~X~

Ithil

What.

The.

Fuck.

…

I stared out into the distance at the top of the Sheikah Tower that rose from the ground.

I can't ignore the signs anymore.

The Master Sword.

Beedle.

Hylian clothes.

The Keaton Mask.

A Sheikah Tower.

Multiple Sheikah shrines can be seen in the distance.

Somehow, elements of The Legend of Zelda are here in Danmachi.

"Ithil, what the hell?" Cloud said from next to me.

I was going to say something when we both heard sounds behind us, and we turned to look. The stalactite above the pedestal had runes glowing all over it that were moving toward the Sheikah rune, and what looked like a teardrop was forming. Eventually, the teardrop fell onto my smartphone on the pedestal, and the orange lines of energy were now blue.

I walked up to my phone, picked it up, and quickly went to the map app. Orario and its surrounding lands were now visible on it. Cloud was looking over my shoulder to see the map.

"Ithil, I reiterate, what the hell?" he said. "I noticed the Sheikah symbol on the roof of the tower. You have to know something."

"I didn't know these towers existed," I said.

"So, you don't know what they are?"

"No, I know what they are," I shook my head. "I just didn't know they existed."

"...What do you mean by that?" Cloud looked confused.

"You noticed the Sheikah symbol. These towers are part of the story of The Legend of Zelda." I said. "But I thought all the stories I know were just that, stories. I didn't know they were real."

That part is really confusing the hell out of me. How did I get into a crossover world? What kind of changes will there be because of this?

"Where did you learn these stories?" Cloud said.

"I…" I thought over how I could explain without going into the video games. "I saw all the stories in a very similar way I'm showing them to you and the others. I don't remember who showed me the stories."

"So… those videos, as you call them?"

I nodded, and we fell into silence. I was thinking of what changes I might expect.

What happened to all the different races of Hyrule? Are the Hylians now the Elves and not Humans anymore? Are the Amazons descendants of the Gerudo? What about the Gorons, Rito, and Zora? What about the Koroks, Kokiri, Minish, and even the Zonai?

How much time has passed?

"Can you tell me more about these towers?" Cloud spoke up after he finished thinking. Shame, I still had a lot to think about.

"The Sheikah built them to detect signs of Calamity Ganon's return," I said.

"Calamity Ganon?"

"The villain of the second to last story of The Legend of Zelda."

"How many stories are there?"

I had to think it over. "...Twenty."

Cloud's eyes widened in surprise. "Twenty? And I'm only on the second one… Did the Hero reincarnate twenty times?"

"No…" I started, then paused. "Actually, maybe. There could be stories I don't know about. Anyway, of the twenty known stories, there are twelve different Links."

Now that I think about it, there are more Links than the ones you play in the games. There's the Hero of Men, who sealed all evil into that chest with the Picori Blade. And there's the Hero of the First Calamity who defeated Calamity Ganon 10,000 years before Breath of the Wild.

Damn, just how many Links are there?

"And what about those glowing orange buildings in the distance? I remember seeing some occasionally when I travel," he pointed to one of them. "From what I've heard, they were here long before the gods descended. No one knew what they were for or how to open them."

"Those are Sheikah Shrines. They were made thousands of years ago to help train the Hero to defeat The Calamity."

"Why are they active now?"

"Because the towers have to be activated for the shrines to open up."

"Wait, towers?" Cloud turned to me. "I think you said 'towers' earlier, too."

I nodded. "There should be Sheikah Towers all over the continent. Activating one activates them all."

Cloud nodded in understanding. "You said the shrines help train the Hero. How so?"

"Well, The Hero of the Wild had to go through tests and trials to help train him for his eventual fight with Calamity Ganon."

"What kind of tests?"

"Some sort of traps or obstacles. I don't fully remember," I shrugged. "There's one way to find out."

He stared, knowing I was asking if we could check them out. "Do we have to worry about this Calamity coming soon?" Cloud asked.

