After a very long hiatus, I'M BACK! And with a brand new story to boot! This here is my own adaptation of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom starring the titular princess herself...and the Hero Erdrick/Arusu! After just recently playing both Echoes of Wisdom and the HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III, this idea popped up! Plus, if you think about it, both The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest share several similarities with each other (both franchises even debuted in the same year!), so they should fit well for a crossover.
And... for some strange reason, FanFiction still hasn't added any content from Echoes of Wisdom yet. Because of that, I'm currently unable to add any character tags since Tri isn't present in it.
Without any further ado, here it is!
Chapter 1: Mysterious Rifts
[BGM: Requiem – Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake]
"M-Mom… Are you there…?"
It had always been like this for our Legendary Hero…if he even feels proud of being addressed like this in the first place, that is.
Ever since vanquishing Zoma, the Lord of the Underworld that was revealed to be the land of Alefgard, and finding out that it had been sealed off forever from his homeland in the aftermath, Arusu kept having this same nightmare over and over. It was born from his deep, dark belief from his already rather fragile mind where he felt like he didn't earn his title of Erdrick, mightiest of heroes, in a fair manner. Sure, he did manage to save Alefgard from Zoma's dominion over it and prevent him from taking over his home world… but it came at the cost of never being able to return home again. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find any other means of getting back or at least let his family know that he's doing alright. Not even Ramia, the Everbird who is capable of travelling between worlds, could get to him. It was as if Alefgard lied in a pocket dimension that is always out of reach from Arusu's world; one that nobody can ever get out. It was almost like… a prison. Arusu felt like he was imprisoned in a cell that is inescapable. The fact that all the people in Alefgard kept singing praises to him, like if he was some sort of messiah sent by the Goddess, didn't help in the slightest.
That is, until he received the infamous invitation to join the Super Smash Bros tournament from the King of Alefgard. That could serve as his only ticket – his only key – of getting out of this once thought inescapable prison. He was ecstatic at first… but it quickly died down upon learning that if he were to return to his home world, it would always be in Alefgard only.
This nightmare always begun with him walking through the open plains of Alefgard all alone, looking for his mother. It always pained him about the fact that he didn't get the chance to even say a proper goodbye to her (as well as his grandfather) before being trapped in Alefgard forever, since the last words he heard from her were that he could pop by their house again if he ever found himself missing her cooking. He knew that she must be worried sick for him. It was bad enough that he had lost his father, but losing his mother too? It just wasn't fair to him.
"Darling…? Is that you?" a voice, full of clear worry and sorrow, suddenly came as a familiar figure appeared a good distance away from the young Hero.
Gasping at the sight, Arusu easily recognized the figure as his mother. She had blue eyes, purple hair tied up in a side ponytail cast over her left shoulder, and she wore a blue dress with a long-sleeved yellow under blouse, a plain white apron, white pants and brown boots. At first, she seems to carry a perpetually cheery attitude, and her soft facial features surely reflect that, but deep down, she harbored strong insecurities about her child venturing forth to save the world. And this is backed up by how her biggest fear was losing her only son, just like how she lost her husband, Ortega.
"Mom!" he shouted desperately, immediately running and reaching out a hand towards her… but just as he was getting closer, the ground below his feet would inexplicably shift and move backwards like if he was running on a treadmill. It was if all of Alefgard itself was actively preventing them from ever interacting with each other again; an accurate reflection of how Arusu views this world.
"Darling?! Where are you going?!" his mother cried, also reaching out to him but their hands would always be within a few inches away, not even their fingers were close to touching each other. "Please, don't leave me! Come back!"
Refusing to give up, Arusu kept running to try and get to his mother, even if he knew that his attempt would be fruitless. And sure enough, the ground only began to move faster and faster the more he tried. "M…Mom…" he could only mutter weakly, as he helplessly watched his mother appearing to be drifting away from him. Despair and hopelessness overcame him, along with the tiredness he felt after straining himself too much from running. The combination of these led to his legs giving away, his face showing nothing but emptiness.
Normally, that is the moment where the nightmare ended.
But this time, however… Things went differently.
[BGM End]
Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, the whole world rumbled violently. The hollow look in Arusu's eyes sprung back to life almost instantly as he got back up and looked around in surprise.
