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The Day of the Calamity
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A heavy mist clutched Hyrule Field on the dawn of Princess Zelda's 17th birthday. The murky sky blanketed most of the light from the early morning sun, reflecting the downcast mood of the residents of the usually bustling Castle Town. Everyone knew that today was the fateful day they had been waiting for; the day Zelda came of age.
Those who were stationed at the Akkala Garrison, at the foot of what was once the Akkala Falls, had the extraordinarily mundane task of watching over the Akkala plains and adjacent seas, to inform the Castle of any sudden foreign invasions. This was despite the fact that there hadn't been one in decades. It wasn't a surprise that the garrison had become somewhat forgotten among the populace for its mundanity.
The soldiers still knew how to have fun however, and on any other day, the garrison would have been alive with chatter, training or rudimentary games that usually involved creative uses of the soldiers' weapons.
But not today. Instead, a deathly silence clutched the garrison, akin to the mist of Hyrule Field. No chatter. No training. No games. The soldiers simply sat silently, waiting for the glimmer of hope that their Princess would be successful. Indeed, this was the mood all around Hyrule. Everyone was united in their hope… and their fear.
Everyone knew the prophecy by now. The prophecy of ruin. The prophecy that could only be prevented with everyone's cooperation. The Champions, The Hero and The Princess. Zelda's sacred power was yet to be awakened and all the signs pointed to the imminent invasion of Calamity Ganon. The worsening tremors in the Castle Town had set everyone on edge. The massive increase in the frequency of monsters was exhausting the soldiers of the usually inexhaustible Hyrulean Army.
Even with everyone's tireless efforts though, all they could do is wait. This counter strike against the Calamity would be impossible without the Princess. Most people in Hyrule had never been happier that they didn't have the weight of the entire kingdom on their shoulders like the Princess did. She had drawn both support and criticism across the realm. Support for her efforts and criticism for her lack of progress. As if she needed to be reminded of what was at stake.
The day wore on and the clock counted down. The mist cleared as the sun rose and yet the silence remained. It was the quietest day Hyrule had seen in 10,000 years and yet, tomorrow would be quieter.
Quite the transformation occured at the Akkala Garrison. As the first tint of sunset began to appear on the horizon, the usually bored soldiers of the Garrison were the most attentive they had ever been. They watched over the lands with more diligence than anyone had ever shown in the century-long history of the Akkala Garrison. They maintained close contact with the Citadel, who maintained close contact with the Castle, who maintained close contact with the Champions that awaited the Princess's return. At any moment, they expected confirmation that Zelda's last bid at the Spring of Wisdom had either been a success or a failure. That the kingdom was either saved or doomed.
The confirmation never came. The sun sunk lower and the sky turned a foreboding orange, casting long shadows over the usually brightly coloured Castle Town. The Hyrulean Army was already stretched to breaking point; battles were being fought all across the land. Suddenly, a new shadow appeared over Castle Town. The scarlet swirls of Calamity Ganon had erupted from the Castle itself of all places.
The immediate attack on the centre, the symbol, of the kingdom was unprecedented. The Calamity choosing today of all days to strike was unprecedented. The corruption of the guardians that were supposed to protect the populace was unprecedented.
Events moved rapidly. Every regiment that had been sent out across Hyrule was immediately recalled to assist an emergency evacuation of the Castle Town. The garrisons in Central Hyrule got to work evacuating Mabe, Deya and Goponga Village. Fort Hateno and Akkala Citadel prepared to receive evacuees. Those at Akkala Garrison prepared themselves for the first battle they would ever fight.
Everyone tried their best to rage against the dying of the light. As the guardians turned against their own and innocent civilians were incinerated, the ever diligent soldiers rushed everyone they possibly could from the burning shell of Castle Town before it became completely impossible to escape. They accepted the loss of their King and their entire central government. From here on out, they would have to coordinate themselves.
