Remnants of Tears
Ch1: The strange figure
It had been Five Years after the Destruction of Calamity Ganon. Bolson of Bolson Construction had finally retired. In his place was Hudson, president of the now Hudson Construction Company. They had been placing structures with construction materials around Hyrule to help rebuild, and were now in the market for making "Dream Homes."
Bolson's last work was making a "Secret study" for Yang...it seems that Yang had inherited more than the Triforce of Power and Sealing Magic from Zelda...as she was now assisting teaching young children at Hateno Village-especially at combating monsters.
Teams RWBY and JNPR had sent their weapons, Master Cycles, and Sheikah Scrolls to Beacon in preparation of attending classes to give them Official Hunter licenses.
However, Yang had part of her hair in a braid as the back was noticeably short...Due to Nora trying to make a more powerful Bomb Arrow-which had exploded and set Yang's hair on fire...which meant more of it had to be unfortunately cut.
She wandered down Hyrule Castle's steps deep below the castle with a torch in her hand. She was wearing the outfit once worn by Princess Zelda with a Hylain hood-the hood of said article of clothing down.
Jaune was right behind her in Hylian trousers and a copy of Link's iconic Champion Tunic with a leather shoulder guard over his left shoulder and around his waist. He only had the Master Sword on his back. This was due to a dare by Nora. She was already banned from Pancakes for 5 months due to the hair incident, but she dared her "fearless leader" that he wouldn't go into a castle with a sword alone. If he did, she would go a year without pancakes.
Dark black and red wisps of smoke went past them as they went deeper.
"This strange Gloom keeps getting thicker." Yang noted, "We've been walking for a while, these tunnels are deeper than we thought. What could be down here?"
As they came to a flat area in a cave with glowing blue rocks, Yang took a good look at the "Smoke".
"People have been falling ill after coming into contact with the Gloom drifting through these caverns." Yang recalled out loud. This substance was certainly NOT Malice. Malice only harmed. This "Gloom" seemed to drain the life from people and weaken them. "Though here it seems almost misty and certainly not concentrated enough to harm us...We'll keep going. With it coming up from beneath Hyrule Castle...we do not know what waits farther down. We need to be ready for anything...but I know you'll do your very best to keep me safe, lover boy". She said the last two words with an almost seductive growl, making Jaune blush as he just nodded- not trusting his voice to not fail him at her teasing.
He was certain that a year without Pancakes would be a fitting punishment for Nora, especially now that she lost his Trousers of Twilight and Hylian Hood. There were rumors that there was another pair of Trousers of Twilight hidden by Misko somewhere in Hyrule, but he was still salty.
Jaune just said nothing as they descended deeper and deeper into the caverns.
Then the Master Sword started glowing brighter.
"The Master Sword." Yang said, leaning forward to better see the glow from his sheathe as she was behind him, "It must be sensing something! The King was right. There was a reason for concern."
Then the cavern led to a stone walkway with pillars holding ornate, almost egg-shaped decorations. .
"Jaune! Look!" Yang said as she ran over to a stone base and hovered the lit torch over it. "These are ruins from an ancient civilization. Wait...something is written here." She leans forward. "Might these ruins be...from the Zonai?"
Ruins from an ancient civilization from Hyrule's infancy...below Hyrule Castle?
Yang took out a new device and started snapping a photo "These carvings...I'm sure they're Zonai in origin. I've seen designs like this in my studies! The Zonai are said to have lived long ago, in the time of earliest legend! They possessed godlike powers and had a prosperous civilization in the sky. Many history books tell us about the Zonai, but none give us the full picture. Much is still unknown about them."
Jaune just smiled at her enthusiasm. Before inheriting part of Zelda's power, she had no interest in studies...but these tales of Zonai. An ancient civilization in the sky...they were almost like fairy tales.
Then, framing a doorway, were two statues. They depicted tall beings with an almost goat-like face and long ears pointing out to each side wearing robes.