"Wh-What's going on?!"
[BGM: A Rift Appears – The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom]
Then, out of nowhere, large dark purple rifts began to open up all over Alefgard, tearing through the very fabric of space and engulfing everything in their path. Arusu watched in shock as entire forests, hills, bodies of water, and even all the towns and important landmarks he has been through in his journey, including the kingdom of Tantegel, were completely overwhelmed by those rifts in an instant.
"Come over to me, dear." before he could even have time to process what was happening, he heard his mother speaking in a sweet tone as he immediately looked over to see her walking towards him with open arms… but as she got closer, something was happening to her: her eyes suddenly turned red, and an ominous dark purple aura was surrounding her. Arusu let out an audible gasp as he saw how wrong that sweet smile of hers looked with her sinister-looking eyes. "Let us watch all of this land return to its original state, and then we can finally be together… just as you always wanted."
"R-Return to its original state…? What are you talking about, mom?!" he questioned, his body trembling with fear as he slowly backed away from her.
"You despise the way this land had treated you, no? This land took everything away from you: your father, your stable mind, your old life… Oh, what cruel fate has befallen you." she spoke with faux remorse while still keeping a smile on her face. "They claim that you restored peace, but this was nothing more than a lie. Once all of this land gets consumed, then we will achieve true peace; a void of nothingness where we can live together in eternal bliss. No one and nothing will ever disturb or draw us apart again."
Now this left the Hero visibly disturbed, both due to the fact how his mother was spouting such absurdity that she would never say, and she somehow knew about his true feelings towards Alefgard. The world suddenly shook again as the rifts grew larger and larger, consuming even more of the land and leaving only just a few small patches of what was left of it. Arusu took note of the damage and destruction, an even stronger feeling of despair overcoming him as his legs gave away again. While it's true that he resented how Alefgard basically took away his old life, he would never go as far as wanting it to be erased from existence. This would make him just as bad, if not worse, as Zoma.
"No… No, stop!" he cried, shutting his eyes while grasping his head from both sides. "I don't want any of this!"
"Don't lie to yourself; you know you want to be rid of this suffering forever, so I'm erasing this whole land for your sake…" a dark and sinister voice suddenly came, supposedly coming from someone else that just appeared next to Arusu's mother. But since the Hero had his eyes closed, he didn't get to see it. "You should be thanking me."
"N-NEVER!" he shouted, shaking his head. "I'd much rather die than live in a world of nothing!"
"…Just as I thought." the voice growled. "All of you meaningless lifeforms never fail to disappoint me. In that case… then you shall drown and be consumed by the void alongside everything else!"
After those words were said by the mysterious being, Arusu soon felt like he was sinking as if he were in quicksand, making him open his eyes and gasp in horror as he found himself being slowly engulfed by a rift. He tried to break free, but any of his attempts at escaping were futile; his whole form sinking into the rift being a perfect metaphor of him sinking into a sea of despair.
All he could do was look up one last time at his mother who still bore that unnerving sweet smile, not even caring about what was happening to him, and just barely notice a large wispy cloud of darkness standing beside her before he fully sank into the rift, and then everything went dark.
Arusu wakes up with a scream.
Once he took notice of his surroundings and realizing where he was, he does his best to gain control of his breathing and calm down as he wiped off the sweat pouring down his brows. He was sitting on an old but comfy bed, in a building with walls made out of stone and a wooden floor.
After spending their summer vacation on Kirby's universe, the pink puffball had sent Arusu and his comrades back to their universe; more specifically, they ended up in Eleven's world, Erdrea. The Luminary himself then had a brilliant idea: he suggested the others that they should head out to Angri-La so they could do some training with the Copy Essences – their gift from Kirby – and become better with properly wielding them, and he even said that he would invite his travelling companions to help them out. Angri-La was a holy sanctuary of ultimate discipline in which one can train their body and mind to bring out all their hidden potential, and it was here where Eleven and his grandfather learned Solar Flare, their most powerful Pep Power. Therefore, Angri-La was perhaps the perfect place to do training in general.
When their training session for yesterday was over, Eleven kindly offered his comrades to spend the night over at his home village of Cobblestone, and they gladly accepted. There, they got to meet his wife, Gemma, who made them all dinner and then the trio went to rest at the village's local inn.
