… I mean, they can't kill me, so… yeah, sure.' He pulled out his sword, and after a moment of hesitation, he poked it sharply with his sword, causing a small crowd of bees to fly out. He swatted them out of the way with his sword, maintaining as much distance as possible, and eventually, the bees gave up. He sheathed his sword, tore the hive from the branch it dangled upon, and placed it into his pouch. He then looked back at some nearby crates, before pulling out his axe. He broke both of those crates, finding five apples and four arrows. Afterward, he turned towards the campfire, lying on his back next to it, with his hands together on his stomach. He exhaled, basking in the warmth from the fire, before he looked up at the twinkling stars, and smiled.

"Sleep well, my knight," the young woman's very faint voice said, instantly knocking out Link. She really was that soothing.

As his consciousness began to return to him, a growing voice spoke, increasing in volume slowly. "Hm… yes, he is definitely asleep. Should I… no. No. I mustn't tell him, not when he is unready. But… he won't ever be… nevermind, I must… oh." Link slowly opened his eyes, seeing a large figure standing over him, with… with what looked like little teal wisps floating around its body, yet in his haze he couldn't tell for sure. The figure cleared their throat, and Link recognized it as the old man. "Ah, courageous one. Have you had a good sleep?" he asked.

Link noticed the wisps vanishing away, as his vision cleared and he saw the old man's features. "I… y-yeah, I…." He sat up while giving a long yawn. After smacking his lips quietly, he finished his sentence with, "Yeah, I did. Why are you here?"

The old man reached a hand out, which Link took, standing up as the old man took two steps back. "Well, I couldn't help but notice you laying here while I wrote in my diary last night. I considered bringing you into my house, but you seemed fine, so I slept in my bed."

Link tilted his head. "You have a house?"

"More of a cabin, but still, yes. Would you like to see it?" the old man asked, raising his eyebrows. Link nodded excitedly. "Well, come along," he said, gesturing for Link to join him.

The old man began to walk away from the campfire, with Link in tow. Off in the distance, Link spotted a humble (and somewhat shabby) wooden cabin, with some logs poking out and with the rest unsorted. Animal hide was draped across the roof, the left wall was fused with a rock, and there were medium sized rocks lining the bottom of the exterior.

Link pointed over to it. "Is that where you live?"

"Yes, it is," the old man replied in a somewhat dismissive tone.

"And you made it yourself?"

"Yes."

"And how long have you lived there?"

The old man paused, with a pensive look on his face, as his pace slowed. He slowly opened his mouth, and after another moment, he said, "As far back as my memory goes."

'Just ask, just ask, just… ask.' Link nervously cleared his throat, as he asked, "I don't mean to sound rude or like I'm prying too much, but I… I feel like you're… you're not—"

"Telling you everything?" The old man stopped completely, raising his eyebrows as he stared at Link. Link stopped and stuttered, but made no noises that could've been understood, and after a moment, the old man sighed. "Courageous one, I understand your curiosity and want to know everything, but some things are better left unsaid."

Link found his voice, and nodded, saying, "Yeah… okay, of course. Erm… I'm sorry about all that."

"No, no. Don't feel the need to apologize." He heaved another sigh, beginning to walk slowly again as Link followed suit. "Years ago, my daughter was also just as curious as you are now. She held a love for ancient technology, but I… I didn't allow her much view of it. I just wish I could go back and tell her to pour her heart out… but it's far too late for that."

Link nodded, as they walked for a minute or so in silence. "I'm sorry for making you bring up your daughter again," Link said with a hint of shame.

"It is alright, young one. As I learned from a man many years ago… you shouldn't hold feelings inside and let them bubble up, nor should you never ask for help," the old man replied.

Link looked at the old man with his curious glare and head tilt. "Why so?"

"Nobody will know what it's like for you. You may *look* strong, yet you'll *feel* helpless. And as much as it may feel that way because nobody ever will understand you and that you have been forsaken by everyone else, the truth is that it is because of what *you* have done, not others."

'Why… why does that sound… familiar?' His eyes narrowed as he frowned slightly. "I…." He looked over at a large boulder that was around three times his height on his right side, noticing two purple mushrooms across it, but more importantly noticing a nearby creature camp. He pointed over to it, looked back at the old man, and opened his mouth. However, the old man gave a nod of approval before he even spoke, which made Link drop his hands to his sides and give a nod of thanks, before he set off to the large boulder.

He scaled around the boulder swiftly, picking up the purple mushrooms, which had gray roots, and a weirdly star-shaped cap with a small white spot in the very center. Afterward, he jogged over to the camp, taking out his bow. He pulled the string back and loaded in an arrow, before firing at the one standing guard atop the tower. The arrow hit so hard that it sent the guard off of the tower and plummeting onto the ground, landing nearby the three others. They looked at the body, and then looked at him, quickly pointing and running to gather weapons. He pulled out his sword and shield, and walked into their little encampment, confidently twirling his blade.

One had a club and shield, another just had a club, and the last wielded a bow. 'Bow guy, shield guy, club guy.' He sprinted towards the one with the bow, blocking an arrow, before he slashed at it three times. Every hit landed, and it quickly went down. He turned around, just in time to see the red creature with a club and shield, with the club swinging down at him. It was already so close, and he had no time to pull up his shield. Thus, it hit him, right in his left eye. And it hurt. Badly. He stumbled away, covering his eye with a shaky hand. The adrenaline suddenly kicked in, and his black eye quickly grew numb. He swiftly ran up to the one holding a club and shield, slicing into it until it went down, before dodging a swing (from the last one) and stabbing it in the stomach.

As his adrenaline wore off, he checked his black eye again, feeling it grow sore as he pressed two fingers against it. He took his fingers from his eye, and turned around, noticing another monster chest sitting atop a tower, and also four more crates behind him. He reached into his pouch (approaching the crates) and pulled out his axe, before smashing all four of them in just two swings. From those, he collected five apples and an arrow. He turned again, only now noticing a small stone cove against a cliff face, with the only thing he could see being a stone chest within. He glanced between the tower and the cove, before jogging over towards the cove.

As he neared, he also noticed an abandoned beehive hanging from the top of the cove, and four green capped mushrooms lining the walls of it. He decided to pick all of these excess items, jumping and yanking the beehive from the top, and picking the mushrooms from the ground, before placing all of them into his pouch. He turned towards the chest, and opened it, dunking his hand inside.

Within he found a bundle of arrows, but pulled it out to find that the tips had been covered in a small red bag. It had small orange circles painted four times (on all four sides) on it, with a little excess below where the rope tied the bag to the arrow, and a small bulging point at the tip where more rope was tied. Also, when gently tapping the bag to see what was inside, it sounded like there was some kind of material with a gravel-esque consistency.

He walked out of the cove, and climbed up the tower with the other chest on it. Like the last one, its eyes burst into a bright yellow glow (rather than the initial dark purple one) and the lid flew backwards. He reached his hand inside, and found a long metal spear within. The shaft was metal, and below the tip were white fins with a faint blue lining. Above the fins was a round mahogany ball, and above that was the shiny golden tip, somewhat shaped like an arrow tip.

He jogged back to the old man, passing by the rock. As he neared, his pace slowed, and the old man approached him. They stopped within talking distance, and Link quickly apologized, saying, "Sorry about that. I notice a lot, I guess."

The old man gave a single, quick, chuckle. "Courageous one, the hunger for exploration doesn't need to be apologized for. But the least you could do is to tell me what exactly you acquired." He began to walk forward again, as Link did the same. Link reached into his pouch, until the old man suddenly said, "And also, you aren't experiencing much pain, are you?" Link looked at the old man, confused, but the old man simply glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "Don't think I haven't noticed that big black eye, young one. It isn't unbearable?"

Link nodded. "If I don't touch it, then I should be alright."

The old man looked back ahead. "Well, you've most likely noticed this, but shrines heal your wounds when you receive a Spirit Orb. So, do your best to keep your foes and yourself off of that eye for the time being. Now, show me what you gathered."

Link first pulled out the purple mushroom, letting it rest in the palm of his right hand. "A handful of these were growing across the boulder." The old man reached out and gently pinched it out of Link's hand, and examined it from a couple of angles. "Do you have an idea of what it is?"

"Ah, rushroom, a classic if I do say so myself." He pushed it towards Link, who took it and returned it to his pouch. "It is a mushroom that often grows on somewhat steep ledges or cliffs, which, when eaten, increases muscle strength and peaks adrenaline. In other words, it increases the speed of the user, and when cooked with ingredients, the effect may increase even further."

Link gave an appreciative smile. "How do you know that?"

"Prying once more, courageous one?" the old man rhetorically asked, clearly taunting. Link opened his mouth to apologize, yet the old man simply held up a hand to stop him from doing so. "What else?"

Link reached into his pouch, and pulled out the green mushroom, pushing it towards the old man. "I also found this in a small cove by that monster camp," he said, as the old man plucked it from his hand. "What is it?"

The old man smirked, before pushing the mushroom back at Link, which he took and put into his pouch. "That was a stamella shroom," he said. "It numbs muscle pain once eaten, allowing the person to exert themselves more before they begin to feel the agony of such exertion. And like the rushroom, being cooked with ingredients multiplies the effect on the user."

Link nodded, before he pulled out the bundle of arrows with bags on the end, holding it in the palm of his hand again. "What about these?"

The old man looked at his palm, and confusedly stared at Link's palm for a moment, before asking, "Do you store every arrow within your pouch?"

"Yeah, why?"

The old man stopped, raised his finger in the air and pointed down before moving it in a circular motion, saying, "Turn around." Link stopped and did as told, and the old man spent a good moment examining whatever he wanted to examine on Link's back, before saying, "You may face me again."

Link turned, instantly asking, "What were you looking for?"

"You do not own a quiver."

Link did his usual head tilt. "A quiver?"

"A quiver is an object designed for holding arrows, as an easy way to draw them and shoot arrows. I own one spare quiver myself, you know. I haven't quite found a proper use for it, so why don't we go to my cabin to take it?" Link opened his mouth to ask something, but the old man just held up his hand. "And before you ask, yes, you may continue to show your findings." They began to walk once more at a glacial pace, as Link handed over the bundle of arrows. The old man turned the arrow bundle in his hands for a moment, before handing it back to Link, saying, "Bomb arrows."

"Bomb arrows?" he echoed.

The old man nodded. "The substance inside is gunpowder, and the tip is bulging to give the shooter a fair amount of time before they blow themselves up. However, the area below the tip is specifically weaker than other sections, as a way to allow the flame to pass through and touch the gunpowder upon impact."

"So… what would people use them for?"

"Let's see here…" —he placed a hand on his chin— "to quickly take out large groups of opponents and to destroy structures from a far distance. Other than that, they aren't necessarily used as normal firepower, as bomb arrows take time to make, mostly due to the process of finding and grinding gunpowder."

"Mmhmm." Link reached into his pouch for the spear, and pulled it out entirely before pushing it towards the old man.

"Erm… I apologize, young one, but I feel that you should hold this one," the old man said. Link nodded, pulling his arm back slightly. The old man spent yet another moment examining the object in Link's hands, before determining, "A throwing spear."

"A spear meant for throwing?" He placed the spear back into his pouch, tilting his head. "But can't every spear technically be thrown?"

The old man nodded. "Yes, that is true. However, the spear you showed me was designed specifically for throwing. Those fins help cut through the air, and decrease resistance, increasing the speed of the spear. It is fun to use, but not exactly practical. Is that it?" The old man stopped as they stood to the right of his cabin. Link gave a nod, and so did the old man. "Well," —he turned to the cabin as Link did the same— "this is my cabin. I will wait out here while you look for my spare quiver."

"Where exactly is it? Link inquired.

"Under my bed. You may grab it and perhaps browse my house. Just don't open my diary or take too many of my things without asking me." Link nodded, and walked forward for a few steps, before pivoting left, and staring down the cabin. The only thing he hadn't noticed from a distance was the fact that an unlit, wooden torch sat in a tiny concave of neatly packed stones. Otherwise, it was exactly what he'd seen from afar, including the indoor furniture.

In the back right corner was a bed with animal fur as a blanket, which was neatly tucked into the sides. Around the middle of the room yet still closer to the left was a table, with a miniscule orange object on top of it, and a small, thin, and closed book next to a quilt and closed bottle of ink. He walked inside, getting just a few steps past the doorway, looking around some more. To the right of the door was also a small shelf, with a baked apple and stamella shroom sitting atop it.

He picked up the mushroom, taking a second to turn it in his hands. He returned the mushroom back onto the shelf, before he walked over to the old man's bed, and knelt down. He reached beneath it, his hand and arm grinding against the ground for a few moments. Eventually, he felt a cylindrical object close to the wall, which he managed to roll out from underneath the bed and pick up.

Holding both ends with both of his hands, he spun the quiver in his hands for a moment, examining it. The very bottom was made out of metal, probably so there were zero chances of an arrow falling through. There was also a metallic strap near the middle, which had a small mahogany string tied to one end, while the other was on a tab near the top of the quiver. Terracotta leather lined the edges of the quiver, with some slightly different colors and shades of terracotta making up an interesting, but meaningless, pattern.

"How do I attach this to myself?" he loudly asked so that the old man could hear him clearly.

