Kohga yelped and dropped to the floor. Behind him, the metal boulder he had summoned crashed to the ground before rolling slowly over the edge of the cliff. He didn't pay any attention to the boulder's progress as it tumbled down the pit; he had much more important things to worry about.

He closed his eyes and tried to recall the sensation of dread he'd felt, that feeling of looming failure. He'd been meditating, trying to summon and control bigger and more dangerous boulders. It had been going quite well, too; the boulder he'd just lost had been one of the largest yet. He had just started to manipulate it when... what? What was it?

He scratched at his mask for a moment before removing it and turning it over to stare at the Yiga's symbol. The sensation had something to do with it, he was positive. He frowned. 'Wait, what if...' Hesitantly, he turned the mask upside down, inverting the Yiga symbol of power into that of the hated Sheikah. He traced the eye, marveling at the graceful curves of the lines, before touching the center of the eye itself. As he tapped the painted pupil, the vision came to him.

Quite suddenly, he found himself standing on a high cliff overlooking what he instantly recognized as Hyrule field. The ruins of the old guard outpost spread out beneath him, crumbling and housing the occasional moblin or bokoblin. In the distance, he could see Hyrule Castle surrounded by a miasma of Malice. He grinned; Calamity Ganon was still alive and well.

His grin quickly faded as he realized that Ganon's good health couldn't be why he was being shown this vision. His eyes darted around as he tried to spot the objective, but there was nothing below him—at least, naught but monsters and ruins. He turned to examine the other side of the wall and nearly tumbled from the high ramparts in shock.

Rising far above the Great Plateau—for surely this was the birthplace of Hyrule, he realized—was a magnificent golden tower that glowed with an inner blue light. 'But... that's one of the ancient Guidance Towers! That must mean—'

His thoughts were interrupted by a slight tremor that quickly grew into a great earthshaking quake. He fought to keep his balance, but just as quickly as it started, it seemed to stop, the sound of the quake replaced by a rushing roar that seemed to come from the stones beneath him. He looked back over the ledge behind him and watched as the lake at the base of the Guidance Tower emptied out into Hyrule Field below, flooding the lowlands and ruins.

Scratching his head, he turned his attention back to the Guidance Tower. It looked like it had been activated already, judging from the brilliant blue of the ancient light. He had been informed of the tower near the Yiga base, but he hadn't thought much of it. Clearly, it was more important than he had first thought.

He felt his eyesight begin to darken, and he relaxed and invited it to show him the rest of the vision. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing down in the ruins, looking back up toward the Plateau. Kohga glanced around. Clearly, whatever the vision was trying to tell him was around here somewhere. He wished that the ancestral visions were a little more reliable, but they had some uses.

Click click click...

The sound of boots against the ancient stone road echoed through the ruins and drew Kohga's attention back towards the Plateau. He squinted, trying to get a glimpse of whoever it might be. It could just be monsters, or some Hylian travellers; the fools were constantly running around, looking for danger. He chuckled, imagining what might happen if a group of travellers ran into a wandering monster or two. Ah, that would be glorious.

Eventually, the source of the sound came into view, and at first, Kohga was disappointed that his little daydream wasn't reality. As the figures came closer, he couldn't help but frown as he began to pick out details, as it was, the oddest travelling group he'd ever seen by far.

The figure that stuck out the most was the boy with the green hair. Kohga had never seen anyone with hair that color, and the fact that the boy's clothes all seemed to be green suggested that it was kind of his thing. Slightly in front of him was what Kohga could only describe as a blond skeleton. Even from this distance, he could see that the man's eyes blazed blue from beneath his long hair, and he seemed to struggle under the weight of the large sword strapped to his back.

By far the most normal of the three was the one that Kohga instantly recognized as a Hylian, though one that seemed almost to be a cross between the other two. He was dressed similarly to the green boy, and his blond hair wasn't quite as long as the skeleton's. Of the three, he seemed the most alert, constantly looking around while talking to his companions.

Kohga settled back and watched as the three continued to approach. So this is what the vision wanted to show him. What could these three represent? He was pretty sure that they were real; there were too many details for them to be otherwise. What could Ganon be trying to show him?

