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Link wasn’t sure at first what drove him to start these trials. He thought it was curiosity at first, but now it’s an odd drive to find out what lies in store for him… and what had lied in store for his friends 100 years ago. Completing these challenges, ones that the Princess of the Zora had faced on her own, treading the ground she did made Link feel closer to her than he had ever felt before.
He wipes the sweat from his brow as he surmounts the last stone on the plateau that Vah Ruta kneels upon, as it and what is left of Princess Mipha’s soul ready to help him defeat Calamity Ganon once and for all. He can’t help but feel a pang of guilt and fear drop into his stomach, but he remains stony faced and pushes it down where it can’t toil with his resolve. He has to. He must.
Unsure why he was called to Vah Ruta, really, he cautiously circles the great display of technology for a moment. He had never thought to get near it before. Even though it remains still, it probably could move at any moment and crush him flat.
Even though the thought unease’s him, it also makes a small smile twitch at the corner of his mouth. The great hero, with the sword that seals darkness, Hyrule’s last hope he’s been called- crushed by an oversized elephant.
Though after nothing happens, he inhales and cautiously begins to approach the beast.
“To the one who approaches this Divine Beast…” Link stops in his tracks upon hearing a low, echoey voice. That must be me, he thinks to himself, and rubs one of the guards on his wrist. “In exchange for Ruta’s Emblems… you will be granted the chance to tread through the realm of memories.”
A thought occurred suddenly, a dread, a desire to not part with the emblems from the beast filled his body. But before he could protest it, the purple badges he had collected from each of Vah Ruta’s trials faded into glistening purple ash, and then into nothing. He clenches his jaw, and faces the Divine Beast again.
“Those who lack determination will find this trial unforgiving. Do not take this place lightly, nor dismiss it as merely a world within your mind. The truth is much deeper than you know.”
Silence follows. After a moment, Link finds himself oddly calm, and he closes his eyes. For a moment, the darkness is a red hue, light seeping through his closed lids. And then, everything becomes black, and it feels like he is falling. When the panic becomes too much, he opens his eyes again with a gasp, and looks around.
He remembers this place. The inside of Vah Ruta, in the main console room. Everything comes rushing into his senses at once, the sounds of war outside, muffled but chaotic, the horrible feeling that something is very wrong… it swells within Link. He takes one look at his hands, realizing that he isn’t wearing his proper armor, but the thought is short lived. Right then wasn’t the time to consider his fashion decisions, he needed to check the main console. He walks up to it, holding his palm out to the terminal, when the gentle, pulsing blue corrupts into a vile magenta, the same magenta that had been taking over the guardians.
This illusory realm was created from the depths of Mipha’s memories.
Deep magenta strands wrap around the console, before stretching outwards. Link looks around frantically for a moment, before punching in a distress signal and then turning around to face the creature that was forming before him.
The enemy you shall face is a product of the fear that dwells within.
You must overcome this fear to proceed.
Its limbs form first, revealing a long, glowing spear, and then its body next. Finally, Link focuses on it’s head, which appears faster than he can blink, and he finds himself staring into a terrible, soulless eye. A similar horrible sound emerges from the creature, screeching in a way Link had never heard before.
This battle is a trial of the soul.
At first, Link had felt calm, if frantic. He had faced this creature before, and while he hadn’t walked out of the fight with no injury, he hadn’t felt particularly challenged by it before. But as moments passed, he continued to find more and more problems. The shallow water felt like a disadvantage, like he couldn’t evade the scourge’s attacks quickly enough. Time and time again, he was knocked down and each time, he found it harder and harder to get up.
His healing couldn’t keep up with the wounds he was sustaining.
The beast extends its spear, and it sweeps along the floor, knocking Link into a nearby wall. The wind is nearly knocked out of him as he collapses to his knees and on the ground. He stares at the shallow water before shakily settling his hands on the ground and pushing himself up to stare at his enemy.
Oh, Link, he thinks to himself. The creature raises its hand. If only I had told you. If only you knew…
Mipha watches as the scourge creates seven blocks of ice in the air. She gets up on her knee and holds her trident perpendicular to her body, a defiant stance she knows will be her last.
I love you, Link.
She closes her eyes as the ice blocks fly towards her.
Link falls backwards, holding his body and wheezing. He doesn’t fully believe, for a moment, that he hadn’t died there. He drags his hands over his arms and chest, feeling the places where he’d felt agony only moments prior, checking to make sure that he wasn’t crushed between the corners of two ice blocks.
As the horrible sensations fade, he holds his head in his hands as he replays the memory over and over. Any other day and he would have said he couldn’t imagine how Mipha felt facing that creature alone. Now he knows. As time passes, he finds himself growing angrier. Angrier at Ganon, who took his friends from him. Who made them suffer.
A familiar accordion pulls him from his thoughts, and he slowly lets go of his head and looks towards the side. He watches Kass play the instrument, and allows it to remind him that he is safe. Link slowly stands up, and approaches Kass.
“Oh? My, my.”