Chapter 5: Towers and Shrines
Linkle sliced through another Bokoblin, as she and Lana made their way back toward the edge of the Plateau, searching for this mysterious structure.
Lana was a little on edge, and understandably so. She was worried about the Guardian from before, that it could still be hiding just over the walls. Plus she was without a weapon, so she couldn't do much about the lesser monsters hiding around them, so she had to really on Linkle, the only one of them who was armed.
Linkle on the other hand, was antsy. She just felt so confused and overwhelmed by everything that had happened. And her friend hadn't exactly made anything better, having berated her about her going of course, and then getting the two of them stuck up here.
But... Linkle knew well enough that the Guardian attack wasn't Lana's fault, she just trying to save them, with limited time to act. She knew she couldn't be too angry. But Lana, while she was just as caught in the events that had happened just as Linkle had, and didn't know what was going on, did seem to know something, but was being cryptic. Like, why did Lana come to just give her one of these Sheikah Slates?
Purah apparently had something to do with this. Maybe she hadn't told Lana enough about what was going on, and that's why Lana hadn't said much. But Linkle wanted to march right up to Purah, and demand she explain what was going on. But she couldn't, since she was stuck up here.
And then there was the wolf who brought her here. Something about that wolf bothered her. And then there was that strange vision. And the strange sword...
Linkle groaned in frustration.
"Linkle... are you okay?" Lana asked.
"Sorry, I... nothing had gone according to plan," Linkle replied. "I just wanted to follow Hudson, make sure he's safe. But instead of that, I just got caught up in this mess. And everything is just so confusing!"
"Maybe you shouldn't have followed that wolf," Lana remarked.
"Part of me wants to agree with you. But the other part... Something told me to follow that wolf. And on top of that, something was... odd about the wolf, too."
"Those aren't the same thing?"
"Well, the wolf seemed to move... really quickly. Like he was leaping between the shadows, or something. But... following him felt important, too. I just couldn't ignore it."
"Didn't you say that you thought you saw this same wolf back on Hetano Beach?"
"Yeah. He... he gave me this sword." And Linkle lifted the sword in question.
"The wolf... gave the sword?" Lana replied skeptically, but she straightened up, saying, "actually, maybe I can believe that. Ever since you got that sword, you've been acting strange. Heck, everything that had happened is strange."
"By the way, why did Purah want me to have this Slate thingy you mentioned?" Linkle asked.
"She wanted to see you," Lana explained. "But you had literally just left. However, before she sent me to follow you, she said you should meet with Impa in Kakariko instead."
"Wait, you mean the village elder? Why do I need to see her?" Despite her many visits to Kakariko Village, Linkle had never met the elder. She'd met her granddaughter, Paya, and she knew she was related to Purah, but that was it.
"Purah didn't tell me why. Honestly, she was rushing to get me to follow you."
"Yeesh. I knew she was a bit crazy, but that's a bit much."
"You don't know that half of it." Lana wasn't sure if she should tell Linkle about Purah's... current condition. She was still trying to wrap her head around it herself. Then Lana looked up. "Oh, this must be the tower."
Well, it didn't look like a tower. But it did look like a large rock mound, with something poking out the top, so the old man was on the mark. But definitely not a tower.
"Okay... so, we're supposed to find a way inside, right?" Linkle asked, a bit skeptical.
"Yeah, I think I see it over there." And Lana pointed out the small cavern opening.
The girls ventured inside, and well... it wasn't very big. But the floor was made of dark metal and what looked to be hardened ceramic, which had a similar design to the Guardian from before. But this time, she felt nothing malevolent. There were a couple of pillars stuck in the rock, and there was some kind of pedestal inside.
Sticking out of the pedestal with some kind of disk, with glowing orange lines, and it had a rectangular hole in it, which was also glowing orange.
Linkle, curious about this strange object, approached the strange pedestal, but jumped back when it emitted a mechanical voice.
"Place the Sheikah Slate in the pedestal," it said.
"What...?" Linkle sounded.
"The Sheikah Slate," Lana repeated. She pulled out the Slate in question, and placed it onto the lip of the hole in the pedestal, where there was a tiny stand. Lo and behold, it fit perfectly, and the Slate was lowered in the hole, spun around to the other side, and then the disk rotated 90 degrees, and lowered itself into the pedestal.
"Alright, that's kind of cool," Linkle said. "What next?"
"Sheikah Tower activated," the pedestal voice spoke. "Please watch for falling rocks."
"Wait, what?" Linkle sounded, as something outside of the structure lit up. Then the ground below them started to shake.
"Hang on!" Lana called out, before suddenly, the structure shot upwards, breaking the rocks it was buried beneath right off of it, unimpeded in its rise into the sky.