As the group drew level with him, he examined them a bit more closely. They weren't particularly well armed, and up close the skeleton seemed even more gaunt, nothing but skin on bones. He was about to dismiss the group entirely when a shimmering blue light on the Hylian's hip caught his eye. He squinted at it, trying to get a closer look—and gasped when he saw the Sheikah symbol appear in the middle of the small, dark rectangle.

As soon as the symbol appeared, the vision faded, and Kohga was once again in the Clan's gathering chambers. He didn't pay much attention to his surroundings; he had other things to worry about.

'Could it be true? Was that young man the Hylian Champion, Link? Or could it possibly have been the old man, the skeleton?' He considered the facts; both of them had been blond and seemed familiar with fighting. The one had been carrying the Sheikah Slate, true, but maybe he had just been holding on to it for the other. Link had been placed in the Shrine of Resurrection a hundred years ago, and while Kohga knew that it healed wounds, he didn't know if it prevented aging.

Making up his mind, he looked toward the entrance to his room. "Cin! Come here, quickly!" he shouted.

The thin, weaselly man who served as his second-in-command appeared in the entryway in a puff of smoke. "You called, Master?" he asked, his deep baritone reverberating off of the walls in the special way that Kohga hated because his voice didn't.

"Yes. Gather the clan; the Hylian Champion has awoken."

The early afternoon sun filtered down into the canyon carved between the two mountains, providing Izuku some light to see as they continued along the river road to the east. This marked the trio's third day of travel since they had left the Great Plateau, and the more Izuku saw, the more concerned he grew.

They had passed through ruins of what had seemed to be some sort of military outpost, crumbling fortifications and broken barracks littered with remnants of broken or rusted weapons and, occasionally, the skeletons of those who had died defending the place. Izuku shuddered, glad to be out of the ruins.

They'd finally met someone else when they had camped for the night next to one of the old shrines. The man had been surprised to see the three of them coming from the Plateau and had explained that after the towers had popped up all over the place, he had taken it upon himself to watch the broken-down Guardian in the river in case it decided to come to life. He had been a little panicky, but had ultimately told them that they were travelling in the right direction.

That had been two days ago. They'd made pretty good time today, ever since they left the bokoblin camp they had stayed at the night before, but they had had to stop and fight a couple of times as they progressed through the canyon, which had slowed them down. Now, Izuku just wanted to get wherever it was they were going.

"Hey Link, how far does the map say until Kakariko?" he asked.

Link quietly pulled out his Sheikah Slate and studied the map for a minute. "Based on the distance we've already travelled, I think we'll be there this evening."

Izuku sighed—and then chuckled to himself. It made sense that travel would take longer in a low-tech society, and while they could teleport with the Slate, they weren't sure how many could be transported, and they could only go to places that had been activated. That meant they had to explore on foot first, which he supposed wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It certainly gave him a better idea of what to expect.

To keep his mind occupied, he'd taken to writing notes about the different monsters they encountered as they travelled. Thankfully, he had an almost completely blank notebook with him, along with his current Hero Analysis for the Future, so he'd been able to utilize that, calling it Monster Analysis for the Present. So far, the first few pages were full of all sorts of diagrams and notes on bokoblins, as they appeared to be the vast majority of the monsters they'd encountered. He'd have to start a section on Lizalfos, though; they'd encountered a few earlier that morning, and he'd found them fascinating, if terrifying.

Thankfully, it looked like he might get a chance to soon. The canyon opened up ahead of the group, and Izuku saw what he thought might be a bridge crossing to the north side of the river. That might be as good a spot as any to stop for a meal before they continued to Kakariko.

As they got closer, he realized that it was a bridge, one that looked much better maintained than Proxim Bridge had. He pointed it out to Link, who peered at it. "I think you're right."

"That probably means that we'll find some of your people, Young Link," All Might said from behind the two. Izuku turned his head to see his mentor frowning in thought. "I can't say that I've noticed these monsters we've encountered constructing more than rudimentary structures, like their watch towers. It seems unlikely that they would maintain something as sophisticated as an old bridge"

"Their settlements are all like that," Link said offhandedly without turning.

'Monsters have settlements?' Izuku mentally filed that information away to add to his notes that night. Aloud, he said, "If the bridge is being maintained, then whoever's doing so must live nearby."

"We'll see."