"The Calamity should be gone," I said. "In the last known story, Link killed its source."

He then looked out to the four shrines close by and stood silent for a while. "We have the time, and I'm curious about these, as well."

"Awesome," I took out my phone and used the scope to mark the shrines for my map. "Alright, let's go."

"And how do we get down?"

I hit both of us with a sphere of white magic. "Feather Falling Spell. It'll slow us down before we hit the ground."

I then jumped off to prove it. Once Cloud saw it was safe, he followed, and we were off to the first shrine.

~X~

~ Shrine of Oman Au ~

We rode up to the first shrine, and I quickly dismounted my horse and held my smartphone up to the pedestal next to the door. It quickly turned from orange to blue.

"Sheikah Slate confirmed. Travel Gate registered to map. Access granted."

And the doors opened.

"What's this travel gate it mentioned?" Cloud asked as he walked up.

I pointed to the blue circle. "It's that. They're teleportation markers. I can tap one of the symbols on the map on my phone and teleport to it instantly no matter where I am."

"That's incredibly useful," Cloud was surprised.

"Come on. Let's go."

I led him into the small space and stood on the platform with the Sheikah symbol on it. The platform lit up and started descending into the Earth.

"Woah…" Cloud said as he looked around the shrine once we hit the bottom. "A place this large really exists under the ground?"

Before I could say anything, a mysterious voice spoke up.

"To you who sets foot in this shrine… I am Oman Au," the voice said hauntingly. "In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial."

"...You heard that, right?" Cloud said.

"I did," I nodded.

I sighed and headed for the pedestal. As the stalactite prepared to apply the Magnesis Rune, I had time to think about things a bit.

I was thinking about the implications of the Sheikah Towers and Shrines.

Why? There has to be a reason they're here. And why do they choose to activate now when I show up?

…I have a pretty good idea, but I think I'm going to save the question until we reach the monk.

"Ithil?" Cloud got my attention.

"Hm?"

Cloud said nothing and merely pointed at the pedestal. The Magnesis Rune was installed.

I wordlessly grabbed my phone and moved the metal plates on the ground that were blocking the way forward out of the way.

"Cloud, let me handle this trial on my own," I said.

Cloud looked like he wanted to say something, but there was something in my voice that stopped him. He then nodded. "Alright."

I nodded in thanks, hopped down the hole, and continued forward with Cloud following behind.

We then came upon a wall blocking our path made up of giant stone cubes. One of them was metal. So, I used the Magnesis Rune to move it out of the way. The stone block on top dropped and fell off to the side, allowing me to climb the first cube.

There was a small Sheikah Guardian Scout on the other side. When it noticed me, it started charging up its eye laser. I drew my sword and immediately jumped to the side, avoiding the laser. I then charged it and hit it with a three-hit combo. It was enough as the Scout dropped to the ground and exploded. The only thing left behind was an Ancient Screw, which immediately flew into my Bag of Holding as if the bag had a magnet of its own.

"Not bad," Cloud said as he dropped from the stone cube wall. "I've never seen anything like that thing before."

"It was an ancient Sheikah robot. There's not much more I can tell you about it."

Cloud nodded, and we moved forward. I easily used the Magnesis Rune to use the metal platform as a bridge across the two gaps, opened the metal door, and grabbed a chest off a ledge to bring to me. Inside that chest was a small bow. Kind of useless for me since I only have one arm, so I put it in my Bag of Holding.

We went through the metal doors and came up to the Monk's Pedestal.

I walked up the stairs and touched the Sheikah crest on the blue energy shield. The crest glowed briefly before the whole shield shattered. Without the shield in the way, it revealed a mummified corpse sitting in a meditative pose wearing religious vestments. The Sheikah crest was also on its forehead.

The voice spoke again.

"I am Oman Au, the creator of this trial. I am a humble monk, blessed with sight of the Goddess Hylia, and dedicated to helping those who seek to defeat Ganon."

