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Chapter Text

Zelda’s eyes opened slowly, a dark, moss and vine covered ceiling coming into focus. She was lying flat on her back on a hard stone floor, and she’d been there long enough that the warmth of her body had sunk into it. 

  “Ah, Zelda,” an unfamiliar masculine voice said, palpable relief in his tone, “finally, you’re awake.” 

Zelda sat up, realizing that she was in her undergarments. 

Then she caught sight of her arm. 

Her right arm now bore a shocking resemblance to the spectral arm that had caught her in the chasm. It was a deep gray, bound in bronze jewelry. The nails were much longer than she usually liked them, the ends filed to claw-like points. Green lines of energy flowed through the jewelry, and lines of gray criss-crossed up her shoulder and onto her chest and back. 

  “I’ve heard a great deal about you from Link,” the voice continued, her new arm glowing blue and green as he spoke. 

  Is he in my arm? Zelda wondered. The arm seemed to respond to her commands, fingers curling and flattening, twisting this way and that. The sensation was duller than in her other hand, but still there. 

  “Your wounds were severe,” the voice said gravely. “I am glad to see you escape death, Your Grace. Your arm, however, was beyond saving,” he said, regret in every word. “I had to replace it, lest the injury endanger you further.”

  Zelda eyed the deep scars on her shoulder and chest where the Gloom had eaten through the muscle. Now, the magic of the strange hand had coated those scars, turning her skin from pink to a deep greenish gray. The new skin extended onto her ribs. All of it was tender to the touch, and that sensation went deep. Her whole arm ached, and when she stretched, the skin on her ribs twinged. 

  The Gloom would’ve likely killed me had this stranger not intervened, Zelda thought. And he knows Link. Link! 

She jolted to her feet, looking around. “Where is Link?!” she demanded of the room. There was no answer, though Zelda thought she felt the stranger’s presence near her. He hadn’t left, he just didn’t want to answer her. 

She was in a round, dark room filled with ancient gnarled tree roots. The stonework below her feet was worn and spotted with lichen. 

A gleam caught her eye. 

She approached a root slowly, and then lifted the decayed remains of the Master Sword free from the tree’s grasp. Two thirds of the blade had been chewed off by the terrible Gloom, and only a few inches of the blue steel remained untouched. “Fi?” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. There was no reply from the fabled, mangled blade. 

  Did it come with me? Zelda wondered. And more importantly… Why didn’t Link come and get it? She held the sword to her chest, then placed it on her back. The blade materialized a thin leather belt to hold itself in place—too weak to summon its customary sheath. 

  This cannot be happening, she thought, feeling dizzy. This has to be a dream. A nightmare.

  “Link?” she called again into the silence. She heard the distant trickle of water, and a dull rushing that sounded like wind. She examined the stonework more closely, and realized that the walls were much smoother than she’d initially realized. Wherever she was, this was not a natural cave. 

When she did not receive an answer, she slid out through the vines that barred the entrance, not wanting to risk damaging Fi further. 

She emerged into a much larger room, with a set of stone and copper water-wheels on the left-hand side, and a circular stone emblem before her. She took a few steps forward and jumped as glowing green energy materialized in the center of the stone circle. 

  An ouroboros, she thought, looking at the stone dragons. This looks like Zonai stonework. And the energy… Could this be Zonai technology? 

In the last few years, only a few pieces of Zonai tech had been unearthed, all of which had been too corroded by time to function. Even Purah and Tauro hadn’t been able to fix it. But the artifacts had been enough to establish that the Zonai hadn’t been simple barbarians, but rather a people steeped in wisdom. 

  But if this is a Zonai ruin, and functional Zonai technology, then… 

Hesitantly, Zelda reached out with her new arm and touched the green emblem. It reminded her of the Sheikah technology. Were the Sheikah thus protégés of the Zonai?

It chimed and dissolved. 

Then behind her, something resembling a Sheikah portal flickered into existence. 

  How..?

A deep bell chimed, and the waterwheel to her left clunked to life, rotating clockwise. 

She jumped again as a stone slab in front of her slid upwards, revealing another passage. 

Zelda swallowed. It seems the only way out is forwards, she thought. 

Her stomach growled ferociously. How long have I been down here? And where is ‘here’? Am I still beneath Hyrule Castle?

Somehow, she didn’t think so. The air, while damp, smelled too clean and clear. There was something crisp to it as well, and it felt rather thin. She shivered and walked into the next tunnel. 

There was a platform at the end of the hall, with glowing green energy. Below lay a pool of deep water. Somehow, Zelda knew her only option was to jump. 

Gritting her teeth, Zelda did so. 

The air rushed past her, and her stomach did an awful flip. Oh, how she missed her wings. Flying was amazing. Falling was not. 

She clambered out of the water, up a wall, and down the hall. 

  This place is rather fortified, likely to protect something in that innermost chamber I woke up in, she thought. A small voice in the back of her head wondered whether that something was her. 

The third dive was the highest, nearly double the height of a hyrulean oak. She balked at first, knowing that she was too exhausted to summon her wings. She hadn’t managed to do so after Sealing Calamity Ganon, but she hadn’t needed to try. She nervously ran her hands over her abdomen, trying in vain to dry her damp palms. Her ribs were more prominent than they had been before she had gone beneath Hyrule Castle. That Gloom really did weaken me, she reflected. She put her hand to her chest, feeling the faintest possible spark of Hylia’s grace within her. It was even less than she’d been left with after defeating the Calamity seven years ago. Even less than the drop she had had initially. If the bit of power she had been born with was a spark, this was the faintest ember. She took a deep breath, waiting for the spots to stop dancing before her eyes. 

Clenching her hands—and wincing as her new, sharp nails dug into her palm—she dove. 

  At least I still have some sensation in this hand, she thought as she fell. She hit the water headfirst, and it welcomed her like a soothing blanket, catching her easily. She kicked off the ground and swam for the surface, shaking her hair out of her face and swimming to the side of the pool. She was glad that she had spent some time learning to swim with Mipha. 

A glow caught her eye—a green chest with glowing eyes. 

She touched her new hand to it, and it opened, briefly showing her that same hand emblem she’d seen earlier. 

  If this is Zonai technology, it must be somehow keyed to the energy in my arm rather than my divine energy. That means that whoever gave me this arm had power of their own, and must’ve been able to utilize Zonai technology or magic. Though, as Purah would say, on some level they aren’t so different. 

Within the chest she found a pair of calf-height sandals, and a thigh-length skirt of old linen. 

  Zonaian fashion? she thought. It would almost be a shame to wear these… they’re so well-preserved. But I admit, I do feel rather self-conscious in my underwear. And the ground is rough enough that my feet are starting to sting. Artifacts or not, I can’t afford to injure my feet. 

Reluctantly, Zelda donned the sandals and the skirt. Now if I could just find something else, like a tunic or something, she thought, cinching the belts around her waist. 

She turned, gasping as she saw daylight at the end of the tunnel. 

  I’m not underground!

Her relief propelled her forward, until she was running down the hall and into the light. She emerged from the cave-building-whatever it was and promptly came skidding to a halt. 

  “Oh!” she exclaimed, clinging onto the wall. 

Wind buffeted her as she looked out over the entirety of Hyrule Kingdom. 

She was in the sky. 

Mountains lay below her, spread out like anthills toward every horizon. Forests had been reduced to blurs of green and brown below her, and lakes were the size of droplets. She had never been so high up—not in this lifetime. Not in Lady Omel’s either. 

She knew in her bones that the last time an Incarnation had been this high up had been the Spirit Maiden, the Incarnate of the Godkiller King, Link of Skyloft. 

Islands of a thousand different shapes and sizes filled the skies above Hyrule. She glimpsed Death Mountain in the distance, the summit belching out great clouds of what looked to be Gloom. 

  “Oh great Golden Goddesses,” she breathed. The sky islands—but how? She was quite certain that they hadn’t existed before she and Link had gone under the castle. Skyloft had returned to the earth centuries ago. No, these islands must be younger. But where had they come from?!

Gloom had pushed Hyrule Castle into the air, either floating or suspended somehow. It was spewing from Death Mountain. Far below it had torn into the land, either in lakes or holes in the earth. 

  It was supposed to be over, she thought. 

  “What has happened?” She whispered to herself. To the sword. To her arm. Anyone who could hear her. 

She walked carefully to the rounded diving spot that had lit up, swallowing. “You want me to dive off that? I have no paraglider, and my wings are beyond me—I can’t even summon a candle right now, nevermind my divine form!”

The arm did not reply. 

  “It was supposed to be over!” Zelda cried. “I did it, I defeated Ganon the first time—it was supposed to be over for this lifetime!” She screamed into the empty skies. “And now he’s back?!” Not only that, but the Gloom’s source, that mysterious mummy, was the Calamity’s progenitor. Its source. Zelda balled her fists in her hair. 

  “I can’t do this again!” she screamed into the skies. Her breath came fast and hard from her lungs and she felt dizzy at the thinness of the air. She sat on the edge of the rock, wind tickling her calves as she watched the clouds pass below her. “It’s not fair,” she mumbled. “We’ve barely begun to recover from the last time.” Tears welled up in her eyes. 

  Hatred must always be guarded against, Fi whispered to her. Whether in a thousand years from now or tomorrow, Demise’s servants will always return. I am sorry that such a thing must happen in this lifetime. Mourn as you will, but your people need you. We must move forward.

Zelda stared at the ground, breathing hard. 

She looked back at the cave, then down at her feet where the green light glowed invitingly. Every previous time this disc has appeared, there was water below. Maybe it will be alright? 

She looked around. One thing was certain: Link was not in the cave, and she could not rest until she found him. 

Zelda pushed herself to her feet and looked up at the sky above her. She took a deep breath. 

  I am the Goddess Hylia Incarnate. I am Zelda of Hateno. She lowered her gaze to the castle. “I’m going to find Link,” she said harshly. “I’m going to heal the Master Sword, and then I’m going to bury it in that man’s skull!” Her voice tore from her throat, from the deepest part of her chest. 

Mustering her courage, Zelda backed up, then took a running start, diving head first off the platform with a shriek of fear and adrenaline. 

She settled into a free-fall, laying on her stomach as she sank through a layer of clouds. Her heart was pounding as she clenched her fists. Her vision went black for a second, then she came back to herself, lightheaded. Her stomach flipped twice and she forced herself to breathe. 

Below her was a huge island, covered in golden grass and trees—and gray ruins. There was a strange structure, a huge one, with a large roof and a small ground floor, like an inverted tower. It reminded her of the columns the Zonai built in their doorways. Beyond it, she glimpsed the serpentine form of a dragon. Perhaps Naydra or Farosh? 

   I should head there first, she decided. Thankfully, right beneath her was a large pond. 

She curled into a diving form, and cut into the deep, cool water. 

  If you ever fall from a high place, Mipha had once told her, try to land in water. 

  Surely landing in water is the same as landing on earth, Zelda had protested. 

Mipha had given her that sweet smile. Perhaps it was, but that was before our people became friends. Water does not harm. It heals. No injury shall you receive from the water, my dear friend.

So Zelda dove. 

…

Zelda followed the decayed road toward the large building in the distance. To her relief, her clothing dried quickly, which was good. 

  Some form of lightweight linen, though the texture is slightly different than modern linen. Handwoven? No, perhaps a different variety of plant? She could not stop wondering as she fidgeted with a hem. 

The wind was ceaseless and brisk, and she found herself shivering and rubbing her bare arms. She very much wanted a shirt. She had picked up a stick, and chose to use it instead of the Master Sword. 

  “The flora seems completely different to the surface,” she murmured aloud. “The wood is pale, likely to decrease damage from the sun. The leaves are yellow, but they don’t seem to be falling yet, so perhaps it’s their natural hue?” She noticed a blue mushroom and picked it carefully. “Not a chillshroom,” she muttered. “But what could it—” she yelped as a strange creature came toward her, hovering over the golden grass. 

It had a green, tiered body, a single red eye, and an orange fin above its brow. 

It beeped angrily at her, and swung a branch at her. 

Zelda dodged, drawing her own branch. 

  Likely some sort of sentry, she realized. A protector of the island? 

Either way, it wasn’t interested in her hand, so it seemed determined to defeat her. 

  “I—I come in peace!” Zelda yelped. 

The creature did not respond beyond more angry buzzing as it drew back its arm to swing at her once more. 

She dodged its second blow, then hammered in a few of her own. 

It fell backwards, then collapsed. 

Zelda stole its branch and hit it again. 

The creature whirred, and collapsed, the green energy that had suspended it vanishing. 

  “Fascinating,” Zelda panted, wiping her brow. She retrieved the orange horn of the creature, as well as a glowing green orb that reminded her of the ancient Sheikah cores that had powered the Guardians. 

  Yet that creature didn’t seem possessed… nor did I feel an evil intent emanating from it, she thought. A flicker of regret passed through her. It was probably just doing its job. 

She found an apple tree and a sturdier branch nearby, and decided to eat some apples to curb her hunger. 

As she continued walking, she found what looked to be a dormant mechanical creature. 

Zelda swallowed the last bite of her apple, then examined the creature. 

A beacon glowed on its second tier, then it came to life. It whirred and clanked, then seemed to relax. 

  “Zelda, I have waited for you,” it said in a cheerful, vaguely feminine voice. 

  “King Link left something for you in my care,” the creature said. 

Zelda gaped at it in astonishment. 

Its second tier slid forward, revealing the Purah Pad. 

  “This is the Purah Pad,” the creature provided helpfully. “I am told it is an invaluable tool that will help provide you with direction.” 

Zelda picked it up, examining it. There was a layer of dust on it, but it powered up regardless. 

  How long has this been here? It seemed more worn as well, with new scratches along the back. They looked rather like claw-marks. 

  “I received it from King Link. I have now passed it on to you,” the creature announced. “My records indicate that King Link is waiting at the location marked on its map. My message has been delivered,” it chirped happily. 

She looked up at the creature. “I beg your pardon, but… Where am I?” 

  “We stand in the Garden of Time,” replied the creature. It turned toward the large building. “The Temple of Time is visible from here.” 

  I have no memory of a Temple of Time that looked like that, Zelda thought, following its gaze to the strange building. Could this be from an era where I did not reincarnate? 

  “It was used in the distant past,” the creature explained. “Many rites and ceremonies of the kingdom were held there.” It turned back to her. “But no more. Now it is a lonely place. No one visits.”

Zelda was attempting to grapple with so many new pieces of information, her mind whirling. She looked at the creature. How did the Zonai create technology that can… feel? 

  “Pardon me, but… what are you, exactly?” she asked. 

 The creature beeped contemplatively. “A difficult question to answer, Lady Zelda,” it said, “our souls were Zonai, but we were transferred to these Constructs long ago. We lost our memories, but were given new purposes by the King and Queen.” 

  Just like Arnol said, in that dream he had a few years ago, Zelda thought, her head beginning to spin. “King Link?” Zelda asked, dreading the answer. 

  “No, the last King of the Zonai, the Prince of the Owl Tribe,” the construct replied. “I would appreciate further visits from you, Lady Zelda!” it chirped, and then returned to its resting spot. 

There was a trill from her right, and she saw a semi-ouroboros light up. 

  I must keep moving, she thought. 

Thankfully, the map function somehow included the place where she was, and had been updated to have layers—one for the sky, and one for the surface. 

Mind whirring with questions and theories, Zelda tapped the energy disc. 

Stone grated and clanked, creating a bridge. She looked at the map function. 

  “The Great Sky Island, eh?” She looked at the little pinging beacon where Link’s location was marked. “Well… he must be okay, right?” He had to be. Even though this place seemed ancient and devoid of all sentient life—she wasn’t sure whether the Constructs still counted. 

She moved toward a little pavilion, admiring the architecture. There were several pots covered in Zonai glyphs, and a second Steward Construct that seemed to be attempting to repair another. She approached and waved to it. 

  “Hello. You seem to be new here,” the construct noted. “Be wary of Soldier Constructs as you travel this way.”

  “Soldier Constructs?” Zelda repeated. 

  “They are those of us given struct orders to protect this land,” the steward explained. “The Zonai who created us directed them to eliminate trespassers.” 

Zelda shivered at the influx of knowledge. 

  Purah’s going to love this, she thought. 

  “They will consider you a trespasser too. You must treat them as a serious threat,” the steward warned her. “Keep your distance and focus on your opponents. They will be able to judge your combat skills and enact countermeasures. Do not swing wildly.” 

Zelda nodded, and the steward left her alone. 

She looked out over the railing, taking in the incredible view. 

  It’s so serene here, she thought. A fallen kingdom adrift in a sea of clouds. There was a sad, dignified presence about the island, and there was a melancholy around the steward constructs. 

 She blinked aside the thoughts. She had to get to Link. 

As Zelda approached another diving disc, she got a better look at the dragon circling the Temple of Time. 

  That’s not one of the three I know, she realized with surprise. A fourth servant of the Springs? But there are only three… 

Then she noticed that the great beast seemed to be flying in a circle around the temple. Something kept it near, as if it was looking for something. 

Beyond its pale body, few other details about the dragon could be discerned from this distance. 

There were, of course, many legends of various dragons that had lived in Hyrule and the kingdoms of the Age of Myth. Volvagia, Eldin, Lanayru, Faron… But she remembered those. She did not know this new beast. 

Zelda frowned and dove. 

...

As it turned out, the new flora had been cataloged in the Purah Pad already. It called the new blue mushrooms ‘skyshrooms’, and accurately identified the different parts of the soldier construct she’d defeated. She felt terrible about ‘killing’ the Zonai construct, given that it was evidently a sentient being, but it hadn’t responded to her entreaties to leave her alone. 

  “Zonai charges,” Zelda murmured contemplatively. “So not a core… fascinating.” 

She reached the Temple of Time, dealing quickly with the Soldier Construct who guarded the door.

   I wonder if they can be reprogrammed, she thought, surveying the remnants of the soldier with regret. If they could be, then perhaps we could take the pressure off of Hyrule’s military. They could prove very useful against her foe if they were impervious to Gloom. Zelda knew that she would need to run tests before deploying any reprogrammed automatons. 

After the defeat of the Calamity seven years ago, Hyrule’s military forces had been severely depleted. Most of the survivors had injuries that limited their return to combat. As such, the new garrisons were constructed of mostly new recruits. Due to the limited number of fighters, Link had reconstructed them as monster-control crews that would roam through a set area to keep the roads clear. There were three major crews that alternated through the regions, reporting to the various regional leaders when they did. 

  But if I was able to reprogram these Soldier Constructs, maybe they could help, Zelda thought. She approached the door, and placed her right hand on the green symbol. 

It fizzled and turned orange, blocking her path. A sharp zap went up her arm. 

Zelda jumped back with a yelp, clutching her arm. The tender flesh throbbed painfully. 

  “That door will only open to those with sufficient power,” that voice from earlier said. 

Zelda whirled to see a spectral figure before her, a spirit of greenish-blue flame. It had a slender torso, a long sad face, and large ears decorated with dangling green crystals and a mane of white-gold hair that fell to its feet. 

  A zonai, she realized. But more than that, she knew this face. 

  “Rauru,” she blurted, the name leaping to her tongue unbidden. “You… You were a cleric of mine, from long ago.” 

  “Indeed I was,” he confirmed, dipping his head. “And it was I who gave you that arm. As for how to get through the door, that arm should grant access. It must’ve lost some of its power.” Contemplatively, he gazed out over the sky island. “Ah. I stored some of my power—well, really it’s yours. You gifted me a large quantity of your magic, which I used to construct those Shrines long ago. There should be a few on this island that can help.” He pointed west. 

Zelda followed his finger to where a strange conical stone was poking up out of the ground with blue and green swirls around it. It reminded her of the light she had seen coming from the hand underground. 

  “Yes, the shrines should be the key,” Rauru said, sounding satisfied. With that, he vanished. 

Zelda sighed. Here we go again… Some things never changed, it seemed. 

…

The magic within Rauru’s borrowed arm increased by leaps and bounds with every shrine Zelda visited. Mysterious magic returned to it with each shrine, explained by Rauru—though not to Zelda’s satisfaction. Each new ability spawned a thousand questions in Zelda’s mind. Ultrahand, Ascend, Fuse—were these Zonai abilities that all of them had, or were they unique to Rauru? 

Rauru, to her great frustration, did not answer any question she directed at the arm. She occasionally ran into his spirit across the Great Sky Island, evidently having departed from the arm and contenting himself with exploring the island. 

He seemed rather mournful. 

Her second night on the Sky Island found her huddled beside a campfire with Rauru, watching a Construct tending to a grove of trees. 

  “We built them to help us,” Rauru said. “I am perturbed that they continue to persist in their functions.”

  “Aren’t they also Zonai themselves?” Zelda asked, shivering. 

  “Their souls used to be,” Rauru murmured. “But they no longer recall their lives.” There was grief there. 

  “Rauru, is Link safe?” Zelda asked. 

  “Yes,” Rauru replied enigmatically. But he would say no more on the matter.

 Zelda poked the embers of the fire with the end of a stick. “So you’re the one who gave me the arm, right?”

  “Yes,” Rauru said. 

  “And you were the one who was holding down that… that man under the castle?” 

Rauru dipped his head, looking solemn. 

Zelda tried to catch his eye. “Who is he?”

  “An ancient and bitter foe,” Rauru replied. “One that should not be underestimated.”

  “He destroyed the Master Sword,” Zelda murmured. 

  “He weakened the Master Sword,” Rauru corrected sharply. “He did not destroy it. He is gathering his strength.” He looked at the Construct as it returned to its little dock and became dormant. “You must not rush into the fight, Zelda,” he said, turning to her. “And when you face him, do not fight alone. You cannot win by yourself.” He gestured to the sky island around them. “Recover here. Grow stronger. Infuse yourself with as much of my strength as you can, then descend to the earth and continue the war.” 

  “War?” Zelda echoed. 

Rauru smiled bitterly. “You once told me that the war against Demise and his ilk is not measured in years or decades, but in centuries. Our foe has just won a great victory, make no mistake, but that doesn’t mean that we have lost that war,” he said. He nodded to the Master Sword. “Keep the sword close. It can defeat Ganondorf.”

  “Is that his name?” Zelda blurted. 

Rauru blinked, then nodded. “Yes.”

  “So it’s true, the Calamity once took the form of a Gerudo,” Zelda murmured, thinking back to Urbosa’s stories. “But how did he become… that?” 

  “I cannot speak to the origin of his power,” admitted Rauru, “but it was magnified by an artifact of my people, a Sacred Stone. It transformed him from a powerful sorcerer to the monster you saw beneath the earth.”

  “So these Sacred Stones magnify magic?” Zelda asked. 

Rauru nodded. 

Zelda looked at her hands. “Is there any way I could find one?”

Rauru did not respond immediately. When he did, his words came slowly. “Few of them remain. As far as I know, only ten still exist. Most remain out of your reach, I fear. The others… the others belonged to the Sages of my era,” he said to her. “Since your power can be reclaimed through my shrines, I would suggest that you instead seek Sages in this era to fight beside you.” 

Zelda fiddled with the bangles on her new arm until the prosthetic came free. Ganondorf's Gloom had left her with a stump that ended halfway between her shoulder and where her elbow ought to have been. The flesh was raw and tender still, and covered in deep scar tissue. She had discovered that mashing fire fruit into a paste helped alleviate the soreness and pain. 