Soon after calming down, Arusu took his time to try and process everything he witnessed in his dream. The key word here is 'try': he just couldn't comprehend about how he basically had a modified version of his recurring nightmare, which featured things that he didn't even have any knowledge of.
'What… What the HELL was that all about?!' he thought, scared and confused as he massaged his right temple. This didn't make any sense to him; how was he dreaming about things that he had never seen before in his life? And most importantly… why did he have this modified dream only just now of all times?
A growl from his stomach helped him snap back to reality. Putting those thoughts aside for now and looking forward for breakfast, Arusu got out of bed and made his way downstairs to leave the inn.
[BGM: Village Hidden in a Mountain – Dragon Quest XI S]
Outside, Arusu was immediately met with Solo and Eight, who were standing by the entrance waiting for him. "Morning, Arusu!" Eight greeted him cheerfully.
"Morning, guys." Arusu replied with a fake smile as he approached the two.
"We've been waiting for you." Solo said. "Let's head over to Eleven and Gemma's house and have some breakfast."
Arusu simply nodded in response and the trio started walking together. By the time they were approaching the small stone bridge situated over the river, however, Solo and Eight couldn't help but notice how unusually quiet Arusu was. They glanced over at their friend and saw that he was sporting a somber look, which left them worried.
"Arusu, are you okay?" Eight asked in concern, patting his shoulder and causing him to snap out of it as he looked at the pair. "Did something happen?"
Before he could respond, Solo beat him to it, "Let me guess. You had that nightmare again?"
Arusu sighed. "Yes, you got that right. But this one went…differently than the last ones I always had."
The pair rose their eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" Solo asked.
The Legendary Hero bit his lower lip; he really didn't feel comfortable in telling his comrades about this new variation of his recurring dream due to how nonsensical it was to him. On the other hand… maybe if he did tell them, they could discuss more about it together. But since Eleven wasn't with them right now, he decided to hold it off for now until after they had their breakfast since he didn't want Gemma to get involved in this subject.
"How about I tell you after we had our breakfast?" he suggested. "Because… I want Eleven to hear it as well."
Solo and Eight looked at each other and nodded. "Sure, we can wait." Eight replied with a smile, as Arusu returned it with a genuine smile of his own. He was really lucky to have friends whom he could trust.
[BGM End]
Later, after breakfast…
The Loyal Bodyguards have gathered at the Parting Place in the Heliodor region, located just outside Cobblestone's outskirts. Even though Erdrea was long free from Calasmos's evil influence, that didn't cause the eradication of hostile monsters. Thankfully, the Heroes were under the effect of Holy Protection – a spell designed to keep monsters away from the caster – and thus they were able to have a conversation with no interruptions.
"…And that's what happened, as far as I can remember." Arusu finished telling his comrades his dream, and it left said trio astonished.
Solo folded his arms. "So, to summarize… The dream played out exactly as it always did, but instead of ending, these strange rifts appeared and were consuming Alefgard, your mother gained an unnerving makeover and started mentioning about having the world return to nothingness, and then someone else – you believe it was that wispy cloud thing standing next to your mom – started speaking, then you found yourself sinking into a rift and that's when you woke up?"
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Crazy, isn't it?"
"You're telling us…"
"There's one thing I don't understand…" Eight mused. "That other voice you heard…you described it as being sinister, so it's definitely someone that can't be trusted. But then why did it say that you should be thanking it?"
"How the hell should I know?!" Arusu retorted with a dramatic raise of his arms. "But I think the real question here is… Why did I have this modified recurring dream only just now?!"
"Hmm…" Eleven went pensative, finally speaking after being silent all this time. "It's only a stretch, but… Perhaps it could be some sort of bad omen? Or maybe a warning or message it was trying to tell you?"
"You are right on the mark…" a soft, womanly voice suddenly echoed in their minds.
[BGM: Heavenly Flight – Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake]
Just then, a giant shadow shaped like a bird swooped by the Loyal Bodyguards. They looked up, seeing shiny and sparkly large white feathers gently swaying down around them, as these immediately elicited a sense of familiarity within Arusu. Eight also felt the same, though said feeling of familiarity was somewhat clouded at the moment. The owner of those feathers glided around the quartet several times as they stared at it in awe, getting lower and lower with each lap. Finally, it landed next to them while flapping its wings hard to keep steady, resulting in that causing a large gust of wind to blow at their direction and forcing them to shield their faces.
