The rising sun found the two heroes already on their way to the second shrine. They had compared the distances between the various shrines and their campsite and had decided that it would be best to investigate the shrine in the old ruins first, as it was far closer and more accessible than the other two.

As much as neither of them had wanted to, they had agreed that it would be faster by far to teleport to the tower and climb down again, rather than walking to their destination from camp. Link stretched once he reached the bottom, waiting for Izuku to finish clambering down. While the climb down hadn't been terribly difficult, he had still worked up a little bit of a sweat.

Once he reached the ground the greenhead scanned the landscape ahead of them. "It looks like we have a couple of ways to get there. We could either take the direct route, but we might have to do some more hiking, or we could go through that valley with that weird skull rock."

"That second route will probably have enemies that we will have to contend with," Link said, looking out across the former plaza. "We should avoid them for now and return when we've found better equipment."

"I-It would also probably take longer," Izuku agreed. "Through the hills it is, then."

Izuku started down the hill, Link following close behind him. The quiet crunching rustle of grass being trodden underfoot gave way to the clicking of heels against stone. Link shaded his eyes and squinted up at the sun as they walked before glancing around at the plaza. At least we're only going through a small portion of the plaza. Eventually, the plaza gave way to rolling hills that, despite their imposing stature, proved to not be too difficult a climb. Link crested the top of the hill and saw the old ruins spread out below him.

Time and the elements had long since worn the roof of the structure away, and Link could see that whatever floor had once existed had long since given way to emerald turf. All that remained of what must have once been a grand structure were several walls that, from a distance, gave the impression that the building had been a manor or castle of some kind. He could also see the shrine rising out of a large room at the rear of the structure that could have been a throne room, if this had been a castle.

"W-Wow, that looks amazing!" Izuku exclaimed. Link turned his head and saw the boy's eyes shining in wonder. "If it's a place like that, there's sure to be something interesting, right?"

The warrior nodded. There would certainly be something of worth hidden in those ruins, but he didn't yet know what it might be. Wordlessly, he started down the hill, listening to the grass rustle in the gentle breeze that seemed to almost constantly run over the plateau.

If not for the looming sense of dread, the entire scene was really quite peaceful.

Within minutes, he had reached the ruins, and he could see now that it must have been an old castle from how tall the walls were. I wonder if it belonged to a duke or something. Traces of the old cobblestone flooring poked out of the grass, but for the most part, everything was gone. More curiously, he noted several of the same large, inert machines that had been littered around the old temple. From the looks of things, they were just as out of place here as elsewhere.

Behind him, Izuku whistled as he joined Link in what probably had been a front hall. The remaining weathered walls ran along ahead of the two before opening into a wider chamber littered with several of the mechanical corpses. The remnants of crumbling pillars poking up from among the lumps of metal hinted that this room had possibly been the heart of the structure. Beyond those, Link could see the shrine peeking out over the far wall.

Izuku could see it, too. "Come on, let's get the spirit orb before we explore." The greenhead slipped past Link and into the room. The blond rolled his eyes and started to follow before freezing in place as one of the corpses shifted.

"Izuku! Stop!"

The boy stopped short at Link's hissed command. He turned to face him, and Link could see the question forming on his lips. Before it could be voiced, Link just pointed at the machine that had moved. "What's wrong with it?" Izuku asked, taking a step toward it.

CREeeeaaak.

What Link had come to think of as the head of the robot extended slightly from its body and twisted around a few times before lines of blue flared to life across the surface, illuminating more of the odd twisting patterns that the duo had encountered already. As the lines covered the head, a single, baleful eye flared to life and locked on to Izuku, training a small, red line of light on the boy.

Link lurched forward, his feeling of dread blossoming in his chest. "Move, Izuku! NOW!"

The greenhead didn't need a second warning. He dashed away from the machine, trying to put some distance between himself and the demon turret. No matter how quickly he ran, though, the red light continued to follow him, and Link could see energy building up around the robot's eye.

A slight tugging at the back of the blond's mind said that Izuku only had one hope. Time seemed to slow for Link as he unsheathed his sword and ran at the robot, his eyes never leaving his target. When he was close enough, he leapt up toward the eye, stabbing forward with the sword.

FFFFFSCCHEEEWWW!

CRUUUMPT!