  “Many people died in the Calamity. How can I ask them to fight by my side?”

  “How can they expect you to save them while they sit by idly?” Rauru countered.

  “I’m a goddess,” Zelda replied with a shrug. “It’s my duty.”

  “That sort of thinking will only hurt you,” Rauru warned her. “Please, seek the new Sages of this era.”

Zelda sighed. A Sacred Stone would’ve been an easy way to match Ganondorf’s power, but it seemed that Rauru had a point. She might’ve been able to use a Stone, but a Sage wouldn’t be able to use Rauru’s power—her power.

  “You said there were ten. How many remain?”

  “I’m not sure,” Rauru admitted. “I was not privy to what happened after my battle with Ganondorf. I can sense their magic out in the world, but they sing in harmony together—save for Ganondorf’s—so I cannot count them.”

  “So there could be as many as nine Sages?” Zelda asked excitedly. 

Rauru tilted his head. “No. Three are beyond your reach and cannot be reclaimed—of that, I am certain. My own Stone became Link’s, and remains with him. My wife Sonia’s Stone… well, let’s just say that Ganondorf saw to that,” he said, bitter grief creeping into his voice and a hint of a snarl curling his upper lips. A pointed canine poked out of his upper gums. 

That left five Stones remaining. Six warriors would not be much of an army. Zelda sighed. “It seems I have my work cut out for me.”

  “Yes. You ought to get some rest. Fear not, I will wake you if there is danger,” he said. 

Zelda curled up beside the fire trying to keep warm. She drifted off into an uneasy sleep as Rauru hummed a soft tune, accompanied by the whistling of the thin wind. 

...

…

Two weeks later, Zelda opened the door to the Temple of Time. She had found a blue garment that was knotted at both shoulders, belted at the waist with another thin leather cord. The Pad called it a chiton fragment. It fell to her upper thighs, just above the hem of her skirt. The hem of the blue chiton, however, was frayed and torn. Some parts of it looked almost burned. But the rest of it was in decent condition. It was rather soft. The neckline was embroidered with stylized depictions of silvery dragons—Naydra, if the crown of horns was an indication. Yellow flowers were embroidered on the hemline that fell across her chest, a variety that the Pad had called Sundelions. Zelda liked those flowers.  

Fi hadn’t spoken to her since that first day when she had screamed at the sky in despair. The blade’s presence was fainter than she had ever felt before. Sometimes only the physical weight on her back reminded her that the Master Sword was still with her. 

She pushed open the strange stone doors, grunting with effort. 

They grated open reluctantly, admitting her. 

Zelda froze. 

Before her, hovering about a foot in the air, was the mirage of a blue stone. It was in the shape of a curved teardrop, a magatama. An ancient symbol for balance and change. She could recall when errant flecks of her own divine power had taken such a form. Though none of them had been quite so large.

But this image radiated a sense of power that had been mostly absent from her amber relics.

 It was as large as she was tall, and a strange symbol was carved into it, emanating a brighter blue light. 

  That looks Zonaian, but it’s a very complex symbol… Zelda thought. The Zonai had had multiple systems of writing, but this seemed to be the most complex, with runes overlapping in ways she couldn’t quite dissect. 

She approached the beautiful mirage. Her right arm tingled. 

She glanced at it, then reached out. 

Her fingers made contact with the mirage, and the blue light erupted. Energy washed over her, a powerful wave of blue magic. It smelled like blue nightshade and Silent Princesses. It felt cool and refreshing, yet charged with energy, like a midnight thunderstorm. She swore that dew kissed her face. A sense of calm washed over her. This magic was the nighttime in Korok Forest. It was the fireflies that flew around the Spring of Courage. It was the perfume of a Silent Princess blooming under the crescent moon. 

She squeezed her eyes shut against the barrage of light. 

When she opened them again, she was no longer inside the Temple. Instead, she stood on a plane of carefully raked sand surrounded by greenish blue clouds. 

By a bone-deep instinct, the part of her that remained Hylia and not Zelda, she knew that she was within a part of the Sacred Realm—a temple within it, though which one escaped her. 

She gasped. 

In front of her, hovered Link. 

He wore an outfit similar to Rauru, though his top was white and gold instead of black and gold. His hair was mostly loose around his shoulders, though he wore the same green hair ornaments that Rauru did, as well as a green circlet. Four white tears were painted under his eyes, which were closed. 

  “Link!” Zelda exclaimed. “What’s going on? Why are you in the Sacred Realm?”

Link did not respond, but he slowly unclasped his arms and held out his right hand to Zelda. A green bracelet, almost identical to Rauru’s, clung to his wrist. 

Zelda took his hand with her new arm. “Link, please wake up! We need to go fight Ganon—and the Master Sword must be repaired!” 

Blue light went down Link’s arm and then up hers. 

A symbol flared to life at the center of the back of her hand—the same one that had appeared on the stone she had touched. 

Link’s hand went limp in hers, and the slight frown on his face eased. Then he faded away. 

  “Link, wait!” Zelda cried. 

The misty plane vanished, and she was once again in the Temple of Time. 

  “What you just saw,” Rauru said behind her, “it is a mystery even to me. Perhaps it was an echo. One that reflects his sheer determination to aid you.”

Zelda whirled to face him. “I thought you said he was safe!” 

  “He is,” Rauru said. “But he is not here.” 

  “Where is he?” Zelda demanded. 

Rauru spread his arms with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry. I do not know.” 

Zelda swallowed, pulling out the Purah Pad. “No, he—he has to be nearby,” she muttered.

The icon representing Link reappeared on the map, on the other side of a wall from her. She looked up at the next set of doors, marching up to them. She pushed against them, feeling them drain her life force. “Come on!” 

She slumped to the ground, and her life bled back into her. 

  “There should be one more shrine,” Rauru said beside her, with surprising gentleness. “Return to the place where you awoke.” 

Zelda groaned, and did as he bade. 

…

The power that Link had given her was called Chronesis. 

Zelda lifted her hand and snapped her fingers, calling on the orb of blue light that seemed lodged on the back of her hand. If she focused, it took the shape of a phantom magatama—just like the illusion that she had seen in the temple. A sort of curved, teardrop shape. 

Around her, time slowed. 

The gears in front of her crawled in circles. 

Guided by instinct, she twisted her hand like she was turning a knob. 

The gears slowed to a stop, and then began to reverse. A peculiar feeling went through her, like she was free-falling. Her stomach flipped a few times as she hopped onto the gear. 

  I knew that Link had some sort of temporal manipulation power—he was able to freeze time for the Blights, and his flurry rush ability always seemed more magical than he would admit—but I never thought it could be so powerful, Zelda thought, snapping her fingers to end the spell. 

The gears clunked back into their normal rotation, and color returned to her vision. Such an ability was enormously powerful, but it seemed to have its limitations. It only worked on two or so objects at once, and Zelda was unwilling to test it on herself. There was also a limit on how long Zelda herself could channel the ability—about forty seconds by her count. Then the magic slipped out of her reach and she had to recalibrate herself. 

It was frustrating, being so powerless. 

Zelda flexed her hand, the new muscles cramping from so much exertion, as she left the final shrine. She examined the Zonai forge curiously, before the gleam of sunlight distracted her. She didn’t have enough charges to boost her battery pack yet, but she made a mental note to return. 

She went outside to find Rauru sitting on some fallen stones, watching the skies with a thoughtful expression. 

She followed his gaze toward the temple. 

  “I’ve never seen that one before,” Zelda told him, gesturing at the silver dragon circling the temple. “It’s not one of the three servants of the Springs.”

  “No, it is not,” Rauru replied softly. 

She turned to him. “Do you know what that one is?” 

Rauru shook his head. “But you may be a Stone short.” He frowned. “Such a thing was forbidden,” he murmured, looking worried. 

  “What was forbidden?” Zelda asked. 

Rauru sighed. “A story for another time,” he said softly. He gestured at the Temple. “Go on. Link is waiting for you, isn’t he?” 

Zelda nodded, tapping the Pad at her side. The beacon that showed Link’s location had not changed. 

She frowned at the serpentine form arcing around the temple. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s communed with dragons, she thought, remembering the night in Faron when Farosh had blessed him. 

  Link, I’m coming to get you, she promised. And when I find you, we are going to have quite the discussion regarding this annoyingly-cryptic Zonai you befriended!

She managed to get a Zonai wing working, and glided down to the Temple of Time. She looked back up at the island she came from. I wonder if there’s a way to fly back up there. Purah and Tauro would have a field day, she thought wistfully. 

She pushed through the last door, and walked down the narrow pathway that was suspended high in the air. 

She reached what looked to be an altar, where a blue light hovered. 

  A ghost? she thought, a lump forming in her throat. “Link!” she cried, rushing forward. 

It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t!

But the ball of light didn’t look like a poe or ghost-fire. It was perfectly spherical, radiating tendrils of blue mist. As she drew closer, she found that the innermost part of the sphere was silver. Like the moon. 

  My lady… 

Zelda gasped as she heard Fi whisper in her ear. 

  Hold me… in the light… 

  “Fi!” she exclaimed. She drew the remnants of the Master Sword, and carefully immersed it in the blue flame. 

She gasped as she felt the Blade of Evil’s Bane become weightless. She released it, and felt Link’s gifted power engage on its own. 

  May we meet again, Fi rasped.

The sword glowed bright as the sun, then vanished. 

  “Fi? Fi!” Zelda cried, looking around. But both the Master Sword and the blue light were gone. 

Zelda was alone. 

The island shook and a great roar filled the air. It was a warbling, echoing sound like the toll of some vast bell, musical and powerful. 

Zelda yelped and fell to her knees as the island rumbled. 

Another deep bellow rattled the heavens, and the head of a huge dragon shattered the Cloud Barrier. 

Zelda gaped at the massive creature. 

It was not one of the three she recognized. 

No, this creature was twice the size of the three attendants to the Springs. 

It was a beautiful pale blue, with a long golden mane and white spikes on its back. It had a set of pure white horns that curved gently back toward its spine, and spikes above its eyes. It had a row of silvery scales down its spine, and white talons. The flat scales of its belly were also silvery-white, glowing blue in the cracks.

It soared higher and higher, blocking out the setting sun as it flew high into the skies above the island. 

It roared again, a deep, mournful cry that Zelda had never heard the likeness of before. There was rage there, along with grief and pain so visceral that the hair on Zelda’s arms stood up. It cried out in sorrow, as if calling out. 

A plume of blue-green light poured from its brow down its back, identical in hue to the Shrines of Light that Rauru and his nameless queen had made together. 

The clouds below the Great Sky Island dissipated in the dragon’s wake. It had broken the cloud barrier. It had dispelled it. 

  “Zelda,” Link’s voice cried out, full of anguish and grief, radiating all around her without any visible source. “Zelda… you must find me!” 

Zelda panted, clinging to the altar as she gazed down at Hyrule. 

Lookout Landing looked unharmed. 

  Lookout Landing! Purah is there—she’ll know what to do, Zelda thought, clinging to hope. She rose to her feet, then dusted herself off.

She looked up, following the path of the silver-blue dragon as it rose higher and higher through the sky. It approached the island where she had woken up, then gave another mournful cry and moved higher still, vanishing from her sight. Its voice echoed through the heavens, turning from a roar to a lullaby of grief. 

Zelda turned back. 

  Don’t worry, Link. I’m coming to find you, she promised. She turned back to the Temple of Time. It was time to find a Zonai Wing and descend. She had a king to search for. And a monster to murder. 

Chapter Text

Link was falling through the darkness, away from Zelda. The world blurred sickeningly around him. 

No thought went through his head, only the desperate need to go back, to go back to Zelda where she hung above him. 

   Go back! he thought, reaching for her. He had to return to Zelda, to keep her safe. 

Then he hit the ground. 

The… grass?

Sunlight met his skin, and he heard birdsong. 

He sat up, groggy. Where am I? he thought, rubbing his eyes. 

Two figures were above him. 

One was a beautiful woman with golden hair, and the other was a species he wasn’t familiar with, but one that bore a resemblance to the statues he had seen beneath—

Link scrambled backwards. 

He was unarmed, he was in a strange land, with people who could hurt him. 

   Arun, he thought, but the Fierce Deity was slumbering still. 

  “It’s okay,” the woman said, lifting her hands. “My name is Sonia,” she said. “This is my husband, Rauru. Who might you be?” 

Link swallowed. He looked at them both for a long moment. 

   Rauru… Sonia… I know those names. I think they were the king and queen who founded or re-founded Hyrule after the Age of Myth… He glanced around, noticing a nearby branch. It would do in a pinch if he was wrong. He held his fist to his chest. “My name is Link Marcellius Hyrule, High King of Hyrule.”

  “What an unexpected answer,” Rauru chuckled. “ We are the king and queen who founded Hyrule, after all.”

The blood drained from Link’s face. He looked down at the stone in his hand. “Then I…” he said hoarsely. “This stupid thing—” he made to throw it aside, but a gentle hand stopped him. 

  “You used it, didn’t you?” Sonia asked, having caught his arm.

  “I didn’t mean to,” Link whispered. “I just want to go home—my wife, she’s in terrible danger. My kingdom—everyone—!” He looked around wildly, looking up to the outcropping by the Shrine of Resurrection. He yanked his hand out of Sonia’s and raced up the hill. 

   It can’t be, he thought, running as fast as he could. I can’t have traveled back in time, it’s not possible!  

He reached the outcropping and looked out over Hyrule Field. 

There was no Hyrule Castle. 

The Dueling Peaks were a single mountain. Death Mountain was smaller and had a faint ring of smoke around its cone. 

  “This is not my era,” Link whispered. “No, no no.” He put his head in his hands. I left Zelda alone with that thing. Did she fall into the darkness too? Her arm was so badly injured… is she even alive?

He was lost. He was back in time, so far back that the land itself would not be familiar to him. He was further back than the split in the Dueling Peaks—they weren’t even called that here, were they? 

He did not know how he was supposed to go home. 

And Zelda, his beloved Zelda, she was stuck fighting that mysterious man, the source of the Calamity and all their suffering. As far as he knew, that was how she would die. And there was nothing he could do about it. 

He had left her alone. 

 “It’s okay,” Sonia said soothingly from behind him. He wasn’t sure when they had caught up. 

  “Let’s take this one step at a time,” she said, her voice gentle and full of kindness. “Link, why don’t you come with us back to the castle for some food and proper clothes.”

  “I abandoned them,” Link whispered, staring at the empty space where Hyrule Castle was supposed to be. Distantly, he felt something damp on his cheeks. His eyes stung. 

  “Wherever you came from, you have plenty of time to figure out how to help them,” Sonia said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “There’s no need to panic.” 

Link swallowed. On that, Queen Sonia was correct. If he really was in the era of Queen Sonia and King Rauru, he had thousands—no, tens of thousands—of years to figure out how to help his era. 

Dizziness swamped him. “I—” Link began. His chest felt tight and his heart was racing. He couldn’t breathe.  

  “Rauru, help me,” Sonia said. “Don’t give me that look, dearest, he clearly needs our help!” 

  “Where will we say he comes from?” Rauru asked. Link barely heard him, his head was spinning so badly. He wanted to throw up. He wanted to curl up into a ball. He wanted to lie down. 

  “We’ll say he’s a distant relation of mine,” Sonia said. “I sense a blood connection, and I know you do as well, Rauru.” 

Rauru hummed noncommittally. 

   I’m in the past, Link thought. I don’t know how to get home. I may never see Zelda again. I’ve failed them all. 

…

“I dislike this, Sonia,” Rauru murmured as he walked with his queen through their castle halls. The hylian boy—more of a man though—had been deposited in a guest room in a near-catatonic state of shock. 

Now, Rauru and his queen walked together back to the throne room together, their afternoon walk thoroughly disrupted. Having a stranger appear in a shower of blue light and holding a Sacred Stone had been quite the surprise. 

  “He had no idea what the Stone was,” Rauru continued, rolling the blue gem between his long fingers. The Stone in his fingers hummed and fizzed at its proximity to the other two Stones—one on Rauru’s hand and the other in the hollow of Sonia’s throat. 

The boy had given it up so easily to them. 

  “It’s possible that he comes from very far in the future,” Sonia mused. “Far enough that such magic is forgotten. Perhaps its a blessing.” 

  “Still, that he even got his hands on a Stone at all is cause for concern,” Rauru said. 

  “I sense a blood connection,” Sonia repeated stubbornly. “I can feel my Time power within him, and a very small amount of your Light power as well. What is more, Light magic was wrapped around him, and it saturated his clothing,” she told her husband. “Focus on the Stone, Rauru. You know it to be true.” 

Rauru closed his eyes, clasping his palms over the Stone. 

He gasped. “This—this is my Stone,” he stammered. “And there was someone near him that radiated more Light magic.” 

  “Then he must be who he says he is. Our descendant,” she said, a hint of smugness entering her tone. 

   Our legacy will endure, Rauru realized, with no small amount of relief. Their son would succeed Rauru and Sonia. Hyrule would continue. 

  “Can you sense how far he is from us?” he asked eagerly. 

Sonia shook her head. “No, but by his clothing and accent, I would guess over a millennia.” 

  “We should ask him who the current ruler of the Zora Tribe is,” Rauru mused. 

Sonia elbowed him. “Rauru, you know better than that. Knowledge of the future comes at a terrible cost. I’ve told you the stories of this land. Avoiding the future can shatter time itself,” she said. “If Link tells us about his own era, he may never be able to go home. No, my dear husband. We ought not ask more than we must.” She fell silent contemplatively. “Did you notice the markings on his face?”

  “The scars?” 

Sonia dipped her head. “They are the same as my brother’s. Not an imitation, but identical. He is a priest of the Fierce Deity, if not an avatar of the god. I am certain of it.” 

  “I will write to Sarjon,” murmured Rauru. “Such a thing should not be possible.” 

Sonia seized his arm. “Have you not been listening? We cannot interfere with the passage of time.” 

  “But what if in his era we have already asked?” Rauru argued. “You heard what he said. His people—our people—are in danger in his era. If he has come back, it must be to warn us. I cannot stand idly by.”

  “I know,” Sonia said, her grip loosening on his arm. “We should ask if he can commune with the god. Then we shall ask the Fierce Deity what he remembers.” 

  If the boy cannot commune with the god, then what? What if he is not the current user? Although, he seems a bit young to have a successor of his own, Rauru thought. “I shall pray to Hylia as well.” The goddess might have some insight as well, though she was, by her own admission, not omniscient. 

  Sonia tugged him down and kissed his cheek. “A good idea, dearest.” She hesitated. “I have a strange premonition about all this,” she said, gesturing at the second copy of Rauru’s stone. “An awful feeling that whatever brought the boy here is a looming threat to us all.”

  “We are safe here, Sonia,” Rauru murmured. Privately, he agreed, but seeing his wife worry made him feel the need to reassure her. “We have plenty of time to address whatever threat is looming.” 

Sonia nodded, but did not look convinced. “I find myself glad that Kamah is with my brother. Sarjon will protect him.” 

Rauru nodded. They had discussed bringing their son home, but neither had made any move to write such a missive. He was nestled safely in the dense jungles of his mother’s people, under the protection of the Dragon Lord Sarjon, Warrior-Priest and Avatar of Arun. As strong as Rauru was, he was not a god. So no, he would not call his son home. Not if Sonia’s premonition was correct. 

… 

Rauru and Sonia’s castle was on the Great Plateau. It was a sprawling complex that took up most of the southeastern side of the Plateau, built of solid granite. It was similar to the deepest foundations of Hyrule Castle, in a style that Tauro, the leader of the Archeological Survey Crew, had dubbed post-zonaian architecture. The crew’s ability to accurately date stone and artifacts had been stymied by the constant malfunctioning of the Sheikah technology. 

   Purah and Tauro would lose their minds if they were here, Link thought, looking out the window. I should ask for a journal. He started, remembering the Purah Pad at his side. He lifted it up and tried to turn it on. The screen flickered, then fizzled to life. The camera rune was active, but the other functions of the Pad, such as the teleportation and map runes, were both inactive. That made sense. 

   I guess now this is the oldest piece of Sheikah technology, Link thought. 

A knock at the door startled him, and he turned to see a young man enter. He had a kind face, with upturned brows and an aquiline nose. He had warm brown skin and white hair. His eyes were somewhere between red and brown. The man wore a green toga and had white-ink tattoos across his arms in a style that Link didn’t recognize. 

  “Good afternoon, sir,” the man said. “I am Sanura. Queen Sonia has assigned me to be your aide.” 

  “Hello,” Link managed. 

Sanura placed a pile of clothes on the bed, laying out different outfits. Each one was embroidered with beautiful beadwork of stones and glass. “We don’t have much on hand for a man of your station,” he said apologetically. “Prince Kamah took most of his clothing with him when he left for Faron, you see.” 

Link nodded as if he already knew this. 

  “I’ve never seen clothes quite like yours, sir,” Sanura said. “It must be cold where you come from.”

  “A bit,” Link said faintly. His era was a bit chillier than this one. 

Sanura gestured to the outfits. “Which one for today, sir?” 

Link chose a set of white clothes that resembled Rauru’s garments. That seemed like the wisest choice. The others seemed too warm or too formal for the day. 

  “Excellent choice, sir,” the servant said, and helped him dress. 

Link did not dare contradict his actions, dimly remembering the teardrops on Sonia and Rauru’s faces. He received four of them under his eyes. Sanura also helped him put up his hair with some of the green metal clips that he had brought. Glass teardrop earrings were fixed to his ears.

Sanura bowed to him. “Looking good, sir! Queen Sonia and King Rauru have requested a meeting with you. Shall I lead the way?”

Link nodded. 

Sanura led him out of the guest quarters and down the hall, chattering the whole time. 

He talked about the harvest festival coming up, and how his sister would be visiting from Faron soon. 

When they entered the throne room, he found Sonia and Rauru sitting on their thrones. Rauru held the blue stone Link had found in the underground cavern. 

Both of them looked worried. 

Sanura bowed to them, then departed, leaving Link alone with the royal couple. 

Link adjusted the breezy half-cape-tunic-shirt-thing over his shoulders and approached the thrones. 

  “Link, I must apologize to you,” Rauru said as he came closer. 

Link bowed at the waist, putting a hand over his chest. Though he was king in his era, Rauru was both forefather and monarch and deserved nothing less than deference. And Link was at his mercy. 

  “No, please do not bow,” Rauru said, waving his hand. “You are exactly what Sonia said you were. This stone that you had… do you know what it is?” He held it up for Link to see. It had changed from white to a chilly blue, almost silver. 

Link shook his head. 

Rauru sighed, looking down at the stone. “In my youth, they were called Secret Stones, for the method of their creation was something my elders wished to keep to ourselves. But the name Sacred Stone seems more appropriate to me. They have the ability to magnify magical power. This Stone and my own are one and the same. No, do not tell me how you got it,” he said as Link opened his mouth. “It is enough to know that you are my eventual successor.” 

  “You don’t understand,” Link began, an edge of desperation creeping into his voice. 

  “Nor should I,” Rauru said with a slight smile. “However you came to have it, the mysteries of the future should not be told to me or Sonia, or anyone here. Please, come forward.” 

