Chapter Text
“ Open your eyes. Everyone, please, it’s time to wake up. ” the soft voice instructed, getting clearer with every word as it beckoned him from his slumber.
A dull ache in his muscles pulled him further and further away from it as he was squished against multiple bodies. A white light burned through his eyelids, but what effectively woke him up properly was the small foot nudging against his face as the iridescent water he floated in receded. When the light finally dulled, he noted the swirling bronze metal above him and the floating blue lights dotted together like constellations.
Slowly, he landed on the cold metal at the bottom of the pool as he grumbled on instinct, “Urbosa, get your foot out of my face.”
In an attempt to sit up, he yanked his own limbs to escape the sea of limbs he found himself in, throwing a Rito and a large Gerudo woman out of the empty pool. The Zora woman with her foot next to his face had sat up with a confused look on her face and inquired: “My name is… Urbosa?”
“ Link, you need to hurry, ” the same, soft, feminine voice said in his head, as no one else seemed to react to it when he looked around for the source of it. Silently, he clambered over the Goron next to him and out of where he had been sleeping while a soft blue mist hovered in the surrounding air, cold against his bare skin. The walls had orange lights encapsulated in bronze, arbitrarily connected to each other with bars of the same metal. The only other thing in the room was a small podium near the door, and as he made his way across the cold floor, the Gerudo woman called out, “Hey! Who are you? Where is this place?”
He ignored her in favour of examining the podium, which suddenly popped out a central component to present an intricate slab of machinery. “ This is the Sheikah Slate. Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber. ”
Tentatively, he picked it up to twist and turn it in his hands. It came to life with a beep, shining a blue logo before dying once more. The podium, now empty, returned to its dormant state as he turned to face the four other people he found himself in the room with. “I think… my name is Link.”
The door sealing them in rose with a harsh grinding sound as stone passed over against stone. “We should get out of here before we get sealed in again, who knows how long we have.”
Hurriedly, they all made their way out of the room to find chests waiting for them. Instinctively, the Gerudo went towards the chests and flung them open, leaving them with clothes. “Should we take it?” the Goron asked.
“Why not? I don’t see anyone else here, do you?” the Gerudo retorted. Once the clothes were pulled on, there was another door to get through and another podium.
“ Hold the Sheikah slate up to the podium. It will show you the way. ” the familiar voice instructed. Swiping the slate over the glowing symbol, orange lights turned blue, a mechanical voice called out, “Authenticating. Sheikah Slate Confirmed.”
The logo in the door lit up blue and gears began to shift, rumbling as bars shifted away and the door rose. Slowly but surely light flooded into the hallway, bathing them in light.
“ Link. Everyone. You are the light. Our light. That which must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now, go. ” The voice told them. Looking at each other silently, they nodded resolutely and began running up the stairs. At the cliff face before them, Link easily climbed up it, the Goron helped Urbosa by giving her a boost as Link pulled her up. The Rito flew up and the Gerudo climbed whilst pulling up the Goron.
The closer they got to the exit, the more weeds and moss grew on the steps, the more cracks filled with water, the light ahead getting stronger. Until, at last, they escaped into the land, grass and leaves under their feet, wind through the Rito’s feathers. Light warmed their skin and scales as it breached the canopy, bird song resounding in their ears.
Coming to a halt at the cliff’s edge, they stared at the wondrous landscape ahead of them. A bleeding volcano split the horizon in two, with a shattered castle to its left and a sea of green below them. Leaves danced around them on the rhythm of the breeze, the Gerudo’s soft voice mixing into it as she inquired, “What have we gotten ourselves into?”
“Not a clue,” the Rito replied, his voice almost haughty. With a feathered wing against his chest, he bowed and said “But I believe we should introduce ourselves, I am-” he paused, his face contorting in confusion as the silence dragged on.
“You don’t remember either, do you?” The Goron replied.
“Well how do Link and Urbosa know their names?” The Gerudo growled.
“The voice… it told me,” Link replied
“Link said my name,” Urbosa offered at the same time
“I’m not even sure it is your name,” he mumbled
“Well, it’s the one I’m going to use, if it’s all the same with you. What do you want to use?”
The Rito shook his head “I don’t know, I figure this is the name that’s going to follow us from now onward. We can’t just choose rando-”
“Oh, just hurry up, Feathers!” The Gerudo snapped
“Feathers!” Urbosa smiled “There’s a name.”
Feathers squawked in horror as they unanimously agreed to it, his hackles raising at the idea. “Good job, Red,” the Goron chuckled.
“There’s a name,” Red grinned, placing a hand on her hip as she towered above them all. “All that’s left is you.”
“Call me Boulder, then,” he replied, hobbling away from the cliff’s edge and back onto the path with the others following behind. Their feet pattered against the occasional stone steps that poked out from the ground. There, halfway down the path towards the church, was an old man walking towards a small fire in the distance.
