A/N: I do not, in general, write kid stories. My adult ratings are for a reason. My stories feature: violence (often graphic), Sexuality (almost always graphic), and worse. The villains in my stories are typically very villainous. The heroes are not always heroic- even if most of the time they are. Readers should expect a blanket trigger warning on everything I write. Themes of dubious- or non-consenting sex, domination, violence, gore, and character death- including major characters- exist in many of them. I do not condone such activities in real life, but unfortunately they are real in our world, and I don't feel that I could write fiction fairly without including them.

Finally, if you like this story or any of my other stories, please consider supporting me on 'The Pat-r-on Site'. You can find it by going to Pat [r] 3on DOTcom/ KajaWilder (you must have NSFW filter turned off to find my page). I can only continue my current (or faster) pace of updates if I can pay my bills. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting you think about how much enjoyment you get out of a movie- about two hours worth of fun- for $10-20- you are getting far greater value by supporting a writer like myself. If even one in twenty people that read this supported me on Pa Tree On at any but the lowest level, I would be able to easily continue focusing on writing more... and you could read more. I'm going to keep writing anyway. But the pace would be and will be a lot faster if you can spare a few dollars monthly. My lowest tier isn't even a small drink at a theater, any more. Is it worth it? Is it worth it to you? If so, then please support me.
Of course, you can ALSO find more of the same stories there. Most everything here (including FwB, PoW, and TaL) are posted here at least a week after the lowest tier's delayed post on Pa Tree On.

EDIT: OOPS! 14 chapters in (well, 13...) someone (thanks, 'Guest'!) pointed out that I accidentally skipped posting Ch. 3. Well, here it is... Sorry!
Note that, if you are in the process of reading this right now, all subsequent posted chapters will be moved up one so you might miss something. Nothing I can do about that, I can't easily shuffle chapter orders in FFnet, sadly.


Ch. 3

A Princess' Power?

Zelda gasped as she neared the overhang, and was able to see inside in the moonlight. It was no mere cave or stone. The rocks here were not jumbled together. They had clearly been pushed, and straight upward!

Some kind of structure, yellow-brown but darker than the sandstone that surrounded it, still looked rock-like. She could see three great, angled legs that moved from a wider base to a narrower top, with another presumably still buried within the stones that littered the area, having fallen partially inside the... whatever it was. It almost looks like a gazebo, she realized, the word both familiar and strange to her own mind. Surrounding the legs of the structure were little fenced areas, two she could see and one mostly buried, with holes leading down into the ground, she guessed. Around all those was a platform, mostly or half submerged in the earth, with decorative filigree of huge proportion along the rim. At the center of all of it, a slant-topped plinth, like the ones she had seen in the Shrine of Resurrection, though it was dark and lightless.

Above that, suspended a few feet in the air by the legs of the larger structure, a monolithic stone of dull gray was half-covered in the scrolling constellation designs, indicating it was made by the same style or people. That monolith hung below a larger one, almost teardrop shaped, which held even more work and was lifted by the top, outward-bent legs, with one design clear on it. An eye, single and wide, with three triangular lashes above it, and a long teardrop below it.

"What strange creature does that represent...? What has one eye?"

As she neared, more details made themselves apparent. Just inside the nearer liup, a decorative circle made several runic shapes, flanked by more of the scrollwork, and looked to be made out of the same flat, black, non-reflective stone as the top of the plinth.

She walked further... and gasped.

As Zelda stepped within a few paces of the plinth, it began to glow in soft, but wavering, slowly pulsing orange light.

Circles, a diagram... and a slot, just large enough for the device she carried. "Just like the one at the Shrine," she whispered, and her fingers itched beneath the shield to grab it, to hold it up, to put it inside. Something outside herself was urging her on, pulling her to do it.

There was a beep again, and this time, Zelda actually did lift the device.

Put the Sheikah Slate into the pedestal, the words read.

After a moment, they changed again. You know how. You have seen this before.

She paled. She had, indeed, and not just in the Shrine of Resurrection.