Link obeyed, and Rauru placed the blue Secret Stone into a bracelet, then clasped it around Link’s wrist in a fashion identical to his own. Link inhaled as he felt the Stone resonate with his magic. What was once a spark became a deep well, one that flooded his body with power in a way not dissimilar to the Fierce Deity, who stirred ever so slightly but did not wake. 

  “These Stones,” Rauru continued, “have been handed down through my family for generations. It seems only fitting that my eventual successor inherit mine,” Rauru said. 

  “Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said. “Is there any way you know of for me to return to my era?” 

  “Hmmm,” Rauru murmured, “my sister Mineru knows more about the Sacred Stones than any other. She might have more answers than me.”

Sonia smiled at Link. “Mineru is on a survey trip for the next day or two, but when she returns we can speak with her. In the meanwhile, why don’t you dine with Rauru and I?”

Link nodded. “I would be honored,” he managed to say. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he was hungry or nauseous, but he decided to accept out of politeness. 

   I really ought to eat, he remarked to himself. I must keep up my strength so that if—when—I return to Zelda, I can help her.  

Sonia stood. “Come, let’s go eat on the veranda. It’s a beautiful day.”

Chapter Text

Zelda had made a mistake. She had used a Zonai wing to glide down from the Central Sky Island, but hadn’t realized that the wing itself was unstable. For whatever reason, it could only support her weight for a limited period of time. She barely made it beyond the boundaries of the island when it dropped her. 

So she found herself hurtling through the skies after the wing dissolved beneath her feet. 

She floundered before flattening out onto her belly. 

   Water, I need to land in water!! She looked beneath her wildly. The nearest bodies of water were the Hylia River and the Bottomless Pond. 

   Shit, she thought. From her height, the pond appeared to be water rather than mud—part of her wondered if it was thanks to the constant stream of water that drifted from the sky island above her—but she wasn’t certain. So she dove for the river. I miss my wings.

She came closer and closer to the surface, realizing that she had again misjudged the distance. She would land in the pond. 

   If I die from this I’m haunting Mipha for the rest of time, she thought, and tucked her head into a nosedive. 

She cut into the water like a needle. She sank to the bottom of the pond, cushioned by soft silt, kicking up from the floor. 

She surfaced, gasping for breath. She swam to one of the giant lily pads and pulled herself onto it. 

The sun was sinking beneath the western mountains. Zelda wiped pond water out of her eyes and swam toward the shore. There were some ruins nearby, and she glimpsed the telltale gleam of firefruit in the shade. 

She staggered over to the stone ruins. 

   I don’t think I’m making it to Lookout Landing tonight, she thought grimly. She gathered the firefruit and set up camp. There was a similar plant to the firefruit. It was white and spiky, and the Purah Pad called it ‘dazzlefruit’. The short description it provided made her keep it. 

She snacked on the various fruits and nuts she had tucked away from the Sky Island, roasting them on the fire. She heard the distant calls of monsters under the crescent moon as she hugged her knees beside the fire. 

   What if everyone is gone? she thought. She hadn’t seen or heard any sign of another living person since she had gone under the castle. 

She had never felt more alone. 

…

It took Zelda two days to walk across Hyrule Field. Ruins had landed across the land, rendering a once-familiar landscape utterly unrecognizable. If not for the castle, raised above the moat by tendrils of Gloom, she would’ve been completely lost. 

New monsters crawled across the Field. Huge bokoblins led troops of their smaller kin through the deep grass. It was with rather morbid curiosity that Zelda noticed their horns had changed shape, becoming larger and more vicious-looking. 

Zelda kept to the roads. There were a few bokoblins that tried to ambush her, but no other life was around. She killed them and stole their supplies of firefruit—both to eat and to rub onto the stump of her arm. Stealth was her ally until she could get some proper supplies. Her Fuse ability was by far her favorite, allowing her to make stronger weapons from monster parts and ruined swords and even sticks. 

It was late summer now. 

It had been early spring when she and Link had gone under the castle. 

She had been gone for months . No wonder she was so skinny and tired. 

She looked across the field toward Hebra. 

In her time on the ground and her time in the sky, the storm had not abated. It was a cylindrical thunderhead that reached from Mount Hebra into the highest reaches of the sky, the largest storm she had seen. Even in her half-recalled memories of her past lives, no storm compared to the blizzard hammering Hebra. 

   Goddesses, I hope the Rito are alright. She shook herself. Revali may be proud, but he is no fool. He will lead them well. She tried not to worry about them. But she couldn’t help but remember that Revali’s scars ached in the cold. 

A brown mist seemed to be hanging over Zora’s Domain, and when the wind blew from that direction, it smelled foul. 

The first night after she descended from the Central Sky island, she tried to fish in the Hylia River, which had its headwaters in Zora’s Domain. The water was tinged brown, and the fish she found all floated belly-up, bloated and rotten. 

Everything seemed to have gone wrong in her absence. 

   Link would know what to do, she thought to herself over her fire, nursing a shallow burn on her left arm. She had tried to roast firefruit, hoping to boost its nutrition. The fruit had exploded into piping-hot jelly that had left small welts on her skin. Lesson learned. 

Instead, she roasted a handful of acorns and tried to ignore the growling of her stomach.

…

It was twilight the next night when she arrived in Lookout Landing. 

She nearly cried when she heard the sounds of horses and hylian voices. 

She came around the bend and saw two nervous-looking soldiers standing outside the gate. 

  “Who goes there?! State your busine—Lady Zelda?!” exclaimed one of the guards. 

Zelda lifted a hand and waved tiredly. 

  “Your Grace,” the other gasped. “Are you alright?!” 

  “Where is Purah?” Zelda asked, her voice croaking from disuse. 

  “In the observatory, Your Grace,” the first guard said, pointing. “Please go see her right away. We’ve all been worried sick!”

  “Is His Majesty with you?” the other asked urgently.

  “We—We were separated,” Zelda stammered. “However, I’ve been assured that he is safe,” she continued as both guards paled. “My rescuer also managed to help His Majesty.” 

  “What a relief,” sighed the first guard. 

  “Excuse me,” Zelda mumbled. “I must see Purah.”

She staggered forward through the small fort. Her feet ached, stabs of pain radiating up her legs with every step. She didn’t care anymore that she was wearing precious artifacts. Those shoes needed to come off her feet or she was setting them on fire.

Zelda went up to the observatory, where young Josha was standing, taking notes. 

  “Hello,” Zelda sighed. 

The girl looked up and gasped. “Blonde hair, green eyes… Duh—DOCTOR PURAH!” she shrieked. “The Incarnate—The Incarnate has returned!” 

There was a crashing noise from inside the new lab, and Zelda huffed an exhausted laugh. 

Purah flung open the door, her goggles lopsided. 

  “Your Grace!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Zelda, where have you been?! Tell me exactly what happened.” She took a deep breath and composed herself. Purah looked exhausted . There were deep purple circles under her scarlet eyes, and her ears were twitching—a sure sign that she had imbibed too many stamina potions in an attempt to stay awake. 

Her friends were alive. They were still alive. 

Zelda burst into tears. 

Purah rushed forward, ushering her inside as onlookers began looking their way, drawn by Josha’s shout. 

Zelda was given a seat at Purah’s desk, then a half-empty mug of tea. Between sobs, Zelda got the story out, kicking off her shoes as she did.

  “You found a mysterious mummy,” muttered Purah, making notes on her own Pad. “His Majesty fell into the darkness and vanished in a burst of light, and then you awoke on a sky island with some guy named Rauru talking through your arm?”

Josha came over with a bowl of rice and meat, which Zelda began to devour. 

  “He was a king of Hyrule,” Zelda said hoarsely. “And my paladin long ago. He said that Link is safe, but then I heard Link’s voice. It was after the Master Sword vanished, and Link told me to find him.”

  “That is concerning,” Purah admitted. “We haven’t seen hide nor hair of him, or either of you, before today.”

  “How long?” Zelda asked before diving in for another bite of the beautiful food that Josha had brought her. She wanted to cry again. How long had it been since she had had real food?

  “About four months,” Purah said with a grimace. “Aryll’s been in hysterics.”

Zelda winced. Well, that certainly explained her current physical state. “Where is she?”

  “Gerudo Town with her girlfriend.”

  “Girlfriend?”

  “Yeah, she finally asked Riju out and she said yes,” Purah said. 

Despite her worries, Zelda managed to smile. Finally, a nugget of good news. “What of the Monster Control Crews?” she asked. 

  “They’re patrolling as usual, but they’ve been stretched to capacity.”

Zelda swallowed. “I think it is time to recall Sir Arnol,” she said quietly. 

  “No,” Purah ground out. “It’s not that time. It won’t ever be that time.” 

  “Purah, Link appeared to me in pristine Zonai garments, and his magical abilities allow me to manipulate time. It may not be a matter of where he is, but when, ” Zelda croaked. The words hurt, but they were true. 

  “Time travel is a myth ,” Purah snapped. 

  “So am I.” 

Something in Purah’s eyes seemed to shatter. Her lips wobbled. “Oh, Great Golden Goddesses,” she whispered, burying her face in her hands. “But then—then why did he tell you to find him?”

  “I don’t know,” Zelda whispered. “We are in the dark, my friend.” 

  “Surely if he is in the past, you would remember it?” Purah pressed desperately. 

  “I don’t know,” Zelda confessed, wringing her hands. “My memories of my previous lives and that… that time in between , as I was in Rauru’s era, are so patchy. I’ll try to connect to them—those versions of me—but we may not be able to gain that knowledge.” 

Purah sighed. “We’ll keep an eye out.”

  “Now,” Zelda said, leaning forward. “Tell me what has been going on since we vanished.”

  “All fucking hell broke loose,” Purah said succinctly. “Not to the level of the Calamity, but pretty damn close.” She drew out a map. “We’ve lost contact with the other tribes. And beyond Hyrule’s borders? Forget it. Chasms have opened in the ground, with Gloom spewing out—Nayru knows where those go. I’ve tasked Josha with researching them, though from a safe distance.”

  “I noticed the storm over Hebra,” Zelda commented. 

  “Yep. Death Mountain is vomiting Gloom, it’s raining acidic mud in Zora’s Domain and killing all the fish, Hebra is snowed in, and there’s this weird sandstorm over the entirety of the Gerudo Desert. My last letter from Aryll indicated that they were okay, but we haven’t heard from them in two weeks.” 

  “That’s when I woke up,” Zelda fretted. 

  “In short, everyone needs help,” Purah sighed. “Kakariko had ruins rain down on them. No fatalities, thank H—thank goodness. Hateno seems relatively unscathed, but Lurelin was razed to the ground by monsters,” she said with a shudder. “The survivors fled for their lives. Now they’re in exile across the kingdom.”

  “Shit,” swore Zelda. “How is Arnol taking it?”

  “Not well,” admitted Purah. “He’s trying to muster a force to retake the village, but there are new monsters in Faron that demand his attention. There’s at least one Thunder Gleeok in the area, but probably more. Did you know they could come in lightning form?”

  “Ugh, no,” Zelda groaned. “We need to talk to him. To see…” She swallowed. “To see if he now bears the Fierce Deity. If he doesn’t then we will know that Link is still alive.” 

  “But if he went into the past, then surely he would be…” Purah trailed off. 

Zelda shook her head. “One of my past lives was able to seal herself for thousands of years and survive. And besides, perhaps Link found his way back through time with the Master Sword. What if he has returned to this era already and needs our help? Time is still of the essence, Purah,” Zelda told her. 

  “The Master Sword—How would the Sword help?”

  “If time itself is a river, then the sword is a ship,” Zelda explained, the terms familiar to her. “Able to sail up or down the current as she pleases… Though something tells me it is not easy. If Link can manipulate time, then perhaps she can guide him back to us.” 

Purah’s expression cleared and she began to look hopeful. “So the Sword could have gone back in time to rescue Link and bring him home!” 

  “Yes, which is why we must continue to search for Link with all our strength.” An idea occurred to her. “Have you heard from Master Kohga recently?” 

Purah scowled. “No. The clan freaked out when I told them you were missing. Apparently they’ve been grabbing travelers off the road and demanding to know your whereabouts.” She drummed her fingers on the table. “Which reminds me… It’s not just monsters we need to worry about.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Upheaval aside, Hyrule looks pretty weak right now. And there is arable land to the north. Hytopia’s queen made it clear that the only way to secure a political alliance between us would be for Link to marry her.”

  “No.”

  “I know,” Purah said, lifting her hands. “You two are in total blissed-out love, but—“

  “No, he can’t marry anyone else,” Zelda whispered. “He married me.”

Purah blinked. “And you didn’t invite me?! ”

  “My father performed the ceremony, before he died,” Zelda admitted. 

  “Wow. Wait, YOUR FATHER DIED TWO YEARS AGO!”

Zelda winced. “Sorry?”

  “Ugh, now I need to find a wedding gift for you guys. Who else knows?” 

  “Reede, from the village, Sir Arnol, and Sir Lourain. They were our witnesses.” She swallowed. “When the doctor gave us my father’s prognosis, I feared that if we waited, he would not be there. So he performed the ceremony.”

Purah suddenly snorted. “The priestesses are going to throw such a fit. Promise me I can be there when you tell them.”

Zelda huffed a laugh. “Deal.” 

  “Well, then politically, we’re fucked,” sighed Purah, leaning back in her chair and propping her shoes on the table. “But we will find a way.”

  “I need to find Link,” Zelda muttered. 

  “I’ll send word out to report any sightings of him to us,” Purah said. She fiddled with a knob on her goggles. “So, as Hyrule’s legal monarch, uh, what’s next?” 

Zelda swallowed. “We need to address the regional phenomena,” she began. “Purah, I need you here to coordinate information. That’s what we need more than anything. Reach out to Master Kohga and Impa. All warriors are to focus on reconnaissance. Monster Control Crews are to prioritize safeguarding the remaining towns,” she said. 

  “What about the sky islands?” Purah asked. 

  “If the Rito can scout them—”

  “They’re snowed in,” Purah reminded her. 

  “Then leave the islands to me. What about the Chasms?”

  “Robbie is investigating those. I have the Zonai Survey Team studying the Ring Ruins in Kakariko.”

  “Good. That reminds me,” Zelda realized, “I discovered functional Zonai robots. We could reprogram them—”

  “No more robots, please ,” Purah groaned. 

  “No, they’re Zonai ,” Zelda explained. “They have souls, Purah. They’re not machines, they’re carapaces!”

Purah gaped at her, her scarlet eyes wide. “Holy shit.”

  “I know!”

  “Tell me everything. Now. ” 

…

At around dawn, a frantic knock sounded at Purah’s door. 

  “Enter!” Purah replied. 

A soldier burst in, out of breath. “Director! I have an urgent message from Princess Mipha!”

Purah and Zelda scrambled upright. Zelda rubbed sleep out of her eyes. 

 He handed over the reed scroll to Purah. It was tied with a sea-green ribbon. 

Purah gave the scroll to Zelda. 

Zelda opened it with shaking hands. 

Dear Director Purah,

His Majesty was spotted in Zora’s Domain, but I fear not all is right. My father was investigating the source of the sludge that has fallen across the Domain when he encountered the king. He greeted King Marcellius, but the king was taken by a new type of monster up into the sky! King Dorephan was badly wounded trying to rescue His Majesty. He said that Link appeared rather unwell. Please, if you can spare any soldiers, we need your help to rescue King Link. 

Your friend,

Mipha

  “Not good,” Zelda whispered, handing the scroll back to Purah. “I’m going there first.” 

  “What about the sludge?” Purah asked. 

  “I’ll see what I can do about that too,” Zelda gritted out as she put her arm back on. She gave an experimental twist of the fingers. It was strange to have sensation with a limb she could remove. If she thought about it too much her head started to hurt.  The mysteries of Rauru’s weird ghost arm would have to wait. 

  “Send word to Sir Arnol and Duke Lourain to meet me here,” Zelda said, pulling on her ancient sandals. “I’ll try to stop in Kakariko on my way back.”

  “Zelda, you shouldn’t be going alone,” Purah said softly. 

Zelda rose. “I must, old friend. I’m sorry.”

  “Your people need you,” Purah said, her eyes filled with tears. 

  “Yes. That is why I must go,” Zelda replied. She embraced Purah. “My dear friend. All will be well. I promise,” she swore, leaning back to look Purah in the eye. “Continue your research. It is the key, I am certain.” 

  “At least let me send you with an escort,” Purah protested. 

Zelda shook her head. “Everyone ought to focus on research and monster control. I’ll keep my head down,” she promised. 

Purah looked incredibly unhappy, but did not argue further. 

  “I’ll bring you some provisions, Your Grace,” the soldier offered helpfully.

Zelda dipped her head in acknowledgement and he left with a bow. 

  “Zelda,” Purah whispered. “You’re our queen now.”

  “All the more reason to address that which the king cannot,” Zelda said. “I’ll help the Zora and save Link. Clearly he needs help!”

  “But shouldn’t he have the Master Sword?” Purah pressed. 

Zelda ran a hand through her short hair. “Maybe? Yes? I don’t know, Purah. Without Link, we can’t fix the Hytopia nonsense,” she said. “Not to mention that my legal authority can be challenged.” 

  “Ugh, I know,” sighed Purah. “I just… I’m worried.”

Zelda nodded. 

The soldier returned with supplies for Zelda: several days’ worth of food, water, a traveler’s bow, twenty arrows, and a sleeping roll. 

Zelda put her items into the Pad’s inventory, sighing. “Tell everyone I’m alive,” she said, “and tell them to be on the lookout for Link.”

  “Yes, Your Grace,” Purah said, placing her palm over her heart. She then walked over to a dresser and removed a parcel. “Here. You’ll need this if you’re going to be exploring the Sky Islands.” 

It was a paraglider, emblazoned with Hyrule’s new emblem: the quartered field and the sacred loftwing and Triforce in the center. 

  “I’ll try to get the Skyview Towers working,” Purah continued. “They should be ready by the time you get to Zora’s Domain.” 

Josha came over and pressed a notebook into Zelda’s hands. “I made a copy of my notes on the Depths for you, Miss Incarnate!” 

  “The Depths?” Zelda echoed. 

Josha nodded. “There’s a big deep dark place under us. Doctor Robbie is helping research it, but I’m not allowed to go down.” She looked disappointed about it. 

  “Chasms,” Purah said. 

Zelda nodded. “Thank you, Josha.” She placed the journal in the Purah Pad and drew up her hood. “I’ll be back.” 

 Under a rainy summer morning, she headed for Zora’s Domain.

Chapter Text

Zelda had never wanted to breathe less in her life. Zora’s Domain smelled foul , not to put too fine a point on it. Brown sludge covered the ground, dribbling down from the skies and splashing over everything. It seemed to move and pulsate on its own, but was dispelled with splashfruit and blue chuchu jelly. It had a greasy, purplish undertone to it that reminded her of Malice.  

The roads to the Domain had been utterly wrecked by the Upheaval, as she had heard several travelers call it. The state of it necessitated several detours into new caves that had opened up. This granted her a reprieve from the mud, at least. 

   I hate those damn like-likes, she thought, scrubbing her left arm off with blue chuchu jelly. She was deep in a cave system on the northwest side of Zorana, hoping to find her way back to the road. A like-like had stolen her shield an hour prior, and she hadn’t figured out how to kill the damn thing. She shivered, recalling how it had felt to be inside the creature’s mouth. 

   At least the mud is gone, I suppose, she thought. 

Yesterday, she had slipped into a pile of the stuff. Minutes later, the skin that had touched the mud had begun to sting and burn. An hour later, Zelda had raised hives across her whole left arm and it became too stiff to move. Only the chuchu jelly seemed to be able to dispel it. 

She sighed, and began packing up her mini camp. The cave system had provided mushrooms, new and beautiful flowers called brightblooms—a new favorite of hers—and bomb flowers. Whatever was causing this awful sludge, Zelda hoped she could use those on it. 

She set out through the cave system once more. There were ruins from long ago within it, which pointed to ancient cooperation between Hyrule and Zora’s Domain. She made a note on the Pad to come back with the survey team after things calmed down. 

If she could manage to live that long. 

At long last, she reached sunlight. She was in Upland Zorana. 

High above her, she heard a noise like an explosion. She ducked, whirling around. 

A Skyview Tower stood high above her, and it had shot a flare up out of its dome. 

  “Oh thank Farore,” Zelda said out loud. I can climb to the tower and use it to glide to Zora’s Domain!  

No more trekking through the sludge! 

She climbed up, ignoring the blisters on her hands and feet. Those would have to wait. 

…

She made it to the tower around noon. Zelda sighed as she saw the miasma around it. Sludge dribbled down the sides of the tower, spreading out in a stinky deluge. 

She drew out a splashfruit and threw it toward the base of the stairs. 

It barely helped. 

   Well, here goes nothing, Zelda thought, drawing out more splashfruit. 

By the fifth one, she had begun to make more progress. 

The sixth revealed something else in the sludge, a blue and yellow fin. 

Zelda gasped and drew out six more splashfruits, throwing them in quick succession around the zora trapped in the sludge. 

It was a soldier she recognized, Bazz. 

Zelda rushed to his side, drawing out a splashfruit. She squeezed it next to his gills. The water rushed out, flushing the mud out of his gills. They fluttered and his chest heaved. He coughed, still unconscious. 

Zelda bent over him and repeated the process with his other gills. 

She did it three times before his eyes fluttered open. They were unfocused. 

  “Captain, can you hear me?” Zelda asked, taking his head in her hands. 

  “Hylia…” croaked Bazz. “Are you here to take me away? I thought that was the Bargainer…”

  “No, Captain, you’re still needed by the living. Can you sit up for me?” She asked. 

Bazz groaned and did so, wheezing as he did. “Ugh, my gills feel like they’ve been scraped raw.”

  “The sludge is acidic, I think,” Zelda said. “Here.” She popped another splashfruit over his gills. 

  “That’s better,” he groaned. “Oh, thank you.” He looked over at her. “I’m so glad you’re here. We heard you were missing. But you and King Link both came back!”

  “I’m looking for Link now,” Zelda said. “Can you tell me what you’ve heard?” 

  “He showed up here about a week ago, just after the Upheaval, and said that people in his court were trying to overthrow him, and to be wary of strangers with friendly faces,” Bazz said. “Then this sludge monster grabbed him and pulled him into the sky!” 

  “What the fuck,” whispered Zelda under her breath. Link, please be alright.  

Bazz bit his lip, looking worried. 

She sighed. “I’m going to activate this Skyview Tower, then let’s get you back to Zora’s Domain. Princess Mipha ought to examine your gills,” she said. 

He nodded. “Y—yeah. Sounds good.” He hesitated. “Do you think the Yiga Clan are still with us?” 

  “They should be,” Zelda replied, taken aback. “Why wouldn’t they be?” 

Bazz shrugged, then winced. “What he said sounded suspicious,” he mumbled. 

Zelda could see that. She sighed, standing. “I’ll be right back, Bazz.” 

She lifted another splashfruit and aimed at the Skyview Tower’s entrance. 

…

She seriously needed to talk to Purah about her designs, because the reality of getting launched hundreds of feet in the air was terrifying . 

Zelda shrieked as she missed a sky island—curiously shaped like a ball—by mere feet. 

She shook herself and drew out the Purah Pad to scan. Her meager lunch of roasted brightcaps did somersaults in her stomach. She scanned her surroundings with the Purah Pad. 