The three continued on, and after a few minutes, the group rounded a final twist in the canyon and followed the river into an open valley surrounded on all sides by mountains. The river continued into the valley a bit before it veered off to the south, forking and vanishing into a forest. The road they were on forked as well, with the main, more traveled route going north over the bridge.

Izuku took all of this in in a glance before his attention was captured by something else. Sitting a little ways from the northern bank of the river was a small cluster of buildings. While most of the half dozen or so buildings appeared to be houses, two stood out. The first was one of the ancient shrines, surrounded by a barricade of briars, its inactive orange lights reflecting off of the water. The other building, and the one that Izuku was constantly drawn back to, was far stranger. The main structure didn't appear to be all that impressive, just a long, low building covered in tarps and canvas. Jutting out above that structure, however, was what Izuku immediately recognized as supposed to be a horse's head made from the same materials. Occasionally a breeze would stir one of the tarps on the horse's neck, revealing hollow wooden frames beneath. Izuku could see people walking in between the buildings, children playing and adults working.

"It's probably a stable," Link said suddenly, answering Izuku's unspoken question. "We should be able to get information there, maybe get some horses."

Izuku winced. "I-I don't think that's such a good idea. T-the horses, that is."

"Why not? They're faster than walking."

"I-I can't ride a horse."

Link swung around and looked at Izuku, eyes wide. "You can't ride? But you're peacekeepers, heroes; how are you supposed to defend those in need?"

All Might laughed. "Where we're from, Young Link, we don't use horses for travel at all anymore. We use machines to get around, and some heroes have abilities that allow them to travel quickly."

Link stared at All Might, wide-eyed. Izuku couldn't imagine what that revelation meant to him, so he tried something else. "I-I think that the people who made the Sheikah Slate must have traveled in similar ways," he said, gesturing toward the tablet. "We were able to teleport, right? They probably had other ways of travel as well."

Link's gaze shifted to Izuku, and after a minute, he swallowed and nodded. "I—You're probably right. It's just—it seems so unnatural."

"Perhaps it is, Young Link," All Might said quietly, placing a hand on the younger blond's shoulder. "If your people are anything like you, then they are deeply in touch with the natural world. I fear that our people have long since lost that."

The group fell silent, and Izuku couldn't help but think that All Might was probably right. They had heroes who worked with the environment, but everyday people didn't care as much. He frowned; Dagobah Beach was probably a good example of that. It had become a common dumping ground for trash and refuse until he and All Might had cleaned it up. He didn't doubt that there were many other places on Earth that had been treated the same way.

All Might's coughing caught Izuku's attention, and he looked up at his mentor. The Symbol of Peace smiled and gestured. "I think that we're all a little tired. Let's go visit this outpost and see if they can aid us in our journey."

He slipped past Izuku and Link, and after a moment, Izuku tugged on Link's tunic and hurried to catch up with his mentor, and he heard Link following a few seconds later. He sighed. Every story he'd ever read or heard of where the hero introduced technology to a primitive society always seemed to break the brains of the inhabitants a bit. Clearly, that wasn't just an exaggeration.

Link's quiet chuckle informed Izuku that he had been muttering again, and he couldn't help but blush a little. "S-Sorry, I was just thinking."

"Don't worry," Link said, grinning crookedly. "My brain isn't broken. I just forget that we come from very different worlds sometimes." His smile shrunk, and he continued, sounding more like his usual self. "While you're here, though, we should teach you how to ride. Hyrule's a big place, and you don't really want to walk the entire way if you can avoid it."

'I guess that's a fair point.' Izuku still wasn't excited to try riding.

Ahead of the group, Izuku saw a couple of kids playing in the street outside of one of the houses. One of them looked up and saw the group approaching before scrambling off toward the horse building. The other ran inside the house, and a few moments later a woman wearing a plain dress and apron and holding a soapy pan stepped out and looked down the road toward them. Izuku smiled and waved, and after a few moments, she waved back before disappearing back inside the house.

As they drew level with the house, the woman reappeared, this time without the pan. "Well, travelers! What brings you to The Dueling Peaks?" she asked, drying her hands on her apron.

"We're on our way to Kakariko Village," All Might said, gesturing back at Link. "My young friend here is on his way to meet a friend of his, and we're just going for the sights. The trouble is, we're not quite sure if we're headed the right direction, or how far it is from here, and she's been waiting for a while."

"Oh, a Sheikah friend? Well, I'm sure your friend can't wait to see you, young man," the woman laughed.