Other places... most of them inactive, unresponsive. But some, four, maybe five or six, had reacted as she brought this same device near.

Like this one had.

Zelda swallowed, and the device- the Sheikah Slate, she assumed it was called- came up.

It clicked into place as if the pedestal was designed specifically for it.

It spun downward, the eye lit up blue, just like the one atop the strange structure. How had she not made the connection?!

Then, with the screen up, more words and a symbol appeared. A map, drawn in incredible detail, in blue... and not filled in?

Sheikah Tower activated.

Danger detected. Please watch for falling rocks, Princess.

"Wh- What?"

The entire pillar shook, sending Zelda onto her rump again. The vibration grew rose, and worse. Rocks shifted, and her stomach dropped.

No... not dropped, she was rising, at an incredible speed, straight up into the air atop this- this tower!

Above her, the great device moved, and the monolith, both parts, began to glow a brilliant blue, soft and bright, soft and bright, in a slow pulse like the orange glow had done. She lurched, coming a few inches off the ground in a stomach-twisting way as the tower ground to a sudden halt. She waited, cautious, in case it moved again... but no. It seemed steady now, and only a few rocks remained. Most had been shaken or thrown off by the tower's rapid movement.

The pattern continued, only there were six legs, not four, and three holes leading downward.

Runes, letters she thought, in that same forgotten language began to slide rapidly, like water almost, down the interior of the monolith, moving just beneath the surface itself, until they collected in a brilliant blue light at the very bottom.

And then, magically, somehow, that light coalesced behind another eye symbol into what looked like water itself. That, in turn, fell like a drop, directly onto the face of the Sheikah Slate.

Where, somehow, it was absorbed in mere seconds.

Distilling local information, the slate then read.

All at once, with another pleasant sounding series of chimes, the map filled in.

It truly was detailed!

Regional Map extracted, it now read in one corner.

Zelda gasped. This was marvelous! She could see the temple, the Shrine's location was shining brilliant blue, and the tower she now stood atop had its own symbol of the same color. There were even two other marks, layered over that one! An arrow, which Zelda guessed meant her and her facing, and a flashing golden ring with another ring coming out of it before vanishing after a moment.

Water, ponds- even the tiny little puddle she'd slithered through a few hours earlier showed up as she peered at the map. On instinct alone, Zelda pressed two fingers to the screen, then pulled them apart. The map zoomed in, showing more, and more, finger detail still. Closing them reversed the process and more, until the entire plateau, all the map showed aside from some vague blue lines that meant nothing to her yet, was a tiny fraction of the available screen space.

"Brilliant," she said, just as in awe as she was by the fact that she was now-

"Holy Hylia!" Zelda exclaimed, grabbing onto the pedestal for safety.

She was hundreds of feet in the air!

As she touched it, the slate spun and left the pedestal. Without thinking, Zelda hurried to attach it once more to her belt. She wasn't exactly scared of heights. The castle alone was taller than this, but... She'd gotten here so quickly, it was- it was an adjustment!

But as she stared out over the land from a new vantagepoint, the princess realized she was only a little higher than the cliff she had first stepped out onto, maybe a few dozen feet at most above that.

But the view, now, was spectacular.

She noticed at a glance that more towers had risen up beside this one. Far to the south there were two, one considerably further than the other, while another rested near the base of the split-apart cloud-drenched peaks held another near their base atop a high hill, and one could barely be seen in the smoke and smog that hung around the volcano. Near the high forest to the west of that, another, and two more toward the tall, snowy mountains with the hole piercing one. Again, one was much farther than the other, barely visible, and that only because each tower glowed with a solid core of that same orange, but much brighter. Another tower was closer, perhaps a third of the way toward the castle, far to the north in the plains, and at least one more stood far to the southwest, atop cloud-touching mountains.

But that wasn't all that had appeared.

Where once there was plain ground, Zelda could see strange, almost hat-shaped buildings that had sprung up from the earth along with the towers. Dozens of them, all glowing that same orange along the bases and around... was that a door? They were made of the same dull, dark metal she thought, too, or perhaps stone. An alloy of both, if such a thing was possible?