"Tie it to the back of your belt through the belt loops," the old man's muffled yet raised voice replied. Link untied the mahogany string, before precariously looping it through the belt loops on the back of his belt, which he managed.

Some shaking later (to ensure that it wouldn't fall off) he turned around, and shouted, "I got it!" The old man gave no reply, but Link chalked it up to the old man giving an invisible nod to himself. He turned, his eyes instantaneously landing on the little book and orange object. His diary 'Just look at the small thing, and leave. Ignore the diary.' He walked over to the table, and picked up the little orange object, which turned out to be a pepper with a more red top which slowly faded into orange and then into yellow.

He subconsciously dropped it into his pouch, before he reached for the diary, 'Don't open my diary….' He shook his head and moved his hand backward, yet his hand remained open as if he was still going to grab it. His hand continually moved forward before retreating backward, as his mind bounced between reading it or not. While he knew it was wrong to read through his secrets, his mind couldn't help but fathom all of the possibilities that lay within that single book. It felt like hours had passed before he finally made his choice, swiftly snatching the diary from the table and opening it to a random page, with adrenaline and guilt already speeding through his veins.

---

Entry 46, Spring

A normal, fine day. Of course, if the monsters were gone, I most likely would not be spending most of my time near this little cabin that I call home. I probably would be in better shape, too. As I returned from cutting more firewood this afternoon, I felt my stomach give a gentle grumble. I am not exactly starving at all times, especially with my signature dish, spicy meat and seafood fry. However… it seems the recipe slipped my mind, and I have yet to recall what it truly was.

I only remember two of the main ingredients, that being a spicy pepper and some raw meat. I often find myself scratching my head over even the smallest of wonders, but this one had me itching my head for hours. I have a feeling that it will continue into the next week or two. If only somebody could remind me of the recipe, as I would do anything to not wear that forbidden warm doublet again. It's just a shame that nobody can, as I'm alone here. Mostly alone, anyhow.

---

He quickly shut the diary and placed it back onto the table, before he covered his face in his hands. It felt even worse considering that it was so simple and innocent. 'Ahhh… I should've known that it was something like that. Just… just don't… no. I have to tell him. Oh boy.' He promptly turned and walked out the door, still with his face in his hands. "Woah!" He suddenly stumbled over a small pile of four stamella shrooms, and a pepper or two. After managing to not fall over and regain his balance, he looked back, seeing that the old man was standing there, staff in hand.

Link stuttered for a moment, trying to come up with something on the spot while also attempting to say it, before the old man simply asked, "You took a glimpse through my diary, didn't you?" Link gave a short, grave nod, expecting the absolute worst. The old man gave a grunt, and said, "What exactly did you find?"

"Ireadsomeentryaboutyournormalday," he hastily muttered, his words nearly being intangible, as if he had muttered a single, extremely long word under his breath.

The old man nodded, and got rather close to Link, as he took a nervous and shaky breath. The sudden force of the old man's large hand on his shoulder made him look up at the old man, who was giving a warm smile and leaning down slightly. "At least you told me the truth," he gently told him. He leaned back up, with Link taking the largest sigh of relief he could muster. "Would you mind specifying exactly what you read?"

"It was just an entry about what I guess is your usual day. The only thing I can really recall is you forgetting a recipe, or something like that," Link replied, giving a subtle shrug.

"Hm… spicy meat and seafood fry, wasn't it?" he asked, giving the most subtle of nods.

"Yeah." He paused for a moment, before asking (with his head tilted), "Why?"

He took a second to up with a reason, pursing his lips. He then said, "You heard mention of an itchy warm doublet, yes?" Link nodded. "Perhaps I could give it to you if you tell me the rest of the recipe. If you think about it, it comes out as a win for both of us. I obtain my meal and lose an item I don't like, and you receive some clothing that will allow you to travel to your third shrine safely."

Link softly placed his right hand on his chin while he rested the elbow of the same arm on his left arm, replying, "Fair point… but…." He stared blankly at the ground, currently in his head. 'But… how in Hyrule could I figure out what ingredient he had forgotten?' After conjuring these thoughts in his head, he verbalized them. "But how do I figure out the recipe?"

The old man raised his eyebrows and hung his mouth ajar, before replying, "The only thing I can think of is the name. I suppose you could try figuring it out through that. But let's not dwell on this right now." He pointed toward the little pile of mushrooms and a few peppers. "Pick up those items, and we will go over to your third shrine." The old man slowly walked in the direction of a handful of trees with a few stumps. It wasn't a forest per se, as each tree was quite far apart and there was only an average amount of them. Link happily packed up each and every mushroom and pepper, before looking up at the old man.

Then, he heard a gentle plucking of a string coming from right above him. He looked up at it, determining the sound to be coming from the top of the cabin's roof, specifically from a small spot where a few small leaves orbited nothing. He turned around, seeing the old man glance back at himself, before turning around and continuing to walk. 'I mean, taking a second to explore doesn't mean he'll just abandon me.' He climbed up one of the front walls, and walked over to the spot where the leaves orbited nothing.

After staring at it for a few seconds, a Korok poofed into existence. Aside from holding a leaf propeller and being green, it was identical to the last one he had seen. It yelped and flinched, taking a moment before clearing its throat and speaking. "I-I'm sorry, I just… I don't do well with people." It paused, as they both stared at each other for an awkward moment. "Oh! U-um… right, your seed. Here you go." The moment that the seed began to fly to Link, the Korok vanished, so Link just grabbed it and placed it into his pouch. Afterward, he hopped off of the roof, and began to jog to the old man, who was about halfway to the group of trees.

Along the way, he noticed that there was a metal pot held up by a metal frame with four legs, with a small stack of wood underneath the pot. To the left of the pot was a log that was around halfway into the ground, and leaning precariously against it was a small wooden pot lid. It was made out of a few varied kinds of wood, with the edges having withered away with some small splits, lots of jagged edges, and the color of the wood being faded by the edges.

In his haste to catch up with the old man he just passed by the pot lid, although he probably wouldn't have picked it up anyway, due to its weak-looking state. He caught up to the old man, slowing his pace as he neared, before matching the old man's. A quick moment of silence passed between the two, before Link asked, "Did you put down all of those mushrooms and peppers?"

The old man nodded, explaining, "Well, I feel like you would've found them eventually, as they were around my house. But when you walked in, I simply decided to just gather them for you. I did not expect you to trip over them, however." Link blushed a little with embarrassment, which the old man noticed, and gave a gentle chuckle at. "Don't feel the need to feel ashamed, young one." He placed his left hand on Link's right shoulder, giving it a slight shake back and forth. "We all have and all will make some form of mistake from time to time."

Link nodded, and his blush faded, right as they arrived at the little gathering of trees. Link stopped, took out his Sheikah Slate, and stared at the map, realizing his third shrine was just across from where he stood. Yet, upon looking ahead, there was only another handful of trees and two red creatures in front of him, with a large stone cliff face with some small and natural stone platforms. 'Wait… wasn't the shrine on an elevation?' He looked up the cliff face, until it stopped, and he saw the faintest of orange glows. It was barely visible, barely noticeable, but still there.

Link inhaled and exhaled, before walking straight ahead, subconsciously noticing three trees straight ahead, as his mind was busy psyching himself up. 'Okay, I've got this. It's just some climbing, and besides, there are platforms I can rest on. Surely I can't—' He was yanked out of his thoughts as the old man suddenly yanked him backward, causing Link to fall on his back.

"I apologize, young one, for such a swift pulling on your shoulder," the old man calmly said, as Link got back to his feet. "I also must apologize for failing to tell you that" —he pointed over to the spot he had pulled Link away from— "there is a gap between this land and that one."

Link nodded at the old man, replying, "I'll just jump over it then."

"Well, unless you can leap farther than an elk away from a predator, I would not say that is a good idea." He jerked his head towards the spot where he had yanked Link, before walking between two of the three trees and looking down. Link joined him, and instantly felt his stomach being strangled as he stared into the foggy abyss, barely able to see the bottom.

The old man looked up and across the gap, silently using two of his fingers to lift Link's head up as well by pushing his chin up. The distance between this land and the other one was definitely a lot farther than Link could jump, and after a moment, he backed away before he could instinctively look down once more.

Link looked back at the old man as he also backed up. "Then how do I get across?"

The old man looked around them, his eyes landing on the trees. He then stared blankly at the ground, his brow furrowed, and lips pursed. He looked back at Link. "The trees, perhaps?"

"The… trees? How would they help?" Link asked in return.

The old man reached a hand out at Link. "Lend me your axe, and I'll show you." Link slowly pulled out the old man's axe from his pouch, before very slowly handing it to him, doing his best to not let his arms do so much as quiver. The old man took the axe and walked to the tree right in the middle of the three trees, and Link followed. "Now, in order to cut a tree with the most efficiency, you must make your hips face where you want it to land," the old man said, spacing his feet a little, and raising the axe in the air with both of his hands on the handle. He swung quickly, and yet he stopped the axe just before it reached even the bark of the tree. He flicked it back onto his shoulder, and turned over to Link. "Give it a shot," he said, taking the axe off of his shoulder and pushing it towards Link. "You won't learn anything if you don't do it yourself."

Link picked up the axe, with his knees bending and shivering upon holding it, and walked slowly towards the middle tree, with the old man stepping back as he approached. Link stood in front of the tree, and inhaled deeply before spreading his feet slightly. He raised the axe into the air, unable to keep his arms perfectly steady, before swinging with all of his strength towards the tree, getting the blade jammed halfway through the trunk. He glanced back at the old man, who gave a silent nod for him to continue. Link looked back to the tree, yanked the axe out, and lifted it into the air once more, with his arms quivering a lot less (but still a little). He swung the axe, cutting straight through the tree, and as he placed it back onto his back, the tree fell, and the end opposite to him landed on the other side of the gap.

He placed his axe back into his pouch, before he pulled a blade out of it and placed it on his back. He turned back to the old man, who had the top of his staff pressed between his elbows, giving slow claps and a smile. "Well done, young one. Now, just cross, and climb up that cliff face," he instructed.

Link tilted his head. "You're not coming?" he asked, confused.

The old man readjusted his arms so that he was holding the top of the staff once again, and chuckled. "No. That log is far too thin for me, and that cliff face is probably far too tall. You will manage on your own, I know it." Link smiled and nodded back at the old man, before hopping happily onto the log. Once his feet were planted on it, he looked down, and felt instant nausea come over him. He looked back up quickly, before nervously sticking both of his arms out to the side for balance, as he gingerly took one step forward. The log strangely felt 10 times thinner and longer than it actually was, which certainly was not helping his stress levels.

He took two, very slow, steps ahead, until he randomly wobbled a little, peaking his adrenaline. He hastily regained his balance, and took a second to stand still, with his breathing becoming rapid like tides. "If you can't stand being there for too long, then speed ahead," the old man advised. "It will end faster." Link didn't even glance back, as he quickly jogged ahead. The next thing he knew, he was hopping off of the other side of the log.

'Huh… it wasn't that far,' he thought. He looked back, and saw the old man give a thumbs up, making him smile warmly. He turned back around, noticing he was in a small little patch of spread-out trees, with two red creatures ahead of him. One wielded a club, while the other wielded a long, double-pointed, stick with cloth wrapped around the end opposite to the points. A makeshift spear.

He pulled out his sword, and whistled at the red creatures, making them both glare at him. They charged at him, and when they neared, he spread out his feet slightly, readying himself. The one with the club jumped at him, but he stuck up his sword and stabbed it right through the chest, before his head snapped to the other one. It gave a loud, snorty snarl, before holding the very bottom of the stick with one hand, and spinning it around while approaching slowly. The tip collided with his head, making him stumble a little. As he held his head in pain, the creature stopped in its tracks and made two swift snorts, like some laugh for the creature. It began to spin the stick once more, but this time he ducked, and stabbed his sword into the air, cutting the tip of the stick off and making it slam into the trunk of a tree. He stood up swiftly and stabbed the creature in the face, staring it dead in the eyes as it melted into mush right then and there.

Afterwards, he put his sword back, and went over to the mushy remains to gather the horns from the creatures. As he picked up the second horn, he noticed a pile of cracked rocks blocking a cove, not too far from his current position, as well as a little elevation by the nearby cliff face. He walked over to the cracked pile of rocks, and yanked on the ring of his Sheikah Slate, pulling out a round bomb. He stopped, tossed the bomb, and quickly detonated it before it could bounce off or roll back to him. Inside that cove was a stone chest, which contained another bundle of arrows with fire gems. He placed it into his pouch, and jogged to the little elevation by the cliff face, climbing up onto it.

He glared up at the cliff face, with its form towering over him, almost challenging him. "Okay, I got this," he breathily muttered. He reached for a small indent with a few jagged edges, and grabbed it, before lifting his other arm higher and grabbing another edge. As he lifted his leg slightly, he paused. 'Okay, I need a second. Just a second,' he thought, as he somewhat subconsciously put his leg back on the ground. 'Okay… I've got this. I've got this… right? I mean, if I fall, I'll probably…. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Just… I… agh, I just… I….'

"Just don't think about it!" the old man shouted, making Link turn his head back. The old man had two hands near the edge of his mouth, with his staff tucked in his armpit. "Just look up, and climb!"