“Oh look, another person in this empty wasteland,” Feathers snarked, flying off ahead.
“Wait up!” Boulder called, rolling after him as Red ran along laughing loudly. Link and Urbosa looked at each other exasperatedly before lightly jogging after them.
Grass crunched under Feathers’ talons as he landed, while Boulder slowed to a halt and jumped to his feet and Red slid to a stop. Picking up the baked apple at the foot of the fire, Red sat down slowly across from him under the shelter of the hill. “May I?”
“Please, help yourself,” the man rasped, his fingers tapping against the cane he had leaning against the rocky wall beside him “An apple and an open flame make for a succulent treat. It’s certainly strange to see another soul in these parts.”
“No one else lives here?” Urbosa inquired, leaning away from the flame lightly.
“Nope, just me, the monsters, and the ruins.”
“Where are we?” Feathers asked.
“This is the Great Plateau,” he informed, extending his arms outwards as if to bask in the surroundings. “According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule.” With strained groans as his joints clicked, he lifted his cane and pointed it in the direction of the church behind him, saying, “That temple there… long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the kingdoms fall 100 years ago, it has sat silently. Abandoned. Decaying as the sands of time went by. Yet another forgotten entity, a mere ghost of its former self, wouldn’t you say?”
The crackling of the fire joined the symphony of sounds around them as Urbosa shook her head, the fins on the sides of her face dancing with the movement. “I wouldn’t say that. You can learn from the past, to not make the same mistakes as our forebears.”
The old man gave a grunt of derision as he shook his head. “But how can we learn, when over time, their mistakes get weathered away until we can no longer even discern what was the true past?”
Red scoffed, getting to her feet. “Come on, let’s find a way out of this place. I want to know who I am, what my name truly is, not linger in limbo forever.”
“I am in agreement,” Feathers added, huffing off after her.
“Come on, everyone, relax! It’s an old man stuck in his ways, you know how they can be!” Boulder stated.
“Aren’t you an old man?” Urbosa retorted with a laugh, the skip still in her step as they followed the path.
“ Link, head for the point marked on the Slate’s map, ” the feminine voice ordered, returning as it always did. Picking the slate off of where it hung on his hip, he tapped the screen. In squares of black and blue, a pulsing triangle read: “Current Location”. To the north-west was a golden circle. Spinning the slate turned the triangle’s direction, and once he oriented himself to face the direction of the circle, he yelled out, “Guys! I think I know where we need to go! Follow me!”
And so the hunt began. Down rocky paths and the long hill, Link periodically checked the slate to ensure they hadn’t strayed from their direction. Twigs snapped under their weight as they bolted through the trees. Feathers stayed low in the air, uncomfortable with his talons on the ground for some reason, choosing instead to stay ahead with Red as scouts. Boulder kept the rear to protect them from ambush, once they recalled the monsters the Old Man spoke of, while Link and Urbosa stayed in the middle in a weird sort of U shaped formation. Rustling of leaves to the side caught their attention, as an orb of blue slime rolled its way into their way. Its red and yellow beady little eyes blinked up at them in a creepy sort of way.
It continued to stare at the group as they stared back silently, no one really moving until it reared backwards and rammed into Red, sending her flying a few feet back. The woman immediately caught her footing as Feathers shot higher into the air while the other three backed up a little to get out of range. Red’s hand tightened into a fist as lightning crackled around her. Shoving her hand forwards, an arc of lightning shot from her to the creature. It shook for a few seconds - its body rippling- before exploding into small droplets, leaving only a charred mark on the grass behind.
“What in the name of Hylia, was that?” Feathers exclaimed.
“I assume that was one of the monsters the old man mentioned,” Red answered.
“Well, yes, of course,” Feathers retorted. “I meant the lightning!”
“Ohhhhh,” Red drawled. “Yeah, I don’t know.”
“Not the time, everyone,” Link called. “We’re close by, it’s just up ahead past the ruins. Someone grab a stick, so we can defend ourselves, at the very least.”
“It’s a stick, what could we do with that?!”
“We can’t always rely on Red’s lightning arc, kiddo,” Boulder replied. “Onward!”
Things didn’t get much better from there. As they clambered their way over and around ruined towers and fountains and waded through ankle deep puddles, they got closer and closer to the mark on the map. When they were mere feet away, they saw that the entrance was surrounded by a trio of Bokoblins. Softly, Feathers landed beside them, crouching in the tall grass. Red hid behind a large rock with Boulder and Urbosa, while Link blended into the grass.
“How are we supposed to get around them?” Urbosa asked, leaning over the edge to get a closer look. 2 red Bokoblins waited upon the ridge, with one standing at the entrance of the small cavern they needed to get inside. Each one waved some form of a weapon around.