Izuku instantly liked her. He wasn't sure if it was just her friendly manner or because she looked vaguely like a thinner, brunette version of his mother, but whatever the reason, he felt drawn to her. 'I should try and draw her later to show Mom when I get home.'

The memories of his mother and home assaulted him, and he turned away and pretended to study the mountain, trying to keep his sudden onslaught of tears from gushing out of him. The last thing he and the others needed was someone asking questions about how he was able to create rivers with his tears. When he felt he had managed to compose himself, he brushed his cheeks clear and turned back around to face the others.

"...at the stable can help point you all in the right direction," the woman was saying to All Might, pointing toward the building.

"My thanks to you, Miss Imeil," All Might said, bowing slightly to the woman. "We'll ask there and see if they can help."

The woman—Imeil, Izuku realized—smiled. "Happy to help. You boys travel safely, ya hear? Plenty of bokoblins about to keep a body worried."

"We'll be careful, ma'am," Link said, voice oddly hitched. Izuku glanced at him and was surprised to see that the blond was blushing slightly. 'What did I miss while I was dealing with emotions?'

The three waved their goodbyes and left Imeil in the doorway of her house. After they had gone a few feet, Link spoke up again. "Could you two find out where we're going, and possibly get some horses for us? I'm going to go take care of that shrine."

Izuku looked at All Might to see what he thought. The pro was staring intently at Link. "Are you sure?"

Link nodded. "I am. I can't say why, but I think these shrines will immensely help in our quest, especially as each of the monks has addressed me as if they know who I am."

"Especially if they all have those orb things," Izuku chimed in.

"Yes. I'm doing this for those specifically."

Finally, All Might nodded. "Do what you think is right. We'll get the information we need and wait for you at the stable."

The blond nodded again before jogging toward the ancient structure at the base of the cliff. Izuku watched him for a moment before turning around and following All Might. While he was worried about Link, he knew the warrior could take care of himself.

As they approached the stable, it quickly became apparent that this was the center of activity for the small settlement. People bustled in and out of the open doorways leading into the structure. A few stablehands—or at least, Izuku assumed they were stablehands, as they all had the same beige-and-blue uniform and hat—were tending to a few horses that were stalled just outside of the stable, and a little ways off, Izuku could see a man with a giant, oddly-shaped backpack hawking wares to those passing him.

To complete the oddity of the structure, a counter was located in between the open entryways. A man whose hat appeared to be taller and pointier than the other workers was leaning over the counter and talking to a short woman. Izuku felt All Might's hand on his shoulder and looked up at his mentor. "W-what is it, All Might?"

"I think we should split up a bit and try to gather the information we need. Stay in the vicinity of the stable, but try and talk to people, see what you can learn. We're in a strange world, one that we still don't know much about."

Izuku nodded. "I-I think I can do that."

"Good. Stay close, but I'm not too worried about trouble; they seem to be good people."

The two waited until the man behind the counter finished talking to the woman before they approached. "Ah, travelers! Welcome to the Dueling Peaks Stable," he said, gesturing expansively. "How can I help you?"

All Might waved a hand at Izuku. "My young friend and I are traveling to Kakariko with another companion. The problem is, we don't quite know the way from here. Is it close?"

"Close? Why, it's just up the mountain! But you'll be wanting horses for such a journey, yes?"

"We had thought about it, but we have no money..."

Izuku quietly slipped away as All Might and the man began to discuss horses and prices. The Number One Hero didn't need his help with that, and besides, he had his own job to do. He poked his head into the building proper and saw that it was just one large room with beds along one wall and tables and chairs lined up along the other. 'Must double as a hotel or inn,' Izuku thought. In one corner of the room, if an oval room can have corners, he saw two men leaning over a table, gesturing wildly and speaking in low voices. While he was curious, Izuku didn't want to eavesdrop, and so left them to their own devices.

Back outside, he looked back around the small cluster of buildings and frowned. Something about them seemed... odd, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. He was about to turn around when the realization hit him. Other than the stable, the buildings were all cube-shaped, like apartment buildings back home. He hadn't noticed before because he was so used to the shape.

'That seems a bit weird for a medieval world.' He looked around, looking for someone he could ask, and quickly located someone sitting at a desk with a pad of paper and a quill. Izuku knew from experience that such people weren't as busy as they might appear, so he approached the man, stopping in front of him. "Excuse me, sir?"