"Those statues..." Yang said, "Is this what the Zonai looked like? They seem so different than us...and their ears are much larger than your Hylian ears, Jaune. How did Zonai ruins end up below the castle?"
Going down another stairway, a room opened up where three Keese flew at Jaune, each expertly slashed apart.
"You're not hurt, right Jaune?" Yang glanced over him-knowing he would hide any injury. Then her attention was caught by murals on the wall. "Look at these murals...the written histories of the Royal Family...include stories of a great war long ago. It was a conflict between allied tribes and someone only referred to as the Demon King. Is it possible? Do the murals depict the same legend? "
She moved over the the farthest left mural.
"This is similar to the statues we saw earlier...a Zonai!" Yang exclaimed, "And these figures look like Hylians! This depiction certainly suggests that the Zonai descended from the heavens!" She moved over to the next mural, depicting a Zonai holding hands with a Hylian woman.
"It is said that Zelda's ancestors-the first of Hyrule's Royal Family-were born from a union with gods who descended from the heavens. Might these gods be the Zonai if these murals are accurate? They must had forged a relationship at that time, working together to establish the Kingdom of Hyrule!
She turned to the next mural seeing a robed figure holding a teardrop shaped item from the woman laying down. The robed figure had long hair.
"This figure. He seems to be stealing something of incredible power from the young kingdom. This aligns with what I read in my studies. Then this next mural! It shows the Demon King and a fierce battle against him!"
She steps back, showing the figure from earlier with horns with an army of monsters fighting Hylians in the mural.
"These murals must depict the great war in the history books...This is the Imprisoning War and the events that lead up to it!" She said, pulling out what looked like a Sheikah slate only with a half-lidded eye as she took a picture of each mural.
"This Purah Pad invention of Purah is quite handy. Not as many uses as the original Sheikah slate, but it has high quality pictures and weighs less." She said, frowning as she saw rubble over the other murals, "Normally I'd just smash these rocks, but I'm afraid I might put too much power into it and damage the murals under them."
As the duo descended deeper, twisting and turning through the caves, the Gloom mist got more and more prevalent and thicker. Then they came to a strange sight. Under a peak, blue and green light swirled down into the center of a solid collection of Gloom. As they approached it, they saw a mummy bent over as if it had been going under a limbo stick with wild red hair splaying everywhere from it's head as the light went into a blue, glowing right arm with bronze colored stone designs with green light; a white and gold glowing teardrop shaped stone on the back of the right hand. Gloom was pouring out where the hand met the gray-skinned mummy.
Then the arm fell off and the stone rolled to Yang's feet. She picked up the stone, humming thoughtfully as it glowed brighter in her hands.
A loud heartbeat sound brought their attention to the mummy as it's limbs started moving before it fell into an upside down U shape...and it's head turned and in the black sockets Red and yellow eyes lit up with slitted pupils seen on the Malice Eyes glaring at them.
Black and Red Gloom burst forward into powerful streams and one charged at Yang before she had a chance to react. Jaune deflected the first blow, but then the substance wrapped around the Master Sword AND his right arm, tearing apart the shirt he was wearing. Jaune could feel his Aura being locked away; his stamina being drained. Instead of a powerful 3,000 Aura Points-or 30 hearts as Yang put it in video game references, he was left with 300-or 3 hearts once again. His right arm was also blackened from the injury.
Red and black pulsing Gloom was left on the glowing Master Sword again.
A Third blast of Gloom launched at him and Jaune could only slash it apart with the Master Sword...and the Sacred Blade shattered into thousands of pieces from the damage the Gloom caused, the tip of the blade leaving a scratch on the mummy's left cheek as it flew by and shattered against the wall.
"Was that the Sword That Seals The Darkness?" The Mummy spoke with a deep, raspy voice: "A blade that shatters so easily against my power cannot save you from me." The Mummy moved so it stood upright and stared at them, Jaune sheathing the little that remained of the Master Sword-thankful the shield Ruby made him was at Beacon-as he clutched his arm...it felt like it was burning, stinging, and dying all at once.