Linkle and Land fell onto the metal floor as they rose higher and higher. And as Linkle looked out to the horizon, becoming more and more clear as they ascended, she found more similar structures, other towers, also rising upward, far in the distance.
Once the structure reached its maximum height, three prongs on the sides of the tower's tip raised up, as many of the once orange lights turned blue.
Linkle began to get back up, and really take in what just happened. There, she stood corrected on the existence of the tower, just as the tower itself now stood tall, proudly on the edge of the Great Plateau.
The girls now stood on a large platform held aloft on top of the tower, with the pedestal in the middle, and three openings that served as exits that one could climb down. Linkle ran over to look down, seeing a hexagonal outer climbable mesh surrounding a central core, with many small platforms hanging out on the sides. Above them, a set of six pillars held up the cone-like tip of the tower, which had its outer edges lined with runes Linkle didn't recognize, as well as a symbol of a crying eye that she did recognize as the symbol of the Sheikah, all glowing blue.
"Wow..." Linkle sounded.
"Linkle! Over here!" Lana called out by the pedestal.
Linkle quickly came back over to the pedestal. Above it, there was a large black stone hanging under the tower's tip. "Distilling local information..." the pedestal voice relayed. The black stone suddenly lit up with more of the runes, which moved downward to the bottom of the rock's tip, where something that looked like a glowing water droplet was forming.
Then, the weird droplet fell onto the Slate, still in the pedestal, which now had switched from glowing orange to blue. The black rectangle on that side of the Slate suddenly lit up, and then showed an image of a map.
"Regional map extracted," the pedestal voice finished.
Finally, the pedestal reversed the process it took to insert the Slate into it, offering the Slate back.
"Take it," Lana said.
"Huh?" Linkle replied.
"It's yours. Remember, Purah wanted you to have it."
"Okay." And Linkle picked up the Slate. Looking over it, she still could see the map.
"You can tap or slide your fingers on the map, so you can zoom in, and take a closer look at it," Lana explained.
"Really?" Linkle replied, as she did just that, zooming in and scrolling over the map, taking in how well it detailed the terrain. Linkle was admittedly not good with maps, but she figured that this map must've covered the Great Plateau area.
"This is just a bit of the functionality of the Sheikah Slate, it can do a lot more!"
"Really, show me!"
Lana took the Slate, but after a quick look, she looked disappointed. "...It looks as if the Tower only restored the most basic functions of your Slate. Most of the primary Runes are still missing. Sorry for getting you excited over nothing."
"That's okay... It's still cool. How do you know all of this?" Linkle asked.
"Oh, my custom Slate can do all of this stuff," Lana explained as she held up her other Sheikah Slate. "Or at least, it would, if I could get the Runes working. ...And I don't have access to the maps. Perhaps we can sync our Slates together later, so I can gain access to the map myself."
"Uh, sure..." Linkle didn't know how all of this worked, but Lana seemed to have a handle on it.
Suddenly, Linkle heard a voice, and it was not the voice from the pedestal. "You... You..."
"Do... do you hear that?" Linkle asked.
"Uh, hear what?" Lana replied, concerned.
"...You're the one we've been waiting for," the voice spoke. It sounded familiar to Linkle.
"Wh-who are you?" Linkle asked.
"Linkle, are you okay?" Lana was getting very worried about her friend. She didn't know if she was going crazy, but after getting the strange sword, it was possible someone was talking to her friend telepathically. And this was starting to scare Lana.
"The beast..." the voice spoke.
"Beast?" Linkle asked. This is when she turned to look beyond the Great Plateau, where she found a massive, ruined castle, so large, it could be seen from miles away, surrounded by four, maybe five large black pillars, covered in red circular lights and slanted towards the old structure.
Suddenly, the ground rumbled again, as a dark, black and pinkish fog enveloped the entire castle, swirling around it. This caught the attention of Lana, who started in horror.
"Lana, what's wrong? Do... do you know what that is?" Linkle asked.
Lana replied softly, trembling, "Purah told me about this, but... I honestly didn't think it was real." She seemed too scared to relay any more information.
Then, something rose from the dark fog, a horrifying... thing, that took form from the same darkness, taking the shape of a boar's head with glowing yellow eyes, as it snaked across the sky.
"When the beast regains its true power, this world will face its end," the mysterious voice continued, as the dark fog boar unleashed a powerful roar, that could be heard even so far away.
Then a light shone from the top of the castle, as the boar's head disappeared, ...but the darkness remained.
"Now then..." the mysterious voice exclaimed, "you must hurry. Before it's too late..."
Linkle fell to her knees.
"Linkle... what... what did the voice say?" Lana asked.
