On the way, Linkle found a new shirtthat was more comfortable and less tattered. It was a beige tunic topwith the sleeves cut off after the elbow and there were slits cutinto the shoulder area. She also found brown belt that had a fewpacks to carry stuff in.
She stepped around a rocky area andfound a podium with the same eye symbol. Linkle walked forward to it.
Place the Sheikah Slate in thepedestal.
Linkle placed theitem to be scanned.
Sheikah Tower activated. Pleasewatch for falling rocks.
Linkle gave aconfused expression. Watch for falling rocks? Before she could wonderany further, the area around her started to shook. The movementintensified that it made her fall with a yelp. The earthquake scaredoff forest critters and flocks of birds took off into the air. Evennearby camps of Bokogoblins were panicking. A moment later theplatform Linkle stood on, broke through the rocks as a towerascended. In the mean time, other towers from different regions weredoing the same thing. After the tower was at its peak, a blue lightactivated.
After theearthquake came to an end, Linkle stayed flat on her back. Shehesitantly got up.
"Well... thathappened..." she said, rubbing her back.
She then lookedaround in awe as she noticed the tower had brought her straight up.She looked back at the Sheikah Slate.
Distilling local information...
This column of blueeye symbols made a drop fall onto the little device. Linkle looked atit as it displayed a map of not only this area but other variousareas to be unlocked.
Regional map extracted.
The pedestal thengave back the device. Linkle took it back and attached it to herbelt. Linkle went to find a way down the tower until she heard thevoice again!
"Remember..."Linkle looked toward the voice and saw a little glow come from thecastle.
"Try... Try toremember..."
Linkle walkedforward to get a better look until...
"You have beenasleep for the past 100 years." the voice said as the groundrumbled making Linkle gasp and hold onto a part of the tower.
"The beast...When the beast regains its true power, this world will face its end."
The dark figure ofthe beast flew around the castle and roared, as if trying to be free.The glow of light became brighter, making the beast disintegrate.
"Now then...Youmust hurry, Linkle. Before it's too late..." the voice faded awayas did the light. It was all quiet now leaving Linkle to stare longerat the castle.
"This voice...coming from the castle... who is she? And... why am I getting chillsfrom seeing that thing?" Linkle asked herself while wrapping herarms around herself. It was another feeling familiar to her.
Linkle slowly andcarefully made her way down the tower. She hit the ground with a thudand grunt. Not a minute later, she heard someone approach.
"Ho!" it wasthe old scavenger man flying in with some sort of glider.
"My my... itwould seem we have quite the enigma here. This tower and others justlike it have erupted across the land, one after another. It is almostas though... a long-dormant power has awoken quite suddenly. If youdo not mind me asking... Did anything... odd occur while you wereatop that tower?" He asked with a glint in his eye.
Linkle lookedtoward the castle for a moment and the old man noticed.
"Would youbelieve me that I heard a voice? Not just from that castle, but itwas the same voice I heard when I woke up." Linkle said turning tothe man.
"Well, now! Avoice you say? And did you happen to recognize this mysteriousvoice?"
"No, not that Iknow of" Linkle replied.
"I see. Well,that's unfortunate." he said making Linkle look questionably athim. He turned to the castle.
"So, you'vecaught sight of that atrocity of a castle. That... is Calamity Ganon.One hundred years ago, that vile entity brought the kingdom of Hyruleto ruin. It appeared suddenly and destroyed everything in its path.So many innocent lives were lost in its wake. For a century, the verysymbol of our kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain thatevil. But just barely. There it festers, building its strength forthe moment it will unleash its blight upon the land once again. Itwould appear that moment is fast approaching..."
Linkle continued tostare off at the castle while the old man looked at her in thought.
"I must ask you,young lady... Do you intend to make your way to the castle?" heasked.
Linkle paused. Whydid he sound like he was testing her, as if he was urging me to go?
"I... I don'tknow. This is all confusing to me and I don't feel like it's my placeor business to deal with that... thing. Unless... I have a purposethere..." Linkle replied.
The old man made asmall chuckle.
"Everyone has apurpose. If you wish to know yourself, whether that castle is yourpurpose or not, I can guide you along in order to find yourself.Here, on this isolated plateau, we are surrounded on all sides bysteep cliffs with no way down. If you were to try to jump off,well... no death could be more certain. Or more foolish. Of course,if you had a paraglider like mine, that would be quite anotherstory." He said, smirking.
"Are you saying,you'll give me your paraglider?" Linkle asked.
"Oho! Piqued yourinterest have I? Yes, I didn't come soaring down here on my ownfeathery wings, you know!" He joked making Linkle smile.
"Worry not- Iwill happily agree to give you my paraglider. But not for nothing.Let's see now... How about I trade it for a bit of treasure thatslumbers nearby?" he asked catching Linkle's interest.