Link turned his head away, and looked back up at the cliff face. 'Just… just climb. Just climb.' He imagined himself falling again, seeing himself splattering onto the ground like a bad apple dropped from the same height, and looked back at the old man, still with his staff tucked in his armpit. "How will I know I won't fall and… and… y-you know…" he said, just loud enough for the old man to hear.

The old man stood stiff for a second, before moving his hands to the corners of his mouth again, shouting, "You won't!" Link glared at the old man, his mouth slightly ajar as his brow furrowed. "You must simply go for it! I am sorry, young one, but there is not much I can do from here!" And just like that, he held the top of his staff in both of his hands once more.

Link turned back toward the cliff face, and inhaled deeply. In his head, he repeated the mantra, 'Just go, just go, just go.' He lifted his foot up, and pushed, before lifting his other foot up.

He was now off the ground.

He reached for jagged edge after jagged edge, making sure to avoid being cut as much as possible. He'd need as much strength as possible. Before he knew it, he had made it to the second stone platform. Although, he noticed he was now getting tired, as when he had reached for yet another ledge, his arms quivered. He chalked it up to the fact that his body hadn't undergone this sort of exertion before, or at least in a very long time. With partially quivering limbs, he scaled his way to the third platform. Once he had gotten all but his left arm hanging onto the platform, he reached up to hold onto the corner.

His arm, rather than letting go in a controlled manner, slipped from the sharp edge it once held onto. Seeing his arm fall made him feel pure terror, making both of his legs slip as well, leaving only his right hand holding onto the corner. When he had lost the grip on his feet, he did a small turn backward, making him instinctively look all the way down. It felt sickening, even from a height like this one.

'I… I… no, no, no, no… NO! Just look up, c'mon!' He looked up and practically threw his left arm up onto there, before clambering onto it. After that, he took a breather, sitting against the cliff face with both arms pressing the ground on his sides and with his legs outstretched. He leaned his head back until it gently leaned against the wall. "Agh… so… tired…" he breathily said. He tried lifting his arms up, and felt an agonizing sensation in both of them. It was like his muscles were being burned and crushed at the same time, so he let them flop against the ground again.

He kind of just sat there for a little while, watching the clouds pass by with a tired gaze.

He hadn't given up, it was just that he needed a break from all of this extreme exertion put on his arms. Albeit, it was kind of soothing to just watch the view, as he took slow, deep breaths. His eyelids grew heavier than a boulder, as his neck relaxed, and his eyes shut. After sitting in darkness for a few seconds, he saw that glorious golden glow once more. The same one he had seen at the tower, and the same one when he was waking up. Her voice spoke once more. "Link… do not tell me that you have surrendered this soon," she said, giving the most gentle of laughs. It was music to his ears.

'I haven't given up,' he thought, as if responding to her. 'All I need… is a few seconds.'

"A few seconds? Link, it has been almost ten minutes. You must get up, you must keep fighting, you must!" she encouraged, clearly pouring her heart into every word she spoke. It didn't even feel weird to know that she could read his mind, it just felt normal to him. "I know you wish to save Hyrule, I know that deep down in your heart you will fight until your last breath! And I understand you wish to rest, but you must keep going. Push yourself, Link. Just like the Link I used to know."

And just like that, he was zapped awake, full of energy and pep. It wasn't the kind of shock that would hurt, it was just like he had been instantaneously filled with energy in the blink of an eye. He stood, turned around, and scaled up the rest of the cliff face with ease (also collecting sox rushrooms along the way). Not once during that time did he take so much as a glance downward. And then, he found was already walking towards the platform within the shrine, prepared as ever.

The platform descended, and he stepped off. In front of him was an upward rotating bridge, connected to a large gear pressed up against the wall. Outside of that, there was no way to cross the abyss that was below it. To his left was another pedestal with a stone above it, which he instantly began to walk to. "Link?" a deep, yet young sounding, voice asked.

He stopped walking, actually replying with, "Yeah?" He only realized that this was probably a one-sided conversation as he sat in silence for a few more seconds.

"It… it is. Wow, I never thought that my consciousness would live on to finally see you once more. Forgive me for my blank tone, I still think that my consciousness is waking from my slumber. I am actually one of the younger monks on this plateau, but I was always known as the slow-minded one. I would hope that you understand what you are meant to do, for I would most likely take long explaining it." The monk spoke quite slowly, not to the point of agonizingly drawn out, but to the point where it wasn't standard speech speed. Then again, the excuse that he had been sleeping for a full century, or perhaps even longer, and then was randomly woken up and was still normalizing to it was a fair excuse.

He walked to the pedestal, inserted his Sheikah Slate into it, and waited until the mechanical voice said, "Rune extracted." He picked his Sheikah Slate up out of the pedestal, and looked at the screen. This new symbol was yellow, in the shape of a lock, with a near-empty circle in the middle, which was only filled with the shape of a keyhole. Its name was Stasis. It allowed him to freeze objects where they stood, but only one object at a time. It also brought up something about kinetic energy being stored and moving frozen objects upon time resuming, but he didn't really understand that part much.

He walked over to the bridge, and pulled out his Sheikah Slate. Suddenly, certain objects gained a yellow aura (like the gear), but it was fainter than whenever he had used Magnesis. He looked between the gear and bridge for a moment, before he thrust his Sheikah Slate towards the gear, freezing the bridge just as it was flattened. He hopped onto it and began to casually walk across it, hearing the faint beeping of something growing faster. Something about the beeping gave him a feeling of dread, as if he knew something was going to go wrong. He glanced over at the gear as he was around halfway through the bridge, just in time to notice as the yellow glow faded, and it began to move once more.

His heart sank.

The bridge began to rotate, so he quickly ran to the other end, as said end began to raise higher and higher. He got there, just in time to see the abyss right below the bridge. At that moment, he once again imagined himself falling to some form of horrible death, and it shook him to the core. But he couldn't do this, not again. He glared at the eternal void that was beneath him, as the bridge slowly rose, higher and higher. He felt his feet slowly shuffling and pressing against the ground, knowing that he wanted to jump, yet was hesitant. Within his mind, he took a deep breath, and remembered the old man's words, placing them into his own. 'It's a leap of faith.' He took one running step, and jumped off of the edge, before gracefully rolling onto the ground, leaving him unharmed.

He stood up, and continued forward, taking a right before stopping at his next obstacle. There was a tall, smooth, dark ramp that he was at the bottom of, with tall railings on the sides, but only of the dark parts. There was actually a pathway starting in the middle of the ramp, which turned left, and probably led ahead. There was one problem though. The top of the ramp had a large stone boulder dropping out of a tube, and rolling down to the bottom and into the abyss below. Link also noticed a stone chest at the very top of the ramp behind the boulder dropper, and also noticed that every boulder was actually perfectly round with a small square of wavy, light beige lines at the top and bottom.

'Freeze the boulder at the right time, get the chest, go back down to the middle part, and move on.' He pulled out his Sheikah Slate, and waited until the boulder had just flung off of the ledge to freeze it, granting it a bright yellow glow and freezing it. He quickly ran up the ramp, and just as he arrived at the chest, he heard a new boulder drop right behind him. He walked over to the chest, unlocked it, and opened it, finding a shield within.

It was perfectly round, with a few small cuts on the metal edges, and a tiny seam in the middle. It had a golden core, lined with a little bit of metal, with the rest of the shield also being lined with metal. The rest was made of wood, with two painted, heavily stylized, snakes facing parallel to each other while looking away from the other. He picked it up, and placed it into his pouch, before waiting for the boulder to fall and roll down the hill. Once it dropped, he followed as closely as he could behind it, before taking a right turn while halfway down the ramp, escaping yet another deathtrap. Right in front of him, he noticed a long object leaning against the shrine wall, so he waltzed over to see what it was.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it was a sledgehammer that was almost completely made out of metal. The bottom half of the handle was wrapped in red fabric, with the other half made out of wood. The wooden part had a curved metal handle on one side, attached through small metal bits going all around the wooden part of the handle, probably for even more support when it came to holding it. The actual head of the hammer was rectangular, with some fancy lines and patterns on it that didn't really mean anything.

He grabbed the spiked wooden club out of his pouch, and looked back and forth between it and the hammer. He eventually dropped the club, and did his best to lift the hammer up so he could place it into his pouch. It was probably at least two times heavier than the axe, so he spent a lot longer just trying to even lift it, let alone place it into his pouch, but he managed. He switched out his hammer for his blade, and turned right, examining the final obstacle.

The pathway grew more narrow, but straight ahead was the monk, waiting for him. But the problem was that there was a boulder put into a small divot halfway through the path, leaving no way to get around or across. From afar, he stared at it with confusion. 'How… how is this even a Stasis puzzle? This is impossible to do, there's no way I can just push that boulder on my own. I'd need to get it out quickly and forcefully if I wanted to do that, and…. Wait a second.' He pulled out his Sheikah Slate, and went to the runes page, rereading the description in his head.

'If any energy or force is absorbed by it while it's frozen, all of that force will act once unfrozen. That's it!' He quickly froze the boulder, pulled the sledgehammer out of his pouch as quickly as he could (which was not easy), and took a few steps back. He let the head rest against the ground, as he ran towards the boulder, and swung with all of his strength at it using his hammer, hitting its right side violently. The glow changed to a bright red, just as the Stasis effect ended, sending the boulder flying toward the wall. It slammed into the wall at violent speeds, straight up crashing through the artificial wall and slamming into a pile of dirt, which then spilled slightly into the hole in the wall.

He lifted the sledgehammer and placed it into his pouch, switching it out for his sword once again. He walked ahead and stepped up the platform leading to the new monk, before cheerfully tapping the eye symbol. He also noticed that, while looking the same as the others, this monk's hands were flipped upside down, forming an upside-down triangle rather than an upright one.

The monk spoke first, after a few seconds of pause. "Link. It is the greatest of pleasures to see you here. I only wish that my mind was running like it once did, so I apologize that you must see me like this. My name is Owa Daim, and I am the creator of your new Stasis rune. Heh, I often joke now that since my mind was slow, I wished to make something that could make other things keep up with it."

Link softly giggled to himself, genuinely amused. "But I am not here to bore you with my tales of my past, no. I am here to teach you how to use my rune, and grant you your Spirit Orb." A Spirit Orb formed in the gap between Owa Daim's hands, and gently flew into Link's chest, which felt just as good as it had the last time (and also healed any bruises or wounds he'd collected from the previous monster encounters). "We are all counting on you, Link. Do not fail us now." And thus, he faded into teal specks, which faded into the air.

He left the shrine, and took a moment to himself to just enjoy the view from here. It was peaceful and quiet, as the wind gently blew by. "Courageous one!" the old man shouted from behind Link, making him turn to face him. He stood to the left of the shrine, and near a boulder with jagged edges, which was in a divot in the ground. "I see you managed to not perish. Well done!"

Link tilted his head and asked, "I thought you said you couldn't get up here. How did you…?"

"I simply chose to give it a shot. I just wanted to see you make it up there before I did," he answered. "Now, young one, I just found a chest hidden beneath this boulder. With your new rune, I figured you may be able to lift it."

"Erm… okay," he awkwardly replied, walking to the boulder while doing his best to lift his hammer out. He had already gotten there by the time he had pulled out half of the hammer's handle. The old man watched him struggle for a little while, as he did his best to try and pull out the hammer without his arms quivering. They still did.

However, since he was somewhat used to heavier weapons like the sledgehammer and axe, it didn't take as long to lift it as it used to. By now, he had the bottom part of the handle in one hand, and the Sheikah Slate in the other. He glanced at the old man, who smiled and gave him a subtle nod, before he froze the boulder. He swiftly hung the Sheikah Slate back onto his belt, dragging the hammer against the ground with both hands on the handle, while running towards the boulder. He came to a grinding halt, as he swung the hammer upward at it.

He then swung the sledgehammer downward at the boulder, the head of the hammer landing right where the divot started, turning the boulder's formerly yellow glow into a bright blood red, as it was sent flying off of the ledge it once rested on. Link switched out his hammer for his sword, and looked at the old man. "Thanks," he said. The old man gave him a slightly skeptical look, to which he explained, "For telling me that this chest was here. I don't think I would've noticed it."

"Well, go on and open it," he replied, pointing to the stone chest. Link walked over and opened it, finding another bow like the one he had found in Oman Au's shrine, with the only problem being that he didn't have any room for it. Without much thought, he ditched one of the many stick bows he had, and grabbed the new one. Before he had put it into his pouch, the old man asked, "So, what was in it?"

Link looked at the old man, pushing the bow over at him, replying, "This bow."

The old man picked it up, looked at it in his hands for a moment, and pushed it back to Link. "A traveler's bow. One of the most common bows known to the people of Hyrule, excluding soldiers." Link grabbed it out of his hands and placed it into his own pouch. "I do have two of my own. Although, I use them for hunting, and keep them both at my camp in the forest that is visible from here," he said, pointing at a fairly large forest that was visible from the ledge. Outside of a weirdly massive log sticking above the trees, it was your standard forest.

He glared at the forest, his mind wandering back to the old man's diary (which had been in the back of his mind since he'd read it). 'Hunting… I can get meat from hunting…. Spicy *meat* and seafood fry…. I have spices… and if I hunted for meat, then I'd just need to figure out the ingredients!' he thought. He turned to the old man, and asked, "Would you mind if we went there?"

The old man raised his brow at Link for a moment, before he asked, "Why so?"