"That I need to hurry..." Linkle replied, with no emotion.
"You need to hurry?" Then Lana looked back towards the castle, then snapped back to Linkle. "Do you mean to you intend to stop THAT! Are you insane!?"
"I... Let's just... climb back down," Linkle said. "We can worry about that later..."
But Linkle could still feel the sense of dread in her heart. And she felt that it wasn't going away...
Getting back down was a little challenging. Holding onto the sides of the tower, while they were made to be climbed on, was tiring, and the girls had to take a couple breaks on the platforms on the sides.
But within a minute or so, they made it back to the ground.
"Ho!" a voice called out from above them. Looking up, the girls found the old man, flying towards them with some kind of wood and cloth contraption, riding the winds.
"Hey, old man!" Linkle greeted.
"That's kind of rude," Lana commented.
"Well, he never gave his name."
"It is quite alright, call as you wish," the old man replied. Then he looked up at the Sheikah Tower that now stood above them. "My, my... It would seem we have quite the enigma here. This tower and others just like it have erupted across the land, one after another. It is almost as though... a long-dormant power has awoken quite suddenly." He then turned back to the girls. "If you do not mind me asking... did anything... odd occur while you were atop the tower?"
Lana looked to Linkle, unsure of what to say. But Linkle... she didn't see any reason to lie.
"I... heard a voice up there," Linkle admitted.
"Well now! A voice, you say?" the old man replied. "And did you happen to recognize this mysterious voice?"
"Kind of... but... not really. And, that's not the only odd thing that's been happening to me."
"I see... Well, no need to give me the details, however..." the old man then turned towards the edge of the plateau. "I assume you caught sight of the atrocity enshrouding the castle. That... is Calamity Ganon."
"The beast..." Linkle sounded, but the old man didn't respond to what she said, merely continuing his explanation.
"One hundred years ago, that vile entity brought the kingdom of Hyrule to ruin. It appeared suddenly and destroyed everything in its path. So many lives were lost in its wake. For a century, the very symbol of our kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain that evil. But just barely. There it festers, building its strength for the moment it will unleash its blight upon the land once again. It would appear that moment is fast approaching..."
He then turned to Linkle to ask, "so, what will you do?"
"What... can we do?" Linkle responded. "No one can fight that..."
"Honestly," Lana spoke up. "I didn't even know it was real until now. But I want to believe that it... won't do anything."
"I wouldn't be so certain," the old man said. "However... there is always someone who rises to fight such an evil... But let us not concern ourselves with this for now, and focus on your leaving of the plateau. We are surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs, with no way down. As we've already discussed, there is no easy way to leave the plateau."
"We did discuss that," Lana repeated. "You wanted us to restore functionality to the Sheikah Slate?"
"It will certainly help on your journey. And if you think it will help you escape the plateau, then I can not stop you. But, giving it some thought, perhaps you should consider a safer alternative, such as a paraglider like mine own."
"Actually, that sounds great!" Linkle replied. "Can you lend us yours?"
"Now, hold on, young lady, I only have one paraglider. Two people can not use it together," the old man countered.
Linkle and Lana looked at each other. The old man had a point.
"How about this? I will craft some new paragliders for both you and your friend. However, this will take a lot of work, especially on such short notice. So in trade, how about a bit of treasure that slumbers nearby? Come. Let me show you something."
The old man began to climb up a low hill next to them, with the girls following him. At the top, the old man, with his walking stick, a lantern hanging off of it, pointed towards the east, across some shallow pools of water and a flooded part of the area.
"Do you see that structure there? The one shining with a strange light?" the old man asked.
In the distance, there was indeed a strange structure, but it was close enough to see clearly, and reach within a few minutes of walking. It glowed with the same orange light as the tower did when it was inactive.
"It began glowing at the exact moment those towers rose up from the ground," he explained. "I would think such a place might house some sort of treasure, wouldn't you? Treasure, for a pair of paragliders. A fair exchange, I believe. It might even help you further revitalize the Sheikah Slate, if you'd prefer that route."
"Sure..." the girls sounded at the same time. Both of them were a bit concerned about this deal, but... it was worth a shot.
"You gather the treasure, and I'll start work on the new paragliders."
With no other option, the girls began to make their way to the strange structure.
As they made the quick trip to the structure, Linkle could tell that indeed it was similar to the Sheikah Tower. It was a small black structure, with the same orange lights and hardened ceramic wrapping around the base of the structure. In front, there were a few steps leading to a small platform, with a closed entrance, Linkle guessed, and another one of the pedestals from the Tower was to the side of the entrance. This time, however, the pedestal had a flat surface on top.
"Wait, I think I know what this is," Lana exclaimed. "Purah told me about these. It's a Sheikah Shrine."
