Midnight had long since come and gone when Foothill Stable came into view, Epona slowing to a normal canter and then halting altogether near the public campfire. A short while later, he had paid the small fee, collected his gear from the stablemaster and stored it away. Remounting, he guided the Stalhorse back onto the road, heading toward the nearest Sheikah Tower— which they had passed about an hour previously.
By the time they reached Eldin Tower again, the eastern sky was just beginning to lighten in lazy anticipation of dawn. He thanked Epona and watched her disappear.
"Ooh, I haven't gotten to see that unfiltered before. Amazing!" Midna marveled, suddenly corporeal and hovering in midair next to him. She sank down a bit, reclining against nothing. "Ahh. Nice to be able to stretch out the old legs again, even if they don't go very far," she lamented with a sigh, swinging one of the aforementioned limbs. Then her eye slid eastward. "Such a lovely time of day. You know, it's quite beautiful here when you're not imprisoned in a jewel. I should've come for a visit sooner— and under my own free will."
Looking out at the colorful twilit sky with her, he had to agree. After a few moments, though, he sighed. "But speaking of that, you're not free yet, either. Come on, Princess. Let's get going."
"Where are we headed, anyway?"
"Akkala Ancient Tech Lab to see if Robbie can fix my bow, then home to get a spare bow, and then on to Hyrule Castle. Probably won't even take overly long since we can teleport to— or close to— all those places."
"Well, you hardly need me for any of that." Midna yawned and patted her mouth dramatically, then slid into the soft shadows at his feet, her eye the lone bright spot as it glared at him. "Try to stay out of trouble."
He heard a tiny snort behind his ear, then an answering chuckle from his shadow and he sighed, "Great, now I'm surrounded. I did not think this through," which set them off again.
Rolling his eyes, he armed the hookshot and began his ascent of Eldin Tower. Minutes later, he was standing outside the door to the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab again, the sky a bright, cloudless blue.
Robbie answered the door promptly. "Back already? Eh, you got all the materials needed for that batch of arrows?"
Shadow Link frowned and shook his head. "No, I need my Ancient bow repaired. Can you help me?" He pulled it out to show its current unusable state.
Robbie took the bow, shaking his head sadly. "No. I can craft you a new one, but Ancient weapons can't be repaired."
"Shit. And I suppose you need more Guardian parts to make one."
"I do, in fact: eh, ten gears, fifteen springs, and one giant core, as well as a thousand rupees." A loud clap of thunder outside punctuated the sentence.
The Shadow sighed, shaking his head again as the rain began, skipping a sprinkle or a drizzle and jumping right to a downpour. "Damn. Well, then you might as well keep that," he said, gesturing to the broken bow. "And I guess I'll be back when I have everything you need to make a bow and arrows. Can I use your Guidance Stone?"
And another few minutes later, he was standing outside the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. Grabbing his glider, he moved to the east end of the cliff the building sat on and jumped off, bypassing all of Hateno to land on the hill just to the south of his house. Another quick glide brought him right down between Bolson and Karson where they lounged around his fire pit.
"Don't get up," he said, clearly startling them both out of a nap. "I won't be here long."
Inside, he slung the Lynel bow across his back and asked Navi to shrink the other bows so he could simply take them all. After finding a place to store them, he realized he was hungry— and home.
He made himself an omelet with some Hylian shrooms, cheese, and a dash of salt, and ate it with a hearty slice of bread he warmed up and spread with butter and honey.
His companions ate with him; Navi helped herself to a tiny seed of some type she'd found in his pantry, and Midna produced from somewhere a shiny golden apple that was about the size of her head.
"Ooh, a golden apple!" Navi cooed.
It was really the Pixie's reaction that caught his attention. "What's special about it?"
"Golden apples are extremely rare in Hyrule, but plentiful in the Twilight Realm. They give four times as much energy as our apples."
"Well, damn."
Midna nodded as she finished her meal, patting her tummy. "Glad I learned how to conjure apples as a toddler, or I'd never have survived that horrid red cage," she said— not boasting, just stating a simple fact and answering his unasked question at the same time.
He took the time to bathe and change into fresh clothes, luxuriating in the simple indulgence of being in his own space. Midna wandered around the house curiously, touching the spines of the books on the shelves and running her finger along the frame of a photograph of the group who'd gone up against Ganondorf: the four Champions, Link, and Zelda. It was a candid shot, everyone clearly caught off guard by the grinning Goron's arms encircling them and squishing them all together.