A brilliant flash of light blinded Link as he felt his sword connect with his target before being ripped from his hand. He jumped off of the robot as soon as his feet touched its surface, wanting to avoid as much of the too-slow energy blast as possible. The warrior tumbled to a stop and furiously rubbed at his eyes, trying to restore his vision. He wasn't sure how much damage he had just inflicted, but he didn't want to be near this thing if it exploded.

As the white-and-black spots cleared from his vision, time seemed to reassert itself and he could see that the robot was no longer moving smoothly, twitching its head back and forth as if it was trying to watch two things at once. The head around the eye had been melted some by the force of the blast, but the eye itself was still intact and roving, searching for targets. Link tensed, ready to run; something about the monster seemed off now. The lights covering its surface had changed from a reddish-pink back to the familiar blue, and it was no longer gathering energy for energy blasts. Within a few moments, the twitching stopped and the lights slowly faded, leaving the hulk inert once again.

Link waited for several moments, but the machine didn't show any other signs of life. Slowly, he reached down and picked up a rock and threw it at his target. No response. Either it's playing the long game... or I killed it. After a few seconds more of silence, the blond allowed himself to relax slightly, and in so doing heard Izuku's panicked breathing from behind the pillar. Link sighed in relief. "You can come out now. I think it's dead."

He watched as Izuku cautiously poked his head from his hiding place and saw the relief that crossed the boy's face when he realized that Link was, in fact, alive. "Y-You're all right! W-What happened? I-I heard the explosion, but I didn't see where the laser went."

Link felt his lips twitch upwards. "I stabbed it." His smile grew as he watched Izuku's face twist in visible confusion. "In the eye." He gestured at the monster.

Izuku squinted at it before his eyes widened. "Oh, it's melted! When you stabbed it, it had charged up a lot of energy and was getting ready to fire. The force of the sword must have disrupted all the energy in the blast I heard." Izuku took a few tentative steps closer to the thing, his eyes narrowing again. "If you look at it carefully, it looks like the rest of the robot might have been charred from the blast." He glanced back at the blond and frowned. "Actually, how are you not burned, Link? You said you stabbed it in the face?"

The warrior glanced down at himself and saw that the greenhead was right: other than the occasional spot that danced across his vision, he seemed perfectly fine. "...I'm not sure." He touched his face and winced. "I think I'll have something like a sunburn later, but it doesn't feel too bad."

"Huh." Izuku watched him for a minute before shrugging. "Well, I guess we got lucky then. Those big robots are no joke."

A memory flickered at the back of Link's mind at Izuku's words, but he couldn't quite grasp it fully before it had slipped away. All he retained was the echo of deadly determination and searing pain, which he hurriedly released. More lucky than you realize, I think.

The blond shuddered and resumed the search for his sword. He could hear Izuku mumbling to himself about something or other behind him, but he didn't really pay much mind to what he was saying. Link had only known him for a few days, but he knew that that was just how the boy processed his thoughts.

After a few more moments of rustling about in the grass, Link spotted the glint of sunlight reflecting off of something metallic, which turned out to be his sword—or what was left of it. When he extracted it from the corner it had buried itself in, he discovered that the bottom half of the blade had snapped off, and the rest of the sword seemed to be badly melted. He tossed it back to the ground. Well, so much for that.

Disgusted with the unavoidable waste of a perfectly good sword, Link turned back to face Izuku. The greenhead had wandered over to the wall separating this chamber from the one the shrine sat in and was examining the pile of rubble that had filled the archway leading between the two rooms. I'll just leave him to that for the moment. There were other things worth examining anyway. Like the wall. A closer examination revealed that the stone had worn down in many places, especially along the seams between blocks of stone, creating many cracks and rough edges around the blocks. He glanced back at Izuku, who was still mumbling to himself. I'll test this first, and then we'll get his attention.

It was as easy as he had thought. The worn stones turned out to be plenty easy to climb; the holes and ridges he'd noticed held his weight just fine. A few moments later and he was straddling the top of the wall and looking down into the next room. It was completely overgrown with tall grass and weeds that surrounded the shrine, but was otherwise unremarkable.

Time to get his friend. "Hey, Izuku!" The boy jumped and looked up at Link. "The wall's a pretty easy climb; come on up, and we can get on with this."

Link watched the boy size up the wall before grinning. "Nah, I've got this." The greenhead crouched, and what looked like green lightning began to arc around his body before he leapt. Link followed him as he sailed up and over the wall, clearing it easily and landing softly in the turf on the other side. Izuku looked back up at him. "See?"