"You need spicy meat and seafood fry, right?" The old man nodded in agreement. "If we hunted for animals in that forest, we could get meat, because I… well, I kinda took some peppers from your cabin before I read your diary, so… yeah. I'm sorry." He blushed slightly and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, smiling to hide a little bit of his embarrassment.

"Feel no shame, young one, I do not mind," the old man politely reassured.

Link cleared his throat, and finished his explanation. "So if we hunt enough animals, all we have to do is figure out the last ingredient, right?"

The old man gave a gentle chuckle, and smiled. "You are quite clever. Now, let's go then." Link walked over to the Travel Gate and pulled out his Sheikah Slate, with the old man behind him.

Before he tapped the icon to travel to the Travel Gate closest to the forest, that being the cave he had awoken in, he looked at the old man, realizing something. "Wait, won't it only teleport me?"

The old man placed a hand on Link's shoulder, explaining, "As long as I am in physical contact with you, I will also teleport with you. Now, go on, before I die of old age." He chuckled and Link smiled, before he tapped the logo.

The agonizing nightmare that he had experienced last time, while seeming longer, didn't seem to be as bad as it had been before. After it was said and done, he opened his eyes, finding himself back in the cave he had first woken up in. His head was still pounding a little, and he was a bit dizzy, but mostly okay. He took a few steps ahead, before looking back at the old man, who was perfectly fine, which was a little bit odd.

"Well, follow me," Link said, beginning to jog ahead through the familiar rooms from earlier. After looking around for a moment, the old man followed suit, and together, they both soon found themselves up on that familiar cliff. The view was just as beautiful as last time.

The old man squatted down by the edge of the cliff, looked down, and commented, "There. The forest is just below us." He looked over at Link, who was pretty much right behind the old man, but standing instead. "If we could get down there quickly, we could have more time to hunt."

"But in that case, how could we climb down there quickly?" Link questioned. "We still have to think and maneuver all the way down that tall cliff."

The old man stared down at the bottom of the cliff for a moment, before standing and looking at Link. "Would you mind lending me your axe?"

Link tilted his head. "How would a tree bridge help in this situation?"

The old man loudly chuckled for a good few moments. Link didn't even have a clue as to what he was laughing about, but seeing somebody laugh just gave him the instinct to laugh as well, which he did. The old man stopped laughing, and Link did too. "I do not mean to cut anything down, this time. Lend me your axe and pull out a blade of your own, and you will see what I mean." Link lifted the axe out of his pouch with little struggle, before unsheathing his sword. The old man stood at the very edge of the cliff, before swinging the axe downward, embedding it into the face of the cliff. The old man turned and said to Link, "Just trust me on this one, alright?"

"Wha—" The old man, still holding the axe handle, jumped off of the cliff. Link quickly ran over, hearing metal grinding against stone, only stopping when he looked down the cliff. There the old man was, both feet planted against the cliff, with both hands holding tight onto the handle of the axe, with the blade of it being shoved deep into the cliff. "I… um… how…. Are you… uhhh…."

The old man looked at Link with a smug smile. "Did I not mention that I was still an acrobat?" Link opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately said nothing. The old man plainly said, "Now, come join me down here."

"But how exactly do I join you?"

"Do what I did, with the only change being that you wield a sword." Link reversed the grip of his sword and crouched down by the cliff, before stabbing into it, ensuring the entirety of the blade was jammed in there. "Now, before you jump, I must warn you that the blade *will* turn by a half rotation to the left. Hold on tightly to your blade before you jump, alright?"

"Okay," he nervously replied, before looking down the cliff. His stomach swirled yet again, and he swallowed thickly. 'I'm gonna fall, I'm gonna fall, I'm…. No. I'll be alright, I know it. I just have to trust myself.' He closed his eyes, took a very deep breath, and jumped. He kept his eyes shut for another moment. When he opened his eyes again, he was now in a similar position to the old man, feet planted on the cliff face, hands wrapped tightly around the handle of his blade. He looked at the old man, slowing his breathing to calm himself. "What now?"

The old man inhaled and exhaled gently. "From what I know about your experiences with heights, I assume you won't like this," he said. He suddenly pulled the axe out of the stone, and, while still holding it with both hands, he began to quickly fall.

The world seemed to freeze.

It was bad enough picturing himself fall, but seeing somebody else fall was even worse. This man had forgiven and given to Link so much, and Link felt so grateful for it. He couldn't— no, *wouldn't* let him fall or even get hurt. Not now, not ever. "NO!" Without even a general idea of a plan, he let go of the blade, and jumped downward, slightly ahead of the old man, with his right hand outstretched. The old man noticed Link, with his expression changing from concentration to terror.

The old man reached out a hand to grab Link's, which Link caught. As their fingers joined, Link's expression also changed to terror, as he realized he hadn't thought about what to do after grabbing onto the old man. The old man shouted, "Hang on!" He embedded just a little bit of the axe into the cliff face, grinding it against the cliff face, slowing their fall. Their speed decreased even more as the old man pushed the axe a little further into the cliff face, and by the time they had reached the bottom, the entire blade of the axe was once again embedded into the cliff.

Link let go of the old man's hand, dropping from a tiny height, as the old man did the same. "Here's your axe back," the old man said, pushing the axe towards Link. Because of how much the blade had been grinding against the cliff, the edge of the blade was now very jagged and uneven, but still a little usable. He put it back into his pouch, as the old man sighed. "That was…" —he looked at Link with a very subtle smile— "not what I had planned to happen."

Link blushed, as he said, "I just… I didn't want you to get hurt, that's all. I-I'm so sorry I screwed it all up, I—"

"No, no. I understand your concern, and I appreciate your effort to try and help me. But next time, always ensure that there is something to save yourself as well. Because, *especially* this early on in your adventure, you may not grow to do the great things that I know you will grow to do."

Link processed the old man's words, staring at the ground, before looking back up at the old man and nodding. "Okay," he softly and quietly said.

The old man looked up at the cliff face, a faint smile on his face. "Even if it costs you a blade," he commented, making Link look up, as the old man gave a chuckle. The old man had pointed out Link's abandoned blade, and Link gently giggled, too. The old man stopped laughing, and so did Link. Link turned around, and noticed a soft blue glow within a hollow tree trunk. Said tree trunk was around one-quarter of its normal height, and, as aforementioned, it had been entirely hollowed out with a small little opening that was showing off this mysterious blue glow.

When Link was pretty much inside of the hollow trunk, he could completely confirm what the glow was. It was a plant, with four large leaves at the bottom of it, and a small vine that was curved downward at the top, which held four or five glowing berries. He tore it from the ground, and clutched its vine in his hand. He stepped out of the trunk, and walked to the old man. "Hey, I found this plant," he said, pushing it towards him.

The old man quietly laughed, now holding the staff in his hands. "I didn't expect you to just give it to me like that." He gently plucked the plant out of Link's hand, examining it in his hand as he said, "But I do appreciate how you still continue to show me." A few seconds later, he pushed it back, saying, "Blue nightshade." Link grabbed it, and the old man continued with his explanation. "It is a plant that slowly gains a glow as it reaches nighttime. While some use it for time-checking purposes, it is most often a food ingredient, which, when eaten or cooked and then eaten, has a good few interesting effects. It can calm nerves, heighten senses such as hearing, grants the ability of slight night vision, and decreases weight, muffling footfalls."

"That sounds… really, really useful," Link commented.

"Because it is. Now, let us hunt," he replied. "I will go grab one of my bows from my camp, and you can start exploring…" —he looked past Link, into a clearing of trees only populated by a few mushrooms and boulders that were within the ground— "there, in that clearing." Link looked over where the old man was looking, before looking back and giving a nod. The old man nodded back in turn, and they went their separate ways.

Link walked into the clearing, noticing much of the same details that the old man had noticed. He checked his pouch for a weapon, only finding the nearly broken club. 'Well, I suppose that this will have to do.' He pulled it out of his pouch, and placed it into the rope tie on his back. He went around, picking mushrooms, getting the ones by the edge of the clearing. Then, only one was left, which was on a boulder that was placed directly into the clearing.

He walked over to pick it, but as he neared, he felt a rumbling in the ground. It grew obvious quickly, as the rock began to rattle. It grew more, and more intense, as the rock began to rise, still rattling as if some madman just refused to stop shaking it. Some surrounding boulders rose out of the ground, attaching to the boulder in certain spots. Then, every stone and boulder had formed limbs, with a tiny waist, lower body, and legs, especially compared to the rest of its mass. The arms were huge, about half of the size of its upper body, which was the original boulder. And, as the very last detail he noticed, there was a jagged black stone placed near the top of its body.

It, despite being made out of boulders and stones and nothing else, was absolutely horrifying.

It slowly lifted one of its massive arms, before bringing it down on Link. He didn't manage to get out of the way, but he was *just* far enough that he didn't get crushed. That still meant that, once the massive hammer of an arm had slammed onto the ground, he was sent flying backward. By the time he had stopped, he was on his stomach, his clothes covered in even more dirt and dust, with a ton of tiny and mediocre cuts, and a gash on his chest that had opened an equally large hole in his shirt. He stood up, before quickly assessing his situation.

'There's no way I can just attack this thing like any other creature, that's for sure.' He looked up, noticing the black stone. There was only one, single chance that he could even try to fight this thing, and he was glaring right at it. 'If that's my one shot, no matter how hard it'll be to get, I'll take it over no chance.'

The creature lifted its hand into the air, before flinging it at Link, releasing the largest boulder at the end of its arm from its body. He pulled out his broken club, and rolled out of the way before sprinting at the creature. It flung its other arm at Link, detaching the large boulder once again, which he dodged. Then, the creature flopped its body onto the ground, just as he got close to it. Despite being slightly confused, he still hopped onto its back. It began to rise again, so he clutched onto one of its many jagged edges, as it stood back up with two new boulders on its arms. It began to sway left and right, its intensity increasing, loosening his grip. He stood up and quickly ran to the stone, screaming with effort as he hit it with his club using every hint of his strength. The club shattered upon impact, making the creature bellow extremely loudly, before flopping onto the ground again. He swiftly pulled out his hammer, and, with one last scream of effort, lifted the hammer above his head and slammed it onto the black stone, shattering it.

He quickly hopped off of the creature (exhausted), and took a good few steps away, before turning to look at it. The stone texture across its body began to melt off of it, revealing a burgundy color of flesh, with more being revealed as it melted. It actually only had the upper part of its arms as an actual part of its body, with both arms having a large spike at their ends, which was presumably what connected the genuine boulders to itself at the end of its arms. Then, the front part of its upper body melted away, revealing its horrific face. It had a single, yellow, disgustingly wet eye across the top of its face, with a thin slit for a pupil. It also had an open, slimy, toothless mouth, which didn't seem to ever close.

It gave one last roar, before it melted into a massive, gross, purple soup that spread across most of the clearing, before being soaked up by the grass. He dropped his hammer, but didn't even notice it. He just stared as the flesh continued to join with the grass, shivering gently with fear. All he could feel was a mix of pure disgust, and absolute terror. The last horror he'd seen was from afar, and even that left him temporarily paralyzed. But this? This was utterly horrific to watch. And he felt completely out of it.

"Young one?" the old man asked from behind Link. Link turned, and noticed the old man, a small distance away, holding a traveler's bow in one hand. "You look absolutely mortified. Are you alright?"

"I… erm… I-I'm… I'm okay," he shakily replied. It was only now that he really realized how terrifying the experience watching that gross creature slowly die was. He had also noticed that the sun had begun to set, and everything was absorbed in a bright orange glow. 'How long have I been standing here?'

The old man walked a little closer to Link, his eyes more gentle than ever. "Just explain what had happened. If not now, then you may when we return to camp." Link subtly nodded, picking up the hammer and putting it onto his back. "Follow me, I have already gotten our meat." He turned around, and began to walk into the forest, with Link in tow. Outside of the standard nature noises, the walk was dead silent.

Link glanced over, noticing a flower with yellow petals and a brown stem within a massive trunk in the middle of the forest. It was the trunk that was visible from the ledge where Owa Daim put his shrine upon. Link looked at the flower, and could swear that there was the faintest of plucking coming from it. "Hey," he said in a slightly deadpan tone, making the old man turn to him and stop walking. "Would you mind if I went to explore that trunk over there?" he asked, pointing to the massive trunk with the small flower.

"Of course. Just promise me one thing," the old man gently said, his voice almost as tender as the woman's was. "Whatever troubled you, whatever shook you so horridly when I saw you, keep it out of your mind. Please." Link's mouth hung ajar just a little. He was truly touched by the old man's words. His words from earlier, and almost every bit of advice from the day before had still been sweet and caring, but to hear him plead for Link to do his best to feel better could thaw even the coldest of hearts.

He gently replied, "Yeah… yeah. I will." The old man nodded, and he walked away as Link walked to the trunk. As he walked, his chest began to experience a searing pain, and he remembered that his chest had been gashed. He looked down at it, and gently touched it, making the pain worse. He took a breath through his gritted teeth in pain, just as he arrived at the flower. He squatted down by the flower, hearing the plucking that he'd associated with Koroks coming directly from it.

He reached to grab the flower, but just as he was about to close his hand around the stem of the flower, it vanished in a tiny green mist that was slightly crowded by a few small leaves. Just like what every Korok had left behind. He looked up, noticing that the flower was just straight ahead. He went over, tried to grab it, and the same thing happened. This happened two more times, until the flower's petals turned white. That time, he actually managed to pull the flower from the ground, revealing another Korok.