"I thought the Hero of the Wild already killed the Source of Calamity Ganon," I said.

"He did defeat The Calamity, but he did not defeat the Source, as you call it," I raised an eyebrow in a questioning gesture. "My apologies, my time grows short. With your arrival and completion of my trial, my duty has been fulfilled, and I feel myself passing. Seek the Primordial of the Sky for your answers. Finally, I bestow this Sprit Orb to you."

An orb of pure energy glided to my chest and entered with a soft splash of light.

"And for your companion, Cloud, Chosen of Iris," I saw Cloud stiffen, and his hands turn into fists before quickly releasing. "I do not have a gift as I did not expect you. So, I offer this advice. Seek the Goddess you chose to follow, for she is the start of the road that will allow you to break your chains."

Cloud was now shaking a little, and I was a little worried for him.

The monk started glowing.

"Wait! One more question!" I have one very important, question that I need answering. "Am I… Am I…" but the words wouldn't come out.

"I wish you luck, Chosen of the Goddess," Well, that answers that question. "May the Goddess smile upon you."

Oman Au then disintegrated into green motes of light that drifted up and away.

~X~

Cloud and I set up camp for the night. We were going to complete the rest of the shrines I had marked tomorrow, and that should take a couple of days. Then, we'll head to Orario.

We were both silent as we had our own things to think about.

He was mechanically maintaining his sword while his mind was elsewhere.

I was thinking about what the monk told me.

The Hero of the Wild didn't defeat the Source. If you know the story of Tears of the Kingdom, you know exactly what that Source is. If I want to find out why, I need to talk to Ouranos.

"So…" Cloud spoke up. I could hear how unsure he was. "'Chosen of the Goddess?'"

"The monk was referring to Hylia," I said.

"I know that. The monk mentioned her at the beginning of the trial. What I mean is…" Cloud sighed as he didn't know what to say. "Well, I know what it's like to be chosen by a goddess."

"The monk did call you 'Chosen of Iris.'"

Cloud stared off into the distance. He was silent for a few minutes, and I didn't think he would elaborate before he spoke up again.

"As you know, I used to live on a different continent. That place was tormented by monsters, like here. However, unlike here, the monsters had a clear leader. The Demon King," Cloud stayed silent and sighed. I wonder what he's thinking about, but he continues. "There had been multiple Demon Kings over the centuries. When one pops up, the Goddess Iris chooses four Champions who have to work together to defeat him."

"You were chosen," I said. I don't know why Cloud is opening up about his past, but I'm not going to stop him.

Cloud nodded. " I failed, terribly. …Or …Well," Cloud sighed as he struggled to find the words. "Lady Astraea told me I have a bad habit of blaming myself for everything… It took me a couple of years to accept that all the things that happened that caused me to fail in my heroic duties were outside of my control."

"What do you mean?"

"I was cursed… Cursed to fail," Cloud's face turned into a snarl. "By the very goddess who chose me to be a hero!"

Cloud punched the ground in anger, and it cratered a little around his fist. I jumped a little at that. I've never seen him angry before.

He sighed again and forced himself to calm down. "My point in telling you this is that I know what it's like to have the pressure of being a goddess's chosen hero to fight a powerful evil. If you need someone to talk to, I'll be here."

I nodded at his offer and thought about some of the backstory that he told me.

Who is Goddess Iris? I highly doubt he was talking about the Greek Goddess of Rainbows.

"What happened?" I had to ask.

"...Maybe I'll tell you one day," Cloud brought a hand to his forehead to massage away the headache.

We both lapsed into silence. Both of us settled down; Cloud watched more of Link's adventure, and I worked on Ocarina of Time before we both finally went to sleep.

~X~

~ Two Days Later ~

I exited the last of the four shrines, and Cloud was waiting for me outside.

"Did you get another rune?" he asked right away as he closed the video scroll.

"Yup!" I said cheerfully.

