Between the Seasons - Tears of the Kingdom Interpreted

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     Echoing footsteps, the muted crackle of a lit torch. A blur of golden light moved silently across damp, dimly glowing walls. The distant drip, drip, drip of water punctuated the overpowering smell of mold and decay. 

     Claustrophobic stone walls were bathed in the orange glow as two figures slowly made their way down the roughly carved stairs. Their breaths stirred the long-dead air, the rustle of their clothing sending rats scrambling for the safety of the shadows. 

     Words -- ancient symbols, some decipherable, some eroded beyond understanding -- scurried beneath the torchlight. 

     Link and Zelda had been making their way down deeper and deeper beneath Hyrule Castle. Promises of histories long forgotten called to them from further down the tunnels, primeval pieces to an elusive puzzle no one could yet solve. 

     Link silently walked, a step behind the princess. The man here and now could not have been more different from that wild guy wreaking havoc all over Hyrule 5 years ago. The quiet, formal, well-dressed knight wouldn't think of getting his shoes wet, much less running around naked, screaming obscene and oddly creative threats as he waved around a flaming boko club. 

     Yeesh. Link inwardly cringed at the memories. Maybe that was okay for a post-apocalyptic world where nobody was around to judge him anyway, but now? Times were different. He was the poster boy of Hyrule's restoration, the high and mighty Mr. Hero. He was Link, the prodigy swordsman, the one worthy of the Master Sword. 

     But what did it matter now. Link shook off his thoughts and snapped his attention back to what was ahead. 

     Ominous green lights pulsed just beyond the stone walls, like ghosts trapped behind a barrier between life and death. 

     "The gloom..." Zelda murmured to herself. Her golden hair caught the light, almost fiery in their brilliance. Her tense eyes swept over the darkness ahead. "People have been falling ill when coming into contact with it. It appears to come from right here, beneath the castle. What could possibly be ahead...?"

     Zelda raised her eyes to Link, and he saw nothing but trust in them. "Whatever it may be, I know I'll be okay with you. We've saved Hyrule once, we can do it again."

     Link didn't know how to respond to that, so he kept quiet and just nodded. 

     Zelda retreated into her own thoughts, so Link left her be. He looked around at the murals on the wall and pretended he understood what they were supposed to mean. 

     It only got darker, damper, deeper. Link felt his skin crawl as strengthening wisps of gloom brushed past him. The sudden, distant flap of bats' wings made the hair stand up on his neck. 

     Without warning, the Master Sword on his back flashed in the darkness. Link sucked in a breath, drawing it. Weakly, it flickered, calling to him. He opened his ears and mind to its voice, but got nothing but a vague sense of unsettledness. 

     He kept the sword unsheathed, by his side, as he continued following Zelda down the increasingly unnerving tunnels. 

     "Zonai monuments!" Zelda suddenly gasped, running over to a statue. She almost raised a hand to touch it, but restrained herself. Instead, she turned to him. "Link, this is like my history book coming to life!"

     Link followed her, examining the statue himself as she took a billion pictures. Zelda muttered something about "in the sky" and "earliest legend". Link's adventures in Faron Woods came back to him as he gazed upon it, so familiar yet so alien. 

     "Let's keep going." Zelda said, pocketing her Purah Pad. "There's got to be so much more waiting for us ahead!"

     They stopped before a statue of a Zonai. Link touched his own elfish ears as he stared at the Zonai's. He saw shadows of the modern day Hylian in the Zonai form, and yet... it was strange, weirdly out of proportion. Link couldn't help but feel creeped out.