Chapter Text
Link hadn’t been looking forward to this exploration.
It had been brought up a few weeks ago. When Zelda had run up to him excitedly.
“They found tunnels under the lower sanctum!” she had exclaimed.
Before Link could even get a word in edgewise she had begun to ramble about what they could potentially find down there. Before suggesting they investigate it.
“It may lead to answers about the mysterious illness that has appeared as of recent as well.” She finished the tirade with a heavy dose of puppy dog eyes to get Link to agree.
He had been reluctant and made sure Zelda sat down before they discussed their plan in length. She had just chuckled because she knew the moment she had suggested it he would come with her. Just as he always has.
She was right of course. Didn’t mean he had to admit it though.
So they had discussed it, barely, since Zelda was so eager, and set out. The castle hadn’t been fully repaired yet so they were staying together at their house in Hateno. They said goodbye to it and mounted their horses to head out.
First they visited a few places to deal with “official royal business”. Which basically only meant securing a dondon for the long arduous journey downwards and saying goodbye to Sidon, just in case.
They had left the domain happily and finally started their descent when they reached Hyrule castle.
Link had shivered when they went into the lower sanctum to access the tunnels. Zelda had noticed and held his hand. Reassuring him that Ganon was gone, and that they wouldn’t need to face him ever again.
Besides, she joked, if he did then Link could beat him again, even with a stick as his only weapon.
That’s where they are now. Underneath the castle.
They’re both grimy with dirt and whatever sludge was down here as well as tired. So yeah, he was not looking forward to this and was proven right. To make things worse they had had to leave their dondon behind because the passageway became too narrow for him. They left him munching on some numinous stone deposits before continuing downwards.
Zelda had been optimistic about their descent. Even though he would catch her cursing out the people who built this area under her breath at times.
They had finally reached a promising area though. Seeing signs of stairs and ancient architecture. Their footsteps echoed off the walls as Zelda takes the lead with her torch in hand.
“This strange gloom keeps getting thicker,” she begins as she pauses in her movement, “We’ve been descending for a while now, these tunnels are deeper than I thought. What could be down here?”
Link answers her question with an animated shrug of his shoulders. She just chuckles before she moves on. Zelda and him enter a room full of luminous glow and she snaps a picture of it on the purah pad.
Then she crouches to the ground and remarks, “With people falling ill so frequently from this gloom, what we are currently walking through seems different. As if not concentrated enough to hurt us.” she swipes a finger over the floor, collecting nothing but dust where there should be gloom.
“Let’s keep going.” Link suggests as he helps her back up, “I know that you want to know why it’s coming up from beneath Hyrule castle. But we should be careful, as you said earlier, we don’t know what's down here.”
Zelda turns to face him, “Well, I know I'll be okay with you, Link. Let’s go solve this mystery!” She finishes with determination and spins back around to keep walking.
He nods and hurries after her. She rambles as they continue, talking about anything and everything that has to do with their current predicament as he fondly watches.
They stop abruptly as Zelda makes a noise of exclamation and Link feels a shift in the master sword on his back.
He looks back to see it glowing.
That gives him pause, it hasn’t reacted like this since his fight with Ganon. He’s hesitant to continue now.
“The master sword, it must be sensing something. I knew there was something down here,” Link looks at her with an eyebrow raised, “Well, we’ve come this far, we can't turn back. We just must be careful as we go further.”
Link still keeps silently trying to get her to turn back but it doesn't work. She continues on without him as he heaves a put upon sigh and once again runs to catch up.
She talks even more now, nervously filling the silence. There are only sounds of echoing drips and the shifting of stone in the cave, besides her voice. So maybe it’s for the best.
They enter a corridor next. It’s built with a white stone, sconces mounted on pillars line the corridor. They’re shaped in a weird egg-like way and Link reaches out to poke one. It doesn’t light up or anything so he’s mildly disappointed.
Zelda pipes up from where she stands next to a fallen pillar, “these are ancient ruins, might they be from the Zonai?”
He gives her a curious look and he adds, “I’ve seen a few of them in Faron, this seems different but also similar, so maybe?”
She nods rapidly. It’s as if she gains a sparkle to her eyes as she rushes to the next statue lining the wall. “This is definitely Zonai in origin! I’ve seen these carvings in my studying!”
Link has to agree as he notices similarities between this dragon like statue and the ones near the spring of courage.
Zelda then goes on to explain who the Zonai were said to be and how Hylians know very little about them. Even though they are such a big part of history.
Link slightly zones out during her explanation but is brought back quickly when she reaches over and hits his arm with her purah pad. He gives her a questioning look and she ask if he can take her picture next to the statue. He rolls his eyes but does so anyway.
The picture is perfect and he thinks about getting it painted to hang once they get back home.
Zelda seems so caught up in her investigation of the ruins that she forgets to ask for the pad back. Link doesn’t mind and uses it to snap a few more pictures of her. He even takes one of himself pointing to Zelda who's admiring a statue of what the Zonai must have looked like. She laughs when he shows her that one.
“Alright, enough goofing around Link,” she says as she shoves him playfully, ”the path continues further, let’s keep going.”
He puts up his hands in an, I surrender, manner and nods. They continue walking, descending even more stairs. When they enter a larger room, Link has to deal with some keese but they’re more annoying than anything.
Zelda rushes ahead before Link can stop her. She stares at the walls reverently.
“Look at these murals!” She says, “There are ancient texts that include stories of a great war fought long ago. A conflict between the allied tribes and someone only ever referred to as the demon king.”
Link nods at her explanation of what she says was the Imprisoning War. She runs back and forth theorizing what she can with the murals information.