The man looked up and blinked a few times before rubbings his eyes and smoothing his mustache. "Hmm, what? Sorry, did you say something?"

Izuku winced internally; apparently, the man had been involved in something important. "I'm sorry for interrupting you, sir, but I was just wondering about those buildings. I haven't seen anything like them around here."

The man frowned and turned to face the town. Izuku got the impression that he was trying to get his squinty eyes to focus. "The cube ones? I believe they are the product of a group based in Hateno. Bolson Construction, or something like that." He turned and pointed to the east. "If you follow the road, it'll take you up through Hateno Garrison and up to the village. Bit of a walk, though. You might want to talk to Tasseren about a horse."

"I think my mentor's doing that right now." Something on the man's paper caught Izuku's attention, but he couldn't quite see it. His curiosity got the better of him. "Sorry, this might be more personal, but what are you working on?"

The man turned around and followed Izuku's gaze. His face lit up in a way that Izuku was pretty sure he himself did when talking about heroes. "Oh, this? This is my research on the blood moon. I've always been curious about the sky, so I finally sat down one day and started writing out my thoughts and findings."

'Blood moon? That sounds like it could be interesting.' "What's a blood moon?"

The man's eyes widened, enough that Izuku could actually see them. "You don't know what a blood moon is? Well, go ahead and sit down and let me show you."

Izuku accepted the man's invitation and slid into the seat across from him. The man spun his pad around and grinned. "You seem like a smart kid—sorry, what'd you say your name was?"

"Uh, I hadn't. I'm Midoriya Izuku."

"Ah, my mistake. Well, Midoriya, I'm Hino, and I have been told that I have an obsession with the moon." As he spoke, Hino spun his notebook around, revealing to Izuku what he had been looking at before.

On the page were several detailed sketches of the moon in its several phases. Lines crisscrossed the page, connecting the different diagrams to note blocks, and Izuku thought he saw a couple disappear off of the page. It definitely reminded him of one of his sketchbooks.

"Recently, I've started researching blood moons," he said, gesturing at one of the diagrams. "On certain unlucky nights, the moon turns blood red as it reaches its zenith. When it does, monsters all across the land return to life and resume their activities as if they had never been interrupted."

"Th-they come back to life?" Izuku asked, feeling the blood drain from his face."

Hino nodded solemnly. "Yes, they return to life. It doesn't matter how many times they're killed or how destroyed their bodies are. The red moon knits them back together with Malice and darkness, unleashing them upon the land once more."

Izuku sat back, reeling from the revelations. His mind flashed back to the bokoblins he had killed on the Plateau. Even though almost two weeks had passed since his first encounter with the goblin-like creatures, he still felt guilty, and occasionally had nightmares about the creature's death.

If the creatures did, in fact, come back to life, then that might change everything. Death was only a minor inconvenience for these monsters, and it kind of sounded like they were some kind of spirit made flesh, which then of course it would make sense that they would need to be defeated repeatedly, as otherwise they would—

Something poked his shoulder. "Um, kid, you okay?"

Izuku looked up and saw that Hino was looking at him with concern. "Was I talking out loud again?" When he nodded, Izuku rubbed the back of his head and said, "S-sorry, it's a habit that I've been trying to break."

The man nodded again. "We've all got one of those. Anyway, that's about all that's known about the blood moon. It's been going on for years and years now, so no one really pays it much attention anymore. That's why I've started researching it, so that more people can be made aware of its effects."

"I guess that makes sense," Izuku said. He watched as Hino began fiddling with his book again and decided that he had gotten all that he could out of the man. He needed some more time to process what he had learned, anyway. "I think my mentor's looking for me, so I should probably go. Thank you for sharing your research with me; it was really interesting."

"May the moon watch over you," the man mumbled, his eyes glazed over. Izuku just shook his head and walked away. He did stop and briefly talk with one or two more people on his way back, but they weren't able to tell him much more than where Kakariko Town—apparently it had grown in the past hundred years—and Hateno were and about how long it took to travel to either. Without gaining much more information than that, he went back to All Might, who he found inside the stable/inn, waiting at one of the tables.

"Ah, there you are, Young Midoriya," All Might said as Izuku approached. "What did you find out?"