To her relief, it also scanned the skies, giving her a map of the islands in the region as well. There was a whole tangle of them just above Zora’s Domain. 

   Likely that’s where this miserable sludge is coming from, Zelda thought, flinching away from a horse-sized comet of the nasty stuff. 

She fell back to the earth, snapping open the paraglider to slow her landing. 

Bazz gaped at her as she landed. “Are you okay?!” 

Zelda nodded, panting. “Alright, come on. Let’s get you to Princess Mipha,” she said. 

She hauled Bazz’s arm over her shoulders and helped him up. Together, they limped down the hill towards the Domain. 

   So much for gliding there, Zelda thought. But she didn’t allow herself to wallow. Bazz clearly needed her help. 

The trek down the hills to the road was a long and arduous one. 

The sun sank beneath the horizon as they came around the bend and saw the Domain spread out beneath them. 

Zelda was breathing harshly, and her right arm ached where Rauru’s prosthetic was screwed on. 

  “We should make camp,” Bazz said. “You might be in worse shape than I am.”

Zelda shook her head. “I can keep going. Can you?”

Bazz reluctantly nodded. The pair continued to limp along. 

…

It was almost midnight by the time they arrived in Zora’s Domain. The beauty of the Domain did its best to shine through the layer of grime and filth that covered it. 

The statue at the center of the Domain—a recent addition—was so blanketed by the sludge that only its rough outline could be seen. 

Forging ahead had been the right call. Since sunset, Bazz’s scales had grown discolored, and the skin beneath was now mottled with welts and nasty-looking blisters. His gills were swollen shut, so he was gasping harshly through his mouth instead. Both he and Zelda stumbled like a pair of drunks down the bridge and into the Domain proper. 

  “Bazz! There you are!” cried Trello, his father, as he ran up to them. “Thank you, miss—Lady Zelda?!” 

  “Hello Trello,” Zelda panted. 

  “Sludge hit me,” Bazz said by way of explanation. “Lady Zelda saved me.”

Trello took Bazz from Zelda, giving her a look of concern as she bent over to catch her breath. Her limbs were shaking from exhaustion. “Are you well, my lady?” 

  “I need to see the Princess and King Dorephan,” Zelda said. 

  “King Dorephan is…occupied. But the princess is in the sleeping pools,” Trello said. “Come on, son. Mipha ought to see you too.” 

Zelda nodded and staggered up to the pools that Trello had mentioned. 

She fully expected to find Mipha asleep, but the princess was awake and tending to an injured Zora. The warrior had a nasty rash across the whole left side of his body, where the scales had sloughed away to reveal raw skin beneath. 

Around the Domain, few were in better shape. 

  “Mipha?” Zelda said. 

The princess looked up, her remaining amber eye bright in the darkness. She had a silver eyepatch over her missing eye. 

  “Zelda? Is that really you, my dear friend?”

Zelda nodded and joined her, handing her a piece of chuchu jelly. “Source of fresh water,” she croaked. 

Mipha crushed the chuchu jelly over the soldier’s ribs and then folded Zelda into a hug. 

Zelda buried her head into Mipha’s shoulder and struggled not to cry. She felt Mipha’s magic brushing over her, healing the small cuts and scrapes she had earned. The hives on her left arm finally stopped itching. 

  “It is you,” Mipha declared, drawing back with a smile. “Oh, Zelda, we’ve been so worried.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, Zelda saw Bazz and Trello visibly relax. 

  “I’m sorry,” Zelda said sincerely. “Tell me what’s happened. I heard you saw the king?” 

Mipha’s eye darkened. “I’ll tell you everything, just—what happened to your arm?” 

  “Gloom ate it,” Zelda replied, holding up her right arm. “Then the ghost of an ancient king of Hyrule gave me his arm to replace it.”

Mipha blinked at her, stunned. “…I beg your pardon?” 

Zelda twisted the uppermost bangle and the prosthetic came free. She let out an involuntary groan of relief as the pressure was released. 

  “Mother Nayru,” Mipha hissed. “May I see it?” she asked, gesturing at Zelda’s stump. 

Zelda nodded. 

Mipha’s magic washed over it, soothing the tender flesh. “Goodness. If there’s this much damage still… I’m amazed you’re alive at all,” Mipha remarked. 

  “That’s what the ghost said,” Zelda confirmed. “I woke up two and a half weeks ago.” 

Mipha shuddered, examining Zelda’s prosthetic. “I’m not sure if I can adjust this to fit you, but I can provide you with some ointments. When do you generally take it off?”

Zelda shrugged, perturbed at the lack of weight at her right side. “When I can, I suppose.” 

  “When was the last time you removed it?” 

Zelda ran her other hand through her dirty hair. “A few days ago—”

  “DAYS?” shrieked Mipha. “No, no, absolutely not! Every night, Zelda!”

  Zelda hung her head. “Yes, Mipha.” 

Mipha took a bracing breath and clasped her hands. “I apologize for raising my voice,” she said gently. “With so much at stake, you must take proper care of yourself, Zelda. It pains me to see you in such a state.”

Zelda scrubbed her eyes, then put her prosthetic back on. “I know.”

Mipha squeezed her hands. “Come, let’s have some late dinner and get you to bed, shall we?” 

  “But what about the sludge?” Zelda protested. 

Mipha smiled grimly. “It will still be here tomorrow. You must rest, my friend. Come.” She led Zelda up to her own private quarters. 

Zelda nearly cried when she saw a bathtub full of clean water. 

  “For you,” Mipha said. 

  “But…” Zelda began. 

  “Sidon purified it,” Mipha said, glowing with pride. 

  “He has magic?” 

Mipha nodded. “He can purify and manipulate water in all its forms. He’s grown so strong,” she said, putting a hand to her heart. “Father can hardly get him to rest,” she told Zelda as she drew out a small privacy screen. “He seems determined to save the Domain. I’m so proud of him… but I worry he’s pushing himself too hard.” She gave Zelda a keen glance with her amber eye. “Like a certain friend I know.”

  “I must make up for my long absence,” Zelda said softly. 

Mipha looked at her. “What exactly happened when you and the King went under the castle?”

Zelda sighed, fighting the sting in her eyes. “Link and I were separated. I was rescued by a ghost—the one who gave me this arm.”

  “Yes, but how did you lose it in the first place?”

Zelda looked at her prosthetic. “The ghost was holding a Seal in place. He was my paladin from long, long ago. He was holding this… corpse in place. Gloom poured from him like blood from a wound. Then the Seal failed and that corpse woke up.” Zelda lifted her head to look at Mipha. “The enemy that awoke beneath the castle is the source of the Calamity.”

Mipha sat down on the floor. “Then this is no natural phenomenon.”

  “No,” Zelda said bitterly. “I suspect that this sludge is combined with Malice.”

  “I wanted to be wrong about that,” Mipha whispered. “I suspected as much, but I didn’t want it to be true.” She buried her face in her hands. “We are without the Divine Beasts,” she said into her palms. “What can we do? How do we… How do we fight back?” 

Zelda sighed. “The spirit who saved me mentioned something about Sages.”

Mipha looked up at her. Her eye narrowed. “Why do I have the feeling you aren’t telling me everything?” 

  “King Dorephan ought to know as well,” Zelda replied. She paused. “Mipha, why did you prod me with your magic when we met? It wasn’t to heal, it was like a… a poke.”

Mipha’s mouth tightened. “I was there when King Link appeared before my father and Bazz. He warned us about impostors and traitors among the court in Hyrule.”

  “Bazz said as much,” Zelda confirmed. 

Mipha nodded, tilting her head. “When I approached him, he seemed… strange. He spoke formally, and when he met my gaze there was no sign of recognition in his eyes. I sent my magic toward him, to see if he was injured. That’s when the monster appeared from the sludge around us. Before I knew it, he was gone.” 

Zelda’s heart sank. The hope that Link was here, that he had survived to the present day somehow, had dwindled to a single tiny ember within her chest. 

Mipha sighed. “Well, we aren’t going to do anyone any good in this state. Go on. I ought to teach you how to take care of your new arm while I can keep you in one place,” she said with a slight smile on her face. 

Zelda appreciated the humor, even though she felt like she was going to cry again. 

She bathed while Mipha talked. 

  “I’ll have a sleeve made for you so that this causes less discomfort,” Mipha added. 

  “Thank you,” Zelda croaked. 

  “I’m terribly sorry, my friend, but it seems we need your help once more,” Mipha said. 

Zelda rose from the bath and slipped into the short silk nightgown that Mipha offered her. “It seems that the sludge is coming from the sky islands above the Domain,” Zelda told her. 

  “Is there a way to get up there and stop it?” Mipha asked, picking at a plate of salted bass. 

Zelda shook her head, toweling her hair dry—oh how she had missed proper baths, and she definitely wasn’t thinking about how many months it had been since she had had her last one. 

  “The archipelago above the Domain is too high to reach from the Skyview Tower,” she said. “I might be able to build something with Zonai tech, but the durability of that is dubious at the best of times,” she said. 

Mipha hummed and set out a futon on the floor, next to her own sleeping pool. “There must be a way up there,” she murmured. 

Zelda laid down next to her. “I’ll look for a way tomorrow,” she mumbled into the soft futon. 

  “Before she died,” Mipha said quietly, “my mother sung a lullaby to me and Sidon about a wellspring in the sky. She said our ancestors once went up there. Went swimming.” 

Zelda fell asleep, and dreamed of swimming in the sky. 

…

She was watching through the eyes of her statue in an ancient hall. An unfamiliar young hylian stood before her. He had shoulder-length blond hair, and wore the white-gold robes of a Zonai prince. Burns and soot covered him from head to toe—the marks of a conflict with her old foe. There were new scars upon his flesh. She mourned for him, for all he had endured. For all she had not been able to save him from. 

His blue eyes had no light in them. 

He lifted a hand and pressed it to the stone statue. 

  “I don’t know if you can hear me,” he said. “But if you can, remember this when you are Zelda of Hateno, after the Gloom breaks free once more. I… I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to come home to you. We have won, for now, but well… you saw what happened down under the castle. He’ll break free again. That’s why you didn’t reincarnate this time around, right? There has to be a reason. Please, my love, my light, show me the way. I don’t know what to do,” he buried his face in his hands and wept. 

She didn’t know how to console him, nor why he spoke to a future version of her. 

He looked up at her. “If I never come home, remember that I love you.” His voice was so choked with emotion that she knew he spoke the truth. She could feel it. This man, from whatever era he came from, loved her on a level she had not seen, had not felt, since her beloved Hero of the Sky. 

  “I’ll find you again one day,” he whispered. “My Zelda. My Hylia. My love. I just might—” he seemed to lose his voice for a moment, tears running down his cheeks. “Whatever is left of me, he will protect you. Of that, I am certain. Naydra said it would work,” he whispered, almost to himself, holding his hands to his chest, one over the Sacred Stone that still shone.  

There had to be a way to help him. 

Hylia cast her power out, bathing him in warm light. He gasped but she paid him little mind. 

She did her best to project an aura of comfort and peace. 

Something flared, wriggling through her magic like a fish through a stream. 

The young man gasped, lifting his hand. The stone upon his wrist shone blue and silver, as bright as the moon. 

The sensation tugged through Hylia’s magic, and the young man stumbled behind the statue and away from Hylia’s senses. 

Through the magic came a voice she remembered. 

The Master Sword. Fi. 

On the other end of the river of magic she felt her future self holding the sword. Then the magic stopped, and Fi’s presence was near, close to the warrior-prince. She could feel them talking, though not what was said. 

She returned to slumber. She had done what she could. Hopefully that sweet young man would be able to find what he was looking for. Hopefully she would meet him again one day. It would be wonderful to have such a beautiful love once more. A gift immeasurable from the Mothers. 

Zelda opened her eyes to find her pillow damp with tears. 

She sat up slowly, and reached for her arm. She clicked the prosthetic into place and flexed it. Then she reached for her sandals. 

When Zelda emerged from the bedroom, the Domain was in chaos. 

Families were hauling their children into their arms and carrying them across the bridge to the northeastern side of the river. 

Mipha stood with her trident in hand, surveying the exodus. 

  “I’ve decreed the Domain too defiled to remain here,” she told Zelda over her shoulder. “We’re retreating to a place called the Pristine Sanctum. My father is already there. He returned late last night. He… is not well.”

Zelda came forward and put her hand on Mipha’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Mipha.”

Mipha turned to her, her remaining eye watery. “This isn’t your fault, Zelda. You’ve already done so much for us. You saved me when Waterblight came for me. I feel terrible asking you this, but I must. Please, if there is anything you can do… please help us.” 

Zelda nodded, and looked up to the sky. “Our answers await us in the skies, Mipha. I will go there, but I have a feeling that I shall need help.”

  Mipha nodded. “I’ve already asked our scholars to search for records of that structure and anything related to the ancient Sages,” she said, following Zelda’s gaze up toward the massive archipelago above them. “Since we carve our histories in stone, the memory lasts longer. Come.” 

Zelda followed her after the rest of the zora to one of the waterfalls that came down from Ploymus Mountain. 

The Pristine Sanctum was a beautiful, glittering cavern of the solid blue stone that made up Zora’s Domain. 

 Trello and Bazz approached Mipha and Zelda as they entered. Bazz had a pair of chuchu jellies strapped to his gills, which made him look a little silly, but clearly they served a purpose. 

Trello saluted. “Princess Mipha, we’ve constructed the levees as you commanded.”

  “Excellent,” Mipha said. “What of my brother?”

  “He remains above, Princess.”

  “And my father?” 

Trello hesitated. “Resting, Princess.”

Mipha’s face fell. “Come with me, Zelda.” 

She led Zelda to the back of the hall, where a second set of great doors remained. Hallways splintered off from the main one, burrowing deep into the mountain. A layer of water, crystal clear and cool, coated the floor and ran across the tops of Zelda’s feet. 

  “In times of great danger, we flee here,” Mipha said quietly. “It was excavated centuries ago, but there remains one critical vulnerability.” She pointed to the water at their feet, which formed pools off to the side. Various injured zora were soaking in the crystal clear waters. 

  “It is fed by the rainfall of Ploymus Mountain—the very same that is now causing this deluge of filth,” Mipha explained in a low, bitter voice. “My brother Sidon has saved us all. He is the only one of us who can purify the sludge.” 

  “When does he sleep?” Zelda asked, alarmed. 

Mipha shook her head. “He rarely does. He’s been pushing himself too hard. That’s why I had Trello and Seggin construct some levees, to try and buy him time to rest.” 

They entered the innermost hall of the Sanctum. 

Zelda did her best to swallow her gasp. 

King Dorephan lounged in a deep pool, his breathing labored. The whole right side of his body was mottled with deep lesions. His scales were discolored and chipped, and the exposed skin beneath was oozing pus. 

Muzu, his loyal attendant, rinsed the injury and dabbed a pungent, herbal-smelling ointment on it. 

  “Father,” Mipha said, her voice cracking. 

Dorephan’s amber eyes opened. “Ah, my daughter. You look weary. And is that… Lady Zelda?”

Zelda bowed at the waist. “Hello, King Dorephan. I… I am so sorry.”

Dorephan lifted a hand. “No, my dear girl. Do not pity me, I did what a king must for his people. I trust that Mipha has told you of the monster that has taken King Marcellius?”

Zelda nodded. 

  “’Tis a terrible beast,” Dorephan continued. “I don’t know what it wants with him, but I fear now that it may seek to lure you into a trap.”

  “I figured as much,” Zelda replied. “I will do what I can for Zora’s Domain. You have my word.”

  “Good, good. Thank you,” Dorephan sighed. 

  “Thank you?” spat Muzu. “ Thank you ?! These hylians bring us nothing but pain and suffering and you say thank you? ! After your daughter has lost eye and fin on their behalf, and nearly her life?!”

  “Muzu,” Mipha said sharply. “I was defending our people when I took up the mantle of Ruta’s Champion. And these events are beyond Zelda’s control!”

  “She is a goddess! You believe a goddess has no say in the world?” 

  “Enough, Muzu,” Dorephan said with soft thunder. “Blaming one another will help no one… Mipha, dear one, will you check on your brother? It’s been quite some time since he visited me.”

Mipha nodded and stormed out of the hall. 

Zelda bowed awkwardly and scurried after her. 

  “Ugh Muzu ,” grumbled Mipha, rubbing at the scar on her arm where her fin had once been. “How dare he—”

  “Mipha!” a woman’s voice called sweetly. 

A green zora woman approached down the hall. She wore gold jewelry in a style different from the other zora, and her fins were tinted with pink instead of yellow or blue. 

Mipha visibly relaxed. “Yona,” she said with a smile. 

The two zora embraced, then joined hands. 

  “Zelda,” Mipha said, “it is my pleasure to introduce you to Lady Yona of Northern Zora’s Domain. My love, this is Lady Zelda, the Incarnate.”

Yona beamed at Zelda, then bowed. “It is an honor to meet you, Your Grace,” she said. 

Zelda smiled and bowed in return. “The honor is mine, Lady Yona.” 

Mipha smiled, looking at Yona adoringly. “Yona and I are officially betrothed,” she announced. 

Zelda’s smile widened into a grin. “Oh, congratulations!” Zora marriages, even if they were childless, lasted centuries, ensuring long-lasting alliances. Both King Dorephan and his northern counterpart had hoped that such an alliance could be forged to keep their neighbors—Hyrule and Hytopia respectively—from going to war over Akkala. 

Zelda let out a small sigh of relief. “Many happy returns, you two. When is the wedding?”

Yona and Mipha exchanged a glance. “Well,” Mipha said, “it was supposed to be next week, but with the current situation, we’ve agreed to postpone it.”

Yona took Mipha’s hand. “We will have time to celebrate later. A lousy fiancée I would be if I jumped ship at the first sign of trouble,” she said, booping her forehead against Mipha’s. 

Mipha looked like she was going to melt. “Thank you, my love. Have you seen Sidon? Father is asking for him.”

Yona’s shoulders fell. “He is still up on the mountain. I’ve tried to talk him into returning but he just won’t listen.”

Mipha groaned. “Tweenagers,” she sighed. 

  “Tween-agers?” Zelda echoed. 

  “Sidon is in the midst of his twenties,” Mipha explained shortly. “For hylians it would be your teen years. So he’s as stubborn as a carp and has it in his head that he must solve every problem by himself.” Her shoulders slumped. “It doesn’t help that in terms of the water purity, he’s right. ” She idly touched the deep scar on her forehead, which ran through her missing eye. “I can’t help but feel as if I’ve let him down.”

 Bazz came jogging and splashing down the hall. “Lady Mipha, Lady Yona, the survey team has returned—Seggin got drenched in sludge.”

  “Oh dear,” Mipha sighed. “Seems I’m needed elsewhere. Yona, could you lend me a hand?”

  “Of course,” Yona said with calm fortitude. 

Mipha hesitated. “But what about Sidon?” 

  “I’ll talk to him,” Zelda said. 

Mipha’s face cleared. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” Zelda said. 

  “Thank you,” Mipha said, then dashed off after Bazz. 

  “It was nice meeting you!” Yona said, then followed her fiancée. 

  “The same to you!” Zelda replied, following at a more sedate rate. 

She emerged from the Sanctum and out into the muddy, smelly sunlight. 

She peered up at the top of Ploymus Mountain. “Now I just need to get up there,” she muttered. 

…

In the end, it was a beautiful disaster. 

She had rigged together a pair of fans and a steering stick to create what she could only call an air motorcycle. With no straps to hold her in place, all she could do was balance. 

Whooping with adrenaline, Zelda soared up the cliffs and towards the top of the mountain. There was a little area below the precipice where a courtyard had been constructed. Zelda cut the power and dropped, screaming, out of the skies. 

She pulled the parachute at the last minute. 

The bike went crashing into the pond, startling a very-sleepy looking red zora. 

  “EXCUSE ME?!” he yelped, stumbling backwards and falling on his rear end, brandishing a trident at the bike. 

Zelda splashed into the pond. “I’m terribly sorry, that design is one of my worst—absolutely no brakes whatsoever.”

Prince Sidon gaped at her. “La—Lady Zelda?” He stood. 

He had grown since the last time Zelda had seen him. Now he was about a head taller than Zelda was. He was slender and strong like his sister, and his bioluminescent spots were coming in as he neared adulthood. 

  “You’re alive?” he asked. He scowled at her and held out his hands toward the water. “As nice as it is to see you, I’m afraid I’m a bit preoccupied.” 

Blue light shone from his hands, and the muddy water before him shimmered. Even as Zelda watched, it grew clear and beautiful once more. 

  “Your sister didn’t exaggerate,” Zelda commented, coming closer. “That’s quite a remarkable power.” 

Sidon’s bioluminescent patches grew brighter—the zora equivalent of blushing. “It’s what I can do,” he mumbled. His voice had also grown into more of a mature timbre, no longer high with youth, but not yet as deep as his father’s. 

Zelda looked at Sidon, then up at the sky. 

  “Yes, it certainly seems the source of all this is up there,” Sidon said bitterly. 

Zelda took a deep breath. “Yes, it would seem so,” she murmured. She had a sinking feeling that she had found what Rauru had told her to: a Sage. No one else had Sidon’s gift. She had never even heard of a zora who could do this. 

  “Sidon,” she said. “Your father is asking for you.”

Sidon hesitated, then renewed his efforts to purify the water. “I must remain here. Please give him my heartfelt regards,” he said, his voice shaking a little bit. 

  “Seggin has constructed a levee,” Zelda said. “To divert the mud away from the Sanctum. Even now, none of this water will go in.” She gestured at the clear water behind him. 

Sidon wavered, then lowered his arms. “Come on,” he said glumly. “Before we get burned.” He trodded out of the water he had worked so hard to cleanse. 

Zelda walked with him to where the air bike rested against the grass. 

  “What even is that?” he asked, gesturing at the tech. 

  “They’re Zonai technology,” she explained. 

  “Zonai?” 

Zelda launched into an explanation of what Purah had discovered about the ancient Zonai, then what she and Link had found beneath the castle, then of her time in the sky. 

Sidon’s gold eyes were round with wonder as he peered up at the sky. “So could this be because of malfunctioning Zonai technology?”

  “Perhaps,” Zelda hedged. “But I think it’s more likely that some monster is up there causing trouble.” Given what Bazz had described, and what had been in Mipha’s letter, it was far more likely that the man beneath the castle had caused this trouble. 

   Ganondorf, Zelda reminded herself. Like the fairy stories. The progenitor of the Calamity… the creator of Ganon. She had yet to tell Dorephan the true nature of their enemy—and wanted to do so out of Muzu’s hearing. 

Sidon glared up at the island. “What I wouldn’t give…” he muttered. 

Zelda patted him on the back, startled to realize that she had to reach up to do so. “Come on, my friend. Plenty of time for that after some food and rest. You can hardly be at your strongest when you don’t care for yourself.” 

He nodded, then looked at her. He blinked. “What in Nayru’s name happened to your arm?”

Zelda unclipped the prosthetic and waved it at him. “Gloom ate it so a ghost gave me his.”

Sidon’s eyes went wide, then he huffed a shaky laugh. “Thought you were going to say it happened because you didn’t eat your mackerel or get enough sleep,” he mumbled. 

Zelda snorted, then sobered, replacing her arm. “I think you’re old enough to know the truth of the matter. You’re fighting for your people. You ought to know what it can cost.”