He stopped on the way through Hateno to restock his arrows, and it was around midday when he finally knocked on the door to the lab atop the hill, Purah greeting him with enthusiasm and a barrage of questions about his experiences with teleportation thus far. Declining her offer of an extended visit featuring tea and likely a thousand more questions, he instead asked to use the Guidance Stone and was on his way shortly thereafter.
His body reassembled under an overcast sky at a crossroads midway between the destroyed southern gate into the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town and the northern gate of the fort-style enclosure that had cropped up around the Sacred Ground Ruins, which had been labeled New Castle Town on the map.
He was also practically straddling one gangly metal leg of a Guardian Stalker.
"Shit!" He grabbed both his sword and shield and immediately whacked at the metal appendage. Dark and unoccupied as it was, though, the blade failed to take the limb all the way off on the first hack and the Guardian both moved away and turned its eye toward him, firing up its targeting mechanism. "Midna!"
The imp appeared with a yawning stretch to blink balefully at him, but almost immediately perked up as she noticed the danger at hand. "Ooh, a challenge!"
A flash of turquoise near his knee brought the sword in his hand to life— but its glow had morphed into a deep blood red and the new jewel shone with a steady light.
Confidence surged through him.
He turned and brought his shield up just in time to deflect the Guardian's laser beam right back at itself, scoring a hit to the base of one of the legs, shearing it clean off and sending the mechanical monster reeling wildly, parts flying like shrapnel. The Stalker landed on its side, remaining metal limbs flailing madly and exposing a large, glowing blue spot on its vulnerable underside.
The sword's light intensified and the handle gave a distinct shake in his hand. He drew back and stabbed directly into the metal belly of the Guardian, the brightness of the blade waning as the energy shot from it into the machine, overwhelming its capacity and shorting it out.
It sputtered and died as it lay, spitting out a small pile of various parts, some he recognized and some Navi identified for him. As he was bent over to grab a glowing spherical object Navi called a giant Ancient core, he heard the telltale sounds of another Guardian's targeting system and turned to find a second Stalker bearing down on him from the southeast. As he was setting himself to deflect the shot with his shield, however, he heard yet another targeting mechanism fire up and turned his head back to find that a decayed Stalker, partially buried in the dirt near the decrepit wall guarding what was left of the old town, had been awakened by the ruckus.
"Fuck."
His shield had no problem with Guardian lasers, but it couldn't be on both sides of his body at once.
Fortunately, the ring Yunobo had given him would quite literally protect his back. The moment he heard the first laser fire, he surrounded himself with the crystal shield and held it until he'd watched both beams bounce back at the Guardians that shot them.
While they spun from the blows, he grabbed the bow from his back and loaded a shock arrow, releasing it when the eye of the Guardian he faced focused on him and sending it reeling a second time, then turning to do the same to the other one. Another few alternating rounds each finished off both, leaving small piles of various parts behind.
"Woo! What a rush!" Midna crowed, emerging to hover near his shoulder as he collected more than enough material for Robbie to make him a new bow and five Ancient arrows. The overcast sky negated the need for her to keep to his shadow, giving her the freedom to flit around at her will. "That was so much fun!"
He turned to find her grinning ear to ear with what appeared to be genuine glee. Over her shoulder, he spotted the hulk of another Stalker creeping around the other side of the trees surrounding New Castle Town. "Hey, you wanna take this one yourself?"
Her grin turned slightly maniacal and she put her hands together, cracking her knuckles before taking off. He watched as her magical hair grew out into the gigantic hand and grabbed the Guardian, hearing her grunt slightly just before she crushed it into a tiny ball, dropping it on the ground and grabbing the parts it had spewed out, bringing them back to him with a smirk.
"Right. Well, then," he said with a chuckle as he stored the items in his pack. "Shall we?"
"After you."
They'd only taken a few steps when a muted boom! and faint laughter announced the sudden arrival of one of the Yiga clan. But between Shadow Link and Midna, the androgynous warrior stood no chance; they were quickly dispatched, leaving only a large bunch of bananas behind when the smoke cleared.
"That was bananas," Midna quipped as she watched him store the fruit in his pack.