“I could use a lightning arc? Stun the 3 of them?”
“What if it doesn’t work? There’s a difference between a Chuchu and a Bokoblin, Red,” Boulder reminded her. There was a beat of silence as Red thought. Grabbing the sash belt on Link’s waist, she tightened her hair back into a ponytail. Beckoning them closer, the group got into a tight circle, as she began to whisper out orders and point out directions.
“I’ll go around to that lone Bokoblin. Feathers, if you can distract those two up there, I can get its sword and shield and stab it. Link, you’ll follow close behind me and do whatever our Conscience tells you to do. I’ll deal with the two Bokoblins after so Urbosa, Boulder, can take its weapons. Ready?” They all nodded. “Let’s do this then.”
Feathers shot up into the air in a burst of speed flying low and close to the right, near the two Bokoblin on the ridge. “Come and get me!” he taunted weaving skyward, as he dodged tossed rocks.
With the attention off the cavern, Red shot through the tall grass and tackled the lone Bokoblin to the ground, it’s weapons falling out of its grip. With a quick forward roll, she got to them faster and grabbed them before stabbing the blade into its throat. “Go,” she hissed at Link who quickly ran into the cavern once the coast was clear.
Red climbed onto the elevated hill and threw her shield at one of the remaining Bokoblins, and stabbed the other in the back. With a roaring cry, lighting burst out from around her and paralyzed the last one. Quickly she stabbed it in the head before it was able to get back up leaving them in the clear. One Bokoblin left a wooden staff and the other left behind a bow once they exploded into dark smoke. Urbosa slipped her foot under the wood and kicked the weapon into her hands, while Boulder passed the bow to the landing Feathers.
“Might suit you better than me, my friend,” he said, receiving a grateful nod in return. The four of them briskly walked back to the cavern where Link awaited them at the lone Sheikah podium.
“You didn’t start?” Urbosa questioned.
“Not without you. We do this together, or not at all,” he said bluntly. Turning to the podium with two companions on either side of him.
“Please place the Sheikah Slate on the Pedestal,” a mechanical voice instructed, remembering how the slate jutted out of the first pedestal, he placed it into the holder in the center. The central console spun and fit back into place and the orange light brightened for a moment before the pedestal said, “Sheikah Tower Activated. Please watch for falling rocks.”
“What does it mean by that?” Feathers asked warily, inching away from it. The others quickly followed his lead. The ground began to shake as the rock walls rumbled. Boulder pulled Feathers, Urbosa and Link closer, shielding them with his body from debris as Red dropped to the ground in a crouch dodging and rolling away from them. Birds in the distance began flying away from the area, as an earthquake seemingly shook the entire landscape.
The walls around them burst away as the floor began to rise. Rock and pebbles fell like rain, dust surrounded them in a blinding mist. Little speckles getting into their eyes, as water grew in their eyes. “Stay close!” Boulder yelled, keeping the younger trio close. Dirt fell from the sides of the platform like waterfalls as it got higher and higher.
“Guys! Look!” Feathers exclaimed, pointing into the distance as other towers (seemingly like the one they were precariously on) rose across the horizon.
An azure light shone from beneath their feet and flickered around them as Boulder leaned back from around the trio. “Is everyone ok?” he called out. Dusting the dirt of their clothes, they all nodded.
“Maybe a few bumps and bruises but I think you got the worst of it. Are you sure you're ok, Boulder?” Link asked.
The Goron patted him on the head lightly. “That was nothing for me, I’ll be right as rain.”
“We should get the Slate and get the hell out of here,” Feathers suggested. Link nodded, running for the pedestal which now had a large stalactite hanging from machinery on the ceiling. “Great Plateau Tower!” the pedestal called out. “Distilling local information…”
Link backed away as the stalactite illuminated, turning from a dark rock grey to the Sheikah blue they were quickly becoming used to, growing brighter and brighter as a water droplet grew larger and larger until it dropped onto the slate.
Getting closer they saw the screen turn on and the black and blue squares of the map turned into an aerial view of what was seemingly the plateau. The slate was then quickly returned to them.
“ Remember… Try… Try to remember… ” the Conscience called, pulling their attention to the broken castle in the distance with a golden light coming from the heart of it. “You have been asleep for the past 100 years. ”
Dark mist with a red tinge to it exploded from the ground, circling around the castle. “ The beast… When the beast regains its true power, this world shall face its end. ” The mist coagulated into a monsters head, coming to life with a blood-curdling roar ripping through the air. Shaking them all to the core despite the distance between them and it. “ You must hurry, my friends, before it’s too late. We have already failed once. We cannot afford it again. You are our vengeance, the undying will of retribution. You must defeat the beast for you are our Furies, our Erinyes. ”