The nearest, she thought, was a mere mile to the northwest, just past the drowned, sunken entrance to the plateau itself.

That pond, she idly thought, had likely been made by the very gates themselves trapping the water at this higher place. On the near side, a camp of Bokoblins guarded a short watchtower with a chest on it, just visible in the distance below. The far side, nearly mirroring their campfire, was that closest... whatever it was.

As she looked out over the land from her new vantage, the world shook again.

But it was the whole world, she felt this time, for along with it came a shaking in the very air, and a tugging at her soul.

Zelda found her eyes moving north. Straight north, directly to the base of the castle's tallest, central tower.

Even from here, she could see flashes of brilliant blue-white light. There was another tremble in the ground and then air, and a roar with it of unbearable pain and agony. Something beyond human. Swirling beyond the mists and shadows that circled the castle in malignant, dark magic was...

a shape, a shadow of pure evil. Capped with a head somewhere between a dragon and a great boar, its eyes shone with malevolence Zelda could not imagine in her wildest, worst nightmares. But that gaze, thankfully, was turned inward, toward the flashes of blue light.

Somehow, she heard a masculine cry, a warrior's shout. The ring of steel on steel, and a pulse of magic with it.

She was caught unawares and surprised by the Slate beeping at her again.

Princess Zelda Amaryll Hyrule. You have been sleeping for one hundred and three years.

You see before you the great beast, the Calamity once known as Ganon.

It gains strength every day.

It grows in power.

It is, and has been, held at bay by the great Hero. The bearer of the Sword that Seals the Darkness. Your champion, Link.

He fights it, even now, after more than a century has passed.

An endless combat, from which there can be no retreat, and no victory.

Not alone.

Zelda's fear was born anew as the beast circling the skies over the castle roared again, this time seeming to not only make it tremble, but to shake the very foundations of the earth before it vanished in a huge puff of black smoke.

You must hurry, Princess Zelda Amaryll Hyrule. Your champion is strong. The Hero's might has grown throughout the ages, forged and tempered in the fires of the same cycle of death and rebirth which has forged your own reincarnated soul.

But he is not limitless.

Nor are you.

Alone, he will fall.

Alone, you will fail.

Together, you may succeed.

Zelda hiccupped. The information was too much, too great. She was still just one person!

Barely armed with a simple traveler's sword and bow, and the worst sort of shield! No armor! No magic, no great spells or powerful, enchanted weaponry to defeat such evil!

You are not alone. You have your old friend, and you have me.

Somehow, the Slate knew.

Knew her very thoughts.

I do. I am with you, Princess Zelda. I have known you for a century and more. I have seen your dreams. I know your soul, better than you know yourself. But I am just a machine. I cannot do what must be done. I do not carry the soul of a thousand, a hundred thousand, generations of descendants of a Goddess.

You do.

She shivered. Was it true? Could it possibly be true?

No. How could it be true? If she was powerful, descended from a true Goddess, then how has she allowed this Calamity to ravage her nation?

How had she failed so badly?

You did not. The work was done through cunning and guile, the same weapons you must now turn against your ancient foe. I have told you the brand of the Triforce, the ancient symbol of the three Golden Goddesses, daughters of Hylia, carriers of her great power, was damaged when you were young.

You carry it anew on your hand.

You are strong, Zelda, and I am with you. You are not alone. Take heed.

He approaches.

She was startled out of her tear-streaked reverie by the cheerful laugh of a familiar old man, far in the distance.

She looked, tracing the path to what she heard, and could not spot him.

Then... up.

High above her, gaze summoned by another laugh, higher even than the tower itself by a few hundred feet, the old man soared on wings of cloth and wood.

Her eyes widened.

"Below," he called, "I'll see you on the ground! I don't trust myself to land there!"