I activated the Remote Bomb Rune, and just above me, the cube bomb appeared. I quickly pocketed my phone, caught the bomb, and tossed it into the distance. With a command, the bomb detonated.

"Remote bombs," I smiled at Cloud.

"Huh," he stared where the bomb exploded. "I just got up to the part in The Minish Cap where Link also got remote bombs… How ironic."

"I guess so," I tilted my head and then shrugged. "Onward to Orario?"

"Yes," Cloud sighed and nodded. He's not looking forward to being back there. Too many bad memories for him.

~X~

~ Meanwhile at Twilight Manor ~

Finn Deimne

The last couple of days has been pretty hectic for him. Everyone in the city was trying to find out the purpose of that tower that rose up in front of the Dungeon along with those mysterious buildings that were now outlined with orange light.

After the tower rose, his goddess, Loki, ordered the Familia to go find out as much as they could.

That was extremely hard to do as the Guild had quickly blocked off access to the tower and the mystery buildings almost immediately.

However, the Guild had allowed Riveria to gain access to both for reasons Finn didn't know. Regardless, she was able to climb to the top of the tower and study what was there. Along with studying the other buildings

Now, he was in his office with Riveria across from him and Loki sitting on his desk… as always. Apparently, Riveria had found something.

"So, what do ya got for us, Mama?" Loki said as she leaned back on her hands.

Riveria aimed a small glare at Loki before starting. "The first thing I can say is that tower is one of the most advanced pieces of technology I have ever laid my eyes on."

"Do you know what it does?" Finn said as he folded his hands on his desk and leaned forward in interest.

"No," Riveria shook her head. "However, there was this pedestal in the center with an indentation, like something was supposed to go in there. There is also some sort of stone above it. Also, I noticed symbols on the roof in an unknown alphabet."

Finn brought up his arm and started leaning on his hand with a thinking expression. He didn't know what to make of what Riveria was describing.

"What about the glowing orange buildings?" Loki said.

"Not much there either. I don't know what the orange glow means, but I did find the same alphabet on the door of the building," Riveria said. "I copied the writing. I tried looking through the Familia library and my personal one, but I couldn't find any books that had the language that was written.

"Do you have the writing with you?" Finn said.

"I do," Riveria opened the book she was holding and pulled out a sheet of paper.

Finn pulled it closer to him and let it rest on his desk so Loki could have a look at it.

On the paper were two lines of symbols that had the mystery letters.

"Hey, wait a sec here…" Loki picked up the paper and scrutinized the letters closely. "I think I've seen these before! Be right back!" she darted out of Finn's office, bringing the paper with her.

Finn watched her leave and then turned to look at Riveria, silently asking if she knew anything. Riveria shook her head in response.

Soon after, Loki returned carrying a huge book with her. She placed the paper and book on Finn's desk and started flipping through it.

"C'mon, where is it? Where is it?" she mumbled to herself.

Finn noticed that the book was rather old. The pages were very yellow and were very close to falling out of the book.

"Here it is!" Loki shouted, happy she found the right page.

Finn walked around to the front of his desk to get a better look. He saw the letters Riveria copied, and below those were more writing he didn't recognize.

"Is that the Ancient Elven alphabet?" Riveria's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's called 'Hylian', Mama. I'm surprised you don't know that," Loki shook her head like she was shaking away a distraction and focused on the book. "Anyway, no distractions! I need to translate this!"

Finn and Riveria watched as their normally playful and laid-back goddess was seriously focused on translating the unknown writing to Hylian.

While Loki was doing that, Finn wanted to know something that she just mentioned.

"What is 'Hylian?'" Finn asked Riveria.

"Apparently, it's the name of Ancient Elven," Riveria sounded a little off-put that she didn't know that fact. "Very little is known about the Ancient Elves… But it seems Loki knows a lot."