"I knew it had something to do with the Tower," Linkle replied. "But... is there really treasure inside?"
"I don't know," Lana admitted. "Purah said that they were meant to test the hero of legend, but they were long dormant, and no one could ever get them to open. Until now, that is."
"You think you know how to open it?"
"If what the old man said is true, then it seems that activating the Tower also unlocked the Shrines, so they're probably linked together."
"Okay, but there's nowhere to place the Shiekah Slate on the pedestal," Linkle exclaimed. "What, do I just hover the slate over it?" she continued, doing exactly that.
Then the pedestal's lights switched from blue to orange, as the same pedestal voice from before said, "Sheikah Slate confirmed." Then a ceramic circle on the platform below them lit up in blue color. "Travel Gate registered to map. Access granted." Finally, the door opened up, and the rest of the orange lights switched to blue, but more orange lighting, reminiscent of a constellation, appeared on the black top of the Shrine.
"I guess that is exactly what you were supposed to do," Lana commented.
"I guess you're right," Linkle parroted. "By the way, it mentioned a Travel Gate?"
"Check your map," Lana offered. Linkle did so, and found that a new symbol had appeared on it. In fact, there was a similar symbol elsewhere that Linkle hadn't noticed before. "This icon should be where we are now," Lana pointed out, "showing the location of the Shrine."
Linkle tapped the icon, revealing the name of the Shrine. "Oman Au Shrine, huh?"
"Yes, and this other icon must be the Tower," Lana continued.
"That's cool I guess." Linkle hooked her new tool onto her hip, where she had been keeping it since she got it. "Let's go inside."
Lana nodded in confirmation, and the two prepared to enter the Shrine.
Well, there actually wasn't much to see. It was just a very small space, with another circular platform inside, with a small raised stylized block on the back, and a glowing Sheikah eye in the middle.
"So, what do we do?" Linkle asked.
"This is just a hunch, but maybe we should simply... step on the circle," Lana offered.
The circular platform was big enough for both of them to stand on it, but it didn't seem to be much beyond that. But both of them still stepped on it.
Then the edge of the platform released a burst of light around them, and the platform began to descend into the ground.
"Woah, it's a lift, kind of like your lightning block from earlier," Linkle exclaimed.
"Looks like the real Shrine is down below," Lana said.
After several minutes, the lift finally revealed the area beneath them, reaching the bottom. A field of energy surrounded the lowering platform with thin beams of light, but as the platform fell into place, the beams disappeared, and the girls could safely walk through the energy field.
The area was incredible. The floor was made of ceramic, and the walls were made of blocks of the black metal, fused together, covered in orange constellation patterns, and several torches bearing not flames, but glowing crystals, cleanly and uniformly cut. The ceiling above them gave a soft glow, illuminating the entire area.
In front of Linkle and Lana, there were two large metal panels on the floor, with a wall of bars just past them, showing the way forward. Off to the side, there was another pedestal, this one just like the one on top of the Sheikah Tower, including the large black stone above it.
A voice then spoke out to the girls, not one either of them recognized, even after everything they'd just seen. "To you who sets foot in this shrine... I am Oman Au. In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial."
"A trial?" Linkle asked. She looked around, and put her sights on the pedestal. "I guess we should start with the pedestal."
Lana smiled. "Look at you, you're learning."
Linkle ignored her friend's comment as she approached the pedestal, placing the Sheikah Slate into the opening. As the Slate was inserted into the pedestal, the familiar mechanical voice said, "Sheikah Slate authenticated. Distilling rune..."
Just like on the Tower, the black stone lit up with runes, falling to the bottom of the rock's tip, forming the glowing droplet. The droplet then fell onto the Slate. "Rune extracted."
Looking down at the Slate, Linkle found that instead of any additions to the map, it was showing a symbol in the same of a red horseshoe, which was labeled as "Magensis".
"Magensis?" Linkle sounded.
"Hey, this is good," Lana replied. "Remember that I told you the Slate could do more than act as a map, but I found that those other features were missing? Well, this is one of those missing features. It's a Rune, and each Rune is a special power that you can use with the Slate!"
"A Rune, huh?" The pedestal offered the Slate back to Linkle, who of course took it. She then tapped the Rune on the Slate, and the rectangle switched to an image. Immediately, Linkle realized that it was showing the same thing Linkle could see past the Slate, just from the perspective of the Slate's "eye". "What is this?"
"The screen is showing you what the Slate is seeing," Lana replied.
"'Screen'? You mean the rectangle that was showing the map before, and is doing... this?" Linkle asked.
"Yes. You said this was 'Magnesis', right? Point the Slate over to those metal panels."