  “I’ve known for a while what it can cost,” Sidon muttered, touching his right fin—the same fin his sister had lost. There was a hollowness in his eyes, a sort of worried desperation. 

  “Let’s go ask if Mipha needs anything,” Zelda offered. 

Sidon nodded, diving off the cliff to the pool below. 

Zelda followed with the paraglider. 

Chapter Text

Link ate breakfast by himself in a small garden. In his own era, it was in the same place as the Forest of Time, but at the moment it was a beautiful garden filled with rare plants and burbling fountains. It wasn’t called the Forest of Time, and indeed nobody yet knew why it would be named that in the future. 

Sanura, the helpful aide who had been assigned to help him, cheerfully served him poached eggs on a bed of wild rice. 

Link managed to eat most of it, having recovered his appetite. 

He had never felt more alone. 

He was without the Master Sword for the first time since he had turned twelve. Even Arun still refused to reawaken. 

   Does this count as an emergency? Link wondered. I’m not in any danger, not anymore. If I called upon Arun’s power when not in battle, would he panic?  

He didn’t know the answer. 

  “May I join you?” a melodic male voice asked. 

Sanura bowed, and Link turned in his seat to see Rauru approaching him. 

  “Of course,” Link said, gesturing to one of the empty seats. 

Rauru took the chair, brushing his long hair out of the way. “You may leave us, Sanura,” he said. 

The servant bowed and departed. 

Rauru poured himself a cup of ruby-tinted tea. “Sonia says I ought not to ask you about the future, for fear of timeline splits. However, I feel I must ask some questions of you.” His green-blue eyes met Link’s, and there was something steely within them. Pleasant though Rauru may have appeared, he was still a king. “For the sake of my people. One king to another.”

Link inclined his head. 

Satisfied, Rauru nodded, earrings chiming softly with the regal movement. “Do you know how far in the future you are from us?”

  Link took a deep breath, bracing his elbows on the table with his fingers interlaced. “Our researchers estimate that it’s about thirty thousand years, give or take a few millennia.” 

Rauru blinked in surprise, leaning back. Evidently he had not expected such an answer. 

  “Truly?”

Link dipped his head. 

Rauru exhaled. “I hadn’t thought such a thing to be possible—traveling so far through time… What do you know about this era?” Rauru asked. “Anything?” 

  “Very little,” Link replied bitterly. “We know your names—King Rauru, Queen Sonia, and the rulers of the various tribes, but everything else is a myth, legend, or fairytale.” He looked over at Rauru. “Why do you ask? Has something happened?” He knew that there was some sort of war that would happen near Rauru’s era, though he had no idea if it occurred before, during, or after Rauru and Sonia’s reign. 

  “I learned this morning that a dragon has gone missing,” Rauru said quietly. 

Link straightened. “What? Which one?!” 

  “Taaran.” 

Link blinked, frowning in confusion. He had never heard of that dragon before. 

Rauru sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I suppose that answers my question,” he murmured, disappointed. “Which dragons survive in your era?” he asked. 

Link hesitated. Everything that is happening has already happened, he thought. Whatever I choose now, I have already done it… Unless I haven’t, in which case the wrong move could split the timeline and then I’ll never get home. The thought sent panic through his veins. He forced himself to relax. I’m not technically doing anything, I’m just talking, he told himself.  

  “Naydra, Dinraal, and Farosh,” he replied. “We have legends of a fourth—the Radiant Dragon, but nobody has seen him in centuries. The last recorded sighting of him was during the—during a great Calamity,” he said. “Ten thousand years before my time.” 

Rauru looked troubled. “I do not know of this Radiant Dragon you speak of. That is concerning… Here, we have six dragons,” he said. “Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh, but also their mates.” He counted on his fingers. “Taaran, mate of Farosh, Volvagia, mate of Dinraal, and Hebral, mate of Naydra.”

  “Hebral… Like Mount Hebra?” Link asked. 

Rauru frowned. “I don’t know that mountain,” he said. 

   This is going to get confusing , Link thought, his heart sinking. He rose and pointed northwest. “That mountain covered in snow,” he said. 

  “Oh, Snowpeak?” Rauru said, taken aback. “I suppose it makes sense that they name it after him. He’s always been more tolerant of the Rito.” 

Link sat back down. “I don’t know what happened—what’s going to happen—to them,” he apologized. “We don’t have any records of the three other dragons.”

  “That is concerning,” murmured Rauru, taking another sip of his tea. He sighed. “Let us discuss a happier topic, perhaps. Tell me of your friends and allies. Are we at war in your era?”

Link scowled. “No, but if I don’t return, we might be,” he said. “I’m the last member of the royal family, except for a very distant cousin of mine—Sir Arnol of Lurelin.”

  “Lurelin?”

  “A village in Faron,” Link explained. “He was a member of the Royal Guard during a time of great peril,” he said. “We didn’t even know we were related until he channeled a type of power that only members of the royal family possess.”

  “Time magic?” Rauru guessed. 

Link shook his head. “No. A gift passed down from father to son. He… he had a dream once, a few years ago.” He bit his lip. “Did you ever hunt a stag in Faron with a man named Sarjon?” 

Rauru almost dropped his teacup. “Yes, I did. Goodness, that was almost twenty years ago,” he said. 

Rauru’s gaze dipped to the scars on Link’s cheek. “Am I correct in guessing that Arun had something to do with that revelation?”

Link nodded. “The Fierce Deity was able to speak directly to him, though he and I are bonded.” 

“So the Fierce Deity returns to my family?” 

Link nodded, touching his cheek. “He helped Zelda and I defeat a great evil,” he told Rauru. 

  “Can you commune with him still?” 

Link shook his head. “I’ve tried waking him gently, but our last fight took most of his strength. He’s slumbering. I… I fear that if I wake him, he may not be able to differentiate between friend and foe in his state.” 

Rauru nodded, looking concerned. “I appreciate your caution. You said your era might be at war soon?"

Link stirred his tea. “A foreign queen wishes for me to marry her. I have no interest in such a thing. Not only would one of us need to abandon our country, but I am already wed.”

  “Ah yes, your wife. Tell me about her.”

An involuntary smile spread across Link’s face. “She is the most magnificent being I have ever met. She is curious, brave, kind, and fiercely protective of those who need her. She fought alongside me against a mighty foe, and saved us all.”

  “She sounds like a great queen,” Rauru said, sounding impressed. 

  “We kind of… eloped,” Link admitted. “Her father was dying, so we married while he was still with us. We intended for there to be a formal announcement soon, but well…” he gestured at his surroundings. 

Rauru stirred his own tea. “Do you have any children?” 

Link shook his head. “No. We thought about it, but we are on the move more often than not, checking in on the various provinces. We had neither the stability nor the safety needed to raise a child.”

Rauru passed a roll of bread to Link. “We will see to it that you can return home. You and your wife will be able to build a family in your own time. I promise.”

Link nodded, his throat tight as he nibbled on the bread. He managed to swallow a bite. “You said Taaran went missing. Where was he last seen?” 

  “He flew over the Gerudo Highlands about a month ago but hasn’t been seen since. Farosh has been agitated ever since.”

Link frowned. “What did she say?”

Rauru gave him a strange look. “What do you mean?”

Link looked at him, baffled. “Has anyone talked to her?”

  “What do you mean talked to her ?” 

  “You can’t talk to the dragons?” Link demanded.

  “ You can ?!” Rauru exclaimed. 

The two kings stared at one another in shock. 

Then Rauru sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. “I suppose that means that something has changed from my era to yours. I… I didn’t realize they were capable of sentient thought,” he said, his voice growing hoarse. “Although… that explains a great deal.”

Link frowned but didn’t speak. 

Rauru sighed again. “Sonia’s tribe reveres dragons, particularly Farosh and Taaran, who nest in Floria. My people, the Zonai, viewed dragons as great and powerful beasts, on the same level as boars or stags. Creatures worthy of respect, but ones that could still be killed,” he said bitterly. “For centuries, a king’s rite of passage was to kill one.” 

Link felt bile in the back of his throat. 

Rauru saw his expression and nodded. “The practice was ended by my father, who refused to partake in the rite,” he explained. “I… I had hoped that the dragon population would recover, with two breeding pairs in the wild. But it seems it was too little, too late.” 

  “Two?” Link echoed. 

Rauru nodded. “Volvagia is female. As far as we know, she and Dinraal have yet to reproduce, though their bond is just as strong as that of Taaran and Farosh, or Naydra and Hebral.” 

  “But why would you hunt a dragon in the first place?” Link demanded. “In my era, the dragons protect us! Naydra saved an entire town from destruction, fighting until she collapsed in order to save my people. How… why would you hunt and kill such a creature?!” 

  “Power,” Rauru said bitterly. He lifted up his hand, where his Sacred Stone gleamed, holding Link’s gaze. 

 Link stared as it clicked into place. “Those… those come from dragons?” 

Rauru dipped his head. “I don’t know how or why, but yes.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Link asked. “Surely this ought to remain a secret.”

  “Yes, it must. But as a wielder of a Sacred Stone, you ought to know their history. And their dangers.” 

Rauru tapped his stone, causing a little flare of light. “Have you finished your breakfast?”

Link nodded. 

Rauru stood. “Then it’s time for you to meet my sister Mineru. She’s an expert on many things, including dragons. She will have more answers for you than I do.” 

Link rose and followed him out of the garden. 

…

Mineru’s study was on the eastern side of the castle, overlooking Lake Hylia. No bridge spanned its vast surface, which was higher in this era. 

Her study had a small set of windows overlooking the lake, but the majority of the walls were covered in stone shelves. 

Mineru herself had much shorter hair than Rauru, and a green metal collar that held her Sacred Stone, which was a deep purple. She sat behind a desk, tinkering with a green metal mask while a Steward watched ambivalently. 

  She dismissed the Steward Construct as Rauru and Link entered. 

  “You must be Link,” she said, setting her owl-shaped goggles on her brow. Link was vividly reminded of Purah. 

He nodded. 

  “I must confess, I initially thought my little brother was pulling my leg when he told me about a king from the future,” she said with a small smile. “Now I sense that he told the truth. The Stone proves it.” 

  “I would never jest about something so important,” Rauru protested. 

Mineru raised a brow but said nothing. 

Rauru sighed. “We must tell Link the laws surrounding the Sacred Stones, and how they came to be.”

Mineru sat back in her seat. “Very well. King Link, I assume you’ve noticed how small the Stones are?”

Link nodded, uncertain as to why that mattered. 

Mineru smiled without humor. “They are just small enough to be swallowed whole,” she said. “Which is something you must never do. To swallow a Sacred Stone is to transform yourself into an immortal dragon.”

Link’s jaw dropped. He then looked up at Rauru. “Then the kings, they…” 

  “Slew their own kin. Yes,” Rauru said. 

Link held out his hand, looking at the Sacred Stone warily. “What are they?” 

 Rauru and Mineru exchanged a look. “We’re not entirely sure,” Mineru said haltingly. “Some dragons contain as many as three Sacred Stones, while others have none at all.” 

  “Which is why we fear for Taaran,” Rauru said. “If someone has slain him, more Sacred Stones could fall into the hands of someone who would use them for evil.”

Mineru nodded. 

Link looked at his Stone. There is a fourth dragon in my era. The Radiant Dragon. What if… what if that’s me? 

Mineru’s hand covered Link’s Stone. “To become an immortal dragon is to lose oneself,” she said gently. “You would make it back to your era, but you would no longer be yourself. You would have no memory of who you once were, or those you love.”

  “How do you know?” Link asked, desperation welling up. “If you don’t even know that dragons can talk, how do you know if they lose their memories?!”

Mineru looked taken aback at the mention of dragons talking. 

  “Because of the dragons that still exist,” Rauru said. “All of them were once people who walked among us. All save Volvagia were once Zonai themselves. Now, if Mineru or I were to approach them, they would try to kill us.” He lifted his cape to show a jagged silver scar across his left pectoral and down to his armpit. “Courtesy of Hebral,” he added. 

Link squared his shoulders. “Let me try to talk to them.” 

  “They did not even remember their own siblings,” Rauru said sharply. 

Link ran a hand over his face. “Why did they even transform in the first place?” 

  “To make more Stones,” Mineru said, sitting back down. “When a new king was to be crowned, the priests would choose someone to undergo draconification. The prince would embark upon a hunt, and reap the Stones they had made, claiming his place as king.”

  “So… you use one Stone to make more?” Link asked, baffled. He wasn’t even sure how to wrap his brain around the idea of ritual sacrifice quite yet, but he was glad that Rauru and his father had ended the awful practice. “How does that work?” 

  “We aren’t sure,” Mineru replied, sighing. “But the dragons radiate magic in a way that no other creature does. They defy gravity at will, and bend temperature and climate around them. They are magic itself. The laws that bind ordinary creatures do not apply to them,” she said with a shrug. 

   Zelda and Purah would disagree, Link thought. Those two would insist that there is a logic to all things, even if we haven’t figured it out yet. There is a piece of this puzzle I am missing, he thought. “So, no swallowing the Stones, and no talking to dragons.” 

Mineru nodded. “Yes. We will find a different way to return you to your era.” 

Link dipped his head in acceptance. He would research things on his own. “I had a question, Princess Mineru,” he said, drawing out the Purah Pad. “Would it be possible to integrate your technology into this?” 

She took the Pad curiously, then began flicking through the internal contents. “I believe so,” she said. “How interesting,” she murmured. 

Rauru chuckled. “We’d best return to other pursuits, Link. Once Mineru has a new project, nothing can distract her.” 

Link cracked a smile. “I know the type.” 

Mysteries would have to wait a while to be solved, it seemed.

Chapter Text

  Zelda followed Prince Sidon down to the Pristine Sanctum, where the Zora were trying to recover. 

Princess Mipha was supervising the efforts, directing the flow of traffic. 

She smiled when she saw them. “Sidon, I’m glad to see you. Father has asked to see all of us, including Lady Zelda,” she said. 

Sidon nodded and trudged through the ankle-deep water up toward the back of the Sanctum. 

Mipha sighed. “How is he?” She murmured. 

  “Tired,” Zelda replied quietly. “Worried too, I think.” 

Mipha nodded, as if she had expected such an answer. She and Zelda walked together into the Sanctum, where Sidon and King Dorephan waited. 

The doors closed behind them, leaving Zelda alone with the royal family. 

  “Welcome back, dear Zelda,” Dorephan boomed. “Now we may speak frankly. I’ve sent Sergeant Seggin out to look through our records to see if we have any memory of the sky islands. I’ve also sent out another team to hunt in the sea for food.” 

  “Thank you,” Mipha said. 

  “Pardon me,” Zelda said slowly, “but I was under the impression that the zora had no libraries.” 

  “Not of paper,” chuckled King Dorephan. “We engrave our records on stone. There is a hidden series of caves where we store our tablets.”

  “That’s incredible!” Zelda exclaimed, delighted. 

  “Yes, but the team does not know how far back they should search,” Dorephan said, touching the scar on his chin thoughtfully. “I thought you might know.” 

  “Oh, um,” Zelda began, hesitating. She knew exactly what era they should be investigating. “Do you have any records of the Imprisoning War?”

Dorephan looked startled. “The Imprisoning War? That was… hmmm. Yes, that was over thirty thousand years ago…” He looked troubled. “This Domain was only founded ten thousand years ago, by King Ralon—Vah Ruta’s first pilot, if you might recall.”

Zelda nodded. It had been Ralon who had blasted a hole clean through Mount Hebra. 

Mipha stepped forward. “Do we even have any records older than that, Father?”

Dorephan inclined his head slowly. “I know that there were a few tablets brought over from our old Domain, which was located in what you now call Lake Hylia,” he explained to Zelda. He fell silent, a deep frown on his face. 

  “Father?” Sidon piped up. “What is it?” 

Dorephan looked down at Zelda. “Are you certain of this connection to the Imprisoning War, Your Grace?” 

  Zelda held up her prosthetic. “The spirit who gave me this arm was Rauru, my paladin and the first King of Hyrule. Yes, I am certain.” 

Dorephan closed his eyes, his shoulders slumping. “Then it is the Demon King we now face?”

  “Yes,” Zelda said softly. 

  “What’s the Demon King?” Sidon demanded, rising to his feet. Mipha looked just as worried. “Father?” she pressed. “I’ve never heard of this figure before.” 

Dorephan exhaled heavily. “Tell them, Lady Zelda.”

Zelda swallowed. “The Demon King is the source of the Calamity—it’s progenitor. He is the master of all monsters, and seeks to destroy all who oppose him.” 

Mipha’s amber eye went wide. “That’s who you found under the castle,” she breathed. 

Zelda nodded. “Yes. He is not to be underestimated, but I suspect that he is still recovering from the effects of Rauru’s Seal on him.” 

  “So what can we do?” Sidon demanded. “How do we fight him? The Divine Beasts are gone !”

  “Rauru told me to find sages,” Zelda said, turning to Dorephan. “I suspect that the sludge is an attempt to weaken or draw out the next Sage of the Zora. Do you know what constitutes a Zora Sage?” 

Dorephan suddenly looked very frail, and his eyes shone. “Not fully, but…” he said softly. “It will be one of my children. We are the last of the Sage’s line.” 

  Mipha looked resigned, bowing her head. 

  “What?! No!” Sidon shouted. “No, not again! Father, please, she nearly died last time!”  

  “Sidon,” Mipha said gently. “I must save our Domain once more. If that is what it takes—”

  “NO!” Sidon shouted, stomping his foot. Water fled from his movement, rushing away from him in a ripple. Water flowed up the walls, ignoring the call of gravity, then came crashing down. 

  “Sidon,” King Dorephan began, something between wonder and sorrow in his voice. 

  “It’s not fair!” Sidon shouted. “It’s not right.” 

Zelda stared at him, then stepped forward. “Let’s not jump to conclusions, please. There’s still much we don’t know, and much that I do not remember.” 

  “I agree,” Mipha said, stepping forward to put a hand on Sidon’s shoulder. “There’s no sense in panicking yet. We ought to see if we have any records of any previous Sage of our people. Zelda, do you remember any?”

Zelda bit her lip and wrung her hands. “The only Sage that I remember was Ruto, during the Era of Myth. I was unable to reincarnate during Rauru’s era but…” She took a deep breath. “I think there might’ve been one during his time as well. I can’t imagine he would tell me to find a Sage without reason.” She hesitated as a new thought formed. “King Dorephan, you said that this Domain was only founded ten thousand years ago—well after the Imprisoning War ended. Can you think of a reason why Ganondorf would target this area if not to harm your people?”

Dorephan shifted uncomfortably in his pool. “It was a sacred site to us, the Great Wellspring.”

  “The source of all freshwater in Hyrule,” Mipha added, “the birthplace of the three largest rivers.” She paused. “It is one of the reasons we were so reluctant to allow Sheikah and Hyrulean divers to aid in the search for Vah Ruta,” she admitted. 

  Sidon looked up. “Could he be after something he thinks is here? Maybe something that could be used against him, like a weapon?”

Mipha glanced at her trident. “That would make sense…” she trailed off. “Father, allow me to consult with Seggin and some scouts. We must investigate this.” 

Dorephan lifted his hand in benediction, then turned to Sidon. “And you, my son. You must rest.” 

Sidon glared at the floor and stomped away. 

  “The same goes for you, dear Zelda,” King Dorephan added. “Gather your strength.” 

  “There are some shrines nearby where I can reclaim the power Rauru left for me,” Zelda said. 

Dorephan nodded. “Please allow me to send a pair of warriors with you.”

  “You will not dissuade him,” Mipha added with a smile. 

Zelda dipped her head. “Thank you, King Dorephan. I would be most grateful.”

Dorephan waved his hand, clearly exhausted. 

Zelda followed Mipha out into the hall.

...

There were four Shrines of Light that Zelda could find in Zora’s Domain, for which she was grateful. It took her two days to trek back and forth across the Uplands with her two escorts in tow. They helped her by dispatching the new—and nastily-strong—lizalfos packs. 

   As for how they suddenly appeared here, she thought, I suspect a connection to the Sacred Realm, or another similar dimension. They must’ve been enchanted to reappear when Rauru’s Seal on Ganondorf broke. Quite a feat of magic, she thought, emerging from the last one as the moon began to rise above the ridge of mountains. She had saved the shrine right under the Domain for last, wanting to avoid travel at night. 

  “Everything alright, Your Grace?” asked Ledo, one of the Zora warriors who accompanied her. 

Zelda nodded. “Yes. Let’s return to the others.” 

They climbed back up the hills toward the Pristine Sanctum, avoiding the water and oozing pools of sludge. 

Lady Yona met them halfway down the hill. “Oh, I’m glad I caught you!” She exclaimed. “Sergeant Seggin and the others are back from their scouting trip. King Dorephan is asking for you, Your Grace.” 

Zelda nodded and hurried her steps. 

Sure enough, when Zelda entered Dorephan’s oasis, he was waiting for her. 

Sidon and Mipha stood beside him, as did Sergeant Seggin and several other older Zora. 

  “Welcome back, Your Grace,” King Dorephan said. 

Zelda dipped her head. “Thank you, Your Majesty. Have you any news?”

Dorephan nodded. “Indeed.”

He paused until the doors to the inner sanctum had been closed. “Lady Zelda, this is Olene, our lead archivist and historian.” He gestured to a pale blue Zora woman, who bowed to Zelda. She was elderly and stooped, and utilized a coral cane to walk. 

  “Your Grace, I am in charge of archiving the records of King Dorephan’s reign. What I am about to tell you is a secret known only to archivists such as myself and the Zora Royal Family,” she said in a thin, reedy voice. “You might have noticed that there are no libraries here in Zora’s Domain, and indeed, we do not keep records on paper or papyrus. We keep them on stone.” She pushed a pair of spectacles higher onto her face. “Deep beneath Ploymus Mountain there is a place where these records are stored. It is called the Hall of Remembrance. The histories of all our monarchs reside deep within the Hall, for as long as there have been Zora on this continent.”

A chill scurried up Zelda’s spine. “So we could check the records of the Zora ruler from the era of the Imprisoning War?” 

Dorephan inclined his head. “Yes. I have tasked Olene with finding the name of the ruler of the Zora during that period.”

Olene nodded. “Which I did. We have an index, which I have brought.” An assistant came forward with a metal box. Inside there were thin clay tablets which had been hardened and glazed with enamel. Some of them were chipped from age. Others had been meticulously repaired with new clay and silver filigree. 

  “This box represents the thirty-four rulers of the Zora who lived approximately thirty-thousand to forty-thousand years ago,” said Olene. “Major events are marked beneath their names for reference,” she explained. She plucked one tablet out of the bunch, near the very end. “This is the record of Queen Omotoh, who ruled during the First Great Calamity,” she said, tapping it.  “Let’s see…” she began shuffling through the tablets. She lifted and examined six tablets as the silence stretched onwards. She suddenly stopped, staring at the seventh tablet. 

  “Mother Nayru above,” she breathed. 

  “You found it?” Sidon pressed. 

Olene swallowed, her gills fluttering. “ The Royal Record of the Imprisoning War, by… ” she faltered in her reading. “ By Queen Ruta, Sage of Water.”  

Zelda sucked in a sharp breath. 

Mipha visibly started. “R-Ruta? Like the Divine Beast?” 