Its skin was peach, with two sticks with leaves and berries in its nubs. Its mask was the same shape of what most people would think a heart would look like, with a pointless dot near the top right of it. Its face was the most normal looking out of the Koroks he had seen so far, as it was winking with its right eye, with a smirk. Its mask was also a bit cut around its edges. "Tee hee! Did you like my new trick?" it asked in its standard cutesy voice, making Link smile.

"It was different, but could be harder," he replied.

"Hee hee! Thank you! And…" —the yellow seed flew from the Korok to Link— "there's your seed. Toodles!" It vanished into a green mist, as his pouch opened and closed itself.

He took a few steps ahead, and looked to his right through the trees. He noticed the old man was knelt down by a brown lump, turned away from him with his head down, as his hands worked away. It wasn't clear exactly what he was doing, at least from here. He jogged through the trees, and arrived at the edge of the camp, which was in a small clearing. There was a log embedded into the ground, with two bows leaning against it, with a mushroom perched atop. Next to the bows was also a bundle of five arrows. There was a large tree just a few steps away from the log, which had a metal pot close by.

As he got closer, the old man's head lifted up, and his hands stopped moving. When Link grew a little closer, the old man slowly turned his head around, a smile forming on his face as he recognized Link. "Ah, young one. I see you didn't get run over by a boar," he said, giving a chuckle. He stood up and turned, with the smile on his face fading. Link also noticed that he held a medium-sized knife in his right hand. "Are you alright now?" he asked tenderly.

Link smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I feel better now. I'm… I'm really glad you cared so much about me," he replied.

The old man copied Link's smile and nod, albeit much more subtle and slow. "Of course I care, young one." He took a long, silent pause. Link didn't say anything, getting a strong feeling that the old man still had a thought to finish. As the setting sun grew more orange and closer to the horizon, making every little spot around the two share that orange glow and flicker, the old man spoke.

"You know, you are the closest thing to my daughter. Innocent, curious, and with a heart of gold. Since the moment I met you, I saw my daughter in those eyes that you have. Like yours, they glowed even in the pitch black of the night. Her smile was the sun, and no matter how awful someone felt, it would light up their day like no other. Your smile gives me that feeling. I would forever care about you, all if it meant I could redeem myself for how I treated my daughter."

Link's head tilted and brow furrowed. "You didn't treat her well?"

He somberly nodded, taking another pause before he said anything. "I pushed her to her very limits. I always wished the best for her, so I wanted her to experience greatness. So, I relentlessly told her to keep working. I made her work, and work even harder, and harder, and then… I lost her. Because of all of my pushing for her to work harder, I had also pushed her away from me. What makes it sting even more is the fact that, when she left for the last time, I was on the verge of apologizing to her. I never got to make amends, and I honestly think that she thought that I would never miss her. I just wish she knew." His eyes grew watery, as he silently cried, staring at the ground.

Link got closer to the old man, just staring at him with gentle eyes. Eventually, when he was around two steps away from the old man, he gave the tightest hug he could muster. "You really tried to raise her, you know. You aren't at fault for just wishing the very best for her. Maybe she *was* angry every time you made her work harder, but I know she *still* missed you to death. Maybe she still does. You just have to believe that," he gently reassured.

The old man gently hugged Link back, and, almost inaudibly, whispered, "Thank you." They both let go of each other, both smiling. The old man wiped his tears and cleared his throat. "Well, let us get back to work, yes?" Link nodded. "Now, with your observant eyes, I assume you've noticed what I was working on."

"Only a little," he replied. He looked down at the knife in the old man's hand. "But what were you doing with that knife? And" —he leaned a bit to the side— "what is that?" he asked, pointing at the brown lump on the ground.

The old man stepped out of the way, and said, "It is one of the many woodland boars that this forest holds."

And the old man was right. As he stood above it, he made out every little detail. Its back half, legs, ears, and little tufts of spiky hair by the face were all darker than the rest of the tan body. On the top of its body, and in front of the dark tufts of brown hair were white spikes of hair, with the ones near the face curving up and across the cold dead eyes of the boar. Its snout was somewhat short and taupe, with tusks coming from below it. It also had a few small incisions in the middle part of its body.

"Now, I was just checking how thick the skin was before I was going to skin it. But now that you are here, I suppose I should show you how to cut meat from an animal." He tossed the knife at Link, which he caught, before jerking his head at the boar. "Squat down with me," he said.

Link did as told, and the old man joined and began to direct him. "So, first, as I have mentioned before, you'll want to remove its skin. First, you dig into its skin until you reach the flesh. Thankfully, for a species like the woodland boar, their skin has little reason to be so thick. To avoid leaving you confused with proper measurements, I will simply say that it is half of that small blade there. Now, dig it into its flesh." Link nodded, shanking the creature once again, ensuring that roughly half of the blade was inside of it.

"Now, turn the blade flat, and separate the skin from the flesh by rotating it, keeping it flat. After a full rotation, lift the blade up while still keeping it flat. If the skin doesn't lift, do it again until it is," the old man instructed. Link managed to lift the skin on the first rotation, making him do a small little cheer to himself.

The old man smiled sweetly at Link, as he looked over and asked, "Now what?"

"Just tear it off at a measured pace," the old man replied. Link placed his thumb under the skin, before pulling it off of the boar, getting the rest by rolling it over and taking it off. Once he was done, there was now a fleshy lump in a shape that faintly resembled the animal it used to be. The old man smiled and placed a hand on Link's shoulder, making Link look back at him. "Well done, young one. Now, you just have to cut a piece from it."

"Is there a certain way I have to do that? Or not?" Link asked.

"Just ensure you don't get any organs mixed in with your cut, and that is all," the old man replied. Link nodded, and proceeded to cut three juicy steaks from it, which he gave to the old man. When he was done, the sky had grown slightly dark, and the boar was now a fleshy, skinless lump missing a few chunks of itself.

"Now, I will go and cook this. You should explore the forest a little more while you're at it," the old man said. He looked around, and noticed a tree that was partially uprooted, leaving enough room for someone to stand under, with a pile of orange leaves beneath it. "Maybe by those leaves under that large tree, or…" —he leaned back a bit, noticing an oddly shaped and tall rock in a tiny clearing that was a fair distance away— "maybe at that rock over there." He stood up, cradling the steaks in his arms. "It all depends on what you wish to do, young one."

"Alright," Link replied, standing up. He looked at the same spots that the old man had looked at, and walked toward the rock first. Since they were both moderately close, he kind of just randomly chose one. When he arrived at the tiny clearing, he noticed that he was hearing that gentle string plucking once more, coming from the top of the rock. The rock itself had around three layers of increasingly smaller, very jagged, and uneven, rock slabs. He scaled up them, and found a small rock perched at the top, where the plucking was from.

Out popped yet another Korok, this one having a jade skin color with one stick with berries. Its mask was like a pair of butterfly wings with one upward curved semicircle, diagonally angled. On the opposite side were two small, upward-curved lines that weren't angled. Its mouth was a wavy line, placed right below a nose hole.

Instead of jumping and flailing, it just slouched and swayed, muttering to itself incoherently. It used the tip of the stick to rub one of the pair of thin, upward-curved lines, as its muttering grew clearer. "W-why would someone wake me up so late…" It hazily and lazily looked up at Link, and asked, "Who told you t-to wake me up?"

"Um… your friends said that if I—"

The creature sighed, saying, "Well… they could've told me…. Eh, I probably slept through it. Here's your seed, if that's w-what you're looking for." The seed emerged from the creature, floating into Link's pouch. The Korok gave a long, adorable yawn. "N-now I'm gonna go back to bed," it groggily said. After a few moments of gently swaying back and forth, it eventually fell face-first onto the ground, making the cutest squeak sound as it landed, before poofing away.

He almost gave an audible expression of how cute that was, and he partially wished he had.

He hopped off of the rock, noticing the sky was almost fully dark, now. He returned to the camp, with him exchanging silent waves with the old man, who was still cooking the steaks. He walked over to the leaves underneath the tree, but he noticed something giving off a gentle blue glow near the bottom of a trunk. He thought it was another blue nightshade, so he walked over to it, and picked it up. It was actually a mushroom, with a slightly cut cap, and that same soft blue glow emerging from it.

He picked it up, and put it into his pouch, before he looked at the pile of leaves, able to hear the plucking once more. He walked over, and began to dig through the piles of leaves, soon finding a rock hidden beneath them. He lifted it up, and tossed it aside, making a Korok pop out of nowhere. Its skin was a lifeless yellow, with one stick in its nub. Its mask was shaped like an exaggerated, horizontal nut. It had a right eye far bigger than the left, with a triangle nose hole, and one straight line with an upside-down triangle below it. It looked pretty derpy.

It stood with its hands at its sides, staring blankly in Link's direction for a few moments. It suddenly shook its head, saying, "Oh! It's you!" It nervously giggled. "I-I'm sorry, my mind doesn't work that fast," it said, pointing one of its nubs at its head.

"So… you do still know why I've gotten you out here, right?" he asked.

It proceeded to give him a blank stare again, giving a long, "Uhh…." After maybe a minute of it, the Korok shook its head again. "Right… um… yeah. Here you go." The yellow seed flew from the Korok, and into Link's pouch. "Now… uhh…. Right! Back home!" With that, it poofed away.

Link walked back to the camp, returning to the old man, who had his back to the tree close to the pot, before asking, "How's the food?"

The old man, using a pair of metal tongs with wooden handles, took the steaks out of the pot, and rested them on a plate. "Just finished," he replied. "Now, we just have to figure out what the last ingredient is. In the meantime, I suppose I could cook any ingredients you have in that pouch of yours."

Link nodded, and reached into his pouch, picking out the first ingredient his hand landed on. He pulled his hand out, noticing he had grabbed one of the green fish from earlier. "Hey," he said. The old man looked at him, just as he tossed the fish, which the old man caught.

Link sat against the log, thinking of what the last ingredient could be. As he did so, the old man looked at the fish, remarking, "Hyrule bass…. Hm… why is that familiar?"

After a second, the old man shrugged, and tossed the fish into the pot, making it begin to sizzle. 'Spicy meat and seafood fry… hm…. Spices from the pepper, meat from the steak, seafood from…. Aha! Seafood is fish! That's it!' Link looked up at the old man, shuffling over quickly, before saying, "The last ingredient is that fish!"

The old man raised his eyebrows, asking, "Really? Why so?"

"It's in the name. Spicy meat and seafood fry. Seafood is just another word for fish!" he answered, excited.

The old man tilted his head side to side, pressing his lips together and staring blankly upwards. Soon, he looked back down at Link, and smiled. "Well, you bring up a great point. Now, we just have to wait for this to cook. But, since I had only asked for the recipe, I think you've earned something." The old man reached below his red coat, and pulled out a piece of clothing.

It was a light beige shirt, beneath a thick, fuzzy, green sweater. The green sweater had a few small cuts by its sleeve ends (which barely reached past the shoulders) and by its bottom end by his waist. It had some red patterns by its edges, marking the seam in the sweater, which was currently closed with two brown buttons. And at the end of the beige sleeves were two thick, brown gloves secured by a small belt that went around them. Link grabbed it by the collar from the old man, tucking it under his armpit.

"Now, I think you should switch that out for your old shirt," the old man said, pointing at Link's chest. "That gash in your chest and all of those cuts on your shirt won't fix themselves. Speaking of that gash," —the old man reached below his coat again— "you should cover it up with some bandages. Which I have right here." The old man pulled some rolls of white bandages out from his coat, and tossed them over to Link, which he caught. "You may apply those and change behind the tree here."

Link stood up, and nodded. "Thank you." He smiled, and softly said, "She's proud of you right now."

The old man slowly turned his head to Link, and after a second of silence, he said, "From anyone else, I'd say that they're lying to make me feel better. But from you? I can only see you telling the absolute truth, as if you truly know. Thank you, young one."

Link went behind the tree, and took off his seriously torn shirt, before wrapping some of the bandages around his chest, covering the gash. It still slightly bled into the bandage, but he knew that it would heal once he'd get the final Spirit Orb from the last shrine. Afterward, he unbuttoned the green sweater, and put on the beige shirt. It was a little bit baggy on him, but he wasn't fussy about it. There wasn't a good reason to be. He put on the sweater and closed it, before putting on both of the thick brown gloves, and tightening them around his hands. While it probably didn't offer that much more protection against attacks than his shirt, it would at least keep him warmer in colder climates. That's just what he'd need to get to the final shrine.

He walked back to the old man, stepping in front of him before he asked, "How does it look?"

The old man looked him up and down, replying, "Enough to get by. At least, if you aren't picky." The old man picked the fish out of the pot, and placed it onto the plate with the steak, which now had some ginger-colored specks across it. "Now, how is my dish?" he asked.

"It looks good. I see why it's your signature dish," he answered, giving a smile.

The old man gave an appreciative smile and nod. "The night is young, young one. You may sleep against that log there, and I will sleep here."

"Are you going to be comfortable?"

The old man gave a little laugh. "If the wolves don't feast on us."

"W-wolves? Here? I thought—" He was interrupted by the old man chuckling once more.