Linkle did so, and she noticed that on the "screen", the panels were highlighted in red. There was a crosshair in the middle of the screen, and when the crosshair hovered over one of the metal panels, its highlight switched to yellow.
"Okay, what next?" Linkle asked.
"There should be a way to activate the Rune," Lana explained. "Try to activate it."
Linkle found a small button on the side of the Slate, and pressing it while still pointing at the metal panel, blue energy formed around the Slate in the shape of a horseshoe, the same one as the Rune's symbol, and shot a pair of weird beams at the metal panel.
Linkle wasn't sure what exactly this was doing, until she pulled up on the Slate's new horseshoe form, and found that the metal panel was lifted into the air.
"No way! That's awesome!" Linkle exclaimed.
"This is basically a magnet," Lana explained, "but much more powerful and precise. You can use this ability to lift any metal object into the air, and move them around."
"Nice!" Linkle replied, as she moved the metal panel over to the side. Turning off the Rune, the panel then fell back to the ground with a heavy thud.
Below where the panel used to be, the floor dropped into a lower corridor. A short ladder would drop them to a path next to a long pool of water. And it did lead past the bars from below.
"Looks like this is the way forward," Lana said.
"Do you think this is the treasure the old man wanted?" Linkle asked.
"Something tells me no. He wanted us to complete the Slate functionality, so I'd hope he didn't want it for himself. Besides, the trial just started. The treasure is probably at the end."
With that said, both the girls then climbed down, and followed the path, then going up some stairs, they found themselves in front of a wall of blocks, blocks made up of gray, hardened clay. Except for one, which was made of metal.
"This will be easy," Linkle said, as she activated the Magnesis Rune, using it to grab the metal block, and then knock over and push the other blocks out of the way.
...Only to find a foe hiding behind it. It was a Guardian, but unlike the one that chased them up the Great Plateau, it was much smaller, had only three legs, and a round head.
"Oh boy, hi there...!" Linkle sounded once she saw the mini-Guardian. Its eye began to glow, signaling that was going to attack. So, Linkle did the only thing she could think of at the moment...
She lifted the metal block over the Guardian, and slammed it down on top of them. Its body was tough, but all that meant was that it wasn't simply crushed, but its head was popped right off, before the enemy exploded.
"Nice thinking," Lana said, as she ran over to scavenge for any parts that might've still been intact. "I hope I can use these parts to fix up my Sheikah Slate."
Just past the robot waiting ground, there was a little puzzle where there were several platforms raised above shallow water. Each platform had a small gap between them that you could jump across, and the walls of the platforms couldn't be climbed up, so the only way across was another long metal panel acting as a bridge. However, there was only one of these panels present.
The solution was easy, cross the makeshift bridge, and then use Magnesis to move over the next gap.
At last, the girls found themselves in front of a large set of metal doors. Too heavy to open on their own, but with Magnesis, it would be no problem. Linkle, however, took note of a metal chest that was on top of a raised platform to the side, way too high to reach normally. Using Magnesis, she grabbed the chest and brought it down to her.
"Oh, I didn't notice that," Lana said. "I bet you can use your Slate to open it, like with the Shrine itself."
So, Linkle hovered her Slate over the front of the metal chest, and it opened. Inside, there was a spear, a Traveler's Spear, to be exact.
"A spear... huh," Linkle noted.
"It's a useful weapon," Lana stated. "And it's surprisingly still in good quality. Who knows how long this weapon had been down here, and yet it's so perfectly preserved."
"Well, that's nice, but I'm not interested. I'd prefer my crossbows, not to mention my sword." Then Linkle turned to her friend. "Why don't you take it?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, didn't your last spear break?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm not much of a fighter."
"Doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to defend yourself," Linkle said, as she handed the spear over.
Lana sighed, then smiled appreciatively at her friend, as she strapped her new weapon on her back.
With that done, they opened the metal doors, and made their way to the end of the Shrine's trial.
Before them, sitting atop a platform, and surrounded by a blue energy barrier, was a figure older than anything. He looked like a living corpse, his skin gray, withered, and mummified, his hair long and stringy, and he didn't move an inch, not even breathing. He was wearing old, Sheikah clothing, which included a wide-brimmed hat that hung on his back, golden jewelry, a long necklace and large bangles, and a simple pair of gray pants, all of which were also old and weathered, falling apart, his chest left bare, and the Sheikah Eye was painted on his forehead. Despite this, he looked serene, sitting in a meditative stance.
Linkle approached first, climbing a short set of steps just before the barrier, letting step up to see the mummified being. The Sheikah Eye glowed on top of the barrier, and Linkle anxiously reached for the barrier, and touched it.
And upon her touch, the barrier burst open, and the figure spoke, his lips not moving.