One side of his mouth lifted at the pun, then he sobered as he recalled his promise to the twins at Dueling Peaks Stable. "Yiga bastards."
Midna quirked her head at him for a moment before nodding. "I almost forgot. Yiga bastards," she swore, shaking her fist.
Crossing through the gates into the ruins of the original Castle Town might as well have been stepping into another world— one that was desolate and barren, the windowless, partial walls of former homes and businesses standing bleakly in the muted afternoon light. A light drizzle began to fall, a fitting accompaniment to the dreary scene.
The cobblestones crumbled beneath his feet as he took in the bleak surroundings, the first few steps inside the gates such a stark contrast that he had to turn and make sure there was still green grass and trees outside of this wasteland. It was then that he noticed the thick, black and purple substance covering a fair percentage of the ruins and blocking many of the pathways to the castle gates on the other end of town. "What the hell is that?"
"Malice. A physical manifestation of the evil infesting Hyrule. Do not touch it," Navi warned, tone unusually serious.
"Malice?" The stuff he himself was made of?
"The same matter that was used to form you," she replied, answering the question he was sure he hadn't actually asked.
The evil plasma was mesmerizing, the way it seemed to swirl and flow over and into itself, active without actually advancing position in any way, the same way the old jewel in his sword had. He was fascinated, and it must've shown on his face.
"It could be catastrophic for everyone— but mainly us— for you to absorb any of this. Do not allow the malice to touch a single part of you," Midna added pointedly.
He frowned, but took a step away. "Goo bad. Got it."
Unfortunately, that step brought his presence to the attention of a legless Stalker guarding a large missing chunk of the wall, and its aiming mechanism whined to life.
He rolled his eyes, annoyed, before turning and readying his shield. One well-placed hit of its own laser was enough to finish the Guardian that had seen better days, but collecting the parts it tossed brought him in range of yet another Stalker, and this one wasn't legless. It bore down on him, but was entirely unprepared for Midna's gigantic hand squishing it into a relatively tiny metal ball.
"They tickle!" she cackled as she brought the dislodged parts back to him.
He chuckled, though it dwindled as he looked out through the rain and saw the entire vicinity dotted with the glowing blue of an army of Guardians, spread out in every direction to make their trek more of a pain in the ass than he'd originally imagined. "Fuck's sake. This is ridiculous. How the hell does anyone get into or out of the castle with these metal jackasses all over the place?"
Navi jingled negatively, and Midna shook her head. "That's a good question. Is there another way into the castle?" she asked the Sprite.
"Well, there are two main entrances; there's one at the end of a long, winding path, past two gatehouses and who knows what guarding them, and there's also a delivery entrance on the northeast side, but you have to cross the moat to get to it and then come up from the basement, and there is no reason to believe the entire perimeter won't be just as thickly patrolled by Guardians as what we've seen so far. There will also be several smaller entrances at various points along the path and around the castle."
He sighed. "Might as well just keep going this way. Navi knows her way around; we'll just take the first entrance we come across and she can navigate." Then he snorted. "Navi can navigate."
Both of his companions rolled their eye(s) at him. "Well, at least you got there eventually," Midna sighed in a lightly mocking tone.
"Shut up."
They followed the clearest path toward the castle, along the outermost half-circle of the defunct city where a few foundations persisted— only, one of them turned out to be a moss-covered, partially-decayed Stalker. It woke as they passed, but before it could even focus on him, Midna's magic hand had grown and flicked it with its huge middle finger— which, unfortunately, drew the attention of yet another Guardian, this one targeting the imp.
"Hey! I don't think so!" she challenged, allowing the Stalker to target her until it fired the white beam before dodging at the last moment, making a huge fist with the hair-hand and pounding the Guardian into its own hole in the ground with just the legs sticking out like metal twigs.
He would've laughed, but he heard another targeting system engage behind him. "This is going to get old really quickly," he lamented, turning with his shield at the ready, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a bright orange spot in the dark malice nearby. "What the hell?" His head turned, catching a glimpse of what appeared to be a fairly large eye watching him.
But just then the Guardian fired, and the shot diverted to the same spot his attention had— the eye in the malice.
The eye exploded, taking with it the entire section of goo it had been attached to in a puff of smoke like any other monster.