"I jest, young one. Now, go to sleep. It has been a long day for us."

Link and the old man exchanged nods, before Link lay down by the log, facing up into the sky, and shut his eyes. "Thank you, Link," the young woman gently whispered, once again knocking him out. When he woke, he stood up, and stretched. He looked to the old man, who was asleep, but he also noticed a basket by the, now unlit, pot. Next to it was a piece of parchment, which had a letter written on it in the old man's handwriting.

---

Dear young one,

Last night, during which I was awake for most of it, I looked through your pouch. Don't fret, I haven't stolen anything that could be of use, and all of the things I did take I made useful. I took a few of each of your ingredients and made them into meals, placing them into this basket. I figured you wouldn't have much other use for them, so I hope you do not mind.

I also spent some of the night searching that clearing in the forest, where you dueled that rock beast (It is known as a talus, by the way). You see, that beast always drops valuable ore once beaten, but you must've been so mortified that you didn't take note of it. I collected eight pieces of amber, one piece of flint, one opal, and one ruby, which I have stuffed beneath all of these dishes.

And finally, I found a spare blade that I don't use anymore (but is a bit damaged), which happens to be the same kind that you lost on that cliff face (it is a traveler's sword). I have left it at the top of this pile of stuff within this basket.

I wish you the best of luck on your trek to the final shrine.

Sincerely, the only other person on this plateau.

---

Link put the note into his pouch, before taking a peek into the basket. The old man hadn't lied, as there were a handful of dishes within, all with varying foods on top. Below were some subdued sparkles of gems, dulled even further by the plates covering most of them. And, as the note had also mentioned, there was a traveler's sword within the basket, at the top of the pile. He took the blade, noticing a few scuffs and dents in the blade, and the fact that the handle wrapping had been slightly peeled off.

He picked up the basket, and dropped it in his pouch, giving a nod of thanks and a smile to the sleeping old man. He checked his map, turned in the direction of Oman Au's shrine, and began to jog towards it, hanging the Sheikah Slate back onto his belt as he started to move. His plan was to go to the Travel Gate at Oman Au's shrine, teleport to Owa Daim's shrine, and then climb across Mount Hylia to get to the final shrine (as it was the closest one to the mountain).

He soon passed the edge of the forest, sliding down the small hill where the last tree (in the direction of Oman Au's shrine) sat. He bounced up from his sliding stance, before casually jogging over to Oman Au's shrine. As he did so, he glanced to his left, noticing a large mud pool that he had basically ignored throughout his time here. Nothing much was remarkable about it, aside from the fact that two stone chests sat atop a raised wooden platform, directly in the middle of the pool. 'How exactly am I supposed to reach that?' he questioned in his mind, yet continued jogging forward.

When he had reached the shrine, he had planned to just teleport to Owa Daim's shrine, until that mud pool's chests came to mind once again. He looked down into the pond, not seeing much more than fish and that long metal beam that he'd left behind earlier. 'Metal beam… if I used that, I think I could reach the chests…. Yeah, there's no rush, I can go get them.' He activated Magnesis, and lifted up the beam above his head, before jogging over to the mud pool.

When he reached the front of the pond (as in, where the chests faced), there was a bit of land jutting out towards the platform, but not fully reaching it. He lowered the beam to the ground, cautiously adjusting it so that both ends touched the tip of the rock and the edge of the platform, which he eventually managed to accomplish. He turned off Magnesis, and waited a moment to ensure that it was stable, before quickly jogging across (sticking his arms out to the side for balance). It wasn't as scary as when he had gone across the log to get to Owa Daim's shrine, as he was only above some mud. The worst thing that would happen is that he'd drown, but still, that couldn't be too likely, especially since his nerves were under control this time.

He hopped off of the beam, and opened the chests. Inside the first one was a bundle of arrows with fire gems, and in the other was a bundle of five arrows of a different kind. These ones had an aqua-colored gem on them, which had the outline of a hexagon, and three sharp diamonds on three edges at the sides and top. All he could think of when he looked at it was a stylized snowflake.

As he finished packing the ice arrows into his quiver, he heard that familiar plucking from nearby. He glanced over at a log sticking out of the mud pond, seeing that the hole in the center of it connected to a chain, which led into the mud pond. 'Metal chain leading into nothing, a hole for something to be placed in, that familiar plucking… yep, I think I see where this is going.' He turned toward the log, and activated Magnesis, tracing the (now bright red) chain beneath the mud, which connected to a big metal ball. He lifted it up and out of the mud, dropping it into the hole in the log. A second or two later, a korok poofed from nowhere, its appearance identical to the third one he'd found.

"Yah-ha-ha! You found me!" it said, handing over a seed. "I would usually make you chase me for this, so you're lucky I'm not feeling it today. Toodles!" And just like that, it poofed away. It was a bit of a shame to have such a short encounter with a Korok, as he always relished in their pure innocence, but you win some and lose some. He turned around, and casually (partially gingerly, too) jogged across the metal beam.

The moment he had returned to solid ground, there was yet another plucking noise coming from dead ahead. 'Oh, another one,' he thought. He followed the sound, soon stopping in front of two large boulders, which were propped up against one another, forming a kind of triangle with the ground as the base. In the middle of those rocks was a smaller rock (the type he could pick up), where the plucking was from.

He calmly lifted it up and threw it away, making another Korok pop out of nowhere. This one had a faded blue skin tone, with two sticks in its nubs. Its mask was somewhat shaped like an open book (looked at from a specific angle). It had two triangles for eyes, with their top points facing the upper edges of the mask, with another triangle at the bottom of the mask pointing at the bottom edge. There was also a tiny dot next to its nose.

"Ah, it's you! You're the one my friends have been talking about!" it exclaimed, jumping with excitement. "I hear that you're quite the intellect, is that right?"

"Um… I guess," he replied.

"Well, how much do you know?"

"Erm… I… I'm sorry, I can't really talk to you for too long."

It stopped jumping, and looked down, slouching. "Oh, okay," it said, disheartened. It sat like that for just a moment, before its head quickly sprung back up. "Well, here's a little tip for surviving in the wild. If you crouch down and move slowly, and stay out of sight, you can sneak up on mostly anyone! Okay, buh-bye!" Just as it vanished, a seed shot out and dove into his pouch, which had barely opened as it got in there.

He turned around, and began to jog toward Oman Au's shrine. At some point (while on the way there), he noticed a pink butterfly, calmly flapping its wings through the sky, not too high off the ground. He wanted to catch it, and while he had no reason to, he didn't have a real reason not to. As he neared the butterfly, he realized that the butterfly would most likely fly off in fear if he just ran towards it. 'Crouch down… sneak up on mostly anyone… well, worth a shot.' He squatted down, and began to slowly approach it, as it also began to near the ground. Then, once he could reach out at it, he plucked it out of the skies, and examined it in his hands. Its wings felt quite warm, but other than that, nothing was notable about it.

He placed it into his pouch, and then arrived at the Travel Gate, transporting himself from Oman Au's shrine to Owa Daim's. Once more, the experience itself was still a nightmare to go through, but the after-effects were heavily dulled now that he was used to it. Once he had manifested atop the Travel Gate, he turned left, noticing a large cliff face that led up into the snowy part of Mount Hylia. Exactly where he had to go.

He scaled up it with ease, and once he stood atop the snow (his exposed skin growing cold and red) he looked across the whole mounting, spotting an orange dot at the very opposite end of the mountain. He inhaled and exhaled deeply (partially regretting it due to its thinness), before beginning to jog down the large hill he was on. The snow was thick, nearly burying his ankles in cold, soft, pearly white snow. Once he had neared the halfway point of the hill, he noticed that the snow's sparkle had dulled, and that the color of everything had lost its vibrance. He looked up to the sky, seeing it filled with white (but gray from down here) clouds that blotted out the majority of the sunlight.

He looked back down, before taking a step forward. Immediately, he tripped, falling backward before he began to slide down the hill. As it turned out, there was ice hidden beneath most of the snow, and he had been lucky enough to avoid all of them… until now. Sliding down the hill didn't hurt much, but it did leave his pants slightly soggy and cold. He stood up at the bottom of the hill, brushing some excess snow off of his chest.

Then, he heard the soft shuffling of snow from nearby, so he went to investigate. After peeking around the corner of a boulder, he saw a camp of red creatures, with six of them huddled around a fire and rubbing their arms. These ones donned a cloak draped over their shoulders, made from several animal furs. And, next to their log of weapons, were two wooden chests. The allure of useful items to forage for was something he could never ignore, so he unsheathed his sword and pulled out his shield, taking a deep breath to soothe his nerves.

He charged at them, and the second he was right behind one of them, the rest noticed. He stabbed the one right in front of him right in the gut, before swinging his sword upward to ensure its death. As four of them ran to gather weapons, one poor soul stood still in terror. Link charged at it and slashed its neck, decapitating it. He turned at the four creatures, seeing one of them with a club and shield, two with clubs, and one with a bow. He dashed for the one with the bow, jumping into the air and cutting straight down. He instantly turned to one of the creatures (in his focused state he had no clue what it wielded) and stabbed it in the gut, before turning and blocking an attack from behind.

He spun and slashed twice at the creature, before rolling away from the log to gain more open ground. His eyes went between both of the creatures left standing, before they ran at him. One swung at his head, but he ducked and slashed at its leg, as the other leaped into the skies. He rolled out of the way, causing the one in the air to inadvertently kill its friend. He spun and dashed back at the creature, before standing and cutting its head off. He panted, the adrenaline fading, as he realized that he hadn't been hit, not even scratched. He smiled with pride, realizing how far he'd come in terms of combative skill. If only he knew his full potential.

He sheathed his sword, picked up all six horns of the creatures, and waltzed over to the wooden chests to open them. To his surprise, there were only a total of 10 arrows in the chests (a bundle of five each), which seemed out of place for a camp that was nearly double the population of others. He went back to the hill, looking up at it, seeing some patches of ice sticking out of the snow. 'It'll take a lot longer to get up there than continue forward.' He returned to the camp, noticing a cliff face behind the log of weapons, one facing the direction of the shrine. He gave a tiny shrug, and jumped off of the log, gripping onto jagged edges of the wall and beginning to scale it.

He pulled himself up, clambering up the ledge, finding himself face-to-face with another wooden chest. He thought of it as odd to have this chest facing the edge, but chose to simply open it, finding a piece of amber within. Suddenly, a blue creature leaped out of the snow, screaming as it slowly descended from the air. Link's eyes zipped between the chest and the creature, a plan in his mind forming. As the creature slowly descended, still slowly screaming with its club raised high into the sky, he grabbed the bottom of the chest and flipped it up at the creature. It hit the creature in the face, ceasing any momentum it might've gained, and sending it crashing to the ground.

Link pulled out his sword and shield, flipping the sword in his hand. It charged at him before leaping into the air once more. Just the second before it landed, he dodged to the side, and, as it slammed its club onto the ground, he stabbed it in the back. It lost its breath, and collapsed to its knees. He quickly pulled the blade out and stabbed it, before pulling out and stabbing it. Again, and again, he stabbed it in the back, until it finally fell limp and melted into mush.

Afterward, he took its horn, fang, and guts before picking up its shield. He stuck his arm through the handle, and spun his arm a bit. It was cut slightly differently than the one he had, being more jagged with less of a curve to it. Wrapped around the whole shield were several vine wraps, holding up two sharp bones to it. He ditched his current shield (switching it out for one that was less damaged) and put the new one into his pouch, before trudging forward.

Some time had passed (nearing an hour by now), and he had scaled several hills and small stone ledges. As he pulled himself up the last cliff (in a series of them), he noticed a tall rock sticking out of the ground. It was coated in dust and moss, and had been slightly weathered over the years. Carved into its center were several symbols that were identical to the ones he'd seen in places belonging to the old Sheikah, and below that was a translation, which he squatted down to read.

"Here lies the man who ruled the world," he read aloud. The rest beneath the text where his name and lifespan would be had been coated in moss, leaving him unable to read the rest. He stood, and picked up the object that lay atop the rock. He pinched the object with both hands, and examined it closely. It was a small golden crown, with several engravings across it, and grand wings at the sides. In the middle was a ruby in the shape of a diamond, still somewhat shiny. The whole thing, however, was covered in dust, rust, and was damaged.

He furrowed his brow, as his mind began to race, faster than it had before, to the point where his head began to hurt. Suddenly, his mind flashed, as he saw the flicker of a shadow of a man, standing in front of a burning sunset. He had a similar stature to the old man, but donned a large cape and tiny crown perched on his head. While everything else was shrouded in darkness, the only things visible were two beady, teal eyes, and the golden crown with sunlight flickering off of it. "Save *Hyrule*... for everyone else's sake…." a soft yet aged voice said, as it slowly faded away along with the figure.

He shook his head, pulling his mind from this odd vision, as he simply put the crown into his pouch for safekeeping. He trudged through even more snow, occasionally slipping on more ice. This thick snow was beginning to grow tedious, as the process of either kicking it away or lifting his feet higher than normal had become exhausting. Then, he checked his map, resting his back against some large rocks and boulders that formed a perch higher up. As it turned out, he was at the bottom of where the final shrine was. So, he turned around (hanging his Sheikah Slate back onto his belt) and began to scale up the rocks and boulders, before clambering up the ledge that was just in front of the shrine.