Once the wind died down and the Heroes uncovered their faces, they looked in front of them to see a large, peacock-like creature with feathers white as snow, blue eyes, teal train feathers with yellow eyespots, two orange tail feathers, some fluffy teal feathers arranged like a collar on its neck, and a red ruffled crest on top of its head. That was Ramia, the ageless legendary phoenix that Arusu helped hatch in his journey after gathering the six orbs scattered across his world. Her sight alone just screamed godly majesty and grace, as she is a servant of the Goddess Rubiss, and she's known for being kind and wise.
"Ramia!" Arusu beamed.
"We meet again, Arusu." Ramia smiled, then glanced over at the other familiar face amongst them. "And it's good to see you again too, Eight."
Eight's eyes widened, finally hitting him. "Empyrea!" he exclaimed, running up to her. "So this is what you originally looked like?" she nodded in response. As someone capable of traveling between dimensions, Ramia had once been to Eight's world under a new name and appearance. And much like the Hero she helped before him, she also lent the Dragovian hybrid a helping hand to save his world.
"Wait… so is it Ramia or Empyrea?" Eleven rose an eyebrow.
"I don't mind being called either name." Ramia giggled. "By the way, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Eleven and Solo."
"Likewise, Ramia." Solo replied. "So, what are you doing here?"
Ramia then went serious. "As I was saying during my arrival here, I believe in Eleven's words: Arusu's modified dream could be a warning about an incoming danger."
The Loyal Bodyguards' eyes widened. "Is that so?" Arusu asked, intrigued.
A nod came from the Everbird. "I could tell from one particular thing you described in your dream, Arusu. Those rifts you mentioned? During my recent travel through dimensions, I happened to have caught a glimpse of similar rifts that were already threatening another world; the one where they originated from." her face turns glum. "And if left unchecked, they will eventually reach Alefgard like in your dream, but they could very well reach this world and other ones too… and that could spell total destruction of everything."
[BGM End]
The Heroes silently gasped as they looked at each other, then they let out a soft collective 'hm' while narrowing their eyes. They couldn't help but gain a sense of déjà vu; whoever was creating those rifts that could destroy the world disgustingly reminded them of their own respective big bads they had to vanquish in their personal journeys. While their reasons for destruction were different from each other, they all shared the same threat level to the worlds they caused trouble upon. If the one behind the rifts was no different, then the Heroes had every reason to oppose and get rid of them as soon as possible.
"Ramia, from which world those rifts originated from?" Arusu asked, his tone full of resolve.
"I see that you're already determined on stopping them." Ramia said approvingly. "But about the rifts' origin… They are actually not from this universe."
"Then, which universe is it?" Arusu, along with his comrades, weren't even fazed by her response. Considering how they have already been to three different universes, hearing about anything coming from a universe that isn't their own didn't sound too absurd or surprising to them anymore.
"It is a universe that belongs to a certain group of people you're already friends with: a universe whose entire existence consists of alternate timelines and variants of two specific individuals, with one carrying the blood of a goddess, and the other holding the spirit of the hero chosen by said goddess."
The four's eyebrows perked up, already knowing which universe she was talking about. "Are you talking about… the universe where Princess Zelda and the various Links are from?"
"You are correct, Arusu. To be more specific, the rifts are originating in the Hyrule of the Fallen Hero timeline; the one where Zelda comes from. I took a quick glimpse into it, and I learned that apparently, that Hyrule has been dealing with those rifts for a long time."
"Really? Then how come Zelda or Trifle didn't show any concern about how they might be causing trouble in their world before?" Solo wondered.
"If I have to guess, it's probably because the rifts weren't such a big deal back then. But something must have happened that made this problem escalate drastically. Additionally, all the people in Hyrule are now becoming more aware of them and are trying to find a way to deal with them."
Eight put a hand to his chin. "What about Zelda and her version of Link? How are they dealing with the rifts?"
"That, I'm afraid I do not know. The only way to find out is by actually physically going to Hyrule itself and get information about them."