"Not a whole lot. I did find out something interesting about the moon, though..." Izuku rehearsed his conversation with Hino to All Might, explaining what he had learned about the blood moon and the revival of monsters. "...And honestly, I think I feel a bit better about the entire thing now."

His mentor scratched his head. "That's interesting. It's kind of like the old legends about Yokai."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too!" Izuku said. His grin faded a bit when he saw that All Might still looked concerned. "Um, what's the matter, All Might? Did you find out something bad?"

The blond shook his head. "No. Kakariko's about a half day's walk up the mountain from here, so we could get there late tonight. Sooner, if we had horses, though from what it sounds like, we'd need to catch our own, which shouldn't be too much of a problem. I've a sneaking suspicion that Young Link has some knowledge about the subject.

"No, what I was thinking about is that with something like these blood moons resurrecting monsters, I'm surprised that we haven't seen any more than we have. They've had a hundred years to breed, and they can't be killed permanently. Where are the rest?"

Izuku thought about it, and he couldn't help but grow more confused. 'He's got a point. We really should have encountered more monsters. Instead, there were just small groups of them here and there.' Another thought struck him, and he looked back at his mentor and lowered his voice. "If they've had that long to grow without military resistance, the Hylians should probably have been overrun by now. Most of those we've met haven't seen too militaristic."

All Might's eyes seemed to sink deeper into the dark recesses of his face. "You're right. We still don't know enough. Perhaps someone in one of these towns can tell us more." He sighed quietly before chuckling. "Still, there's not much we can do about it at this point. We're still waiting on Young Link, after all. No use discussing all this without him."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

The two lapsed into silence for a moment before All Might stood up. "Well, Young Midoriya, while we wait, let's see what we can do to help out around here. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a way to earn whatever passes for money in this world."

Izuku thought for a moment before he agreed, smiling. "That sounds like a good idea. I've still got a lot to learn, so I'll follow your lead."

Yneira rushed into the official meeting chambers of the Yiga Clan. She had been out on patrol at the edge of the Gerudo Desert, gathering intelligence on Gerudo City when a messenger had appeared and given her a scroll that demanded that all Yiga members return to the hideout immediately. She hadn't the slightest clue what could have happened to warrant such an alarm, except maybe that Master Kohga, Ganon protect him, had passed away.

As she entered the tall room, she couldn't help but marvel again at the ingenuity of their ancestors. When the Sheikah outcasts had fled from the king of Hyrule ages past, they had stumbled upon a canyon with many caves and protecting cliffs. While the surrounding terrain was inhospitable, her ancestors had determined that this was to be their new home and had bent the canyons to their will, creating a complex labyrinth of rooms and buildings for themselves and their posterity.

Many of the rooms were simple, serving as bedrooms for low-status Yiga members or storerooms, but some, like the meeting chamber, were grandly decorated. Red banners with the white Yiga eye hung along the walls, and instead of a ceiling, the room was left open to the elements. In the center of the room was a seemingly bottomless pit that also amplified the voice of whomever was speaking, allowing everyone present in the room to hear what was being said. It was a marvelous room, and while Yneira knew that many of her family and friends didn't care for it, she couldn't help but love its rugged elegance.

"Yneira! Over here!"

She looked up and saw her best friend, Risso, waving her over. Yneira grinned. She had known her since they were little. Both had been born and raised in the Yiga, though their parents had each joined individually. They had been trained together in the arts of stealth and sabotage since they were children. They'd been through a lot—a favorite memory was when they'd managed to escape from Gerudo City together—and she considered the woman to be her closest friend.

"There you are! Where have you been, girl?" Risso asked, her husky voice dropping in volume as Yneira slid into the seat next to her. "I've been sittin' around, twiddlin' my thumbs for days waitin' for you lazy snails to come crawlin' back home for this meetin'."

"Good to see you too, Risso," Yneira laughed. "They've had me on assignment down by the Gateway. I've been investigating—"

"A pretty thing like you, all the way out there? You must have been out of your mind, Yneira, takin' an assignment like that."

Yneira blushed and smiled. She was slim with dark hair and deeply tan skin, and while she knew that others thought she was pretty, she didn't think so herself, especially compared to her friend's gorgeous dark skin and curves. "Oh, shut up. It wasn't that bad."