Even mentioning that a previous Hyrule royal family had been the descendants of the Zonai. However, they had used that as an excuse to rule unjustly and were overthrown. That’s when zeldas ancestors became the royal family.
He watches her with vague interest in the story. Link is happy she’s so intrigued.
“Link! This is a huge discovery!” She exclaims.
He nods his head in agreement and takes out the purah pad to take pictures of the murals for her. Since she seems more interested in investigating them more closely.
She gets sad that the rest of the murals seem to be obscured but Link tries to cheer her up by showing her the photos he had taken. It does the trick and she suggests they go deeper.
Zelda mentions the gloom getting thicker as Link agrees and confers that he’s feeling more on edge the deeper they go.
It all comes to a head as they finally enter what seems to be the main room.
It’s a gapingly large chamber hidden in the deepest part of the ruins. As if it wasn’t meant to be found. In the center there seems to be a prone figure with something attached to it. A large spiral of pure energy emerges from it. They share a look before continuing downward.
“What is that?” Zelda asks as they draw nearer.
Something falls from on top of the figure and a thing bounces down the stone stairs leading to the center. Zelda reaches out to grab it but Link stops her, grabbing it himself.
He’s about to admonish her about picking up random things when there’s the sound of a heartbeat.
They search the room for its source as it thuds loudly, reverberating in both of their heads, bringing about an oppressive feeling. The suffocating feeling feels as if it’s coming from the centre of the room.
Link turns and watches as the figure begins to writhe. Bones cracking and moving as it does so. Grotesquely snapping into place.
Then its head snaps towards them.
It’s eyes opened and seemed as if to show them their worst fear. It’s malice filled eyes land on them and they have little time to react as suddenly tendrils of dark energy descend upon them.
Link manages to block the first blow but it sends him and the master sword flying. The sword lands in front of Zelda while he lands far behind her.
He can’t react as Zelda herself picks up the master sword to deflect the next hit coming for them.
Except she isn’t able to reflect it as the energy curls around the sword instead. Burning up Zelda's arm as she shouts in pain. She slouches as she huffs in pain and Link rushes towards her. The second attack reaches her just as Link reaches her and this time the deflection works as they both grasp the master sword, holding it together as they parry the attack. but,
The master sword cracks.
And shatters.
It’s pieces fly forwards and slice the cheek of the figure. Link pushes Zelda out of the way of the next attack, it makes direct contact with him instead of her, the master sword flies from his hand as he’s shoved back. His arm giving out as it sustains the same damage that Zelda had received makes him stumble.
“w̸a̷s̶ ̶t̷h̴a̸t̵ ̴t̸h̵e̶ ̸s̶w̴o̵r̶d̴ ̶t̶h̴a̵t̵ ̸s̷e̴a̸l̷s̵ ̶t̴h̷e̸ ̸d̴a̵r̶k̴n̸e̸s̶s̷?̴”
The figure writhes as its voice echoes through the cavern, “A̸ ̵b̸l̶a̴d̶e̴ ̷t̶h̴a̸t̵ ̴s̶h̸a̶t̴t̴e̸r̸s̶ ̵s̸o̸ ̷e̴a̵s̸i̴l̸y̵ ̸a̷g̷a̸i̴n̶s̶t̶ ̷m̷y̴ ̶p̸o̴w̶e̸r̷ ̷c̸a̸n̴n̴o̸t̵ ̵s̴a̶v̶e̶ ̵y̷o̶u̴ ̴f̷r̵o̴m̶ ̷m̵e̶.”
It stands and continues with its words, “L̸i̶n̶k̶…̴,” it starts, “Y̵o̵u̴ ̴w̷h̵o̷ ̶c̴a̶r̷r̶ied ̷t̴h̶a̴t̶ ̶f̴r̴a̶g̶i̵l̴e̶ ̶s̴w̸o̷r̶d̵ ̶a̸n̴d̸ ̴p̸o̶w̷e̸r̴,̶ ̴a̶r̵e̸ ̷Z̸e̴l̷d̷a̸.̶.”
“ ̶R̶a̴u̵r̷u̵ ̶p̴l̷a̶c̶e̶d̴ ̸h̶i̷s̶ ̸f̸a̷i̴t̶h̸ ̴i̸n̴ ̷y̴o̴u̸ ̷a̷n̷d̴ ̴t̸h̸a̵t̷ ̵w̴a̵s̷ ̷a̷l̷l̴ ̸y̶o̴u̷ ̶c̴o̷u̵l̶d̸ ̴d̶o̶?̸?”
The cut on its face heals as if burning closed.
“How do you know our names?” Zelda manages to ask through gritted teeth.
Link doesn’t even care why the figure knows them. Questions are for later. He only braces himself. Ready to defend Zelda with the rest of his body if need be. But instead of answering or attacking, the figure groans as energy begins to gather in its chest.
Then it releases it upwards.
The ruins begin to shake. The stone around them begins to unwind as they're torn asunder by the figures immense power.
The floor around them begins to crumble and Link turns. He looks towards Zelda who is in front of him, he had pushed her pretty far to the side, on her knees as she nurses her mangled arm. He worries that he won’t reach her in time if the ruins collapse on top of her
Only to find that the floor beneath him has given way. He tries to recover by grabbing the rock, but his injured arm fails him and he falls. Distantly he hears Zelda yell “Link!” as she jumps after him.
They're freefalling and Link is rapidly trying to figure out how to save them both. He has no paraglider and Zelda is too far above him. They won’t reach each other in time.
Zelda still tries, reaching out with all her might. Yet he’s proven right as their injured hands barely miss each other and Zeldas descent slows.
In his last moments of consciousness he wishes that they were safe, even though he failed to protect her.
He desperately wishes that they get out of these ruins. Then an all consuming light blinds him and darkness takes hold.