"That's certainly useful," Link admitted, swinging himself over the wall and dropping to the ground. "Another aspect of your..." He trailed off, trying to think of the word the boy had used.

"My Quirk? Yeah, it is. I just channel my strength to my legs—well, my whole body, actually, but I try and focus on my legs—and it lets me jump pretty high." His eyes took on a faraway cast. "It took a bit of practice figuring that out. I bounced between buildings for an entire night."

Link grunted. "It sounds like it. Well, let's get on with this." He pulled the Sheikah Slate from his belt and tapped it against the shrine's console. The lights pulsed orange and then faded to the safe familiar blue as the door folded back. The lift lights flared to life and twinkled invitingly at the two heroes.

Silently, the two filed on and rode down into this next shrine. When the platform finally came to a stop, the two found themselves in a large room not unlike the one in the previous shrine. The walls were filled with the same constellation patterns as before, and the floor sloped downward near the far wall, which appeared to be made of crumbling blocks of some kind. Most importantly, the now-familiar terminal was set in the far corner of the room, waiting expectantly. Other than that, Link couldn't see anything else of note or concern in the room, so he started toward the console.

"Erm, Link?"

Link stopped mid-step at the anxious tone of Izuku's voice and looked back over his shoulder. "What?"

"Where's the exit?"

Link frowned and quickly examined the room again. His frown deepened as he realized that Izuku was right; other than the lift, there was no way out of the room. "Maybe the door will open once we've interacted with the terminal."

He took another step forward and froze again as another voice spoke, one that sounded eerily like Oman Au's voice.

"To you who sets foot in this shrine... I am Ja Baij. In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial."

The voice of the sage, Ja Baij, faded, leaving the two in silence once more. Link took a tentative step forward, glancing back at Izuku, who was just watching him. Satisfied, he resumed walking and quickly reached the terminal, where he inserted the Slate and watched it whirl into place. The console flashed and runes began to run down the surface of the rock hanging overhead.

"What do you suppose the liquid is?" Izuku asked, joining him by the console.

"Magic, spirit energy—who knows?" Link shrugged. It didn't matter much to him, though he couldn't help but be a little curious as well.

After a few more moments, the bead of blue liquid dropped and splashed across the Slate as it had last time. As the lights faded, Link leaned over the tablet to see what he had gotten. The screen displayed the eye symbol for a moment before fading to what Izuku had called the 'runes menu'. For a moment, the only rune available was Magnesis, but that changed quickly as the two boxes to the left briefly flashed before revealing two symbols that looked suspiciously familiar.

Link read the title of the new runes and the directions that went along with them and could feel a grin spreading across his face. He barely heard the console chirping at him as he removed the Slate and slipped it back onto his belt.

He turned around to face Izuku, who had been watching him curiously. "So... what'd we get?"

In response, Link just held out his hands and concentrated. Blue light coalesced above his hand and formed into a sphere that dropped into his outstretched hand. He chuckled lightly at the look on Izuku's face. "It appears that we now have access to bombs."

Izuku's startled look quickly changed to a grin that matched Link's own. "Oh! That's probably how we're supposed to get further into the shrine! I wonder if the explosions are as big as Kacchan's?"

Kacchan? Link thought about asking, but decided to hold off for now. Plenty of time to talk on the way to the next shrine. "I think you're right. Shall we take a look?"

He didn't wait for his friend's response before turning and throwing the bomb toward the crumbling blocks. It hit the wall and bounced around the floor for a moment before coming to a rest. Link pulled the Slate out and thumbed the bomb button.

CRUMPT!

The explosion shattered the blocks, shooting rock fragments across the room and obscuring the area in a cloud of dust. Link coughed and waved his hand in front of his face to clear the air in front of his face, and he could hear Izuku doing the same behind him.

The dust quickly settled, revealing a passage that ran through the wall. Link smiled. "Good call. Let's see where this goes."

"R-Right!"

The two followed the tunnel for a short distance before Link spotted another pair of crumbling stone blocks in the left wall, presumably blocking off another passage. Directly opposite the blocks, the passageway forked off to the right. The blond couldn't see what was down that tunnel yet, but he could only assume that they would find more of the blocks to break.

And he was right; at the end of the short tunnel, the right wall had also been comprised of breakable boulders. Izuku glanced back and forth between the two. "W-Which path do we take now?"