Speaking of…

"Done!" Loki shouted and turned to face the two, showing them the original letters, the translation underneath in Hylian, and the translation under that in Koine. She pointed to the first word. "Alright, so the letters that were on the tower translate to 'Sheikah Tower!' Rather on the nose with that name, huh?"

Loki had a huge grin on her face. The kind of grin she gets when she finds something very interesting.

"Sheikah?" Finn said.

Loki turned to Riveria as if expecting her to answer that question. When she didn't and Loki realized she had the same clueless face as Finn, her grin turned into a frown.

"The heck, Riveria? How do you not know this?" Loki said. "Isn't the Alf Royal Family descended from the Hyrule Royal Family?"

"Yes, well…" Riveria grimaced. "Unfortunately, we have very little records of our time as the rulers of Hyrule."

"So little that you don't even know the race of elves that swore eternal loyalty to your family?" Loki said incredulously.

"Very little," Riveria confirmed as she looked to the side in embarrassment for the lack of knowledge. "The only things I know are that my ancestors ruled Hyrule Kingdom from Valua, back then known as Hyrule. And that thousands of years ago, we were chased out of Hyrule Castle and forced to relocate to the Alf Forest."

"That's it?" Loki raised an eyebrow. Riveria nodded in response. "Haah, that's sucks."

"Anyway!" Finn spoke when things lapsed into silence. "Let's get back on topic. Loki, who are the Sheikah, and why did they make a tower?"

"Oh, right," Loki returned to her serious attitude. "As I said, the Sheikah were a race of elves sworn to protect the Hyrule Royal Family. The Sheikah race itself has been around since the Creation of the World."

"Really?" Finn said surprised. "I guess they're not around anymore? Because this the first time I've heard of them."

"We gods think they went extinct but we don't know for sure," Loki shrugged. "And good luck asking mortals since they've been forgotten through time," Loki shot a quick glance at Riveria. For what reason, Finn didn't know.

"As for the tower? I don't know either," Loki shrugged again. "None of the history I researched ever mentioned the Sheikah having the ability to create this level of tech."

If Loki can't find anything then that's saying something.

It's not very well-known since Loki has a reputation for being whimsical and laid-back, but one of her favorite hobbies is history. That caught Finn by surprise as he never learned of it until a couple of decades after he joined her and saw her personal library in her room.

There were books in there that talked about places and kingdoms that were older than known history.

"What about the other set of letters?" Riveria said. "The ones that were on the door of the strange building."

"Oh… Those were just as equally interesting. Hehe," Loki laughed mischievously. "Those translate to 'Dungeon.'"

Finn and Riveria were surprised at that.

Now, what could that mean?

~X~

Author's Note:

Chapter 8 finished. Next chapter they'll finally reach Orario.

So, as a number of comments pointed out in Fanfiction, AO3, and Wattpad, if this is a crossover fanfic, why not label or tag it as such?

The reason the crossover was a surprise? Was because it was a surprise for me too.

This fanfic was originally not supposed to be a crossover. The references to The Legend of Zelda were supposed to be just that, references.

Bell liked stories of heroes, so why not tell him the story of one of the greatest heroes in video game history. There were whole timelines of stories.

Somehow, I really don't know how, my mind shifted to actually add LoZ to the story.

When I first thought of this story, it was supposed to be a challenge to myself. When I got stuck with writer's block with Soul of a Fate Gamer (and still do, unfortunately) I wanted to keep writing but couldn't with my first fanfic. So, I wrote a whole bunch of new stories that lasted for only one or two chapters.

The thing about those stories is that all of them are crossovers.

Persona x PJO x DxD

Persona x Fate Grand Order

Fate x Worm

Elden Ring x Worm

Elden Ring x Danmachi

Skyrim x Danmachi

Skyrim x Dragon Age

Skyrim x Game of Thrones

Metal Gear x RWBY

This fanfic was supposed to be a challenge to myself to write using only one source. So, I tagged the story as only having one source. That failed, so I'll tag it appropriately.

I just can't seem to get away from crossover fanfics.

As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.