"In that case…" Arusu stepped forward. "Ramia, please take me to Hyrule."
"Yeah! Let's-…" Eight cut himself off once he realized what Arusu just said. "Hold on, don't you mean 'take us to Hyrule'?"
Arusu shook his head. "No. I'll be doing this alone."
His comrades became flabbergasted. "What?! Why?!" Eleven questioned incredulously. "Arusu, what are you-…"
"I think I know why he made this decision." Ramia spoke up, interrupting Eleven. "First and foremost, Arusu is the only one of you who dreamt about the rifts, right? If that's the case, then he must have an important role to play in Hyrule; tagging along might end up in you all getting in his way. And second…" she looked down at Arusu. "Well, why don't you clarify it to your comrades yourself, Arusu?"
Arusu chuckled. "You read me too well, Ramia." he went serious again as he looked back at his comrades. "The reason why I want to do this on my own, guys, is because… I just have this gut feeling that if I help save Hyrule, I might be able to find a way to get rid of this recurring nightmare that's been plaguing me all this time in there. This is my problem; I don't want my problem to be yours either. I hope you all understand."
[BGM: Hero's Triumphant Return – Dragon Quest XI S]
Thankfully for him, his comrades respected his decision. "We understand, Arusu." Eight reassured him. "We're more than willing to stay behind if this quest involves something far too personal to you."
"You… You really mean it?" Arusu asked, surprised.
"Of course!" Eight nodded, with Eleven and Solo doing the same.
"…Thank you, guys." Arusu smiled, extremely grateful for his comrades' loyalty.
"You're welcome." Eleven replied and went to pat his brother in arms on the shoulder. "Now go out there and be a Hero as always!" Arusu chuckled at that.
After that, the Legendary Hero turned back to Ramia. "Shall we get going, Ramia?"
"Sure. Get on my back." Ramia turned around, allowing Arusu to hop on her back.
"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later." Arusu addressed his comrades as he made himself comfortable on Ramia's back.
"We'll wish you the best of luck out there." Solo blessed.
"Heh, thanks."
"Are you ready, Arusu?" Ramia asked while spreading her wings, ready to take off.
"Ready!"
And with that, with a hard flap of her wings, Ramia took off from the ground and towards the sky.
"Come back safely!" Eight shouted as he, Eleven and Solo were waving them off, and Arusu responded with a thumbs up before Ramia flew higher up.
A big smile formed on the Hero's face as the Everbird soared through the skies, memories of when he rode on her back for the first time began to surface in his mind: the gentle breeze blowing on his face, surveying the landmass and the sea below… Those were memories he thought for the longest time he would never experience again due to being trapped in Alefgard, where Ramia somehow couldn't get to.
Eventually, Ramia would open up a portal in front of her just a couple of feet away. As she approached the tear in reality that led to a dimensional tunnel, she made sure to cast a shield around herself and Arusu, allowing for the Hero to survive in the vacuum of the tunnel.
[BGM End]
Ramia was flying in the dimensional tunnel at a very fast speed, making Arusu's mantle flap wildly. The Everbird then soon passed through the doorway leading to Zelda's universe, creating a quick flash of light that almost blinded Arusu. When his vision returned, he was greeted with an aerial view of the vast land of Hyrule at dusk; the orange tint creating a beautiful and serene atmosphere.
Unfortunately, said atmosphere would quickly be ruined once Arusu and Ramia took notice of the bigger picture: rifts were scattered all across different portions of the land, some small, some big. Taking a closer look by squinting their eyes, the pair could see that the smaller rifts were spawning monsters made completely out of darkness and were either out on patrol or terrorizing the locals.
"These rifts are identical to the ones you saw in your dream, right Arusu?" Ramia asked him for confirmation as she soared around the skies.
"Yep." Arusu nodded. "Man, if not for these rifts, I would definitely be enjoying Hyrule's sights right now. The situation in here looks worse than I thought…"
"Indeed. That's why you must get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible, and I know the perfect place for you to start." Ramia then glanced over at Hyrule Castle. "I'll drop you off at the castle. Perhaps you could try and speak to Princess Zelda herself to see if she knows more about the rifts."