"You have proven to possess the resolve of a true hero," he said, in the voice introduced them at the beginning of the Trail. "I am Oman Au, the creator of this trial. I am a humble monk, blessed with the sight of Goddess Hylia and dedicated to helping those who seek to defeat Ganon. With your arrival, my duty is now fulfilled. In the name of Goddess Hylia, allow me to bestow this gift upon you... Please accept this Spirit Orb."
Suddenly, a purple orb popped out of the monk's chest, slowly flying towards Linkle, and it disappeared into her chest with a soft burst of light.
"May the Goddess smile upon you," the monk said, before he broke apart into magical dust, disappearing.
The girls watched in stunned silence. As they began to assess what just happened, Linkle said, "that was the treasure...? How am I supposed to give it to the old man?"
"Never mind that," Lana replied. "The monk, he said that he was dedicated to defeating Ganon. You know, Calamity Ganon. Was he the one trying to encourage you to fight that thing?"
"No... that was a different voice."
"Well, okay, but... do you remember that I told you these Shrines were meant to test the legendary hero? I don't think this Spirit Orb was meant for us, or the old man." Lana then grabbed the shaft of her new spear, worried that it was meant for something more than mere protection.
What Lana said made sense to Linkle, but at the same time, what she said... didn't feel correct to her. But she couldn't think of a reason why.
"Well, it doesn't matter to us. We got the Orb, so let's just find a way to give it to the old man," Linkle said.
As the girls made their way back to the entrance, Linkle brought up a new subject. "So, this Rune. It's pretty cool, huh? Do you think we'll be able to restore the rest of them?"
"Maybe. It's possible that there are other Shrines on the Great Plateau, and they could be able to add more Runes," Lana said. "There should be three more primary Runes, and then a secondary one."
"Earlier, you said that your Slate should have these Runes too?"
"Kind of... they have the data that makes up the Runes, but none of them are functional. And before you say it, no, I can't use the pedestal to get the Magnesis Rune myself. It's a custom model I made myself, and wasn't designed with the terminals in mind, so it wouldn't fit. But, I did use the data from Magnesis, and another Rune called Cryonis, to create my lightning blocks."
"You mean the one that got us stuck up here?"
"Yeah, well, it wasn't finished. But you know, now that you have the fully functional Magnesis Rune, if we sync our Slates together, like I suggested earlier, I might be able to finish stabilizing my custom Rune. Of course, I'll need to repair my Slate first."
The girls made it back to the entrance platform, and stepped onto it, as it began to ascend back to the surface.
"Well, we'll figure that out later," Linkle said. "For now, let's find the old man, and see about getting our paragliders."
As they exited the Shrine, they heard the familiar call of the old man, as he paraglided over to the pair.
As he landed, he acknowledged the girls. "It seems you managed to get your hands on a Spirit Orb. Well done!"
"Yeah, but it... kind of flew into me..." Linkle replied.
"Wait, you knew what we were looking for?" Lana remarked. "How did you know we got it?"
"Clairvoyance!" the old man boasted. "Oho, or perhaps just something similar. As one gets older, it can become more difficult to see what is right before one's own eyes... However, that which was once hidden from view can often be crystal clear. But perhaps that is not for everyone! Oho ho! The appearance of those Towers and the awakening of this Shrine..." The old man then pointed his staff to Linkle. "It is all connected to that Sheikah Slate you carry on your hip there."
"I figured as much," Lana replied.
"You know, I have seen that Sheikah Slate before. But it has been quite some time... Long ago, a highly advanced tribe known as the Sheikah inhabited these lands. The great power of their wisdom saved this kingdom time and time again. But their ancient technology disappeared long ago... Or so it is said."
"Yeah, I learned this from my mentor. But what does this have to do with us?"
"I just think it is interesting. To think... how something like that survived all this time, hidden away in a Shrine. These Shrines are tucked away in numerous places all across this land. On this plateau alone, I believe there are still three more."
"I knew it. My best guess, these Shrines will restore the other Runes!" Lana told Linkle.
"Perhaps they will," the old man replied. "The Sheikah Slate certainly will aid you in your journey, so it may be worth searching for the Shrines. While you do that, bring me the treasure from each of those Shrines... and I will give you the paragliders I promised."
"Woah, wait, that wasn't the deal!" Linkle exclaimed.
"Oh? Well, I suppose I changed my mind," the old man said. "I'm sure that won't be a problem for young go-getters like you two! Since I'm feeling generous, I will also teach you a trick for finding Shrines. It's always best to survey the area by looking around from a high point. Let's see here... How about you make your way to the top of that tower again?"
"Are you joking?"