She laughed, all fear momentarily gone in the joy of seeing a man in flight, and she hurried for the nearest hole. There were rungs of a sort, ribbing large enough to fit her hands and feet into, to grip, and so Zelda began to climb down.

One platform, then another, and another, the old man easily outpacing her despite his lazy circles around the tower.

Finally, on the last two platforms, she dared jump from one to the next. It was jarring, about a fifteen foot drop, but nothing dangerous as long as she didn't twist an ankle. Then she was down, a moment before the huge old man touched down too.

In moments, the wings he had soared upon were folded up and placed into his own remaining pouch, vanished from her view even though they had spanned several feet. "Haah," the elder exhaled, staring upward not at Zelda, but at the tower itself, which she now noticed reflected off the metal bits blue, not orange like the others. "It seems we have quite an enigma here. This tower and many others just sprung up, erupting from the ground all over Hyrule. It was quite a sight to see, I'll tell you. It's almost as though a long-dormant power has awoken quite suddenly. Something... a bit like yourself, in fact."

She snorted, looking away. "I hardly feel powerful."

The man only smiled. "Tell me, Princess Zelda. Did something strange happen on the top of that tower?"

She nodded, but felt reluctant to clarify. Eventually, she sighed, "I heard... something. The cry of the Calamity, I suppose, and the clash of steel on steel, backed by... magic, I think. A shout, a yell. Fighting, but as if through water, or from a great distance."

She didn't want to tell him what the Slate had said. It wasn't his business, was it?

"Interesting... and did you recognize the person who shouted? Have you heard it before?"

Zelda felt herself flush, unbidden and unasked for. It had seemed very familiar, now that she thought about it, but... how could she say that? She'd already told the man she remembered almost nothing. Would he think her a liar if she said she did? Surely so!

"Ah. Well... it seems I have some work to do to fully earn your trust. Ah well, it is understandable in times like these. Very well. You see there, I assume you caught a sight of that atrocity surrounding the castle."

"I did," this she could admit freely, "It's rather hard to miss."

"Just so. That is, as I'm sure you suspect, Ganon, the Calamity itself. A century ago, that vile beast brought all of Hyrule to ruin in just a week's time, and all while trapped within that castle by your own appointed knight. It appeared suddenly, destroyed everything in its path. So many innocent lives were lost in its wake. The space beyond the tree-line there was once a vibrant, busy city, the largest on this half of the continent. It lies shattered and broken, less than a shell of itself, with not a single living resident. Now, only servants of evil roam the once happy streets.

"For a century, the very symbol of our kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain it with the Hero's help, but just barely. It festers there, building strength by the day, waiting for the moment it can overwhelm your knight, and unleash its blight upon the land once again. It would appear that moment is approaching, now."

The man coughed, but gave her a measured look. "Zelda... I must ask you. Do you intend to make your way to the castle in due time? Do you intend to aid your knight, and subdue the beast once and for all?"

Zelda swallowed.

It was just so much.

The fear, the pain. So much pain already, from the claw-marks on her thigh, to the bruises from being struck, bashed with a shield, hitting the ground several times.

Feeling so helpless, powerless, unable to affect any change at all.

But she had to.

There was no one else, was there? Her appointed knight, he had said. The one who guarded her, a trusted bodyguard? Friend, maybe? Someone by her side, at least. Someone who had proven their loyalty to at least the kingdom over a century of mortal combat, according to the Slate, and this strange, too-wise old man.

But that little ball of warmth still burned in her.

Zelda nodded, "I do."

He laughed then, softly, but with more warmth than she could recall. "I had a feeling you would. Another task to guide your way, then. On this isolated plateau, we are surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides, with no way down. Mists gather at the bottom from the streams and waterfalls, the height is so great! You would have to open a lake's worth of door to drain that exit, and no ladder or rope in the world is enough. But there is one way down."

"Your glider," Zelda realized even as he reached back to pat his enchanted pouch.

"Exactly," the man said with another beaming smile, "and I've no need for it any longer, not really. You would die if you jumped without it, and doom us all in doing so. But with it... you would be safe, and able to venture out into the rest of Hyrule. Gather more allies than this foolish old man, at any rate, and gain more strength yourself in the doing, I'd wager."