"Sounds good." Arusu agreed, a part of him growing warm simply by thinking about seeing Zelda again after last seeing her during their adventure in Pit's world.
With that, Ramia glided down towards their destination and touched down on the left side of Hyrule Castle Town's outer walls near the river, making sure to stay hidden from view. Arusu dropped down from the Everbird's back and took a moment to look around his new surroundings. He could tell that the air in Hyrule definitely felt different, yet it also felt somewhat similar to Erdrea or even his home world at the same time, as if both universes have a hidden spiritual connection between each other. The Hero obviously couldn't make out the reason why that was the case, but he shouldn't be thinking too hard about that right now; he came to this universe for a more important reason, after all.
"I suppose I should take my leave now before I draw in any attention." Ramia said. "Will you be able to handle things from here on now, Arusu?"
"Don't worry, I've got this!" Arusu smirked confidently. "I'll make sure this world is saved, just you wait!"
Ramia giggled. "Confident as ever, I see. But even while I'm gone, I'll still be watching you from beyond." she turns around and spreads her wings. "Good luck and be careful, Arusu." she takes off from the ground, and the Hero watches her leave through another portal. He was on his own now.
Taking a deep breath to simmer down the anxiety, Arusu made his way to the Town's entrance. Just as he'd expected, there were two guards stationed on both sides of the entrance. They were quick to notice the Hero's presence once he came into their view, and their eyes perked up in both surprise and intrigue.
"Huh, we certainly weren't expecting a traveler to come over to our town at this late hour…especially when there's trouble brewing about." the guard on the left mused. "Either way, please state your business here."
'Okay, this shouldn't be too hard…' Arusu thought, so he went straight to the point. "I came here because I'd like to request an audience with the princess."
The guards glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. "And why is that?" the one on the right demanded, as both of them glanced back at Arusu with somewhat suspicious looks.
"Well…" he trailed off a bit, trying to come up with a partial truth. "These rifts have been bothering me, so I wanted to gather information on them. I figured that the princess might have the information I need, so that's why I came here."
The guards then sighed, as if confirming their suspicions. "About that…" the guard on the left began. "I'm afraid we cannot grant your request."
"Even if we did, the princess is currently not available at this moment." the guard on the right added. "And besides, why would you even bother trusting the princess with gathering information on the rifts… when she's the one creating them herself?"
[BGM: Dialogue (2) – The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom]
Arusu's eyes shot wide. "Wait, what?!"
"According to the king, apparently his own daughter is responsible behind all the rifts plaguing Hyrule. And the only way to stop them…is by sentencing her to death."
"I feel bad that the princess has to die so soon…" the guard on the left sighed in pity. "But if that's the only way to save our fair kingdom, then so be it. The preparations for her execution are along the way; it should be ready by next morning. In the meantime, she's being kept in the dungeon."
"So, yeah… We're sorry, but if that was your only business in here, then we must kindly ask you to leave."
Arusu had no choice but to comply. "…Fine, I understand." and with that, he turned around and made his way back to the same spot he was before, out of sight from the guards.
There, he began to ponder and process everything he heard from the guards. 'There's no way I heard that right… Zelda is the culprit behind the rifts?' he thought, arms folded. '…No. That can't be true. She would never do something like this.' even if he wasn't that close to Zelda, he knew her just well enough to call that accusation BS in his head.
He looked up at Hyrule Castle's tall towers, determination flaring in his eyes. 'Something horribly wrong must've happened to the king, and I'm going to find out!' the Hero himself was no stranger to uncovering impostor monarchs; he had done so two times in his journey, in which both said monarchs turned out to be monsters impersonating the ruler of the kingdom they were causing trouble upon. 'But…how am I going to get past the guards?' he wondered as he looked back at the direction of the town's entrance.
[BGM End]
Then, an idea sparked in his mind as he recalled yet another moment from his journey: in order to get an important item needed to access some of the six orbs, Arusu and his party had to sneak into the castle of Edina since the guard standing at the entrance wouldn't let them in. To do so, they used something called a Fading Jenny, a peculiar parsnip-shaped herb that can turn the user temporarily invisible. Now, he does technically have access to invisibility via the Hocus Pocus spell, but it was too risky so he decided against it and just do it the old-fashioned way. 'Hopefully I still have at least one with me…' he began rummaging through his pocket, and much to his luck, he was able to find one. 'Aha! There it is!' he proudly pulled it out.