Link thought for a moment before holding his hands out. Another bomb dropped into his waiting arms, except this one was a big cube, which he set down by the soon-to-be-open hallway. "Come on. I've got an idea."

"What are you going to do?"

"See if we can't blow both our options open at once."

They back tracked to the elevator area, pausing on the way so Link could drop the spherical bomb next to the left fork. When they reached the main chamber, Link pulled his tablet out again and tapped both of the bomb icons. The bomb at the end of the corridor exploded, and Link could only assume that he'd detonated the other as well.

Once the smoke had cleared, the two once again proceeded into the tunnel, stopping at the fork. Now that it was clear, Link could see that the left path immediately took a turn to the right and ended in an alcove with a ladder leading up to the next level of the shrine. He glanced down the right path, but couldn't see too far beyond where the blocks used to be.

Izuku fidgeted beside him, clearly struggling with the same question he was. After a moment, he spoke up. "I-I think that we should split up here. That way we can cover more ground. I can take the right path while—"

Link shook his head and cut in. "Absolutely not. What if one of us runs into one of those little sentry robots?"

"Then whichever of us discovers it can pull back and wait for the other—or fight it, if needed." Izuku quickly unsheathed his sword and held it out to Link. "Here; I can use my Quirk if I need to fight, but you don't have any weapons other than your bow and the bombs, and those take a bit of time to set up."

Time. Why does that seem significant? Link stared at the proffered sword for a few moments before reluctantly taking it and slipping it into his empty scabbard. "All right, we'll do it your way. If you run into trouble, don't be afraid to pull back."

Izuku nodded. "I will. It doesn't look like there should be too much down that path, unless there's another ladder that's just hidden by the corner."

"Good luck, then."

Link turned away from his friend and climbed up the short ladder into a larger, more open room. To his immediate right was a small pit that a floating—It floats!—platform was strafing across. One the other side of the pit, the way forward was blocked by more of the crumbling blocks.

He took a moment to examine the obstacle, eyes narrowed. Obviously, these shrines are meant not so much as a trial but more as a tutorial to familiarize me with the different functions of the Sheikah Slate. Just as obviously, I don't want to stand on the platform when the bomb goes off to break the rocks. That would suggest an equally obvious solution.

He stared at the moving platform for a moment before he came to the solution. Summoning the cube bomb, he placed it on the platform when it reached his side of the pit and stepped back. The platform, after a brief pause, floated back across to the other side. Link pulled the Slate out and, once the bomb was close enough, detonated it.

The rock wall crumbled from the blast, revealing what appeared to be a much larger room on the other side. Link quickly crossed the pit and observed the room. The chamber was bucket shaped, with the high side of the bucket on the other side. Link could see the old monk's stasis bubble and a ladder leading up to that side of the room, but directly on top of the ladder were more of the stone blocks, dozens this time; Ja Baij's final test, apparently. How am I supposed to get a bomb up there?

SSCHUUNK!

The blond jumped as several large pillars shot out of the ground near him, pointing upward and outward from his side of the room. They were covered in strange circular patterns, some of which pulsed with the familiar blue light of the shrine.

SSCHUUNK!

Just as quickly as they had appeared, they receded into the ground again, and Link spotted another pillar that had sprouted from the opposite side of the room. He also noticed that the farthest platform from him had a chest on it.

The quiet shuffle of footsteps behind him alerted him to Izuku's return. "So," he started, turning to face his companion, "what did you find down there?"

He cut off as he noticed that apparently things had gone well for Izuku, as the youth had a claymore strapped to his back. "Erm, where did you find that?"

"Hey, Link!" Izuku responded brightly. "There really wasn't anything down that tunnel. In fact, the only thing I found was a large chest that actually had this sword inside it. I figured that, as I had given you mine, that I should probably take this one along with me, just in case."

The warrior just shook his head. "Well, I'm glad that there wasn't anything down there waiting for you." He eyed the large sword strapped to Izuku's back before focusing again on his friend's face. "Do you know how you use that?"

Izuku's smile wilted a little. "N-Not really, no. I didn't think it would be too difficult."

Link sighed. "You're a good kid. When we get back to camp tonight, I'm going to show you some basics about using that thing so you don't kill yourself—or me." He saw Izuku's face shifting a bit and decided to try and distract him. "Anyway, we need a way to get a bomb up to those blocks. Any ideas?"