Olene nodded, then handed the tablet to Mipha. The zora princess cradled it gently. “It says that further records will be found in the Coral Forest Section. What is the Coral Forest Section?”

Olene adjusted her glasses. “It’s one of the deepest sections, Princess. It… It is also flooded at the moment,” she glanced at Zelda apologetically. “We’ve been meaning to restore it but with everything going on it seemed like less of a priority.” 

Mipha looked at Zelda. 

  “We can make do,” Zelda said. “Do you happen to have any of Robbie’s diving suits still lying around?” 

  Mipha nodded. “We do. I presume that you wish to set out tonight?”

Zelda clenched her hands, staring at Rauru’s arm. Despite how many times she had purified it, Gloom still came out of it whenever she gained back more of her power. Still, she felt stronger than she had in months. “Yes. We cannot afford to waste time.” 

  “I’m coming with you,” Sidon piped up. 

  “What?!” Muzu squawked. 

  “Sidon,” Mipha began.

  “I’m a warrior now too!” Sidon said hotly. “And I’m the strongest swimmer in all of Zora’s Domain. You told me that! I can protect you and Lady Zelda.” 

Mipha looked at her father for help. 

King Dorephan looked to Seggin. “You are in charge of the Prince’s training. Is he ready for a potentially dangerous quest such as this?” 

Seggin looked at Prince Sidon, then straightened. “My liege, as much as I would wish to lie and say he was not in order to keep him safe, I cannot. The prince’s skill with a spear is some of the finest work I have ever seen. His command over water and his strength in swimming would be an asset to any warrior band.” He lowered his head. “I wish to keep him safe, but His Highness is coming into his own as a young warrior. Were he not royalty, I would petition you to allow him to join our ranks early.” 

King Dorephan nodded. 

Sidon stood tall and proud, facing his father with determination. “Allow me to accompany my sister and Lady Zelda, Father! I won’t let you down.” He grinned widely, showing off his large white teeth. 

King Dorephan looked exhausted, but managed a smile. “Sidon, Mipha, my beloved children. You have both grown so strong. Take care of one another. Seggin and Bazz will accompany you to the Hall of Remembrance. I hope you find what you’re looking for. Lady Zelda,” King Dorephan turned his gaze to Zelda, “as King, I ask that you do what you can for my people. But as a father, I ask that you look after my children.”

Zelda dipped her head. “I will protect them as best I can, King Dorephan.”

Muzu stepped forward. “My liege, I must protest! Lady Mipha is a skilled warrior who has proven herself in battle, but the prince is still young and untried! Please, King Dorephan, what will happen if something terrible befalls them both?” 

Sidon put his hands on his hips. “Muzu, you heard Sergeant Seggin. I’m a skilled warrior. Father has already made his decision!”

  “Which I beg him to reconsider,” Muzu said, turning to look up at Dorephan. “King Dorephan, please! He’s too young!” 

Dorephan sighed. “As much as I wish I could, Sergeant Seggin is right. Sidon is a strong warrior. He is one of the few warriors we have who are still capable of fighting. No, Sidon must go with Lady Zelda and Mipha.” 

Muzu’s mouth opened and closed. He shook his head. “I cannot understand this, my liege. I simply cannot.” With that he trudged away through the water and out into the main hall. 

  Mipha stepped forward. “I will take the group to the armory to prepare.”

  “Good luck,” King Dorephan said softly.

Mipha turned to Yona, who took her hands. She pressed her brow against Yona’s for a moment. 

  “I have faith in you,” Yona murmured. 

Zelda looked away, Link’s face lingering behind her eyes. 

Mipha smiled. “I will return. Zelda, Sidon, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

It was nearly midnight by the time that Zelda finally stood before the entrance to the Hall of Remembrance. It was at the base of Ploymus Mountain, tucked away at the northern edge of the reservoir. Debris from the sky islands had fallen all around the lake, but none blocked their path. 

She fiddled with the gaskets on the diving suit that the Zora had held onto for all these years. 

Mipha held up a lantern made from the same bright blue stone as the rest of Zora’s Domain. She looked at both Zelda and Sidon. Seggin was armed with a scaled spear, two silver swords, and a shield. His son Bazz was likewise armed. 

Like most weapons, all of the weapons in Zora’s Domain had been corrupted by the eruption of Gloom from the chasms when Ganondorf had awoken. Zelda had managed to find some lizalfos horns and had used her arm to Fuse them to the spears. Bazz’s spear had a blue lizalfos horn attached to it, and Seggin’s curved spear had a horriblin horn attached to it. Zelda had used up her entire supply of bomb flowers to take out the horriblin nest, but their horns were excellent Fuse materials. 

Prince Sidon was armed with a trident that matched his sister’s, and had donned protective silver armor. For some reason, neither of the two Lightscale Tridents were affected by Gloom. Thus, both Sidon and Mipha had refused Zelda’s offer to Fuse monster parts to their weapons. 

  “Are you ready?” Mipha asked. 

  “Yes,” Zelda said. 

Sidon nodded. 

Mipha led the way into the dark hall. 

The sounds of their feet were paired with the noise of dripping water echoing endlessly through the tunnels. 

The hall widened into a round room lit with more blue lanterns. Six doors lined the circumference of the room, each barred with a silver filigree gate in the Zora style. One of them had been broken inwards, its bars warped. 

Zelda lifted out the map that Olene had reluctantly handed over.

  She studied it in silence for a long moment. 

  “I gather,” Mipha said, “that we will need to go through the gate that looks broken?”

  “Yes,” Zelda replied. 

  “Then we know our path,” Sidon said with forced optimism. “We shall emerge triumphant from this.” 

The five of them walked through the broken gate and into the hall beyond. Seggin led the way, sword in one hand and lantern in the other. After him went the two royals and Zelda, then Bazz brought up the rear. 

  “Be careful, Sidon,” Mipha said, “the walls are coated in sludge.” 

Sidon lifted his hands, magic glowing beneath his scales. 

  “Save your strength,” Zelda told him. “If this section is truly flooded, the water is likely polluted.” 

Sidon lowered his hands and nodded unhappily. 

The passageway began to slope downwards, then became a set of stairs. They were worn down and misshapen from centuries of use, no doubt from the feet of scribes and guards carrying heavy crates of tablets. 

As they proceeded deeper into the belly of Ploymus Mountain, the lanterns on the wall began to give way to bare rock. Many of them had been broken, and now lay in shards on the floor. 

They finally reached the bottom of the stairs, only to be confronted by a layer of murky water. 

  “Sidon?” Mipha said. 

Sidon stepped forward and reached out with his magic. 

The water around him became clear once more, and revealed itself to be only ankle-deep. 

Zelda shivered and followed the two zora into the larger hall. 

Shelves lined the large room, each with rows upon rows of stone slates. 

  “This is the Reef section,” Zelda said, consulting the map. “The Coral Forest is a floor below us.” 

Sidon held up a hand. “Something is making the water move,” he told them. 

  “What do you mean?” Mipha asked. 

  “There’s a current. There shouldn’t be a current,” he said. 

Mipha lifted the lantern higher. 

Zelda tried to take a breath, but found the air getting heavier. An aroma she once identified as moss was now being replaced with something far stranger… Something putrid that seemed to stick to the back of her throat. The air seemed to get warmer, her skin grew damp with humidity far too quickly for any natural phenomenon she was aware of. It smelled like rot, and each breath began to sting a bit. It felt vaguely familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. 

  “Are caves usually like this?” she inquired. Something wasn’t right. She looked at the water around her ankles and noticed something curious. It was slowly turning a shade of brilliant magenta, and it grew thicker.  

  “I’ve never seen such a thing,” Mipha fidgeted, glancing around them anxiously. “I don’t like this,” she said. 

Sidon reacted similarly. His enthusiasm from earlier was dampened, but he remained on high alert. 

The smell intensified and Zelda’s stomach twisted. Is the air toxic? No, Mipha would have noticed it. She heard water splashing quietly behind them.
A shrill cry echoed through the cave, and the air gained a misty atmosphere. 

It was almost a call back to her trip beneath the castle.

Though Zelda hadn’t glanced behind her, she caught Mipha’s reaction through her peripherals. Her grip tightened around her spear and her eyes widened with fear. 

“What is that?” she heard Mipha whisper. 

Zelda wished she hadn’t turned and looked. 

Emerging from the water were five growing tendrils of gloom, each head was a disgustingly large hand adorned by an eye in each palm. All seemed to be attached at the same base, but they reached out, shrieking and crying out—though they had no mouths as far as Zelda could see. Black, red, and purple glowed unevenly through its entirety and it was abundantly clear to Zelda that they couldn’t afford to touch these… things. It was far too similar in appearance to the substance beneath the castle and the chasms. It looked like the power that had eaten away her arm. 

Bazz herded the group behind a shelf and they peered out at the things gliding through the room. 

  “Don’t let it touch you,” Zelda whispered sharply, drawing out her spear. She wasn’t good at spear-work, but a bow wouldn’t work underwater. 

Mipha’s eye snapped her way, but she remained head-on to the creation, examining it between the crates of clay tablets. “Do you know this creature?” she asked urgently. 

Zelda shook her head. “I don’t, but that colour is far too reminiscent of the recent chasms, don’t you think?” She inhaled and felt her gag reflex kick in. “Nothing that smells this bad has ever been good news.” 

Sidon agreed with her first. He grimaced hard and looked as if he wanted to get away from the smell alone. “I’d have to agree,” he said. “This is far worse than the crate of fish I left in the sun for days.” 

  “That was you?!” Mipha hissed. 

Sidon winced. “Oops?” he offered sheepishly.

  “Both of you, focus,” Zelda implored. “We need to find its weaknesses and take it down before it can harm us.”

  Sidon hissed suddenly, taking a step back. “The water,” he began, “it’s polluting the water.”

Zelda readied her spear. “Could this be what’s causing the sludge?” she whispered. 

  “It feels different,” Sidon replied. “Similar, but different.” He swayed. “It takes more effort to cleanse the water.” 

  “It’s in the air too,” Zelda whispered, watching an ember of that red material float by her head. Each breath seemed to burn a little more. “Purah calls it Gloom.” She had only ever seen it in solid form once before. 

The hands turned the corner and screamed at the sight of the trio. 

  “Spread out!” Mipha cried. 

Sidon and Mipha flanked the Hands, while Zelda kept backing away, those hate-filled amber eyes fixed on her. Seggin and Bazz each sided with a royal, their shields half covering Mipha and Sidon. 

Sidon’s spear slashed through the air, hitting the eye in the center of one putrid palm. It shrieked and recoiled, only for Mipha to stab another Hand in the eye as well. 

  “The eye!” Sidon and Mipha yelled at once. 

Zelda readied her own spear and stepped forward, jabbing it at the Hands nearest her. They hissed at her. 

Seggin and Bazz jumped forwards with sword and spear respectively. There was one Hand for each warrior. 

Zelda’s back hit the wall behind her. 

  “Over here!” Mipha cried, launching forward with her spear. She slashed and stabbed at the hand nearest her. 

  “Mipha look out!” Zelda shouted as the Hand snaked around the side and launched itself at her. 

Mipha screamed as she was lifted into the air by the middle. She thrashed and struggled, coughing as the Hand squeezed . 

  “NO!” Sidon shouted, lunging forward. 

Bazz stabbed at the stem of the Hand to no effect. “We need to get the eye!” he yelled. 

He and Zelda stabbed at the Hands, causing the one that held the princess to drop her unceremoniously on the ground. She landed with a splash and a thud, and lay there for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Bazz picked Mipha up and dragged her away from the Hands. 

Zelda reached within herself, taking hold of the golden light that rested within the core of her being like a miniature sun. She allowed the light to flow through her and shoot forward. It wrapped around her spear, illuminating their surroundings. 

The Hands shrieked and recoiled as the light sliced through one of the palms on Zelda’s next strike. 

They shrank in on themselves and bubbled into a single solid column. 

The pillar took the form of a man. It was a mummified, stooped figure with blazing red eyes and a yellow gemstone on its forehead.

Zelda did not have the breath to scream. She froze, every inch of her body howling at her to run . 

The figure conjured a long thin sword and rushed towards her. 

A wave crashed into the man, sweeping him away from Zelda and Mipha and carrying him up. The water rushed upwards, then back down to the ground. It slammed the man into the stone floor. 

The second it was clear of him, the man stood. 

The shining triple points of Sidon’s trident jabbed up through his head. 

The Prince of the Zora withdrew the trident and stabbed Ganondorf in the chest once—twice—thrice in rapid succession, something between a grin and a snarl on his face. His teeth shone like the crescent moon in the dark of the Hall. 

Ganondorf staggered back on one knee, chest rising and falling in an imitation of breath. 

  “We need to get out of here!” Zelda managed to say. “Sidon, we have to retreat!” 

Sidon ignored her and continued to stab the Demon King. 

Seggin joined him. 

  “ Don’t you touch my sister,” Sidon snarled. 

The man shrieked and collapsed, vanishing into a puff of purplish smoke. 

Silence and the sound of harsh breathing and dripping water filled the cavern. 

  “Was that… it?” Bazz asked. “Was that him?” 

   No way, Zelda thought. Even in his weak state he managed to destroy both my arm and the Master Sword. There’s no way that Sidon could just defeat him like that. 

From the depths of her memories, some inner voice whispered a word. 

  “ Phantom,” she croaked. “It was a phantom—a shard of his power.” 

  “A shard did this?” Bazz demanded, lifting Mipha into his arms. The princess wheezed. 

  “We should go back,” Zelda said. She was shaking uncontrollably. “He—” 

  “He’s gone now,” Seggin said, sheathing his sword. He looked at Mipha, limp and shivering in Bazz’s arms. 

Sidon approached his sister, as did Zelda. 

The color had drained from Mipha’s scales, and the ones around her torso where the Hand had gripped her were dark gray and ragged. 

   Just like my arm, Zelda thought. But the way it grasped her leaves no room for amputation. No room for failure. 

She reached out to Mipha and summoned her magic. 

The golden light flickered as it washed through Mipha’s body. Zelda exhaled as she felt Mipha’s natural magic jump and join forces with hers, augmenting and better spreading it through the zora’s body. 

Some of the color returned to Mipha’s scales and her remaining amber eye flicked open. 

  “Sidon,” she croaked. 

  “I’m here,” the prince said, having materialized at Zelda’s shoulder without her noticing. “Let’s get you back home to Father. It’s over.”

Behind them, Seggin sighed. “My prince, I’m afraid to say it isn’t.”

Zelda and Sidon turned to look at the Sergeant. 

He was rinsing his hand in the pool of water at their feet, a grimace on his face. “The sludge is still present here on the walls.” 

Sidon straightened. “It may not have had a chance to wash away. If it’s still raining down on the Domain, we will know if we have failed. But if that thing was the culprit, then we have won a great victory.”

Zelda squeezed Mipha’s hand. She couldn’t bring herself to say what she already knew. The Phantom hadn’t been the source of the sludge. Sidon himself had said that they felt different to his magic. 

They trudged back up through the stairs and out into the night air. 

  “No,” whispered Sidon. 

Sludge was still raining down from the sky. 

  “What now, my prince?” Seggin asked. 

Sidon was silent for a long moment. He took a deep breath. “If we wait, we will only be giving that specter time to gather its strength and return. Bazz, please take my sister back to the Pristine Sanctum. Lady Zelda, will you accompany me back into the Hall?”

Zelda dipped her head. “I will.” She clasped her hands to hide the shaking. 

  “You don’t have to,” Sidon said. 

Zelda looked at him, meeting his golden gaze “Of course I do. I swore to your father that I would do my best to protect you.” She looked at her hands. “If Link were here, he wouldn’t hesitate to leap into action, to do all he could to aid you. In his absence, I must endeavor to do the same.” She looked over at Mipha. 

Sidon followed her gaze. “Will she be okay?” he asked in a low voice. 

  “I think so,” Zelda replied. “The Gloom wasn’t as potent as the type that damaged my arm, but she will still need a while to recover.” 

Sidon clenched his fists and stomped back into the Hall of Remembrance. 

Zelda took a deep breath and followed him back into the dark. 

Seggin readied his spear, clapped his son on the shoulder, and followed the prince and Zelda down into the dark. 

…

The Gloom Hands did not reemerge, much to Zelda’s relief. They went deeper into the Reef section. The water climbed up to Zelda’s waist, then to her chest. 

Eventually she put on her mask and submerged herself under the water. 

It was dark and murky in the underground cavern. The lanterns and the two zoras’ bioluminescence were the only sources of light. 

Even with Sidon purifying the water, the sludge still limited their sight and stuffed up the gills of the zora and Zelda’s artificial ones. 

The Coral Forest level was deep beneath Ploymus Mountain. 

Zelda looked up as Sidon signalled to her. 

   “We’re level with the bottom of the Reservoir,” he signed. “The flooding must be coming in from here.” 

She nodded in assent. “We need the records, but be on your guard,” she signed back. 

They swam deeper into the hall. 

Zelda heard a noise from Seggin behind them. 

She turned and saw what had made the sergeant freeze. 

Peeking between two shelves was an eye the size of a shield. 

It had a wavy pupil in the center. 

   Is that… an octorok?! Zelda thought. She made a muffled yell through her mask. 

Faster than she would’ve believed, a tentacle shot between the stacks and headed straight for her. The octorok’s body was a deep shade of purple, mottled through with lighter shades of pink, as if it had been struck by lightning. 

Zelda raised her spear—

Silver light flashed through the water, followed by a spray of inky Malice and blood. The tentacle was severed by Sidon’s lightscale trident as he soared through the water. 

A powerful current followed him, pushing Zelda into the nearest stack. 

   “Keep to the sides,” Sidon signed with one hand behind his back. 

Seggin swam forward, stabbing the flailing severed limb and punted it to the side. 

Zelda pushed off from the stack and swam to the left, trying to sneak up on the creature while Sidon distracted it. 

   If I can get a good jab in the eye, we might be able to flush it out into open water, she thought. Who knew octoroks could get to this size?! Its main body was around the size of two Sheikah shrines put together, with tentacles double that length. A vague memory of a similar—but different—creature flitted across her mind. 

She soared through the water up a stack, hovering between the top of the stone shelf and the roof of the cavern. 

The octorok was fully focused on the two zora, lashing out with its tentacles. 

Zelda floated over the beast, then slammed her spear into its eye. 

A horrible squeal reverberated through the cavern, the octorok thrashing. Zelda stabbed down but her spear hit the thicker skin around the creature’s eye. It left deep gashes but nothing that would stop the monster. 

The octorok rubbed at its injured eye. 

Zelda turned to see a shadow loom over her. 

A tentacle slammed into her, whacking her through the water and sending her hurtling towards the walls. She slammed into the walls and sank slowly to the ground. 

As Zelda tried to catch her breath with the rebreather, she wrestled with a wave of different emotions and pains. 

   I fought the Calamity, she thought, putting her feet under her and wincing at her ribs, which felt like they had a few cracks. I struck down the king of monsters and now here I am, laid low by an overgrown garden pest! 

She reared upright, divine power shining at her hands. 

Sidon darted in front of it, slashing with the Lightscale trident. 

The octorok opened its mouth and began to inhale. 

   “Sidon!” Zelda shouted into her mask. 

The prince was sucked inside the beast’s mouth. 

Zelda sent a bolt of divine light blazing through the water. It boiled the water in its wake, and sank into the colossal octorok’s body. It writhed in pain but lashed out at her undeterred. 

Seggin darted around it and jabbed at it with his spear, teeth bared. 

Zelda paddled forward, summoning her divine power to her fullest ability. It illuminated the vast room. 

Suddenly the octorok contorted in pain, writhing. Its tentacles thrashed, crashing through walls and stacks, sending slates flying through the waters. 

Seggin stabbed it in the eye as it was distracted. 

Zelda’s divine powers left deep burns on its body. 

A trio of shining white and blue blades punched out through the octorok’s head. They withdrew, and a great current of water spiraled toward the octorok. 

It screeched, making Zelda’s head ring. 

A flash of silver and blue light darted across her vision and then all was dark and still. 

In the faint light of the lanterns, she saw Sidon pry himself free of the octorok’s corpse, which was fading into Gloom. Blue light surrounded him, purifying the water around him. 

Zelda’s eyes widened. 

It wasn’t just Sidon who was glowing—the Lightscale Trident glowed too. 

The water around it was purified. The light emanated from the center of the trident’s silver-pink blades, from the teal gemstone in the heart. 

   That isn’t just water manipulation, Zelda realized. That’s divine magic—the power of a sage.  

Seggin was gaping at Sidon, who didn’t appear to have a scratch on him. 

   “Look,” Sidon signed, and pointed. 

The octorok’s death throes had broken a section of wall. Beyond was a hallway that had been blocked off. 

   “You hurt?” Zelda asked. 

   “No,” Sidon replied, and led the way into the hall. 

The secondary chamber was circular, made of white marble that reflected the light of their lanterns to illuminate the whole space. The walls of the room contained seven alcoves, each holding a statue. 

A monolith of blue stone stood in the center of the room, on a bed of white sand. 

But Zelda didn’t pay attention to it. 

Instead, she swam to the statues at the opposite side of the room from where they had entered. 

There was a life-size statue of Rauru, stern and regal. He held a flower in his hand, one that was unfamiliar to Zelda. He shared the alcove with a beautiful hylian woman with long flowing hair—the same one within the shrines that Zelda had completed. She wore a wreath of laurels on her head.

The one beside him was dressed almost identically: wearing the same loose flowing top and hair ornaments, but a set of ankle-length pants and sandals. He wore the same wreath of laurels as Rauru’s queen. 

Link’s statue was rendered out of gray stone, but his eyes had been inlaid with the same type of luminous stone that made up Zora’s Domain. So too was the broken, corrupted Master Sword in his hands made of it. 

   It reached him, Zelda thought. She sank to the sandy floor. He really did go back in time then. The Fierce Deity’s marks on Link’s face had been made with silver. 

She looked at Link’s feet and noticed a little plaque. Its inscription was written in an ancient form of hylian, but Zelda was able to recognize what it said. 

Sage of Tyme, Prince of Hyrule. The Sons of Hyrule shall beareth his name, Link. His noble sacrifice shall not be forgotten.

Zelda sobbed. 

A gentle hand touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see Sidon staring at Link. 

   “But we saw him a few weeks ago, after the Upheaval,” he signed, turning back to look at Zelda. 

   And I saw him at the castle, she remembered, and on the Great Sky Island. She hesitated. “It is possible that his spirit still endures, or that he found a way to return to us.”

  “Then there is hope,” Sidon signed back. He glanced over his shoulder. “This part of the hall dates back to the beginning of Queen Ruta’s reign. That statue is hers,” he signed, pointing. 

Sure enough, there was a statue of a beautiful Zora Queen in one of the alcoves. She was made of a combination of stones, obsidian and white marble, with eyes of amber. She held a replica of the Lightscale trident, though its center blade was hollow, unlike Sidon’s trident. 

Sidon tapped her shoulder. “This place was once a sanctuary. That monolith mentions half a temple remaining here on the surface, while the rest was sent skyward. The statues were commissioned by King Kamah of Hyrule. Name ring a bell?” 

Zelda shook her head, then lifted her hands. “He was probably Rauru’s son or grandson if he was alive during Queen Ruta’s rule.” She looked up at Link. “This is too good of a likeness.”  