Before actually using the Fading Jenny, Arusu first began formulating what should he do once he was in the castle. Going to directly confront the king was a huge no on his book as he seriously didn't want a repeat of what happened to him and his party when they confronted the fake king of Manoza; that only resulted in them getting thrown into the dungeon. So his best lead was to go and find Zelda in the dungeon; she might know a thing or two about what's going on with the king since he's her father. All Arusu had to do was to follow someone in the castle who happens to be heading to the dungeon at this hour, and from there try to find Zelda on his own before the invisibility effect wears off. Sounds simple enough for him.
Ready to set the plan in motion, Arusu proceeded to rub the Fading Jenny down vigorously on himself. Almost instantly, his body completely vanished from sight. Smirking to himself, the Hero made his way back to the town's entrance and effortlessly ran past the guards.
"…Hey, did you just feel a small draft?" the guard on the right asked his comrade.
"Oh, I think you're imagining things again." the guard on the left rolled his eyes. "Seriously, there's no need for you to be so paranoid."
"Yeah, I guess you're right…"
Meanwhile, in the castle dungeon…
She had no idea how much time has passed since she was thrown into jail for something she did not even commit.
Princess Zelda has never faced such anguish before ever since back when her father forbade her to see her cousin after a petty disagreement with his brother, but that still pales in comparison to all the recent events she had just experienced.
A week before, the princess had a troubling dream involving the mysterious rifts that were popping up all over Hyrule. According to her father, those rifts have been appearing for a very long time already and had been stealing away people, mainly children. This phrase, 'stolen away', was coined by the royal family to refer to when anyone is taken by a rift. But despite all that, these rifts weren't a big problem back then since they would disappear as quick as they appeared. Because of this, no one in Hyrule bothered to be worried about them.
Little did she know… that this dream she just had recently happened to be a warning about how those rifts were going to be a serious problem now; the beginning of a huge catalyst never once seen before in Hyrule.
It all started when Zelda was kidnapped by none other than Ganon, who had been sealed away a long time ago, but he somehow made his return. He had taken her to the Suthorn Ruins where she was drained of all her magic, imprisoned in a pink crystal and held captive for a long time… until Link arrived to her rescue. The hero in green was successful in defeating Ganon, but things went south real fast when the King of Evil's trident that was left behind created a rift inside the Ruins, and Link was unfortunately caught in it. Luckily, he was able to fire a single arrow at Zelda's crystal prison to crack it before he fully sank in, allowing the princess to break free by herself. Upon narrowly escaping the Ruins when the rift suddenly grew at an alarming rate and consumed the entire structure, Zelda was soon found by two castle guards who immediately went to escort her back to Hyrule Castle.
However, once she returned to the castle, that's where things went downhill fast. After she informed her father, as well as General Wright and Minister Lefte, the captain of Hyrule's army and prime minster respectively, about the recent events, a new rift just so happened to appear in the throne room and stole away the trio, much to her horror.
But that wasn't all: the rift was able to spawn evil duplicates of the King, General Wright and Minister Lefte, who proceeded to pin the blame on Zelda for the appearing of the rifts and that she had to be executed to save the kingdom. To her dismay, the guards of Hyrule easily fell for the absurd claim and she was imprisoned in the dungeon.
And now there she was, all alone in the dark dungeon, waiting her execution since without her magic, she had no way of escaping. She had pretty much lost all hope and fell into despair, breaking down into tears. How could all of this happen in the span of a week? With Link and her father stolen away, being estranged by her own kingdom and how she was about to be killed soon, what could she even do now? Oh, if only her cousin wasn't away right now…
Just then, she heard a soft whooshing noise nearby. Wiping off her tears, Zelda looked over at the direction of the sound… and saw a small speck of golden light floating outside of her cell. Her eyes widened; she had seen this light before back at the Suthorn Ruins shortly upon freeing herself and had lured her out during her escape from the growing rift in there. The light then phased through the bars and stopped in front of her, and when she curiously leaned in closer to it, it brightened up and formed into a small bulb-shaped creature with a yellow body that fades to light green towards the bottom, black eyes and mouth, and small golden triangles trailing from behind its pointy tip.