"Come. Let me show yousomething." The old man said as he began to walk up a rocky hilland Linkle followed close behind.
Linkle stood besidehim as she noticed an orange glowing shrine ahead.
"Do you see thatstructure there? The one shining with a strange light?" Linklenodded.
"It began glowingat the exact moment those towers rose up from the ground. I wouldthink such a place might house some sort of treasure, wouldn't you?Treasure for the paraglider. A fair exchange, I believe."
Linkle smiled infairness. "Got it!"
Linkle then ran tothe shrine to get that treasure! Needless to say, after Linkle gotthe treasure, the old man continued to say that by treasure he meantmore than one. So, Linkle continued her hunt for three more shrines.
After strugglingthrough freezing waters and snow, climbing high cliffs fearing foryour life, and trying to avoid some sort of sleeping robots that trykilling you with lasers (guardians), Linkle got all the treasure theold man asked for. To be honest, Linkle was impatient and stressedout from trying to get these spirit orbs. But she finally obtainedthem. The old man told her to meet him where all the shrineslocations intersect. What made Linkle taken back was his aura glowedas he disappeared before her eyes.
Linkle checked themap and visioned an X where the location would be. Her eyes landedthat building that had caught her eye earlier. The area that read TheTemple of Time.
Linkle finally madeher way to the steps of the ruined temple as it slowly became night.She took in all of it and thought it would have been a beautifulsight if it wasn't destroyed. She saw more of those frozen machinesthat had tried killing her before and tread carefully. A large statuewas before her and Linkle wondered who she was. Oddly enough, thegoddess statue started speaking. It offered her two gifts: an extralife or more stamina in exchange for four spirit orbs. Linkle tookthe extra life. She thought maybe the old man was teaching her thisfor the road up ahead to get stronger.
That was when theold man made his presence known. He was up top of the temple andushered her to come up. Linkle spent a minute looking for an easy wayup. Once she climbed up onto the roof covered with many holes, shemade it to the tower.
"The blessing ofthe Goddess has made you that much resilient, I see..." He started.
"That was agoddess statue?" Linkle asked.
"Yes. The goddessnamed Hylia that made this land long, long ago. But that is not whatI need to speak to you about." He said as he paused.
"Now then... thetime has come to show you who I truly am... I was King RhoamBosphoramus Hyrule. I was... the last leader of Hyrule. A kingdomwhich no longer exists."
His lantern glowedso bright making Linkle cover her eyes with her arm. Once the lightdimmed, Linkle looked surprised at his reveal. He was indeed a king.A proud and wise one. The same aura color was around him.
"The GreatCalamity was merciless...It devastated everything in its path, lo, acentury ago. It was then that my life was taken away from me. Andsince that time, here I have remained, in spirit form. I did notthink it wise to overwhelm you while your memory was still fragile,"he said as he turned his back to her to the castle.
"So rather thanthat, I thought it best to assume a temporary form. Forgive me," heglanced back at her, and Linkle nodded back unsure what she was aboutto hear.
"I think you arenow ready. Ready to hear what happened 100 years ago. To knowCalamity Ganon's true form, one must know the story from an age longpast. The demon king was born into this kingdom, but thistransformation into Malice created the horror you see now. Stories ofGanon were passed from generation to generation in the form oflegends and fairy tales. But there was also... a prophecy. The signsof a resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear. And the power tooppose it lies dormant beneath the ground."
"We decided toheed the prophecy and began excavating large areas of land. It wasn'tlong before we discovered several ancient relics made by the hands ofour distant ancestors. These relics, the Divine Beasts were giantmachines piloted by warriors. We also found the Guardians an army ofmechanical soldiers who fought autonomously. This coincided withancient legends, oft repeated throughout our land. We also learned ofa princess with a sacred power and her appointed knight, chosen bythe sword that seals the darkness. It was they who sealed Ganon awayusing the power of these ancient relics."
"One hundredyears ago, there was a princess set to inherit a sacred power and twoskilled knights at her side. It was clear that we must follow ourancestors' path. We selected four skilled individuals from acrossHyrule and tasked them with the duty of piloting the Divine Beasts.With the princess as their commander, we dubbed these pilotsChampions- a name that would solidify their unique bond. Theprincess, her appointed knights, and the rest of the Champions wereon the brink of sealing away Ganon..."
"But nay... Ganonwas cunning, and he responded with a plan beyond our imagining. Heappeared from deep below Hyrule Castle, seized control of theGuardians and the Divine Beasts and turned them against us. TheChampions lost their lives. Those residing in the castle as well. Theappointed knight, gravely wounded, collapsed while defending theprincess... And the other knight was nowhere to be seen, we believedthey had collapsed as well. And thus, the kingdom of Hyrule wasdevastated absolutely by Calamity Ganon."