"And? I assume, like the apples, you want something in trade?"

Another smile split his beard, "Just so! You are clever, aren't you? Yes, I do. It turns out there's a bit of treasure slumbering nearby. In that shrine just there, in fact. Some had been uncovered, like that one, before the Calamity rose. But they remained dark, until just now when the tower rose and awoke, bringing with it the others. That sort of place must hold a treasure, don't you agree?"

Zelda frowned pensively, "I suppose it does seem likely, yes. And you want me to get it for you in exchange for the glider?"

"Indeed, I'd like you to obtain it. I think it's fair."

"It seems I have little choice."

"Just so. I'll wait here, though you may see me around. In fact... I may come visit, if you find your way inside, ho, ho!"

"Fine, fine," she muttered, and turned to face the shrine again, looking it over. "I can guess the Sheikah Slate will let me in. That's a plinth like on the tower, isn't it? And the Shrine of Resurrection?"

"You are very observant, Princess, even from a distance! Yes, it is, and my guess is that you alone will be able to enter those Shrines just now, which is why I ask you. Be careful. I do not know what awaits inside."

"Alright, alright," she sighed, straightening the tattered remains of her dress.

To her surprise, she caught the old man look down as she displayed an unhealthy amount of cleavage, then look away, his own cheeks bright red beneath the white beard. "My apologies, that was improper," he muttered. "I was... surprised, that's all."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I may be young, but I don't think so little of an accident. Think nothing of it, sirrah. I suppose I'll see you after I obtain this treasure. And if I don't come out..."

"Then we are all doomed, and I won't have to worry about it. Hah!"

"Thank you," she groused, "that takes all the pressure off."

His laughter was still ringing in Zelda's ears as she made her way down, not around the gate-formed pond, but to the near side. That treasure had intrigued her... and the mass of Bokoblins needed to die.

As dawn approached, Zelda, finally starting to feel a little fatigued but not ready to rest yet, looked over the camp. It was far more than she'd faced at once. The trio with the explosive barrel had been easy enough to dispatch, and the pair before that with the boulder.

This was not just three, but four red Bokoblins. Three cavorted and danced around a fire, while the last stood a vigilant watch with a crude bow atop a tower accessed with a ladder. She might be able to sneak in and take him out at close range, but Zelda doubted she could do it without alerting the others. The ones by their cook-pot had no weapons, but she could see several nearby. No doubt, they would take up arms at once if the alarm were raised.

But she was not as helpless as she had been when she first came out of the Shrine's caves.

With a grimace, she drew and strung a less-powerful and much cruder Boko bow, wanting to save wear and tear on the hunter's weapon until she truly needed it, and loosened not just one but two clubs in their ties. She might need them. Finally, Zelda tightened the crude little shield on her left arm, hoping it wouldn't interfere with her aim too much, and crept closer.

There were crude fortifications, too, and she took advantage of those. Crates had been arranged to form a partial wall, and they looked fairly sturdy despite the passing of years. But larger planks had been crudely lashed together to form arrow- and sight-guards, or to break up a charge from some unknown force. Between the creates and walls, one side was fairly well covered. The opposite was formed by the bastion wall around the plateau itself. The left, from her position, was protected by the pond that covered the great gates, and the right was open, but watched closely by the wakeful Bokoblin.

So she approached from the blind spot, using their own protections against them. The walls blocked sight from both sides, after all. From directly beneath the southern post, Zelda finally knocked a silent arrow and lifted the bow, praying she would be able to get an accurate shot off before the Bokoblin noticed the weapon, and that her aim would be true.

Of course, it wasn't.

The first arrow struck its shoulder, and the beast whirled in her direction. Undeterred, Zelda took a calming breath and, as quickly as she was able, loosed another.

This time, it sunk straight into the Bokoblin's snotty left nostril.