"Yang...and you, who carries that fragile sword, is Jaune." The mummy spoke.
"How do you...know our names?" Yang said nervously, getting into a fighting position.
"Rauru placed his faith in you...and that was all you can do?" The Mummy sounded almost scolding.
Gloom burst from it's chest as he threw his hands upwards and pushed against the rock above him, pushing it upwards.
A loud boom burst from under the castle as an Earthquake formed throughout Hyrule. The ruined Castle was being pushed into the sky by what looked like "arms" of Gloom. Stones and ruins fell out of the sky with blue and green light.
The stone ground beneath the mummy cracked as it laid back down and the stone it was on sunk into the darkness.
As Yang moved to check on her fiancé, the stone under her cracked and she fell backwards. Despite the pain, Jaune was up in an instant and was leaping towards her, reaching out with his damaged right hand. Their fingers brushed, but Yang's fall sped up before the stone in her hand glowed gold and she vanished in a gold light.
Jaune kept diving to where she vanished, but was suddenly stopped as the hand that once rested on the mummy was now grabbing his left arm, holding him in place before pulling him upwards before pain, fear, panic, and exhaustion set in and he passed out as the hand glowed white.
Strange green symbols floated through the air and into the blue glowing arm, lighting up the bronze stone designs. The green glow led to where the arm attached to someone's shoulders, runic green designs glowing from his shoulder onto his right chest. The arm gave a final green glow before the glow died down, revealing black skin with long, claw-like nails. Even the runic designs faded into black, revealing the strange arm now replacing Jaune's right arm.
If Jaune had a rupee for every time he woke up weakened in his underwear, he'd have two rupees. Not much, but it was very strange that it happened twice. He sat up quickly, revealing his hair had grown long and wild, yet remained somewhat regal as it fell to his shoulders.
"Where am I..." Jaune said, as these stones were different than the one from the castle...and they definitely did not have vines and tree roots there. He gasped, seeing the strange arm replacing his own. Yet, it responded to him as naturally as his own. Then it started glowing green and white, as did the runic "tattoo".
"Ah Jaune. Finally you wake." A regal, yet calming voice said through the air.
"I've heard a great deal about you from Yang." The voice said, making Jaune freeze in shock. The voice knew Yang?!
"Your wounds were severe...I am relieved to see you escape death." The voice said, "Your arm, however, was beyond saving. I had to replace it, lest the injury endanger you further."
Jaune felt a familiar call and saw his Master Sword behind him, sitting embedded in stone. He moved over and pulled it out, revealing the blade above the Triforce decal blackened and warped into an almost dagger like design. Whatever that figure was had been so strong, it had actualy DECAYED the Master Sword. He grabbed some rope and made a makeshift sheathe for the decayed Master sword before using it to cut some vines that led into a room with a circular designed that lit up green with a hand logo.
Jaune looked at his hand and pressed it against the design, which shattered into streams of light and a familiar teleport logo lit up on some sand circle behind him as a circular machine started moving and a door opened.
Jaune had no choice but to follow the path, diving into pools of water as there was a sudden drop periodically. At the bottom of the largest pool was a chest containing Archaic Legwear, that almost looked like a gray kilt with a belt and sandals with straps going up his thighs. It was better than nothing, Jaune thought as he put them on. He finally went to a path outside, stopping at a stone ledge and gasped as he saw stone islands floating high in the sky above the clouds...as he was.
Seeing no other option, and a large pool of water down below, Jaune leaped.
A strange dragon was flying near a white temple-like structure as he flew down, looking over the strange island he was approaching. The grass and leaves were a yellow orange as he faced his head down and tucked in his limbs as he dove into the lillypad-filled water, kicking up a lot of water in the resulting splash. Exiting the water in a stone walkway, Jaune paused and took in his surroundings.
He didn't know where he was; only that it was a large island in the sky. Only one thing mattered to Jaune right now: Finding Yang and bringing her home.