Risso laughed. "What have you been doin' out there?"

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Yneira said, glaring at her friend with mock severity, "I was investigating different ways to infiltrate Gerudo City."

"Did you find anythin'?"

Yneira sighed. "Unfortunately, not yet. The Gerudo harlots have fortified their city well."

Risso looked like she was going to interject again, but before she could, a man walked out from the crowd toward the center of the room. Yneira immediately recognized him as Cin, Master Kohga's second-in-command. Risso winked at her before turning back to face the man as he started speaking.

"Thank you all for returning on such a short notice," he said, his voice reverberating off of the walls. Yneira couldn't help but chuckle slightly to herself. She had always thought that the disparity between the small man's appearance and his voice was slightly comical. It had made accepting her last assignment much more difficult to take seriously.

"Master Kohga understands that some of you were involved in very important missions, and he appreciates your sacrifice," Cin continued. "However, he has recently had a vision of great import, one that takes precedence above all other tasks. I will turn the time over to him to explain this vision to you."

As soon as Cin finished speaking, a figure rose from the pit behind the small man—the majestic persona of Master Kohga himself. He waved at the assembled crowd before speaking, his reedy voice echoing around the room. "Thank you, Cin. My friends and family, I have received a fell vision from Ganon. It appears that the Hylian Champion has been awakened!"

Yneira's gasp was lost in the cries of shock and disbelief that immediately filled the room. People jumped to their feet and began shouting questions at Master Kohga. Beside her, Risso shook her head and leaned over. "Oh Calamity, he's riled 'em up good now."

After a few moments, Master Kohga raised his hands and silence fell across the room. "I understand your concern, friends, especially since we have lived in a time of relative peace since his disappearance. But the vision did not lie; Link has awakened.

"Unfortunately, the vision didn't tell me everything. I was shown a vision of three people traveling together: a blond young man, a youth with green hair, of all things, and a skeletal figure with blond hair." Kohga spread his arms wide. "While the legends of the Shrine of Resurrection tell us of its healing properties, we know nothing of whether it can reverse or prevent aging. As such, either of these blond men could be Link." He paused, his masked face slowly scanning the room. "That means that, in order to protect Ganon and ensure His return, both of these men must die."

Yneira saw heads nodding across the room, and she couldn't agree more. Anyone who threatened Ganon's return had to be dealt with immediately.

"In order to make that happen," Cin said, stepping up again, "we are going to disperse you all throughout Hyrule. According to Master Kohga, these three were headed east, which means that they are probably bound for Kakariko. Unfortunately, they will probably reach that destination, so instead of trying to cut them off, you will waylay them after the fact. To be clear," he said, his voice growing stern, "this is a very dangerous mission and of critical importance. As such, while we have summoned you, we will leave it up to each of you individually to decide whether to pursue this Champion or to see to other duties. Make your decisions carefully. Good luck, and may the Demon King guide you."

Both Cin and Master Kohga disappeared after the thin man finished speaking, leaving the gathered Yiga members to prepare amongst themselves. Yneira felt someone grip her arm and turned to face Risso, who was looking at her with concern. "You're goin', aren't you?" she asked.

"I've no reason not to, and it's like Cin said: this is a major threat that needs to be dealt with." Yneira paused, searching her friend's face. "Are you not?"

Risso hesitated, then said, "I... I don't think so. I've never been good at fightin'; that was always your strong suit. I'll stay back and make sure you have a home to come back to."

Yneira nodded before she hugged her friend. "I was a bit worried, I won't lie." Pulling back, she looked Risso in the eyes. "You'll be careful?"

Risso snorted. "Girl, I'm not the one who needs to be careful. You watch yourself, okay?"

"Please, as if I need to be concerned." Yneira pulled her mask from her belt and slipped the familiar weight on her face. "I'm an Arbiter; I can handle this."

FINALLY finished this one. For whatever reason, that stable scene was really hard to write. We're mostly past that though, so the next chapter should be along a bit sooner.

Also, say hi to the Yiga Clan! I think you'll find that they're a lot more capable than the goofballs that attack you in Breath of the Wild.

Thanks for all the encouragement and ideas, you guys. Seriously, it's a big motivation to keep working on this and making it as good as I can. Also want to give a shout out to Mr. Bad Guy on Discord for editing this for me and catching the little things that got away. Until next time!