 Sidon tapped her shoulder and beckoned to her. “The monolith says that the sky half of the temple contained the ‘sage’s last gift’ and that it would be bestowed upon her successor.”

     “But how do we get up there?” Zelda signed. 

Seggin waved to get their attention from where he floated in front of the monolith. 

   “There’s a segment about a path being able to be opened by ‘a king’s blessing passing through the gift of the heavens,’ whatever that means.”

Zelda sighed, trying to rub her face before she realized that she was still wearing a mask. “Temple riddles. Some things clearly don’t change between reincarnations,” she signed. She lifted the Purah Pad and took pictures of the inside of the room, capturing each Sage’s image. 

There was a Goron, a Rito, a Gerudo, Queen Ruta, King Rauru and his queen, and Link. The seventh alcove held another Zonai, one with short hair and upright ears. She held a mask in her hands. It looked vaguely like an owl. The plaque at her feet had been destroyed by one of the segments of the wall when the octorok had broken it. 

Zelda stared at it for a moment. 

   Seven sages, she thought. Circles within circles. Link is the Sage of Time, as his ancestor was—the one who made the first pact with the Fierce Deity. Rauru must be Light… yes, I knew it, she thought, checking the plaque. She swam over to the goron statue. Yes, the Sage of Fire. I figured as much. Wait, Rudania? No way. She swam to the Rito sage’s statue. Yes, Medoh, Sage of Wind. I don’t believe it.

She thought back to when the Divine Beasts had vanished. Daruk had mentioned that in his dream, his Divine Beast had said something about being the hope of Rudania. 

   “Sidon,” she signed, waving to get his attention. Sidon’s name sign was the letter S and happy spear . “The Divine Beasts were named after the Sages from the Imprisoning War.”

Sidon looked taken aback. “All of them?”

Zelda nodded. 

He looked troubled. “But why?”

   “They might be connected,” she signed back. “I wonder if the Divine Beasts were meant to be a replacement for the Sages. Perhaps during a previous Calamity, the Sages didn’t awaken, so they had to rely on the Sheikah technology.”

   “We need to talk to Father about this,” Sidon replied. “I want to check on Mipha too.” Mipha’s name sign was a combination of the signs for the letter M and healer . It suited her. 

She swam over to the monolith and took pictures of it with the Pad. 

Out in the main section of the Coral Forest floor, Seggin was picking through the stone tablets that had been scattered across the ground by the octorok. Many of them were broken, but none had been crushed. 

He lifted a hand, putting the tablets in his pack. “Apparently the Hall of Remembrance was so named as a sanctuary devoted to remembering the Sages,” he said. “The true hall is the section we just found,” he explained. “The library of records was built to conceal it from invaders after the first Calamity, which happened about ten thousand years after the Imprisoning War.”

  “How many Calamities have there been since the Imprisoning War?” Zelda asked. 

   “At least three,” Seggin replied. “I have the corresponding tablets here. They’re about the creation of the Divine Beasts. I think you’ll want to see them.”

Zelda nodded in affirmation. “Let’s return to the Domain for now. We need to consult with King Dorephan.”  

Sidon took Zelda’s hand and led the way back to the upper levels. 

   Link, Zelda thought. Where are you, my love?

Chapter Text

As a royal guest, Link was allowed the freedom to roam the entirety of the Plateau. He was growing restless. He had recovered from the shock of traveling through time, and now found himself pacing while nervous energy flowed through him. He jumped at loud noises, reaching over his shoulder for a sword that was no longer there. 

He often found himself returning to the Forest of Spirits, as the sounds of the fountains and the birds in the trees reminded him of home. It wasn’t called the Forest of Spirits yet, just the Royal Gardens. 

   Aryll, Zelda, everyone, he thought. I wonder if they’re doing okay.  

It was a bit warmer in Rauru’s era, so wearing the light top didn’t bother him when the breeze came through the gardens. He found a grove of tiny golden flowers growing by one of the ponds. They glowed with a soft light that seemed so familiar to him. 

A lump formed in his throat and his eyes burned. 

  “We call them sundelions,” a voice said. 

Link turned and sucked in a sharp breath. 

Two people stood before him, of a species he had never seen before. They had sharp ears that were somewhere between a Zonai’s and a hylian’s in shape and size, and their faces resembled those of Rauru and Mineru too. Their bodies were a deep greenish gray and covered in white tattoos. They wore Zonaian ornaments on their bodies, and held spears with blue energy blades. They had gauntlets of green metal like King Rauru did. 

Underneath their plumed helmets, they both had deep red hair that matched the plumes. The one on the left wore his hair long, while the one on the right had it short and choppy. The one on the right had a scar over their nose. The one on the left also had a small goatee. His ears were longer than his companion’s, more like King Rauru. 

Both of them had large bright blue eyes with small pupils. And both of them appeared to be scowling at him. 

Link might’ve panicked at the sight of two unhappy and heavily armed people coming up behind him if not for their clothing, which was white and gold—the colors of Rauru’s Royal Guard. 

  “We did not mean to startle you,” the one on the left said.  His voice was deep and pleasant, even if his appearance was a little alarming. “I am Indur, captain of His Majesty’s Royal Guard. This is Lieutenant Nalor. I take it you have not met a member of the Boar Tribe before?”

Link stood. “Boar Tribe?” he echoed, suspicious. 

  “There were once three different tribes that made up our nation,” Captain Indur said. “One that lived on the Surface, one in the Sky, and one in the Depths.”

  “What are the Depths?” Link asked, curiosity gradually overcoming his wariness. 

Captain Indur blinked. 

  “Damn,” Lieutenant Nalor chuckled. “When the king said you were from the future, I didn’t believe it. But it seems like a lot changes in the next couple millennia!” 

  “Nalor,” Captain Indur sighed. “The Depths are a realm beneath the Surface,” he explained. “My people were exiled there long ago. Eventually we came to love our home, and we did our best to care for it. When His Majesty ascended the throne, he reunited the three tribes.” 

  Link surveyed them. “I’ve never heard of you before,” he admitted. 

  “Yeah, that’s not surprising,” Nalor replied. “There was an epidemic a few years ago. Not many of us survived.” 

  “My condolences,” Link said with genuine feeling. An enemy could be fought, but illness wasn’t something that could be faced with a sword. 

  “We are here,” Captain Indur said, with a glance at his colleague, “because Queen Sonia asked us to show you to the training grounds. She thinks you might enjoy sparring with our soldiers.”

A veil of cold sweat flashed over Link’s body, and the face of Commander Rightholdt flashed behind his eyes. “If you have training dummies, then sure. But I don’t raise my weapon against people.”

  “No no,” Nalor said with a grin that showed off a set of elongated canines, “soldier constructs. Robots made by Lady Mineru.”

Link hesitated. “Can they feel pain?” 

  “No,” Nalor said cheerfully. “They can be stunned, but they don’t report pain.” 

  “But can they feel ?” Link pressed. 

  “You could ask them,” Captain Indur said mildly. “Since you’re so concerned about it.” 

Link worried at his lip. “Very well. Please take me there.”

  “This way,” Captain Indur said in a clipped tone, gesturing with a clawed hand. 

Link followed them, noticing their long tufted tails. “You mentioned that there were three tribes that made up the nation. Which were the other two?”

  “Their Majesties’ peoples,” replied Nalor, offering Link a grin. “Queen Sonia’s people are the Dragon Tribe of the Surface. Lord Sarjon still leads them under her—is everything alright?”

Link had stopped dead in his tracks. 

   Sarjon, he thought. That was the person Arnol and I heard during our fight against the Calamity. A wielder of the Fierce Deity. If I talked to him, could I speak to Arun again?!  

  “Does Lord Sarjon ever come here, to the castle?” he asked. 

Captain Indur frowned. “Not usually. He’s occupied with his own territory.” 

  “Could I visit him?” Link pressed. 

Captain Indur gave him a cool look. “You are a guest of Their Majesties. They would worry if you left for such a dangerous region. The jungle is vast and strange, unfriendly to strangers.”

   So I can’t leave without Rauru’s blessing, Link realized. I get that they don’t trust me yet, but I need to talk to Sarjon and Arun!  

Bitterly, he nodded and continued to follow them. 

  “The other tribe,” Nalor continued, “is the Owl Tribe, the Upper Zonai. They used to live in the skies, but lowered their islands to live down here.” He deflated a bit. “Only His Majesty and Lady Mineru are left of those people.” He pointed to the ornament on Link’s chest. “This is the emblem of the Dragon Tribe—Taaran’s head,” he explained. “Since everyone else believes you are Her Majesty’s cousin, it makes sense that you wear their emblem.”

  “Ah,” Link said, lifting a hand to examine the green ornament. It also explained the topazes woven into the shirt, as well as those in his jewelry. Mineru’s goggles were in the shape of an owl’s head, he thought. He glanced at the two guards, noticing that they wore the dragon head emblem too, along with the owl and what looked to be a boar.  

  “We believe the three aspects are intertwined,” Nalor explained, following his gaze. “They cannot exist without the other.” 

Link frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “We associate each animal with one of the three aspects of the Golden Goddesses: Power, Courage, and Wisdom. The power of the Boar is hollow unless it is built upon the wisdom of when to use it, and the courage to take down those who are corrupt,” Nalor replied. “Courage means nothing if you have neither the wisdom to discern who your enemies are nor the power to be effective against them,” he elaborated. “And without courage and power, wisdom is ineffective.” 

Link hummed contemplatively. 

They emerged from the forest and approached the western side of the plateau on the other side of the north gate. In the distant future, a Sheikah Shrine would sit there. 

But at the moment, it was a training ground. 

Hylians and a few Boar Tribe members sparred with metallic constructs made of green and bronze metal. They were armed with padded sticks and shields. These soldiers wore white and purple tunics, with helmets made of bronze metal and white horse hair. No other members of the Royal Guard were present. A few beginners were running through drills with dummies stuffed with straw.

   None of the sticks that the Commander had us use were padded, Link thought. 

  “Come,” Nalor said cheerfully. “The rest of the Guard is dying to meet you.” 

Captain Indur led the way down to the training grounds. “Everyone, this is Prince Link, Her Majesty’s cousin. He’ll be visiting with us for a while. Would anyone like to spar with His Highness?”

  “No,” Link said, stepping back. “I don’t spar.”

Captain Indur gave him a slightly puzzled look. “Very well. Is there a spot where he can train with a dummy?”

The group nodded, and made room for Link. 

He was offered a sparring rod made from oak. It was weighted like a sword, though the balance was more forward than Link was used to. 

   Nothing is exactly like the Master Sword though, he thought. That mummy beneath the castle did a number on her. I wonder if Zelda found a way to fix her… The Great Deku Tree did say that she can absorb unlimited amounts of sacred energy. He rotated his wrist, flicking the sparring rod. It was lighter than the Master Sword. 

Aware of the eyes on him, Link slid into a fighting stance. He went through the series of moves he knew, had memorized since childhood. He also made sure to halt each blow before it hit the dummy. 

   Control yourself, Link, he told himself. You can’t help your wife or country if you make a mess of things here and now. Control, control. You’re not training under Rightholdt right now, you’re in the distant past. 

Left feint, right, upper-cut. Parry, right-feint, downcut, he thought. 

He was wrong. This was a terrible outlet for his energy. He needed to fight a monster. 

He needed something to do, something to fight, some way to know that he wasn’t sitting around doing nothing while his wife—

The padded stick slammed against the dummy with a solid thud.  

   No, Link thought, I didn’t want to do that.

There was a click, and the world went gray. The stick lifted without his interference and went through his maneuvers backwards. It traced through the air in a blue arc, a mockery of the Master Sword. He watched it, noticing the flow of magic from his body to the item. On the back of his hand, the Sacred Stone glowed. 

  “Well done!”

Link jumped and the magic stopped. The world turned back to normal. The training stick fell to the ground. 

Queen Sonia was walking toward him. She held a basket on her arm, full of fresh apples. She was smiling. “That was very clever,” she said, coming over. “It seems your magic and mine are very similar.” 

Link bowed to her. 

Queen Sonia smiled and reached his side. “Please, no need for formalities, dear. You’re family,” she said kindly. “Will you walk with me?” 

Link glanced at the two members of the Royal Guard, then nodded to her. He stooped to pick up the sparring rod, and handed it back to the soldier nearby. 

The man had the white hair and red eyes of the Sheikah. He accepted the sparring rod with a dip of his head. 

Link followed Queen Sonia out towards the stairs and gate to the plateau. 

 She led him out to the forest beyond. Like in his own era, the trees were birches, and Lake Kolomo was clear and beautiful. There was no garrison, nor Gatepost Town at the base of the plateau. 

There was a small building at the base of the gate, with bright banners and a decorative horse head atop it. 

  “These are the acolytes of the Horse God,” she explained. “They take care of the Royal Family’s steeds.” She looked at him with a gentle smile. “Do you like horses, Link?”

Link nodded. 

They rounded the edge and Link stopped dead. 

There was a chestnut mare standing in the stable, a mare with a snow-white mane and tail. She looked up and whinnied at him and Sonia. 

As if in a trance, Link approached the mare. 

Link looked into the mare’s deep brown eyes. That same intelligence was there, so familiar he wanted to cry. 

She wickered at him gently, huffing into his palms. 

   I don’t understand, Link thought, staring at the horse— his horse. How is she here?!  

  “Link,” Sonia began carefully. “Are you alright?” 

  “Can I have an apple?” he asked. 

Sonia came up behind him and pressed an apple into his hands. 

Link held out the apple and Epona took it from him, crunching the fruit between her teeth. 

She rubbed her brow against his chest, itching herself on him. 

Link cracked a smile. 

  “She likes you,” Sonia said, petting the mare’s neck. “She’s the sweetest horse I’ve ever met. Usually those with solid coats like hers take some time to tame, but she came right up to me when I was a girl. We’ve been friends ever since. Her name is—”

  “Epona.” 

Sonia turned to him in surprise. “Yes. How did you know?” 

  “How did you come up with it?” Link asked. 

Sonia looked taken aback. “I suppose it just came to me when I looked at her for the first time. I just… knew.” 

Link smiled at the mare. “What an enigma you are, my friend,” he whispered to the mare, pressing a kiss to her snout. 

Epona wickered at him, ears pricked and eyes bright.

 Sonia looked between the two, a contemplative look on her face. “I had wondered why she never seemed to age,” she said softly. “She’s in her late twenties now, but she acts like she’s no older than eight.” She looked at Link.  “Why don’t we go for a ride?”

She set the basket down on the nearby counter, and beckoned to two stable hands. “Could you please saddle Epona and Macha for us?” 

They hastened to obey. 

The horse tack from this era was beautiful . The leather was black as ink, embossed with green metal fittings and stamped with gold leaf designs in the zonaian style. The seats on the saddles were deep and there were no pommels. The bits were made of copper, and the nose-bands of soft black leather. Decorative green stone studded the brow-band, like a coronet of emeralds. 

A golden horse walked around the corner, fitted with matching tack. She had a white mane and tail as well. 

  “This is Macha,” Sonia said, climbing into the saddle. 

  “She’s beautiful,” Link commented, hopping onto Epona’s back. 

The two mares calmly walked out of the stable together, and out into the field. They seemed to be friends. 

Link took a deep breath, savoring the wind on his face.   

  “How did you meet her?” Sonia asked, gesturing to Epona. 

  “I went wandering outside the castle as a child,” Link said in a low voice. “I was tired of… many things,” he said, thinking of the day he’d run away. It had been a miserable afternoon, cold rain pouring down. He had escaped his lessons with Commander Rightholdt and had used the secret passageways in Hyrule Castle to reach the Field. 

  “She found me in an apple grove. It was wet and cold, and she lay down beside me and kept me from freezing,” Link recalled. “I rode back on her the next morning, and she’s been at my side since then. She… she carried my wife on a desperate journey when an army of monsters threatened her home. I thought she was an extraordinary horse, but I never imagined…” 

  “Do you have other horses?”

  “I raised a pair of colts from birth,” Link admitted. “Storm and Winter. Storm carried me into battle against a Gleeok,” he said. 

Sonia’s blue eyes went wide. 

  “He survived, but he had to retire after that,” Link said. “He went to live with my father-in-law before he passed. He has a whole herd of mares and babies now.”

  “And Winter?”

  “He was my companion after his brother retired. I gelded him so that there wouldn’t be any funny business with Epona here,” he said. 

Epona snorted, prompting a wet laugh from Link. “My thoughts exactly,” he told the horse. 

… 

  “You have the right instinct for it,” Sonia told him. “You’re halfway there. Have you ever used other types of magic before?”

Link sat with her in a pavilion overlooking Lake Kolomo and the Dueling Peaks—or Mount Necluda, as it was called in this era. He set down his teacup. “Other types, no,” he said. “But I once used my abilities to stop time entirely for a day or so.”

Sonia’s brows rose. “How did you manage that?” 

  “It was against a terrible foe,” Link whispered. “I… I had to hold it at bay while my wife rallied reinforcements. It killed my mother in front of my little sister. It devoured me.” He pulled down the bracelets on his arms to show her the faint burns he had from the Malice. “My wife cleaved it open and pulled me from it. We slew it together.”

  “That’s extraordinary,” Sonia remarked. “Yet, pardon me, but you seem unfamiliar with the Stone.” 

  “I only found it recently,” he said. “There was something buried deep beneath my era’s Hyrule Castle. The source of the monster that nearly killed me. This Stone was part of the Seal on it. It broke free as soon as we got close.” 

  “So how did you channel that much magic?” Sonia asked, looking puzzled. 

  “I had a sword,” Link said softly. “A magical blade passed from father to son through my bloodline. The Master Sword.” 

Sonia dropped her teacup. 

She flicked a finger and it returned to her hand. “I thought that sword was a myth.”

  “She is no myth,” Link said. “According to legend, she can travel through time. But if that was truly the case, she would’ve come with me, right?” 

  “I’m sure that whenever she is, she is safe,” Sonia soothed. “Perhaps she remained behind to protect your wife.” 

Link nodded, biting his lip. “My wife might be able to fix her. The monster that broke free, his power corrupted her. I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

  “What sort of monster was it?”

  “It was a man,” Link replied. “Some sort of god or demon, perhaps.” 

Sonia looked troubled. “I will write to my brother. He may be able to commune with the Fierce Deity to ask him about this.” She drummed her painted nails on the table. “So you found Rauru’s Stone deep underground. Was Rauru there?” 

  “I… I don’t know,” Link admitted, squirming. “The only part left of the Seal was… an arm,” he said. “I didn’t get a good enough look at it to be able to tell you whose it was, but they did seem to be using Zonai magic.” 

Sonia looked worried. “So within a lifetime or two then,” she said. “The Master Sword has been lost for generations, but we can look for it.” 

Link shook his head. “It will be needed later,” he told her. “The corruption… it shattered the Blade of Evil’s Bane. She will need all her strength for the battles to come throughout the next thirty or so thousand years. No, we need a different weapon to stand against this enemy.” 

  “Do you know this person’s name?”

Link shook his head. “All records from this era have been lost in mine, at least as far as I know. We’ve looked in Palmorae, here on the plateau, and in my era’s Hyrule Castle, but it doesn’t even exist yet here,” he said. He paused, recalling the murals in the underground chambers beneath Hyrule Castle. He looked at Sonia. “With your permission, Queen Sonia, there is a place I would like to visit. May I borrow Epona and a sword?” 

  “Yes, but please take some guards with you,” Sonia said. “There have been reports of moblin bands on the rise recently.”

Link almost laughed. “As you wish,” he said instead. 

  “For now, finish your tea,” Sonia said. “It’s getting cold.” 

Link sipped his tea obediently, his eye catching on the pale blue Stone on the back of his wrist. “How does it work? Our power?” 

Sonia set down her cup, then rewound time on it. “Time is memory,” she explained. “An object remembers where it has been. You can pull it out, like pulling on a rope,” she told him. 

Link set down his cup and reached for his magic. 

  “Not so much,” Sonia said as his Stone flared a bright blue. “A thread.” 

Link obeyed, visualizing a thread connecting his Stone to the cup. 

The world went gray and blue, and the cup rose into the air. 

Link severed the thread and caught the cup with a grin. 

  “You’re a fast learner,” Sonia said with a smile. “Well done.” 

Link felt his ears redden with the praise. 

Sonia began explaining what objects she could or couldn’t use her magic on. 

Link countered with what he had done before with the Sword. 

  “It sounds like the rules of time manipulation that the Master Sword uses are different from our innate gifts,” Sonia concluded thoughtfully. “I cannot use my power on living things, nor can I travel through time myself.” 

  “But I didn’t use my power on myself, I used it on the Stone,” Link pointed out. 

  “Which means that you must have a great deal of power, if you’re able to rewind that far back,” Sonia countered. “I wouldn’t try it on a living thing, that could have disastrous results.”

Link was already shaking his head. 

Sonia studied him for a moment with a look of affection on her face. 

   Mother never looked at me like that, Link realized. Queen Mirana had always looked at him with an expression of neutral regality, sometimes fear or disapproval, but he could not recall a time where she had ever looked at him with the maternal warmth that Queen Sonia now did. 

   Whoever Sonia’s child is, they are very lucky, he thought. 

  “You have a kind heart, Link,” Sonia said. “Your people are lucky to have you. I’m sure you’ll make it home safe. In the meanwhile, why don’t you tell me more about your wife?” 

Link allowed himself to smile. “She was raised on a farm in a village far from the castle,” he said, leaning forward. “We met when she came to assist her friends with researching this ancient technology. One of the weapons—very similar to a Construct, but larger—misfired and she pushed me out of the way…”

…

Lieutenant Nalor stood in King Rauru’s office, while the king labored over a stack of paperwork. 

  “What is your assessment?” King Rauru asked. 

  “The boy is harmless,” replied Captain Indur. “He seemed upset at the idea of harming anyone while sparring. He used a training dummy.”

 Rauru looked up from his paperwork, and glanced at Nalor. “Lieutenant, do you have something to add? Or do you need to use the facilities?” 

  “His form was flawless , sire,” Nalor said immediately, ceasing his squirming, “I disagree with the captain’s assessment.”

  “Then what is yours?” Rauru asked, setting down his pen. 

  “He’s holding himself back. He seems unused to his Stone, and doesn’t seem to trust himself,” he countered. 

  “Captain?”

Indur inclined his head. “He was adamant that he not spar with another living being, and expressed concern over whether the Constructs could feel pain. It seemed to distress him. If he’s seen any real combat, I’ll be surprised.” 

Rauru steepled his hands together. “Sonia mentioned that he wanted to explore the fields to the north. I think I’ll go with him and clear out the forests nearby. We shall see if his unwillingness to fight is from weakness or mercy,” he decided. 

  “When would you like to depart?” Captain Indur asked. 

Rauru made as if to rise from his chair, then seemed to think better of it. “It will have to wait until tomorrow. Sonia will never let me hear the end of it if I don’t finish these today,” he sighed sadly, gesturing at the paperwork. He picked up one of the scrolls. “Oh, Sarjon wrote to us.” 

He opened the seal and began to read. 

  “He’s sending Kamah home,” he murmured. 

  “Is the Prince well?” Captain Indur asked. 

  “Yes, but Farosh is apparently more violent than usual. She won’t let anyone cross the falls,” he commented. “They’ll be coming by way of Lake Hylia. Please make the necessary preparations, captain.” 