The losses didn't stop, and without any word from the Princess, there was no hope to be found. The guardians spilled out of the crumbling walls of Ganon's Castle, slaughtering everyone in their path. They travelled south, towards retreating soldiers and civilians who were planning to regroup and determine the next course of action. They destroyed Mabe Village. They then moved on to Hyrule Garrison. Then Goponga Village. Then Gatepost Town. Then Deya Village. On and on until Hyrule Field was swarmed with crimson light and flames.
As soldiers established a desperate line of defence against the encroaching guardians, directing displaced civilians to Akkala Citadel or Fort Hateno, the Champions entered their respective Divine Beasts and the Princess and her Hero reached Hyrule Field. Despite the tremendous damage already done, people still had hope that there was a chance to fight back. It soon became clear however, that the Princess had not awakened her powers, and with that the last glimmer of hope was destroyed.
Nobody could've expected for it all to come to an end so soon. Everyone knew that there was a chance that Zelda would fail, but they hadn't even had the time to draw up an alternative plan. Their time was up. There would be no opportunity to destroy the Calamity. There would be no opportunity to recover what they had lost; no opportunity to avenge those they had lost. Without the Princess, it was over.
The soldiers continued to defend to the very end. As the army of once passive guardians spread further, the destruction of Tabantha Village and the sacred Great Plateau followed. The Hyrulean Army funnelled remaining evacuees to the last points of defence in Hyrule. In the chaos, almost nobody noticed when the Divine Beasts' blue hue changed to a sickly red, signifying the successful takeover of Hyrule's last line of defence. The Champions were dead. Corrupted Guardians and Divine Beasts rampaged unimpeded and yet, the Princess still remained unable to awaken the only power that had a chance of extinguishing Hyrule's burning fields.
Those who actually made it to the Citadel didn't perish without a fight. When they brought down the bridge to stem the flow of Guardian Stalkers, the Skywatchers were sent instead. The walls of the great fortification were slowly torn apart. Hyrule's last major defence, repurposed to protect from an attack from within, held the bulk of surviving soldiers and civilians. Everyone fought for their life. They fought and they fought. They fought until the last breath left their bodies. A desperate, but hopeless last stand. Any that survived the siege on the now blazing Citadel, were promptly suffocated, either by rubble or by the malice that flooded the insides of the fortress until it was practically spilling out.
It is likely that the few that had been evacuated to Fort Hateno would've suffered a similar fate if not for Zelda's Miracle. If not for that miracle, the Hylian race would have ceased to exist. Guardians spilled over the collapsed walls of the fort, trampling dead soldiers as they rushed to desolate the village, but the awakening of the Princess's power at last proved to be the salvation for the handful of remaining Hylian survivors. Despite it being too late to destroy the Calamity; Despite the Hero's death, Hyrule's remnants had hope once again. Even now, As civilization shattered, the chance to one day reclaim all that had been lost had been reignited.
It had been a valiant fight. The efforts of the Hyrulean Army would not soon be forgotten. The evacuations of Central Hyrule and the last stands at Akkala Citadel and Fort Hateno would go down in history. Even if it had been in vain, they would be remembered for their fight against an undefeatable force.
The same could not be said for the soldiers of Akkala Garrison on that fateful day. Their story would never be told. In what they thought would be their first and last battle, they were never even honoured with the opportunity to fight for their lives. They never even managed to assist the Citadel's futile defence.
Ganon never targeted them directly, instead opting to use the Skywatchers to destroy the blockade that had staunched the flow of Akkala Falls for decades. As Akkala Lake filled up once again, the soldiers of the Garrison were buried under the torrent of water that now flowed freely. In the blink of an eye, every soldier stationed there was washed away without a trace to remember them by. They had been prepared to fight until their last breath like everyone else, but unlike everyone else, they would not be remembered for it.
The Akkala Garrison and its numerous soldiers had often been overlooked on a normal day, but on their day of supposed glory, they had become doomed to be forever lost to history.
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