So hyped for Tears of the Kingdom. And yes, I will incorporate certain aspects of the game into this fic's third arc, but it will likely be significantly altered.
As they entered the Divine Beast, Link and his friends heard a voice. "Link."
"Mipha?" Link asked. "Is that you?"
"It's me, Link," Mipha said. "Be careful. Ganon's influence is strong here."
"Can you give us details?" Linhardt asked. "What can we expect in the Divine Beast?"
"Ganon set a trap," Mipha responded. "When you activate the control terminal, a monster created by Ganon will awaken and try to destroy you."
"Mipha, I-" Link began.
"I cannot talk now," Mipha told him. "I must concentrate on fighting Ganon's influence."
The control room was large and cavernous, with rounded walls, covered in Sheikah designs. The far wall had several floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the lake outside. Directly in front of the windows sat some kind of device. It looked like a closed flower with petals that had not yet bloomed. It shone with an orange light that pulsed slightly. Before it was a waist-high panel, with a flat surface that contained more glowing orange lights, as well as an activation switch. The floor was covered with a couple of inches of cool water.
The five of them stared at the control terminal. "Do we activate it?" Mercedes asked.
"I don't think we have a choice," Marianne said. "It's a trap. But we must spring the trap."
The five of them hesitated for a few seconds. Link took Edelgard's sword from the scabbard on his back. "Moment of truth." He pressed the activation switch.
Dark mist began to gather in front of the device, growing thicker and obscuring. As it did so, it looked more and more like the strange oozing substance that they'd seen on the floor. In fact, after another few moments, he was certain that they were the same. It no longer looked like mist at all, having taken on a much more solid form in the shape of a floating sphere.
"Be careful, Link," Mipha said.
The sphere of purple ooze began to take on a different shape. It grew long and narrow before several appendages began to extend from places along its length. A pair of stunted legs grew, floating above the ground and terminating in rounded stumps. A pair of arms grew, one thin and the other easily twice as long and thick. The head began to take shape as well, narrow and pointed. Red hair, easily as thick as the lynel's mane, sprouted from the back of its head, falling all the way down its back. It towered over him, taller than he was, even without its ability to float in the air. It was not done yet, however.
As they watched, armor that seemed to be made of the same stone that was used in Vah Ruta's construction appeared. Its stunted legs, waist, and chest were all partially covered in the armor. The long arm was fully encased in the same armor from the elbow down. Its head was, likewise, encased in armor, though this extended out to either side of its head in a pair of flattened horns.
The five heroes looked in horror as a round, blue eye appeared in the center of its head. A Guardian's eye. Link saw a flash of memory—a blue eye pulsing as it took aim at him—but he pushed it away as quickly as it appeared. He did not have time for distractions right now. That blue eye focused on him and something about the creature's posture changed. It leaned forward in a menacing way, and its longer arm extended. There was a flash of light as a glowing blue spear extended from the hand there, easily three times as long as Link was tall.
The creature suddenly reared back, throwing both of its arms out and its head back, and released a horrible shriek that made the walls tremble. Link's instincts screamed at him to move, and he did, leaping to the side. A moment later, the creature thrust its spear forward. The incredibly long spear crossed the distance between them in an eye blink, stabbing thin air where he had just been.
Mercedes recovered quickly and threw a fire blast at the thing. Linhardt, Flayn, and Marianne followed her example, peppering the thing with blasts of light magic.
The creature didn't seem to care about the mages, instead trying to attack Link again. Link dodged a spear thrust and slashed the creature's arm. Like Edelgard had predicted, her Sheikah two-hander was at least a little more effective than most swords would be.
The creature retaliated with its other hand, slashing Link with its claws, but Linhardt healed him. Mercedes, meanwhile, threw a Thunder blast at the creature. The creature, which was covered in water, didn't handle the Thunder spell well, and Link got a few good hits in before the creature recovered.
It seemed to notice the others for the first time, and thrust its spear at Mercedes, but Mercedes dodged the blow. Link meanwhile slashed at the creature multiple times, and it leaped backward away from Link.
The creature then started making the same noise that the Guardians made when they were about to fire a blast. Linhardt froze the creature with his Stasis rune before it could do so, however. The creature only stayed frozen for two seconds, but it was enough for Link to grab his bow and fire an arrow into its eye.
The creature fell to the watery ground, where Marianne used an ice spell to freeze it in place. Flayn, seeing an opportunity, channeled all of her light magic into her spear, and stabbed the creature.
Her light magic took a significant chunk out of the creature, exposing an orange eye in the center of its mass. Link fired an arrow that impaled the eye, and the creature began to evaporate into smoke.
Once it was gone, Mipha's ghost appeared before them. "Link. You defeated Ganon's monster."
"I can't take credit for it," Link told her. "They were the ones who defeated the monster. I just finished it off."
Mipha looked at the four mages. "Flayn of Garreg Mach. Marianne von Edmund. Mercedes von Martritz. Linhardt von Hevring. Thank you for aiding Link. I am glad he has found such fine friends."
"You give me far too much credit," Marianne said sadly.
"On the contrary, you were vital to the blight's defeat," Mipha contradicted her.
Marianne simply stared at her feet.
Mipha stayed silent for a moment. "I can feel Ruta again. Now that I am in control of her once again, I can bring her full power to bear against Ganon."
Link understood. "And if I free the others, then we can attack him like we were supposed to one hundred years ago." This was the true genius of Princess Zelda's plan. Impa had mentioned restoring the original functionality to the Divine Beasts, but it never really occurred to him what that would mean.
"I believe in you, Link." Mipha reached out, placing her ghostly hand against his arm. He could just feel her touch and the scaled texture of her hand. "You can do this."
"I hope you're right."
"I am." Her hand lingered on his arm for several more seconds before she pulled it away. She looked at him. "You're wearing my armor."
Link nodded.
"Do you understand what it means?" she asked.
"Yes," Link answered.
"If I had asked you to marry me back then, would you have said yes?" Mipha asked.
Link's shoulders slumped. "I don't know. But from what little I remember...I think I would have said no."
"I see," Mipha said sadly.
"I'm sorry," Link told her.
"It is all right," Mipha told him. "The heart wants what it wants, and you were never obligated to love me the way I loved you."
The two of them stood in silence for several seconds. Mipha eventually spoke once more. "I have something I need you to do."
When Link walked over to where Mipha stood, he saw a glint of silver in the water by her feet. His eyes widened. "Your trident."
Mipha's Lightscale trident lay in the shallow pool of water. Link bent down, wrapping his fingers around its haft, lifting it out of the water. It was pristine, without a spot of rust, despite its age and the condition that it had spent the last one hundred years. It was made of the same silvery white metal that most Zora weaponry was made of, yet it seemed to shine brighter than anything else he had seen. Sapphires glistened at multiple places on the trident, including one very large oval in the center point. It was an incredible piece of craftsmanship.
"I want you to give it to my brother," she said, looking at her old weapon with fondness.
Link was about to say yes, but then he had a better idea. "I'll bring him to you. You can give it to him yourself."
Mipha looked at him, surprised.
"For one hundred years, Sidon hasn't had you in his life," Link continued. "You have a chance to be in his life now, even if it will only last until we defeat Ganon."
"I see. Yes...yes. I will give him the trident myself," Mipha agreed. "Thank you."