"Oho ho! I am afraid not. But do not worry! I have another little trick to share with you for your effort. Take a look at the map on your Sheikah Slate." As Linkle pulled out her Sheikah Slate, the old man continued, "so, do you see those blue icons?"
"Yeah, I've seen them," Linkle responded. "They show the locations of this Shrine and the Tower, right?"
"Indeed. You can travel instantly to any of those places with the Sheikah Slate." The old man then turned back to the tower. "Or so I heard quite some time ago... I do not know if it actually works as such."
"Well, Lana, do you know what he's talking about?"
"I think so..." Lana said. "But I haven't seen it myself. Purah only told me about it. But if I'm right... it's going to feel weird. ...And I might have to hold onto you. Trust me."
"Okay," Linkle sounded.
"By the way," Lana continued, turning to the old man, "you sure seem to know a lot."
"Oho oh! When you have been around as long as I have, you pick up a thing or two. Go on, why not try using the Sheikah Slate?"
With no better idea to get back up to the top of the Tower, Linkle brought up the map on her Slate, and tapped the Tower's icon. She thought that somehow, the Slate would fly her there or something.
Not so.
Linkle watched as her entire body, and Lana's too, turned into blue light, her vision fading as their bodies became vapors of light, traveling into the sky.
Author's Note: So, before anything else, I want to shut down a potential misconception you might be having in regards to how I am handling the Shrines. No, I am not going to LITERALLY write in everything you have to do to complete a Shrine's trial. One, this is a fanfic story, not a fancy walkthrough. Two, that would just be exhausting to write out, not to mention for you to read. I already wasn't completely enjoying writing out the Magnesis Shrine.
Going forward, I am probably just going to skip over the events of what goes on in the Shrines themselves. You really don't need to know what happens in them. I just wanted to showcase what happens just once, so you can see how the characters react to it all. Besides, it's the first Shrine, and that should explain everything you need to know from a story standpoint.
Plus, I wanted to showcase the awe of seeing the Shrine interior for the first time. I know that people aren't fond of the monotonous, sterile look of the Shrines, but keep in mind that this opinion obviously comes from playing tons of Shrines, over countless hours of gameplay. Of course, they'd get boring and blend together over time. I'm just focusing on that first time you see a Shrine, that's all.
On the topic of the Shrine, I need to point out that in the actual game, in the Magensis Shrine, you'd find a Traveller's Bow in the chest, not a Traveller's Spear. The reason I switched it out is that I realized that I never gave Lana a replacement for her first spear back in Chapter 2. I did mention that she'd be using spears throughout the story, so I really needed to give her a new one.
Besides, Linkle doesn't need a bow, since she has her crossbows. I might give Lana a bow later in the story, as the two of them become more competent fighters, but for now, I don't see her using a bow. I guess this brings up the question of BotW's weapon-breaking system, but I am not going to be concerned about weapons breaking, unless it's for story purposes. Many gameplay mechanics don't really translate well into a written story, so I'll take liberties as they are needed.
With that said, I'm thinking ahead of the story, and I'll admit, I'm having trouble thinking of uses for the Sheikah Slate. Obviously, there are times when it's needed for story progression, but outside of that, it's mostly used for puzzles. And well, I plan to skip most of the puzzles, unless it's important to story progression, because I think that wouldn't be a very interesting read (at least in terms of Zelda puzzles. They're awesome, but very video gamey), and focus on the battles.
I know the Sheikah Slate has many uses in battle, but that's not MY personal playstyle, and I am now just realizing that this mindset of mine is going to affect how I view battles going forward. Well, at best, I should make a note of this, and cross that bridge when it comes. (Maybe if I take Age of Calamity's use of the Runes into account... I don't know.)
Now, on to other things, and to start, I have to admit, I wasn't fully happy with how I handled the old man. Basically, trying to mix the original story of the Great Plateau with my new events and story elements ended up being a bit tricky to get right (assuming I did). As you know, you need the paraglider to get off of the plateau, and you have to collect "treasure" to trade for it with the old man. But in my story, our protagonists used a custom Sheikah Slate to get up there, and it broke, so the immediate goal was to fix that Sheikah Slate, and use THAT to go back down. Doesn't make it seem that they wouldn't need a paraglider.
Going further, if Lana knows she can get the data of the Runes from the Shrines, without needing to find the "treasure", and can use this data to help fix her Slate, then she doesn't need to get a paraglider.
As soon as I thought I was done with this Chapter, and had a bit of time to think about it, I quickly realized that I needed to go back and rewrite some of what I put down. I essentially tried to make it seem like the paraglider was a Plan B for the girls.