When he arrived at the shrine, he noticed another purple metal chest sitting to the left of it, just like Oman Au's shrine. He noticed it, walked over, and opened it. To his pleasant surprise, he found a bundle of 5 bomb arrows inside, which he cheerfully took. He then walked to the pedestal by the shrine door, activated it, and entered the final shrine, nervous yet excited as ever. As the platform descended he took a step back in his mind, and looked over everything he had been told so far.

'So after this… save the world? I mean, I know that I will do it, and I trust myself, but… I don't get it. Why me? Why am I an amnesiac? Why do I have to do this? What makes me… me?'

The platform stopped at the bottom, and he walked off of it, noticing a pedestal right ahead of him. Next to that pedestal was a mediocre-sized pool filled with very shallow water, which was below an upper level. "Ah, you," a deep, dismissive voice said. "It's death, the destroyer of worlds," he mocked. "Fine, hero, go on and kill me." Link was hurt by this complete and utter dismissal and insult, and confused as to what this monk meant, but he just walked towards the pedestal and placed his Sheikah Slate inside (as he always did).

"Rune extracted," the mechanical voice said, as he pulled out his Sheikah Slate, reading the new rune. The logo was a very light blue, and in the shape of a snowflake. It allowed him to make a tall ice pillar out of nearly every liquid you could think of, with provided examples being: water, mud, and, very weirdly, blood (and that's not mentioning the unlisted examples). He stood in front of the pond, holding both ends of the Sheikah Slate in his hands (making the water in that shallow pool glow cyan), ready to repeat the learning curve of activating his rune.

"Y'know what? I suppose there's no delaying the inevitable," the monk dryly said. "To save your time and cut mine, let me just tell you how to activate your rune. Press the screen against the liquid in the same space that you want the ice pillar to form, take a few steps back, and it'll work. You don't have to keep the screen against the spot for longer than a second or two, and then you just have to have the rune activated and take a few steps back."

"Uh… okay," Link replied. He wasn't used to this from a monk, nor did he like it. He pressed the screen against the part of the puddle closest to the wall below the next level, and took a few steps back, as a giant ice pillar erupted from the ground, rising until it was the exact height of the upper floor. He grabbed onto some of its jagged edges, and clambered up it, before jumping across the small gap. When he landed, he descended a set of stairs that was descending into even more shallow water. Once he reached the bottom, he spotted a large gate blocking the way ahead, which just barely hovered above the water. 'There's no way I'm lifting that…. How do I….' He looked past the gate, noticing that the shallow water continued past and under the gate. 'Maybe if I lifted it up a little, put the Sheikah Slate under there, and walked away, maybe it'd work.'

He wedged his fingers under the gate, bent his legs, and began to lift it up with all of his strength. "That won't work," the monk remarked, but Link ignored it. When it was just a little higher than his ankle, he slowly and gingerly took his left hand off of the gate, before he grabbed his Sheikah Slate. The gate dropped a little, but he managed to lift it back up with his right hand. He threw the Sheikah Slate below the gate, landing with its back to the roof and screen to the ground. He gently let down the gate, and stepped back.

The pillar exploded out of the water and rose up, lifting the gate with it. "Hm… you are… smart, Link. I would expect most to try and lift it for 10 minutes, but… you only did it to work out your plan." Just before he planned to take his Sheikah Slate back, he faintly heard the monk mutter, "Perhaps this will not be in vain." Link climbed up the ice pillar, and took his Sheikah Slate again, before hopping off and continuing forward. He made another left turn, seeing that smaller version of an overturned urn far ahead once again, its feet planted in shallow water. It turned, and began to glow orange.

He ran towards it, unsheathing his sword and dodging one of its light blasts. As he neared, he tossed his Sheikah Slate onto the ground ahead, and jumped above it as an ice pillar exploded from the water. He was low enough to the ground that the ice pillar exploding upward also shot him up into the air, which also helped him dodge another blast of light from the mechanical creature. He raised his sword above his head with both of his hands, and when he landed his blade stabbed right through it, shutting it down instantly. He jerked his sword out of the creature, but the blade ended up breaking off, so he tossed the hilt into the shallow water.

After taking its parts, he looked to his right, spotting a dark gray Sheikah chest in a little cubby hole that was higher up (roughly the height of an ice pillar). He grabbed his Sheikah Slate from the last ice pillar, and jumped off of it, before the monk spoke again. "Just to let you know, when you make a fourth ice pillar, the oldest one you've made will shatter. I put a limit on it to avoid the process of manually shattering each and every ice pillar. Speaking of, any ice that was made through Sheikah technology can be shattered using that rune."

He nodded and formed another ice pillar by the edge of the cubby hole, hearing the sound of distant ice shattering. He scaled up it, and opened the chest, slowly pulling out a long spear. Its shaft was forged from mahogany, with a small (yet sharp) metal tip with a few tiny dents and scratches. He placed it onto his back, before he turned and skipped off of the pillar. He turned right, took a few steps, and looked to his right. There was an indent in the wall, and at the top corner near its right side was the top part of a staircase. At the bottom of the indent was a stone bridge (that was just a little shorter than the indent itself), with only its left side resting on a small platform, leaving the right side above the shallow water.

He placed his Sheikah Slate below the stone bridge, held it there for a moment, took a few steps back, and watched as the ice pillar pushed the stone bridge up to the mini staircase. He hopped onto the stone bridge, and went up it, turning right, looking at where the monk awaited. He went up the small little staircase, and spent a second examining the monk themselves. This time, their hands were adjusted to focus more on the left side.

He tapped the eye symbol, and the cage disintegrated into nothingness. "Link. I apologize for how I spoke to you when I first saw you walk inside my shrine. To know that death is near and imminent isn't easy, especially when you have little to no chance of stopping it. I was angry, and I didn't want to go. I still don't. But as you grew closer and closer, this sense of fulfillment washed over me. And to see your actions, both smart and skilled, gave me a better outlook on you. You seem like a good choice for Her Grace's chosen hero…." The monk went quiet for a moment, before he heaved a light sigh.

"Forgive me, I've rattled on. I am Keh Namut, creator of the rune you now hold. And now, I will grant your reward to you, that being a Spirit Orb." The Spirit Orb formed in Keh Namut's hands, and yet… it just sat there for a little while, with Keh Namut taking deep breaths. Link patiently stood there, looking up at Keh Namut with concern. "Forgive me once more, Link." He sighed, as the Spirit Orb began to float around his hands. "This Spirit Orb… it's my soul. We monks have lived our lives, but it will be ended with us helping those who wish to save the world. As much as I know my purpose is to give everything to assist you… even giving you my own soul is a choice that I wish not to make."

Link tilted his head at the Spirit Orbs, asking, "That's your soul?"

"Yes, it is, Link. You grant four of these to Her Grace, and she will take them up into the heavens and give you a reward. I don't want to go… but I must. I know it." The Spirit Orb slowly floated from Keh Namut to Link, as it slowly absorbed into his chest. "Farewell, young hero," Keh Namut said, as he faded away into teal sparks in the air.

Link backtracked, and left the shrine, staring out at the beaming blue sky, which had begun to burn a fiery orange. "You've done it," the old man said from behind. Link turned, seeing the old man with his head down, leaning against the doorway of the shrine with his arms behind his back. emitting a subtle teal glow. He looked up at Link, his mouth still, with his eyes focused. "After nearly three days of hard fighting, making new discoveries, and gathering materials, you have done it…" —he raised his head up, his eyes glowing 10 times brighter than they should've— "Link."

Link's brow raised and his head tilted. "I… I haven't told you my name," he hesitantly uttered.

"No, you have not," the old man replied. At this point, he realized that the old man wasn't his usual, jolly, self. His tone was nearly deadpan, and not once did even the slightest smile flicker on his face.

"H-how do you know my name?"

"Link… I've known for the past 102 years, ever since your father came to me, pleading for his son to join the armed forces, two years younger than I usually allowed."

"I… wh-what? How… I…" he stuttered, completely taken aback by this information dump.

The old man looked away from Link's general direction. "I knew it," the old man murmured. He looked back up at Link, as teal flames began to orbit him. "You do remember the temple I once pointed out, yes?" he asked. Link nodded. "Teleport to the Shrine of Resurrection, the cave where you awoke, and go there." The teal glow of the old man had begun to brighten, as he said, "I will tell you everything, Link. Soon…." The glow exploded, becoming blindingly bright for just a moment, before it disappeared with the old man.

Link quickly stood on the Travel Gate, took out his Sheikah Slate, and teleported to the Shrine of Resurrection. His mind was completely conquered by one driving thought, one goal that he had been praying to reach and now could finally grasp. The only thing racing through his mind was: 'I *have* to know what he means.'

The moment he fully formed on the Travel Gate, he jogged through the room (faster than his casual pace), up the stairs, up the ledge, and out of the cave. He was still a little hazy from the teleporting, but he had no time to care. He had to know. He ran out to see the sky on fire, but he turned to his right and went for the temple. Once he had gotten in front of the many structures in front of it, he ascended up the stairs, quickly finding himself at its front door, with a red creature blocking the way, holding a club.

He drew his spear as the creature leaped into the air, but he merely skewered it and slammed it against the ground, before putting away his spear and jogging (slower now) into the temple. The inside looked quite similar to what he had seen externally, with the whole left wall completely ruined, and several chairs and pews thrown and trashed (or completely non-existent). But there was one thing that he hadn't seen, nor expected to see. In front of him, at the very back end of the temple, sat a large statue. It was of a woman in a robe that only left her face and hands visible, as she held her hands in front of her chest. She also had small wings on her back, simply in the shape of a semicircle. Surrounding her were several statues of a smaller size, with less intricate details as the large one.

He walked up to the large statue, and stared at its face, feeling a warm presence as he neared. The last thing he expected was the statue to speak— or rather, the entity that the statue represented began to speak. "Ah, so you are here. The one he cursed so long ago." Her voice was mature, a little deep, and soft. He tilted his head, but remained silent. "I know you have no knowledge of what came before, or even what came while you were here, but do not fret. It will come in time. For now, I ask for a trade. Tell me what you want, and give me your Spirit Orbs, and I will grant it to you."

The room turned ghost quiet, as Link just stared at the statue in confusion. Then, she spoke once more. "So I see. Very well." Four Spirit Orbs flew out of his body, and began to orbit around the statue. They absorbed themselves into the statue, as a solid green orb lined and patterned with fancy golden swirls and circles flew from the statue's chest and into his. "Thank you, chosen hero, for bringing them to rest."

This new orb… it felt even better than the Spirit Orbs, giving him this knowledge that he could now handle more extreme exertions on his body. It wasn't even a feeling, he just *knew.*

"I see you have gained a blessing from the Goddess," the old man said, his voice ringing down from above. Link turned around, and looked up, seeing a large cavity in the roof, with several stray planks of wood sticking out from the metal of the roof. At the edge of that hole stood the old man, surrounded by teal sparks and flames. "Well earned, if you were to ask me. There is a ladder on the wall outside, just walk through the hole in the wall to your right, and scale up it. Be hasty, young one." He walked away from the edge, and out of sight.

Link jogged outside through the hole in the wall the old man mentioned, and climbed up the same ladder that the old man had also mentioned. He climbed it quickly, getting on top of the roof, and standing on the ridge of it. There the old man stood, within the main tower of the temple, his features nearly obscured by the burning pink sky. He went to the tower, climbing through a large hole facing him.

This was it. *This* was the time to finally figure out everything behind his history.

The old man chuckled happily once they were in talking distance, smiling as he looked up at Link. "Link… it is good to see you here," he said. His bright smile grew dim, as he heaved a heavy sigh, and glared up at Link sorrowfully. "I suppose I should start with the biggest truth that I must tell you." He paused, far from willing to say what he was about to say. "I am not who I have told you I am. I haven't been the true man I am for the past century. In truth… I am dead. In truth, I am not some old fool." He snapped his fingers, flashing the room with a bright teal light, which faded quickly.

"I am King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. I… I was the last ruler Hyrule has ever had," King Rhoam said, as his translucent figure grew visible. Below everything was pure white nobleman attire, with several fancy stitches and patterns, with a large belt (with the buckle being lined with gold and having a symbol in the middle) holding it together. Draped over most of his attire was a large cape, weaved with the most comfortable blue, yellow, and black cotton and wool. And perched atop his head was a small, golden crown with wings at the edges, and a red gem in the middle. The same one he had within his pouch.

The man who stood in front of Link was the ghost of the man who once ruled the world.

King Rhoam turned around, and stared out of a broken window facing in the direction of the castle, with the burning sun almost gleaming through his ghostly body. "Now that I have given you my true identity, revealing that nearly every word I have said previously is a lie, I assume you have lost all trust in me. And… and that I understand. But I ask that you hear me out, and I pray to the Goddess that you can forgive me, even though I know that—"

"I forgive you," Link interrupted. "But… all I want to know is the truth behind… everything. I know that I mean something, I know that I'm not like everyone else… but I don't know in what way I'm special. So… tell me. Tell me why I am different," he gently finished.

Link noticed King Rhoam nodding, as he put his hands behind his back. "I suppose I shall do what you wish me to do, but it will take time, Link. There is a lot more behind the reason why you're different than others. Let me start with one detail that few have tried to hide from you. Tell me, how many times have you heard mention or reference of events a century prior?" he asked, looking at Link from the corner of his eye.