It worked. Izuku's eyes immediately started roving the room, taking everything in. As his thought process took off, so did his mouth; a rapid, near unintelligible stream of words poured out as the hero-in-training worked over the problem, pacing back and forth to examine the room. Link didn't even try to decipher what he was saying and instead just sat down and waited for him to finish.

He didn't have to wait too long. After examining the piston-pillars, Izuku finally stopped muttering and slapped himself on the head. "I'm stupid."

This statement contradicted everything Link knew about the boy. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good, just realized that there's a simple solution to the problem."

Link waited for the boy to explain, and Izuku didn't keep him waiting. "It looks like there's some sort of mechanism for you to drop the round bomb into that will then launch it across the room, where you could detonate it. But that looks like it was built with only one person in mind. Since I'm here, I can just jump up and drop the bomb on the rocks for you."

Oh. "That does make this simpler. Here."

Link created another of the cube bombs and handed it over to Izuku. The greenhead took it and trotted over to the other side of the room. His Quirk's signature green lightning manifested itself as he channeled power into his legs and leapt upwards, easily cresting the lip of the platform's ledge before bouncing up onto the blocks. He quickly placed the bomb and jumped back down to the platform, where he took refuge by the sage. "All right, go ahead." The blond needed no second bidding.

CRUMPT!

The rocks crumbled away, leaving the path clear for Link to clamber up. Once at the top, he approached the sage and examined the old person. Like Oman Au, Ja Baij was a skeltal figure with long, white hair and very pointy ears whose sex was impossible to determine, though Link had a suspicion that it was, or had once been, a man. His only adornment was a simple pair of trousers, a very large hat, and several gold bangles that hung from his emaciated wrists. What has kept these people alive for so long?

Shaking the thought off, Link turned to Izuku. "Thanks. That was much easier than I would have been otherwise, I think. There was a chest back in the large room; while I deal with this, do you want to go investigate?"

"I can do that, sure!" Izuku sped off, leaving Link alone with the sage. He faced the dessicated figure again and shuddered slightly. Every instinct he had in him said that whatever was keeping these ancient Sheikah alive couldn't be natural and must, therefore, be eliminated. While he didn't know what to do with that sensation, he could at least free the sage's spirit.

He stepped up on the raised pedestal before the stasis field and tapped the glowing eye. The field quickly went from blue to a brilliant white before shattering, exposing the sage to the world once more.

Ja Baij opened his eyes and looked at the warrior. A small smile gently creased his ancient face as his voice echoed again in Link's mind. "You have done well, hero. Your resourcefulness and that of your companion in overcoming this trial speaks to the promise of a hero. In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this Spirit Orb."

Light coalesced into a shimmering sphere between the sage's compressed hands before flowing toward Link. The warrior knew what to expect this time, but the sensation of the Spirit Orb sliding into his chest still surprised him. It felt like something pleasantly warm had nestled itself inside his chest next to his heart before breaking apart and flowing through his body.

The sage's smile grew larger as he closed his eyes. "May the Goddess smile upon you." With this final telepathic message, Ja Baij disintegrated into a cloud of green dust that, too, disintegrated until there was nothing left of the man.

Link stared at where the man had been for a moment before a thud from behind him caught his attention. Izuku had returned, and in his hands he was carrying... Is that a rock? It was about the size of a fist, orange, and not quite opaque.

"I-I think it's amber," Izuku stuttered in response to the unasked question. He glanced behind Link and raised an eyebrow. "Did you get the orb?"

Link nodded. "The sage was impressed with our problem-solving skills."

Izuku grinned, his cheeks turning a little red in what Link could only assume was embarrassment at the praise. "Well, it wasn't too difficult," the boy replied.

"No, it wasn't," Link agreed. "Now, let's get out of here. We've got two more shrines to visit, and I need to show you how to use that sword."

Finally got another chapter out. Thanks for your comments and thoughts, everyone. We will definitely be visiting some of the others later on, but for now we're going to focus on Izuku and Link. A big thanks to VoidedSoul and Gotsh0cks on Discord for their help with editing; they've given me some things to think about for upcoming chapters, and I'm excited to play around with them.

Speaking of next chapter, it might be about as long before that one is out. I've entered the final third of my college semester and I have loads of papers that are coming due in the next couple of weeks. We'll see how everything goes. Until then, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and would love to hear your thoughts/ideas on how things might go.