I also considered just... removing the paraglider plotline, replacing it with my own, and just giving the girls paragliders at the end as a gift, but I realized that wouldn't work. There is no reason for the girls to not ask about the old man's paraglider when they first saw it, if he didn't bring it up first, and just saving these for the end, with no explanation, would just come out of nowhere. Like, they put in all of this work to fix the Slate, but here, use these instead.
(And keep in mind, you need the paraglider for a lot of things in this game, so not giving it to them doesn't make sense. I guess I could always write around that, or find some alternate way they receive paragliders, but... well I guess I didn't think about that until now. At the same time, however, I don't like changing things too much. Only enough to serve the story idea that I have.)
I also had a bit of trouble concerning the old man and his "help" in preparing Link for Calamity Ganon. To explain, in the game proper, Link is an amnesiac, but still feels he needs to go straight to Hyrule Castle and Ganon, knowing in his heart what his duty is (either that, or the mysterious voice was simply that convincing).
But for my story, our heroines aren't amnesiacs, and have reason to already know about Calamity Ganon (at least Lana does, vaguely), and know that it is not a good idea to approach him. So, for this old man, a strange voice, and a monk to say otherwise... naturally, that would sound absolutely insane to our characters. This was also something I figured would need a rewrite, to make the old man seem less insistent on fighting Calamity Ganon, when it wouldn't make sense for him to do so, or at most, cause distrust between him and the girls.
Of course, since it's safe to assume that we all know the story of the Great Plateau, so I can safely confirm their minds will change by the end of this... arc, I suppose. I'm sure we're all expecting this, so I see no reason to hide it. But for right now, I needed to make a lot of adjustments.
Moving on, I want to bring up Wolf Link. I haven't forgotten about him, he just didn't reappear in this chapter. I actually plan to have him as a part of the party, I just used him before as the plot hook to get the adventure started in the right direction at the start.
In fact, I WAS going to have him appear in this chapter, to become that full-party member, but then I realized that... he'd probably need to help out. It's story-telling obligation. And well, I wasn't sure if I wanted Wolf Link to help out in the Shrine, or if he could add anything to the events inside. Actually, thinking about it, I don't really want to have Wolf Link in the Shrines at all.
So, I was going to move his party addition to the end of the chapter, but then I found the way I ended the chapter to be the best way to do it. So... I'm going to have to save Wolf Link for the next chapter.
So, to end this, there are some things besides the chapter that I want to talk about. And to start, I want to apologize, for taking so long to get the next chapter out. I did say that I would take a little longer to get this chapter out, since Tears of the Kingdom was coming out, and I wanted time to play that. And yes, I did give my attention to TotK once I got that game, but that's not the reason it took THIS long to get this out.
Long story short, there was another story I was writing, but I wasn't enjoying writing for this story as much. I decided that I wanted to put it on an indefinite hiatus, so I could come back to it when I was ready to, but not before at least leaving it on a good note, so I planned to write one more chapter. Well, it's THIS chapter where my lost interest in the story finally reared its head, and I just... couldn't get myself to work on it all that much.
Eventually, this chapter ended up being one of many long overdue projects that I needed to finish, and well... I didn't want to start something new, without finishing those projects.
Now that I've finished that chapter, and the story is officially on hiatus, I have cut down the stories I am working on from four to three. So, I have more time and mental energy to work on everything else, including this story. I still need to work out a new order that I work on my chapters for, but for right now, since this is my newest story, and needs more attention, I'll be giving this one a lot more focus.
Speaking of Tears of the Kingdom, as I have stated before, I don't really have plans to make a sequel to this story based on the game. I said that before, because TotK wasn't out yet, but I am still unsure if I want to change my mind. I could, but don't hold your breath.
In fact, there is a plot point I have planned later on that would... clash with a storyline in Tears of the Kingdom. It's not part of the main story, so I could easily write around it, but it's big.
In fact, I have story elements planned that ended up being very similar to story elements in TotK. It's not the first time that I had something for my stories planned, only for something in the official games to come out that is similar to what I planned, before I could even get to that chapter. But it is kind of annoying. It will make it seem less like my own idea, and more like I took inspiration from the official source, when that was never the case. But it is what it is.
The main point, however, is that these are big games, and writing stories based on them will take lots of time. Keep in mind, I'll only be focusing on the main plot, and a few side quests for this story, and I expect this to be a long story already. So... don't blame me if I want to skip writing a TotK-based sequel.
Finally, I've thought about it and... I am rebranding the story. I don't remember why I settled on the title "Generations of Heroes", but I was thinking about it, and that title doesn't really work for my plot. I guess I wanted something that sounded cool, but it's not working out for me. So, now that new title will be "A Different Hero", since we're following Linkle, not Link.
With that said, it's good to be back, and I hope you're looking forward to more!