The Guardian was already targeting him again, but it couldn't target two things at once, and Midna pounced before it could fire again, flattening it with one good smack!
Gathering the parts the Guardians had thrown out, he took a moment to catch his breath, shaking his head at the throng they'd already been attacked by, and they were only halfway through town.
The steps to the next level of town were blocked by more malice, so he jumped over the low wall that separated the sections. On the other side, he found another eye in the malice when it opened to peer at him. It didn't have an apparent function beyond voyeurism; no fireballs or lasers shot at him, though it did seem to have a few smaller eyes attached to it.
A single wooden arrow was enough to destroy it, and the goop covering the steps vanished with a poof!
They managed to make it to the main castle gate unaccosted further, sprinting to avoid the steady circuit of the Skywatcher circling it. The gate itself was a big, heavy thing, but it opened easily with the aid of Magnesis and he stepped onto Hyrule Castle grounds for the first time.
The other side of the gate offered no reprieve— just the opposite, in fact. From his position just under the archway he could see the telltale blue— so obvious in the rain— on the path directly ahead and also atop a castle tower up and to the right.
He waited for the Skywatcher to pass before taking off up the path at a sprint, immediately drawing the attention of the Guardian in that direction. As Midna had demonstrated, it was fairly simple to avoid the white blast when it came— the targeting mechanism seemed to go offline momentarily while shooting, so he simply had to wait until he saw the flash and jump a foot to the side. When he was closer, he set himself and allowed the beam to bounce off his shield and back at the legless Stalker, taking it out in one hit.
"Midna!" Navi jingled, pointing to another Guardian behind him and up. "Turret!"
Midna flew off with her gigantic fist and it never got a shot off. He watched as a second, unseen Guardian targeted her and immediately regretted it. She flew back to his side grinning madly and carrying a load of parts she'd collected.
They made their way along the path that wound upward toward the castle lined with partially-destroyed walls, noting one of the smaller entrances Navi had mentioned. It had been blocked off and could not be used, and just beyond that the malice completely covered the way forward but he was able to use the hookshot and vault over it easily, finding the eye on the other side and destroying it to clear the walkway.
There was no respite to be found there, either. He was immediately targeted by another Guardian Turret atop the Observation Room. He sprinted toward the doorway under it, but the wall on his right ended where the path curved sharply back on itself, and as he dodged the laser at the last moment he moved right into view of two more Guardians, likely watching over the First Gatehouse. He dashed through the arched stone doorway, but he heard them fire before he got there and one of the beams caught his foot as he jumped the last distance to safety.
Searing pain erupted from the wounded extremity, ripping a yell from his throat as he collapsed against the inner stone wall, out of the lines of fire. "Motherfucker!"
With Navi jingling worriedly in his ear and Midna wringing her hands near his leg, he brought his hand up to clasp the charm around his neck, and in the next breath his foot was whole again and the pain was just a (very fresh) memory. He closed his eyes and spent a few moments slowing his breathing and steadying his nerves. He heard movement, and a moment later came Midna's muffled laugh, then the shriek of metal crunching followed by another targeting system and her outraged, "Hey!"
He poked his head around the doorway and watched as she held a flattened and still-sparking Turret in her oversized hand like a shield while approaching one of the two still-active machines targeting her. Seizing the opportunity, he rolled to his knees, loaded a Light arrow, and took out the other with one shot.
He leaned against the wall and collected himself, lamenting, "Fucking Hero bullshit."
"Someone really doesn't want anyone getting into or out of the castle, don't they?" Midna remarked as she handed him the parts she'd collected.
"I wonder if the back entrance is like this," he frowned. "Impa said she was coming here; maybe she went that way."
Inside the First Gatehouse, malice had infested much of the upper walls and ceiling, and next to the eye hanging from the ceiling was a toothy, open mouth. On his first step into the room, the eye opened and the mouth began spitting out purple-and-black-flaming Moblin skulls. That was surprising enough, but with his next step the gates dropped over the doors and locked them in with the creature with the head and mane of a male lion with horns, the legs and tail of a horse, and the torso and arms of an overly-buff human that had just appeared on the other side of the room.
"Ooh, is that a Lynel?" Midna asked, clapping her hands together once in excitement. "I've never actually seen one before."
"It's a Blue-Maned Lynel— one of the rarest in Hyrule. Elemental attacks inflict almost no damage on them," Navi advised.