It fell from the tower with a quiet gasp, and the Bokoblins around the fire continued to taunt and dance as they cooked their grisly morning meal.

She waited, torn between the need to take the dead Bokoblin's belongings before they were taken up by another at the same post, and worse they would certainly notice their companion missing by then, and caution.

Fortunately, the latter won out, and she waited, and waited, until the three others were asleep, and the sun was peeking over the horizon.

Closer... their snores were loud, drowning out the whistle of the wind through their barriers. The stench was fetid, but Zelda steeled herself. Retching now would certainly rouse at least one, who would rouse the others in an instant.

Then she was there, just by the head of the closest monster as it lay like an animal, sprawled on the ground. The club came down just once, a heavy, overhead swing with two hands.

Crack.

Both of the others stirred as their fellow vanished. Neither woke, however, and Zelda continued on.

Crack.

The second was gone too.

Crack.

She had done it! Hardened warriors and knights, she suspected, might have struggled to face four Bokoblins at once.

She had done it with no armor, poor clothing, and only their own rude, near-useless weapons turned against them!

The irony of it made her smile, as a quiet growl caught her attention.

Above her, on the elevated platform opposite the watchtower, there was a puff of black and purple smoke, much like that of a monster disappearing, but less of the dark shadows and more of the maleficent mist.

The chest, she remembered. Was that a locking enchantment breaking...?

She would wait for that, though. First, she had to gather up what the Bokoblins had crafted.

Thirty-three arrows, nine apples, two bows, another club, a second shield (finally, the first was far too flimsy for her liking, and though the other wasn't much better, it was at least a backup!), and a trio of acorns along with scraps of meat she wouldn't eat on her most hungry day later, Zelda smiled as she climbed up, at last, to open what the beasts had been guarding. The chest itself was horrible, carved from the skull of some beast and warped into place around a crude metal and stone box, it even had a pair of roughly-crafted horns made of, she guessed, actual horns. From a cow, perhaps.

Inside was no great treasure, but Zelda felt it worth the stress and work and planning all the same.

Another short-blade, in even better condition than her first and just as sharp. "Oh, thank Hylia," she exhaled, casually throwing her most-worn club, the one she'd used to slaughter these particular Bokoblins in their post-meal nap, over the side of the plateau, hopefully to shatter and break before another monster picked it up.

Finally, she turned her eyes back to the disgusting slop the creatures had been cooking. Their bedrolls, the two that their were, were covered in lice and worse. The stew was completely unappetizing, and mostly gone, charred to the bottom of the stone cook-pot. But there was a crude stone ladle, and she used that to carefully scrape all of the garbage out of the thing, taking her time as the sun rose high and fatigue mounted. Eventually, she could see only stone and char. Then her water skin poured out, and she scraped and scrubbed again.

Another load, this one to cook with, let Zelda add a couple of mushrooms.

Once those were sufficiently boiled- thankfully just shy of rubbery, which she despised- there were a few apple skewers, and while those cooked, she added a few fish caught with her bare hands (she was more capable than she thought!) from the pond to the north while on a trip to refill her water skin once more. Simple, unseasoned bird-egg omelets, fruit and mushroom mixes, and lastly, that head of the bladed rhino beetle along with, of all things, some Bokoblin fangs.

She didn't know what it made.

The fluid she somehow salvaged into a bottle the Bokoblins had discarded was a tangerine sort of orange, thick but not quite viscous, and bubbled actively even when removed from heat. And somehow, she sensed magic within it.

She had, completely by accident, made a magical elixir.

"Am I a wizard? A sorceress?"

No answers came of course, not even from the Sheikah Slate, which seemed only to read her mind and respond when it was of a mind to.

With her pouch suddenly swimming not only with some leftover ingredients but actually cooked and prepared trail-foods she could not remember learning to cook, Zelda finally slipped away from the camp into a quiet, blasted part of the wall hidden from view by any outside, and let herself curl into a ball.

She thought she might have cried again, but all Zelda could remember is quickly falling into a cold, exhausted, restless slumber.