Chapter 1: The Goddess's Last Resort

"Another failure…"

Sitting upon a throne within a divine realm, an existence many would consider a deity shimmered into existence - not with golden radiance, but with a faint, flickering hue. Unlike the prophecies and stories told, no celestial choirs sang, no angels danced. Only the echo of her own despair filled the room.

This was Hylia, the Goddess, partially materialised in her stark throne room - a colossal space with no walls, its gaze perpetually fixed on the endless dark abyss. White marble columns, stark against the void, surrounded the open space, a gift from Din, the Goddess of Power. Though the origin of its design remained unknown, Hylia found solace in its unvarnished grandeur although she wasn't sure where Din had gotten the inspiration from.

Yet, her present form was far from majestic. Only a faint golden hue on the woman-shaped throne betrayed her presence, devoid of facial features she couldn't muster the power to manifest. Distress, however, etched itself upon her invisible form. However facial features weren't required as it was quite evident by her body language she was in great distress.

This was the injury that the Goddess Hylia had received from the battle against Demise and his demons not long ago, but it wasn't until after she had temporarily sealed him did the injury begin to pose problems to herself.

It occurred to her that the injury was continuously swallowing her deity powers by an unknown procedure and it wasn't long before it proved to be more than an inconvenience.

With her powers diminishing she was forced to bunker herself inside this divine realm which slowed the process, but she knew this would only delay the inevitable. This divine realm wasn't her creation so it would likely outlast her or at least she had hoped so. The inability to even properly materialise a testament to her fading strength.

None of this startled the Goddess, she had tried numerous ways to remedy this injury before she realised it was a fruitless endeavour and gave up. The Goddess was a proactive individual who prioritised her responsibilities and so why her eventual demise was regrettable she had to remain focused on how to keep the world from falling into ruins before her time was up.

Nevertheless, at the moment the Goddess was deep in thought at the presence of an unexpected 'issue' that had aroused.

Within this desolate dimension where the past, present and future were intertwined as one the presence of anything that she could consider to be unexpected were extremely rare. The last time it had occurred was when Demise and his demons burrowed from deep within the earth which was something the Goddess could also not expect.

The reason this unexpected 'issue' had disturbed the Goddess so greatly was that she had just finished the preparations for her mortal reincarnation and the chosen hero for when Demise would eventually return and by doing so, she had constructed another branch of the future she was currently analysing. If an issue had aroused just after she had made her preparations then the 'issue' had to be in direct relation to her preparations or so she had assumed.

Fearing the worst, she peered millennia into the future, her brow furrowing as incomprehensible images swam before her. Ignoring it was unthinkable, the consequences for such an action was dire. Yet, dwelling on it now, with her power dwindling, was equally perilous. Dragons needed forging, trials within the Silent Realm awaited the future Hero, and time – her most precious resource – was slipping through her fingers like sand.

The Goddess sometimes had trouble differentiating the past, present and future as she resided everywhere in time almost simultaneously but even existing outside the confines of linear time, she knew to prioritise the past before the future. In other words she had to prioritise her preparations in the present after Demise's seal but before his return rather than something arising thousands of years into the future.

Frustration gnawed at her as she tried, and failed, to solve the enigma within her fading power. Each failure pushed her closer to a drastic solution, something she considered morally repulsive even for a being who had witnessed countless eons of darkness. But with the latest failure she could not delay her other responsibilities any longer. If she directed any more attention to this issue, she may not have enough of her deity powers to finish the preparations before she was to enter her slumber.

The Goddess Hylia didn't know what it was like to sleep, sure she had comprehended what it was and seen it countless times throughout the land she cared for but seeing it and experiencing it was two different things but a Goddess like her had never slept before. It was also hardly a normal sleep either as it was a slumber perhaps, she would never awake from and while she didn't have the concept of fear, she did carry her responsibility of protecting the Triforce and so she couldn't help but feel remorseful of her current state.

Pushing her sorrows aside the goddess Hylia rose from her throne, the action she was about to take was something she herself considered to be immoral and unethical. She suspected that perhaps even the Golden Goddesses would not approve of her impending actions, but she didn't hesitate any longer.

With a heavy heart, she weighed the risks and costs, banishing any doubt. With a gesture, she ripped the 'issue' from the fabric of time, a brutal violation of the natural order. Guilt flickered across her fading form, her hand instinctively resting on the growing darkness within her. She placed her hand over the now growing red aura on her stomach and she looked across the throne room remorsefully she still had much to do but her time was soon coming to an end.

"How diligent I am; working until my death." She mumbled.