"Roughly five times, maybe less, maybe more," he answered, gently shrugging. "Most of the time it wasn't direct either, but other times it was. Sometimes they referred to me."

"Mmhmm. That is because the events of those days are the catalyst for our days now. I believe I also mentioned the Calamity, yes?" he asked, turning his head back to the castle.

"A few times, yeah."

"Good. Now, I may start this story. One I am sure you've been wishing to hear for the past two days. It itself alone may not instantly answer your questions, but do not fret, as I will do so. And last, forgive me if I pause too much. This story isn't one I like to tell or recall, despite the fact that it's been all that I've been thinking of for the past century."

Link took two small and slow steps toward King Rhoam, smiling smugly as he asked, "Weren't you the one who mentioned that it's not a good idea to not talk about your problems?"

The old man smiled and nodded, still staring at the sky. "You bring up a point, and a good one, at that. Very well. Let me begin this tale." He took a deep, slow breath, and so did Link, both in an act of preparation. Preparation to face the truth. "A hundred twenty-five years ago, maybe more or less, I was given a prophecy. Said prophecy told of Calamity Ganon's revival, and said that my wife's next, and only, pregnancy would be of the child meant to stop the Calamity. While I remained somewhat skeptical, my wife put her full faith in it. So, I did the same. And then, my wife gave birth to my one and only daughter, who I treasured throughout her youth."

He thought back to King Rhoam referring to his daughter, repeating the words in his mind. 'All if it meant I could redeem myself for how I treated my daughter… but….' "Didn't you mention that you didn't treat your daughter well?"

"Over the years, I did, especially when…" —his voice grew shaky— "when her mother died when she was six. It was an illness, which slowly tore her body apart. Her mother was supposed to teach her how to use her powers, which were in her bloodline and which is what fated her to fight the Calamity. When she died, I was left without a wife, and her without a mentor." His shaky voice dissipated, as he continued speaking. "Yet the prophecy would still be in effect, so after I gave her a little more than a year to mourn, I trained her."

He gave a soft, quiet chuckle to himself. "I can't tell you how many days and nights I spent in the library, reading of stories of previous princesses and how they unlocked their power. I even ordered the architects to build a room behind one of the bookshelves, where I spent most of my nights while my daughter slept. It was during those times, or before those times, that she found her love for ancient technology. She often showed me this small mechanical creature, and named it… something. I believe it started with a 'T', but it has been too long. It was also by this time… that I—"

"Began to push her?" he finished, seeing where King Rhoam was going.

He bowed his head down, and sighed. "Indeed. I took it away, and told her to focus on her studies. After the third or fourth time, she stopped. Despite that, I knew she was still young, and still gave her breaks and fun days when I wasn't stressing over the preparations for the Calamity. But it still grew worse as she grew older.

"It was around this time that we discovered two important things from the Sheikah of 10,000 years ago, used to fight against the Calamity. The first was an army of mechanical soldiers called Guardians, shaped like overturned urns with several legs sprouting from beneath them, who fired lasers from their artificial eyes." King Rhoam looked at Link over his shoulder once more with an expectant glare. "Is that familiar?"

He looked at the ground, furrowing his brow in thought. 'Overturned urns… lasers from their eyes… those mechanical things in the maze! But if they were meant to fight *with* us… what happened to them?' He looked back at King Rhoam, his brow still furrowed. "Those things in the Eastern Abbey… but why did they shoot at me?"

King Rhoam looked back to the window. "Fear not, Link, I will get there soon. The other was a set of four mechanical wonders, shaped like animals of our time, forged from Sheikah technologies, and designed to fight Calamity Ganon. They were called the Divine Beasts. The first we found was Vah Medoh, an eagle with an activatable shield, small cannons with nearly inch-perfect precision, and the immense difficulty of landing it. In fact, I don't think it ever landed once we got it into the sky.

"The next we found was Vah Ruta, an elephant with the ability to infinitely generate water and spit it out of its trunk. I remember some of the scientists working on it nearly spent a full day in the archives, theorizing methods to endlessly make water so they could put it in the report. It was quite ironic when they came to me the next morning, with the reason simply being listed as unknown.

"The next was Vah Rudania, a salamander with scouting drones and a mean stomp. The scouting drones took a long time to get up and running, made worse by the tedium of activating all 10 of them. As for the exact process, all I recall is that it involved a lot of picking apart large and small pieces within and outside of the drone.

"And last was Vah Naboris, a camel with the ability to generate purple lightning from its back. While the creation of lightning *was* possible with Sheikah technology, the scientists did spend a good amount of time figuring out how the lightning got its pigment. Now, there were four things that each beast shared in common. They represented an animal, were forged from Sheikah technology, had a powerful beam of light attack meant for the Calamity, and each one required a pilot."

"A pilot? Why didn't they just run on their own?" Link asked.

"You would have to ask the scientists that question, who may still be alive. Knowing them, they've found some way to live for this long. But I shouldn't let my mouth run, not when I am getting close to the truth. A short while after my daughter's 16th birthday, she offered to go and search for these pilots. After a few months of searching and traveling with her bodyguard and my personal advisor, we found four warriors skilled enough to pilot these Divine Beasts, alongside the man who wielded the sword to seal the darkness, who became my daughter's new bodyguard. We called them the Champions. Then, the day of her 17th birthday, after she had left to pray somewhere… it struck."

"The Calamity?"

King Rhoam nodded somberly, as he took a shuddering breath. "What hurts the most about that day… is the fact that… if she returned a failure, I would just tell her everything that had been on my mind since she was eight. That's the part that haunts me the most. To know that I was just *one* day too late…. To know that I could've done it, but I didn't…. It makes me wish I could start over. I would give it all if I could even give an attempt at starting over. But I can't."

King Rhiam ceased speaking for a moment, taking soft, shaky breaths. After a moment of this, he cleared his throat a couple of times, before he spoke again. "Forgive me… let me continue. While we did have the equipment to deal with it, it did something none of us expected or planned for. The damned beast took control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, turning them against us and killing the Champions. The Divine Beasts began to either aimlessly wander their region, or stay in one spot, and terrorize the residents. They've been like that for a century now. As for the Guardians, they swarmed Hyrule Castle and Castle Town, slaughtering anything and anyone in their way."

"And… is that when you died?"

"No. But my time was soon. With a squad of some of my best men, I escaped. We wandered for a few hours, until the knight's unconscious body was delivered to us, as well as the orders to deliver him to the Great Plateau, to the Shrine of Resurrection."

Link's eyes widened in shock, as he looked up, seeing King Rhoam looking over his shoulder. No… this… it couldn't be right. But… what if it… what if it was? "I… am I—"

"I will tell you in just a moment, Link. Me and my men delivered the knight to the shrine, before holding out in the Temple of Time, as we spent a few weeks defending against Guardians. Just one day after some scientists had managed to activate the shrine, I died in battle, and was buried atop Mount Hylia. Soon after, the exit to the temple was caved in, leaving my men to die of hunger and thirst. That was the same day that my daughter entered Calamity Ganon's physical form, and bound it to Hyrule Castle. She is the young woman who you've been speaking to.

"One century later, the knight awoke, and I saw him for the first time in a very long time. And for the past two days, I have been guiding him on his journey to recalling all of his memories, only to tell him the full truth, mere seconds ago." He completely turned around this time, facing Link with his hands behind his back.

Link's mind suddenly flooded with hundreds of flashes of memories, as he heard words once said to him, all from even more familiar yet unrecognizable voices.

"My apologies, I forgot you have no way of making it up to that Divine Beast on your own!" an angry, male voice cried.

"Every time, I would heal you, just as I am doing now," a gentle, slightly British female voice said.

"Are you alright? I don't know if any debris hit you," a gruff, male voice said.

"Why don't we give her a bit of a… rude awakening?" a silky, mature female voice jokingly asked.

"Hey, don't worry, kiddo, we've got it. *You've* got it," a mature male voice reassured.

"Thank you… Link," King Rhoam's daughter said.

He shook his head a little, as he looked up at King Rhoam's face, his heart racing as fast as his mind. "You are crying, Link," King Rhoam said. "Your memories… they… they've overwhelmed you, haven't they?"

'All of those voices… the Champions… my friends. Dead. Thousands of people *I* was supposed to save… dead. I….' He fell on his knees as he bawled his eyes out while covering his face. "DAMMIT!" he screamed, sobbing extremely hard. King Rhoam approached him, standing over him as he just sobbed, completely shattered by this. "I was supposed to save them… but I… I fu—"

"Link, it's not *your* fault. The scenario we were left with is at fault. But you can redeem yourself, you can fix your mistakes! Much like you told me that I could fix mine," King Rhoam gently reassured.

Link rubbed his eyes, slowed his (still shaky) breathing, and looked at King Rhoam, still taking some shaky breaths with drenched eyes. To try to avoid sobbing in his sentence, he spoke in a hushed tone, saying, "And how will I know I won't screw it up?"

King Rhoam knelt down, and held Link's cheeks, smiling softly. "You won't. It's a leap of faith, Link." Link smiled, and pressed his forehead against King Rhoam's. "I will always care for you like my own." King Rhoam stood up, and reached a hand out to Link, which he took, still rubbing his eyes with his forearm. "But now, your quest must continue." King Rhoam pointed to his left at a hole in the wall, which showed some of the lands beyond the Great Plateau. "To the north is an old friend of yours and my daughter's. Go to her, as she will assist you further."

"What about you?" Link asked, wiping a few more stray tears from his face.

"While you will not *see* me again, I will follow you throughout your journeys. I won't— no, *can't* rest until the Calamity is gone. But I will ensure you see me one more time, before I go. And before I forget…." He reached into his coat, and pulled out his paraglider. "Your *very* well-earned paraglider." There it was with its oak frame, undamaged cloth at the top (marked with the symbol belonging to the Rito tribe), and little stabilizers and various feathers, was the very object he had hunted for days. The paraglider.

Link took the paraglider, and placed it into his pouch. "Before you go," King Rhoam began. "I have one last favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" Link asked with a soft smile.

"Show my daughter my diary," King Rhoam replied.

"The one here?"

He laughed to himself just a little. "No. Not the old man's diary. King Rhoam's diary, in Hyrule Castle, to be precise. Show it to her. I want her to know I still loved her when I was at my worst. I just want her to know I cared throughout all of her training, even if it didn't seem like I did."

"Of course," Link promised.

King Rhoam began to vanish in that same teal glow, as he said, "Link… save her… save Zelda…. Save *Hyrule*… for everyone's sake…." He vanished into the wind, leaving Link in silence. Link shed one last tear, before sitting against one of the walls of the tower, and pulling out his adventure log and writing materials.

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Entry 2 - I am… very shocked by what happened today. I've spent the last two days completing shrines and earning Spirit Orbs for the old man— or rather, King Rhoam. As it turns out, I am not some kid who woke up in a mysterious place for no reason. 100 years ago, I was the bodyguard to his daughter, Zelda, (if that's her name) and also was the hero meant to fight and win against the Calamity. It… it hurts like hell to know that thousands died, including my friends, the Champions, all because Calamity Ganon jumped us. But I can't blame myself for it. Maybe Calamity Ganon thinks that it's won. But I *don't* think we've lost. No, I *know* we haven't lost. Anyway, according to King Rhoam, I've got to go north to a friend of Zelda's to continue my quest. I'm still shaken up by the knowledge that I didn't succeed the first time I was pitted against the Calamity, which caused the deaths of lots of people. And knowing that I'll soon face people who know that I never even fought the Calamity doesn't help. But as long as I win this time, I can fix my mistakes. This is the start of my quest… my quest to seal the darkness.

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A/N - Alright, so:

This chapter was hard to write. I mean, I've written a short story as ONE chapter, whaddya think that a behemoth like Chapter Five will be like? I mean, at least Link won't be alone in that chapter and it'll focus more on one of Link's relationships rather than exploration, but still! And you may be wondering who this mystery person is, and well… he's in the next chapter. Yeah, I gave Link a companion this time around, what about it? He's had one for most of the games (most), so he deserves another here.

Anyhow, I'm getting sidetracked. I wish I could add more emotional depth to my descriptions, or at least make them less specific. I think the words for it are: 'experience over specificity.' Eh, I'll probably revise this whole chapter and the last one just to get that in. I don't even know if I'll be writing Chapter Three soon. I swear if I find another stupid reason to revise everything and not work on Chapter Three, I will 360 no-scope off of my microwave. (In other words, I am a perfectionist who writes. Help me.)

Fun fact time! - While I was revising the last two chapters (well, this one and Chapter One), I found two really stupid spelling errors. Here they are, and here are my thoughts.

At some point in Chapter One, I accidentally typed the word 'belt' twice near the end of a sentence. So, my sentence ended along the lines of "belt belt." And I was like, 'What the heck? How do I screw up this horribly?... I mean, I probably looked away or did something else for a moment, and then just typed in belt after I already typed it, and then moved on.' It was also around this time that I began to regret using the 'hot off the press' tactic.

At some point in this chapter, my computer autocorrected a misspelling of wavy to "savvy" when describing a Korok's mask's mouth. So I described a Korok's mouth as savvy. Here is what I thought: 'I'm a freaking idiot, sometimes.' Again, more evidence as to why I shouldn't be lazy and actually look over my own work before I feed it to the wolves.