"Must be my lucky day," Shadow Link sighed.
"Hey, at least it's not another Guardian."
"No, you're right," the Shadow shot back. "This might turn out to be even worse." His mind helpfully replayed images of Link as Shadow Link had first seen him— still bleeding from several open wounds inflicted by a brethren of the beast that had just materialized. Fuck that, he thought, deciding then and there to end this as quickly as possible.
"If you destroy the eye in the malice, the mouth will disappear with it," the Sprite twinkled with her relentless positivity.
The Lynel hadn't moved as of yet, but every time the malice-mouth closed and opened it belched out another flaming skull that floated somewhat haphazardly toward them on a cloud of purple-black smoke. The first order of business would be to make that cease.
He'd no more than grabbed his bow and an arrow to take aim at the eye when the Lynel bellowed as though affronted and grabbed its own weapon— a thick, rough-hewn sword— and charged straight at him.
Midna grew her gigantic hand and swatted the Lynel back across the room where it lay stunned, falling to its front knees and braced on its weapon, breathing heavily.
He took the chance to destroy the malice with a regular arrow and grab another Light arrow. The Lynel was regaining all of its feet— well, hooves— and drawing in a huge breath for some likely-devastating attack when he fired.
"Aw, you're no fun," Midna griped, squashing the last of the flaming skulls into oblivion. The gates slid open to let them out of the gatehouse. "You should let me play with the next one. I want to see how tough they really are."
He rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, Princess."
Outside once more, they found the right fork of the path completely engulfed in malice. Forced to take the other route, they quickly spotted another Guardian Turret, though they utilized a column and kept from its view while he studied the map. "We're not that far from the front gate if we go in a straight line instead of staying on the path."
Midna shrugged. "I'm floating; it doesn't matter to me where you walk as long as you don't fall into lava or something. I still need you to get home."
A set of stone steps led up the side of the gatehouse, and they managed to avoid the Guardian's eye until they reached the stairs where they used the high stone railing to their advantage. Of course, at the top of the winding staircase, they were immediately spotted by yet another Turret.
"Tedious," Shadow Link sighed as he raised his shield and let it fire its laser at him so he could watch it go berserk for a moment.
"Lighten up!" Midna chortled, apparently having the time of her life.
After they defeated it, they were able to climb the staircase behind it to the next level, and what Navi told him had once been Princess Zelda's room. It was not a part of the castle proper, but was tall enough to get them within hookshot range of the front gate. Together, they made quick work of the Moblin that had inhabited the formerly-royal bedchamber, and he used the hookshot to ascend to the flat roof accompanied by his flying companions.
A Skywatcher was patrolling the adjoining tower that had been the princess' study once upon a time, but paid no attention to them. Midna squished it in her magic hand, and floated back to them with it sparking and smoking in the fist. He raised an eyebrow at her and she just grinned in response, so he shrugged and let it go. "Navi, buzz up there and see what's what."
"You know, a 'please' wouldn't go amiss every now and again," she jingled at him, but went anyway, and was back a few moments later. "Just one more Turret and a whole lot of malice."
Midna sped off with the defeated Guardian still in her grasp while Navi advised him where to aim the hookshot. By the time he floated past the gigantic, tattered royal banner still fluttering in the breeze to land on the front steps to the castle, Midna had destroyed both Guardians and was cackling gleefully.
"I'm glad you're having a good time," he chuckled.
"You know what? I really am," she said with a wide grin.
At the end of the short flight of stairs, the heavy iron doors were shut tight and even with Magnesis he was unable to move them.
"They're likely barred from the other side. I doubt they get many people coming to the front door nowadays," Navi advised.
"Can't imagine why not," he deadpanned, using his shield to knock three times, as loudly as possible.
"That's my cue," the Sprite chimed, disappearing from view.
"I think I'll probably do the same for now," Midna said before she, too, vanished.
A few moments later a small viewing door creaked open, the face on the other end obscured by the shadowy depth of the door. "Eh? Who goes there? State your business," came a gravelly voice.
"Shadow Link. I'm here to see Princess Zelda."
"Well, don't that just beat all? Huh, I owe Kampo five rupees, dang it. Hang on." The viewing door squeaked shut, and then a few moments later came a loud, rusty, prolonged groan as the door began to eke open.