[BGM: Tri's Theme – The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom]
"You can see me?" it asked.
"Yes, I can." Zelda simply replied. "Who are you?"
"My name's Tri. That blue monster? He caught me too. I've been watching you since then."
Zelda blinked. "You…have?"
Tri nodded. "I followed you here, to this castle. Oh, yeah. I should ask. What's your name?"
"Oh, right." Zelda took a moment to recompose herself. "My name is Zelda."
"Zelda. Got it." Tri floats closer to her. "Zelda, your life is in danger if you stay here. The person who put you here is the king, right? He told someone to hurry and prepare for your execution."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that…" Zelda sighed.
"The king and the other two got pulled into that rift. The three that came out seemed weird."
"Yes, they were!" Zelda exclaimed in exasperation. "They would never do this to me, especially my father! They must be impostors!"
"Im…postors? What an odd word. Anyway, it's too dangerous for you to stay here. I think if we could save the people who've been taken into the rifts, we could reveal the truth. But none of those people will be able to get out on their own. We have to save them together, Zelda. But first, let's save you. Let's get you out of here."
Tri proceeded to phase through the bars and was about to leave the hallway… until they noticed that Zelda didn't even move.
"Um, Tri…" Zelda trailed off as Tri looked back at her, their body tilting in confusion before flying back in.
"You can't get through bars?" they asked.
"If you haven't noticed, I can't just squeeze through." Zelda pointed out. "And, whatever species you are, I'm not that either."
"Huh, that's interesting. Let me help."
[BGM End]
Tri then made their body glow brightly before swirling around in place, where a rod the same color as them materialized in front of Zelda. "This is the Tri Rod." they explained. "I put some of my power into it. Take it."
Zelda reached out and took the Tri Rod in her hands. "Wow…" she marveled at its simple, yet entrancing design. It was also warm to the touch.
"I can create echoes of things in this world. I'm not sure what will be most useful to you, but I'm sure this will come in handy."
"Okay, but… what do you mean by 'echoes'?"
"You'll see when I teach you how to use the Tri Rod." Tri looks around until their eyes fell upon a nearby wooden table, which was now sparkling. "See that shimmering object? Go up to it and point the Tri Rod at it."
Zelda did as she was told and watched as the sparkles traveled directly into the Rod. "Like that?"
"Good job. That's how you learn echoes." Tri then looks up at the shelf by the wall, where a hole could be seen from above. "I believe I've already found a way out for you, Zelda. Try creating the object you just learned by that shelf so you can get to that hole."
Taking Tri's advice, Zelda waved the Rod at the shelf's direction, and before her very eyes, an exact copy of the same table popped up. "Oh!"
"Look at that. Perfect job. What you created is called an echo."
"Ah, I see it now…" Zelda then used the table echo to climb up to the shelf, and created another one so she could reach the hole. After squeezing through the hole, she dropped down to the neighboring cell, which was strangely left open. "Hey, this one's open!"
"Now we can escape. Let's go."
Zelda nodded in response and, together with Tri, she scurried over to the leftmost exit.
In another realm, two certain witches stood by a crystal ball watching the events that were unfolding in Hyrule. One was clad in white with blue hair, and the other was clad in black with white hair.
"This young man…" the one in black mused. "Is he the one?"
"If he had the dream about the rifts like she did, then it has to be him." the one in white replied, then a smirk formed on her face. "Regardless, everything is still going according to our plan!"
"I just hope it keeps going that way… Well, I guess we'll just have to sit back and watch how things will unfold from here."
The two then resumed keeping a close watch on the crystal ball. A new, unusual adventure in Hyrule was about to begin…
To be continued…
As you could probably tell, I'm still using my own headcanon of Zelda for this adaptation, so this will lead to a lot of small modifications in the story to better fit said headcanon (such as Zelda already knowing about Ganon and her Link, and having her magic powers taken away in order to justify her having the need to rely on the Tri Rod).
Next time, our two protagonists will meet and start their journey! Hope you'll look forward to it!
PS: For my long-time friends and followers, you might have noticed that two certain stories of mine have been deleted. In case you want to know why, then feel free to PM me because I want to discuss this in private.