"However... theprincess survived...to face Ganon alone..."
The king paused.Linkle was taken back by such a story, but there was more.
"That princesswas my own daughter... my dear Zelda. And the courageous knight whoprotected her right up to the very end... well, I'm not entirely sureif he made it. But the other knight, who vanished without a trace weall believed to be gone... was you, Linkle."
Linkle looked up athim astonished, having no words.
"You foughtvaliantly along with your knight companion when both of your fatestook an unfortunate turn. And then, you were taken to the Shrine ofResurrection. Here you now stand revitalized, 100 years later. Thewords of guidance you have been hearing since your awakening are fromPrincess Zelda herself. Even now, as she works to restrain Ganon fromwithin Hyrule Castle, she calls out for your help."
"However, mydaughter's power will soon be exhausted. Once that happens, Ganonwill freely regenerate himself and nothing will stop him fromconsuming our land. Considering that I could not save my own kingdom,I have no right to ask this of you, Linkle... But I am powerlesshere..." the king said making a fist, all hope lost in his voice.
"You must saveher... my daughter. And do whatever it takes to annihilate Ganon.Somehow, Ganon has maintained control over all four Divine Beasts, aswell as those Gaurdians swarming around Hyrule Castle. I believe itwould be quite reckless for you to head directly to the castle atthis point."
Linkle was stillspeechless. Was this really happening?
"I suggest...that you make your way east out to one of the villages in thewilderness," the king continued interrupting Linkle's thoughts,"Follow the road out to Kakariko Village. There you will find theelder, Impa. She will tell you more about the path that lies ahead."the king said pointing toward the direction.
"Consult the mapon your Sheikah Slate for the precise location of Kakariko Village.Make your way past the twin summits of the Dueling Peaks. From there,follow the road as it proceeds north..."
Linkle stayed quietas she looked out into the land of mystery that she could cross now.
"As I promisedyou, here is my paraglider. With that, you should be able to safelyfly off the cliffs surrounding this area." the king said as Linkletook the glider from him.
"And... I thinkthat's it. I've told you everything I can..."
His aura began toget brighter. It was his time to go.
"Ah yes. One morething, Linkle. Check around this building. You may find a preciouspiece that gives you a step closer to yourself. Linkle... you mustsave... Hyrule..." the king's voice faded as the light consumedhim, making him disappear.
Linkle stood thereas the ambiance of the wilderness returned. These tragic stories...herself being a knight of the princess of this kingdom... seeking outto find someone named Impa... and her of all people, to save Hyrulefrom that... beast.
Linkle glanced atthe dark silhouette of the castle. It remained still and ominous.This was crazy, all of it. And for her, so much to take in.
With a deep breath,Linkle made her way down the building to find what the king saidabout. She looked carefully around the outside of the building to theinside. Nothing but broken walls, windows, grass, and rocks. Aftersearching what felt like forever, she sat down in the grass. Her headresting in the palm of her hand, letting out a distressed sigh.
The breeze pickedup as leaves passed by her. Linkle glanced at them and turned towhere they blew. The goddess statue. Linkle stared at it and didn'tknow why but she sensed to go to it. She stood up and walked towardthe large statue. The longer she stared up at the statue, the morethis feeling increased. This feeling was like a tingling in the backof her mind. She felt something now.
The Temple of Time stood on hill,not in ruins. Linkle entered the abandoned temple. She was wearingthis blue and white tunic with white markings, black pants, and highthigh brown boots along with black finger-less gloves. Her hair wasthe same and she wore the same necklace.
Linkle made her way to the goddessstatue. She looked up at it and then lowered herself to wear she satdown with her legs underneath her. Her hands were folded together inprayer. Linkle stared at her folded hands.
"Great statue of the GoddessHylia, I have come in need of your help. I was chosen to be one ofthe knights for Princess Zelda. My fighting abilities are not asstrong as the other knight and I'm... not as strong as he is. What Imean to ask is... I pray for your guidance in skill and in courage. Idon't want to disappoint the princess, the Champions, and... him. Ijust want him to be proud of me and show that I can fend for myself,so he wouldn't have to be burdened in protecting me all the time."
The statue and the atmosphereremained quiet. Linkle looked up to the statue.
"Please. This is all I ask for."
After a moment, Linkle stood up andmade her way out of the temple, not knowing a beam of light from thesun shined on the statue.
Linkle gasped atthe sudden memory. She remembered that moment. She looked up at thestatue and this time, moonlight shined on the statue. Linkle felt aneasiness now. Even though the memory was still foggy to her, she feltmore confidence now that the Goddess Hylia heard her then and heardher now. It was as if the goddess was going to keep her promise ifLinkle was going to go out there and do what needs to be done.
Linkle nodded witha smile. "Thank you."