  “Yes sire,” Captain Indur replied, departing. 

  “Sire, should we be suspicious of Prince Link?” Lieutenant Nalor asked. 

  “Suspicious, no,” Rauru said. “But keep an eye on him. He’s not used to his powers, and that could cause problems.” 

  “Yes sire.” 

…

Link wore a black version of his new normal outfit, with yellow thread instead of reflective gold. He had been given a bow and a quiver full of arrows, as well as a short Zonai sword made of blue energy. 

He and Rauru stalked through the grasses in central Hyrule together, with the two members of the Royal Guard at their heels. 

A stag was nibbling on the moss of an oak in front of them, alongside two other deer. 

  “What do you think, the stag or the doe?” Rauru whispered.

When Rauru had suggested a hunt, Link had nearly cried from sheer joy. The opportunity to stretch his legs and get out of the castle was a welcome relief after weeks of doing nothing but walking around. 

  “The second doe,” Link whispered back. “She’s limping.” 

Rauru watched the deer that Link had pointed to. The deer had a slight limp in her rear hind leg. She was skinnier than the other doe as well. 

The first doe looked around, and the other two stopped eating. 

Link heard the telltale grumbling roar of a moblin.  

The three deer fled, with the first doe hesitating for a moment before following. 

A pack of moblins stomped into the glen, jabbing spears after the retreating herd. 

One of them sniffed, turning away from where Link and Rauru crouched. 

Link exhaled and armed his bow, aiming for the moblin’s head. 

His arrow caught it in the head, sending it to the ground with a howl of pain. 

Link sprang from the bush before Rauru could fully articulate a warning. 

His sword was out and slicing before the moblin could rise. 

The other two moblins turned with roars of surprise. 

Rauru’s arrow felled one, and Captain Indur sprang forward with a curse. 

The third moblin was swinging for Link. 

Link backflipped and felt the world slow around him. 

He saw the Stone flare bright blue on the back of his hand. 

   Ah, so this is magic too, he thought as he flipped over his opponent’s spear. He landed and darted around it to slash at the moblin’s exposed abdomen. He got in ten strikes before time snapped back to normal and the monster collapsed, dead. 

Captain Indur faced off with the second, and Rauru had beheaded the first. 

  “Nalor, cover His Highness!” barked the captain. 

Link raised his sword and came to the captain’s side. “No need. It’s dead.” 

  “Hylia’s tits, don’t do that,” the captain swore, jumping a little. His hair seemed to stand on end a bit. 

  “Duck!” Link said, shoving the captain down and slowing time once again. 

He lunged forward. 

In a swift movement, he removed the moblin’s arm, then decapitated it. 

The blade exploded in his hand and he was thrown back. 

  “Link!” Rauru exclaimed, rushing to his side. “Are you hurt?”

Link sat up with a wheeze. “Just—ugh, winded,” he coughed. 

Captain Indur was gaping at him. 

Nalor stood over Rauru’s shoulder grinning. “I told you he could fight,” he crowed. “Cap, you owe me fifty rupees!” 

  “Hylia,” grumbled the captain, pulling out the purple gem from his pack and handing it to his lieutenant.

  “Oh,” Link said, standing, “that reminds me. Can we not use body parts of the goddess as oaths?” The idea of someone—even unwittingly—referring to Zelda’s body in such a way made him uncomfortable. That was his wife . His wife. He wasn’t sure if he was more offended on her behalf or just simply jealous and lonely. He missed her. 

Rauru looked surprised—or perhaps relieved to find Link in one piece. “I didn’t think you were a devotee of Hylia’s,” he said. 

  “It’s… complicated,” Link said, rubbing the back of his head. He felt his face warm as he recalled his wife. “People in my era view her as our primary patron goddess, more so than the Divine Three,” he explained. He wasn’t sure whether Rauru would believe him if he explained his relationship with Hylia. Especially after their talk about whether or not Link had children or not. Such a relationship with a goddess might be considered blasphemy in this era. He wasn’t sure if it was contradictory, and his head was starting to hurt as he tried to think through the layers of implications. 

  “My apologies,” Captain Indur said, dipping his head. 

  “In that case,” Rauru said, “there is a place where we can refresh ourselves. It’s not too far from here,” he offered. 

 Link nodded. “A temple?” 

  “Exactly. I’m curious to know if it still stands in your era,” he admitted. 

Link heard a rustle and turned to see the doe from earlier approaching them. She flicked her ears, eyeing them warily. 

There was a small bleating noise, like that of an infant, and a fawn ran out of the bushes to the doe. The pair turned tail and fled into the open field, where the other two stood waiting. 

…

The place Rauru spoke of was to the north, across the seasonal lake that filled most of the central valley. 

It was a gray building in the Zonaian style, with inverse conical pillars framing each gateway. 

A spring fed a pool where the four men bathed to rinse off the sweat and monster blood. 

Hylian attendants in white and gold gave them clean clothes. 

Within the walls, the central courtyard was filled with white sand that had been carefully raked around various stone monoliths to form ripples. 

Rauru watched the young hylian’s reaction to the temple. “I gather that it no longer stands in your era,” he concluded sadly. 

Nothing could have prepared him for Link’s answer. 

  “This is my home,” Link said in a low voice. “In my era, this is where my Hyrule Castle stands.” 

  “Really?” Rauru inquired, astounded. “No wonder your people have such a close relationship with Hylia.” 

Link drifted towards the eastern gardens. They were made of more sand, with rocks forming a pathway above it. A statue of the goddess stood at the eastern end, where the sun rose each morning.  “This is where I first met her.” 

  “Who?” Rauru asked. 

A bell tolled somewhere, and the air twisted . 

Fog rolled in through the garden. 

  “Majesty, what is happening?” Captain Indur asked, reaching for his weapon. 

  “Stand down,” Rauru said, and knelt. 

His guards hastened to obey, but Link remained standing. 

  “Link—” Rauru began. 

  “Come out!” Link called. “You don’t know me yet, but I am Fi’s master in an era many thousands of years from now. I want to go home. Can you help me?”

Rauru couldn’t make sense of it. The boy was pious enough to ask the captain to amend his language, yet he was this brazen and disrespectful to his people’s primary goddess?

   “Link,” he hissed. 

Link had the audacity to wave him off. 

A young woman stepped out from the fog. She wore a suit of tight deep blue leather and linen, along with a white mask and hood. The body suit had a red eye painted onto it. Rauru had never seen this woman before. “You are a friend of Fi?” she asked. Her voice was low yet melodic. 

  “Hello Sheik,” Link said. 

The woman blinked, then pulled down her mask. “Do I know you?” 

  “Not yet,” Link told her. “From your point of view, this would be our first meeting. Do you… can you remember the future?” 

The woman shook her head. “Though I gather it must be important for you to ask, given the Stone you bear on your wrist.” There was a note of disapproval there, even resentment.

   What is happening? Rauru thought, bewildered. 

  “Rauru, my dear paladin, do stand up,” the woman said to him. 

 Rauru rose to his feet, as did the guards. “Are you… Hylia?” he asked, amazed. “Is this a physical incarnation?” 

  “Not of this era,” Hylia replied. She flexed her hand as if something in her wrist pained her. She stepped forward to examine Link. “Show me your memories, Friend of Fi,” she commanded. 

Link dipped his head, and she touched his cheek. 

For a moment they stood there, Link’s Sacred Stone flickering blue, and Hylia’s hands shining with golden power. 

She lowered her hand, and then pulled down her mask. “Oh,” she said, her demeanor changed. She took Link’s hands. “I am so sorry. I… I don’t know what will happen,” she told him. “Something has prevented me from leaving the Sacred Realm. It is taking all my strength just to come to you here and now,” she told him, her visage flickering like a mirage. “I’m sorry that I’m not her yet,” she added in a softer voice. 

  “It’s okay,” Link said, his voice cracking. “I just miss her. I miss…” He trailed off and his shoulders shook. 

Rauru realized that Link was crying . 

  “Should I find the Master Sword?” Link asked. 

  Hylia hesitated. “If you do that, you will break the flow of time. You will go to that era, but it will not be the one you left,” she told him. “Your presence here serves a purpose, of that much I am certain.” She touched his cheek. “If I could wash away your sorrows and fears, I would.”

  “I know,” Link said. 

Rauru couldn’t take it anymore. “Link, be more respectful to the Goddess when you speak to her.”

  “You didn’t tell him?” Hylia asked, a grin crossing her face. 

  “Who would believe me?” Link retorted. “I would sound like even more of a madman than I already do.”

Hylia laughed. “You didn’t want to seem like you were boasting, right?” 

Link nodded. 

Hylia’s grin widened as she turned to Rauru. “This cutie is my husband,” she told him. “Or he will be one day. My incarnation of his era is smitten with him, based on his memories.”

Link had blushed a deep shade of red. 

Behind Rauru, Captain Indur made a small sound of either realization or horror. 

Hylia ran a hand through Link’s mane of golden hair and pulled out a strand that had something shiny woven into it. 

A feather. 

A feather that shone with Hylia’s golden light as if illuminated from within. 

  “It’s a Rito tradition,” Link explained, still red in the face. 

  “You’re adorable,” Hylia chirped, circling him. “Where did you get… wait a moment.” She lifted Link’s hand to scrutinize the Sacred Stone. Then she looked over at Rauru’s hand. “Paradoxes,” she muttered. “Not good.” She braced her hands on her hips, flickering again. “Although, that does bring me back to what I meant to tell you,” she sighed. “Taaran is dead,” she told Rauru. “And he did not die from natural causes. He was slain in battle. You must find who or what killed him. That will lead you to whatever power is imprisoning me here.” 

  “Can we face it without the sword?” Link asked. 

  “You will have to, if you want to go home,” Hylia said. 

Link hesitated. “If it means—”

Hylia slapped a hand over his mouth, her face suddenly white as snow, her eyes wide with horror. “No. It must be a closed loop,” she said harshly. “You must go home, Link. Do you hear me? You need to close the loop. Everything must happen as it already has happened in your era, or else we are lost.”

  “How do you know?” Link asked. 

Hylia put a hand to her chest. “I have this overwhelming feeling of dread. A premonition of evil. A fear I have felt only once before.” She bit her lip, and looked at Link. “Your presence here serves a purpose, a key to ensuring eventual victory. I’m not sure how yet, but you are needed here. However, when all is said and done, you will not be the same,” she said quietly. “And you may not survive it.” 

Link swallowed and nodded. “If it means the survival of my people, I will pay the price,” he said. 

Hylia took his face in her hands and kissed his brow. The point of contact shone, then became a glowing circlet around Link’s brow. It glittered like a crown of sunlight, then faded. “Go with my blessing, Hero.” 

Then she vanished, and the four of them were back in the garden. 

Chapter Text

Zelda woke with tears on her cheek. 

   Link, she thought. He had looked so sad in her memory. She had seen his memories, but not her own. Just as Zelda couldn’t look into the future now, she hadn’t been able to then either. She wasn’t able to see the lifetimes ahead of her. She never had. Though she was divine, her memory worked the same as a mortal’s: retrospectively. 

She sat up in the guest bed in Zora’s Domain. After they had returned from the Hall of Remembrance, King Dorephan had insisted that both she and Sidon rest. Mipha was recovering in the healing pools, tended to by Lady Yona. 

   He had a part to play back then, but how? What duty was so important? She had a terrible feeling. That same premonition of dread. When have I felt that before? she wondered. It wasn’t Sheik’s lifetime, she thought. No. Earlier.  

She rubbed her face. Why was I so angry at him and Rauru for those strange stones? What are they? Oh, there’s so much we don’t know, all because I can’t remember! She slammed her fist into the blankets, which did not produce the desired dramatic sound. She sighed, reaching over to grab Rauru’s arm and screw it back onto her stump. It pinched a bit, but she had no time to waste. She flexed the fingers a few times, staring at Rauru’s palm.  

Those strange stones, a feeling of dread, and a long-dead dragon. What does it all mean? she wondered. 

She stood and approached the desk where the tablets from the Hall of Remembrance lay. 

They detailed the creation of the Divine Beasts, each powered by purified and concentrated zonaite—though she had no idea what that was. 

What disturbed her most was the way their creation was phrased . 

‘We must build weapons to wear down the vitality of Calamity Ganon, but the Master Sword and the reincarnation of the Goddess are still needed to bolster the ancient seal upon the Demon King. Their magic will aid the king’s sacrifice while not harming him. Close combat with the Divine Beasts may damage the foundations of Hyrule Castle, thus disturbing the seal upon the Demon King. This must not be allowed to occur. The energy from the Divine Beasts will suffice to aid Her Grace as well, as the zonaite is compatible with her own magic. They will continue to be used until new Sages awaken, their wellsprings replenishing in the centuries in between. They shall be the hopes of the Sages.’

Zelda stared at the tablets. If Rauru was the king who sealed away the Demon King—which, considering the fact that he was the one who gave me the arm that was sealing Ganondorf, I think is the correct assumption—then why did Link sacrifice himself? And how? What does it all mean? The similarities between him and Rauru set her teeth on edge. It would make sense if Rauru sacrificed himself to protect his descendant. But Link had come to her in a dream and had mentioned winning . Why would he need to sacrifice himself if the battle had already been won?  

  There is something I’m missing, she concluded. She had a sick feeling that it had something to do with those strange stones Link and Rauru both wore in her memories. 

She rubbed her temples, groaning at the headache beginning to form. She wondered at the last passage. So if Sages share an origin of power, like fountains, then they take more time to recharge? Maybe that’s why there hasn’t been a new sage with every Calamity… Maybe Rauru had a plan, she thought. She was tempted to return to the Great Sky Island to try and find the spirit and ask him. 

She shook herself and dressed instead. 

She needed to consult King Dorephan. She wore the traveling gear she had scrounged up, as the Domain was still too chilly for the archaic garb she had found on the Great Sky Island. And frankly, as a researcher she was horrified by the idea of wearing such fragile historical artifacts again. 

When Zelda reached King Dorephan’s throne room, she found him already talking with Muzu. There were a few other zora already there, some bearing the scarring of sludge-induced injuries now healed, some still bore the raw flesh of scars on their skin.

The King noticed her immediately and waved her into the room. “Lady Zelda, I hope you’ve sufficiently recovered from your ordeal?” 

Zelda smiled. “Thank you for your worries, Your Majesty. I have, yes.” To say she was still a bit sore from the excursion in the Hall of Remembrance was an understatement, but it was more Link’s memories that weighed heavily on her conscience. Knowing she could only help him from so far into the future was of no help to her, but she relentlessly clawed at her own reincarnated spirit for anything she could use. Even a fragmented memory, just a glimpse, but nothing. 

“You are welcome to continue using the guest bed as much as you require. You’ve been an invaluable help to us, one which we can never repay.” The King thanked her sincerely. He turned back to Muzu and motioned him forward. “Muzu, please continue with your report.”

Zelda stood back quietly closer to the wall as Muzu began speaking to the King once more. 

  “The sludge is worsening,” Muzu reported to King Dorephan. “Additionally, Lady Mipha is still gravely injured, and her wounds are taking longer to heal than is natural.”

No… Even if Zelda knew she hadn’t been directly responsible for Mipha’s injuries, she had been the one to bring her down there… She whispered a silent prayer for a speedy full recovery, though who she was praying to was beyond her. All she knew was that Mipha, who had already risked her life for her Domain and all of Hyrule, had suffered enough.

  “Lady Yona is tending to her,” Sidon said. “Father, Lady Zelda and I wish to continue to investigate the sludge. Neither my sister nor the rest of the Domain will have the safety to heal until it is resolved!” 

King Dorephan inhaled laboriously, then nodded. “What did you discover in the catacombs?” he asked. 

Sidon looked at Zelda, who closed her eyes and then took a deep breath. “The Hall of Remembrance was built to honor the Sages of the Imprisoning War,” Zelda said, “in addition to housing the collective memories of your people. It was commissioned by Queen Ruta and King Kamah of Hyrule.” She swallowed. “Link has a statue down there. It seems that he has truly gone back in time, though he may have found a way back by now.” 

Dorephan looked thunderstruck, looking from her to Sidon as if waiting for one of them to laugh and say it was a prank. He leaned back, sorrow clouding his visage. 

  “My king,” Seggin said quietly, “I think it is necessary to add that the plaque bearing King Link’s name also mentioned that he sacrificed himself during the Imprisoning War.” He swallowed. “It is highly likely that he is dead, my king.” 

  “So young,” King Dorephan murmured. 

Zelda shook her head. “No, he isn’t dead. I would know if he was dead.” She fought back the tears in her eyes. “Until I find the Master Sword, he is missing , not dead!” She clutched the reconstructed tablet to her chest, staring up at Dorephan, needing him to understand. “The Master Sword will know what happened to him, I saw him take the sword, I know it reached him in the past!” 

  King Dorephan held up a hand, his gaze full of sorrow as he looked at her. There was empathy there too, as if he knew how she felt. She knew that he was likely comparing the loss of his own mate to her experience. “Very well. We will continue to say that the king is missing.”

Sidon cleared his throat. “Father, regarding the sludge, we need a blessing from you. There is a passage on one of these slates that indicates that in order to reach the sky island, we must use your blessing to open a gate.” 

King Dorephan became thoughtful. “I see,” he murmured. He studied Zelda for a moment. “Muzu, Seggin, leave us,” he said. 

 Muzu sputtered. “But—but Your Majesty!” 

  “Leave us, please, old friend,” King Dorephan repeated. 

Muzu huffed and stomped out with little grace. Seggin followed with ease. 

As the doors of the inner chamber closed, King Dorephan sighed. “For once, I am glad that you do not have any Sheikah guards with you, my lady,” he said to her. “For what I am about to tell you is a secret known only to the Zora of my line.” 

Sidon frowned. 

  “There is a place at the bottom of the reservoir,” King Dorephan said. “It is a sacred site, as it is the place where all the fresh water of eastern Hyrule comes from. Most know it as the Ancient Zora Waterworks, but it has another name. It is the Wellspring.”

The hair on the back of Zelda’s neck rose.

  “The Wellspring,” Dorephan continued, “also has magical properties, capable of healing without the heat of a hot spring. The fact that it has been polluted is an act so insulting, so vile—” he cut himself off, relaxing back into his throne. “It is the source of all zora magic,” he added in a softer voice. “We have devoted our lives to protecting it. Most zora know this, but the secret is that it is half of a whole,” he explained. 

Sidon’s head rose. 

  “The Wellspring is the lower levels,” the king continued. “With the upper part of the temple being sent into the sky thousands of years ago. It is how there is so much rainfall here in the Domain.” He hesitated. “It is also the final resting place of Queen Ruta,” He exhaled, and then reached under his sash. With a pained grunt, he drew out a silvery scale, as big as a plate, and handed it to Zelda. “This is a King’s scale,” he told her, “the shape of which is unique to the Zora Kings of my bloodline. It is the key to the lower level of the Temple, the one that remains on the surface,” he explained. “Go forth and purify the Wellspring. After that, we shall tend to Mipha and figure out this Sage business,” he decided. 

  “Gladly, Father!”

  “We will go right away,” Zelda agreed. 

  “Good luck. May Nayru watch over you,” King Dorephan said. 

…

Zelda adjusted her diving mask as Sidon checked his gear. He had added a silver longsword alongside his trident, which he was inspecting after their fight with the Phantom. 

The center of the weapon gleamed turquoise in the sunlight, and any divots in the metal seemed to vanish when Zelda next looked for them. 

  “Sidon,” she began, “that blue gem in the center of the trident, I noticed that the sculpture of Queen Ruta’s trident didn’t have it.” It also matched the grip and the two tear-drop shaped gems that hung from the tines of the trident. 

Sidon frowned, lowering the head of the weapon so it rested between them. “According to Dento,” he said, naming the Domain’s weapons-smith, “it’s not a gem, but rather a form of ivory or enamel. I’m not sure what creature it belonged to, but it radiates holy magic and repairs any weapon it’s attached to,” he explained. He hesitated. “My mother found two shards of it in her lifetime, and instructed them to be made into these tridents for me and my sister,” he told her. 

Zelda examined the center of the trident. “A shard of ivory?” She echoed. She had never seen ivory that looked like a gemstone of some kind. 

Sidon nodded. “According to my father, it was very large.” 

  Zelda studied the shard within the lightscale trident. “I wonder if it came from a dragon,” she murmured. It resembled the spikes on the back of Naydra, though it was the wrong hue. She thought back to the silver and blue dragon she had seen during her time on the Great Sky Island. The shard was the same shade of teal as the spikes along its back. The fourth dragon, she thought. 

  “It’s possible,” Sidon agreed. “Whatever it is, I owe it my life. The Gloom doesn’t appear to be able to damage it permanently because of it.”

  That explained the lack of damage. All other weapons in Hyrule had decayed thanks to the gloom—all except the lightscale tridents. 

   Lightscale, she thought. If the dragon is imbued with Light magic, that might explain its resistance to Gloom. She held out her hands. “May I try something? I promise it will not damage anything.”

Sidon nodded, placing the trident in her hands. 

Zelda hesitantly extended a tendril of her power, like an unfurling leaf, towards the trident. She frowned. 

There was a type of Light magic in it, one similar to her own. But it had been changed and altered, tasting more of moonlight and fresh water than the sun. She knew what that magic was—it was Arun’s magic. Link’s magic. 

  A relic from the battle against the last Calamity? She knew that Arun could transform into a draconic body, if only for a little while due to his host’s limitations. But if these flakes did belong to him, and Sidon’s mother had found them (which had been over twenty-five years ago), Link hadn’t been born yet and hadn’t freed the Fierce Deity. The last time the Fierce Deity had been present, he had used his draconic form to take down the Calamity. 

   It has to be a relic from that era, since Link wouldn’t be able to maintain the draconic form for this long, she thought. There was something in the back of her mind that was blaring alarm bells like a frightened Construct, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t—focus on it just yet. Link could not be the source of the gem. It wasn’t possible. Did he somehow separate himself from the Fierce Deity? Did he destroy his mortal body to give Arun the strength to endure for all these millennia? 

She shook herself. “A mystery for another time,” she said, placing the trident back in Sidon’s hands. She put on her diving mask. 

  “Are you ready?” Sidon asked. 

She gave him a firm nod. 

With a look of revulsion at the mucky water, Sidon dove in. It was purified wherever it touched his body, and Zelda reluctantly joined him. She held onto his shoulders as the powerful young zora cut through the water. 

  “The entrance to the Waterworks is decently far down,” he warned her. “You must brace yourself.” 

  “I’m ready!” 

Sidon arced across the reservoir towards the south, opposite from Ploymus Mountain, where they had unearthed Vah Ruta. 

  “Are you ready, Your Grace?” 

  “Yes!” 

Sidon dove beneath the murky surface. 

Zelda’s visibility was limited to Sidon’s head. The zora’s ability to purify and control water allowed for there to be a bubble of clean water around them, but beyond that was darkness. This area of the reservoir was deeper than where Ruta had been buried, and Zelda felt the pressure of the water above them trying to crush the air from her lungs. It felt like a hylian retriever was sitting on her chest. 

Zelda turned on the Pad as Sidon slowed in front of the bottom of the lake. 

Just in front of them was a stone door, inlaid with a carving of a scale. 

Zelda detached herself from Sidon’s back, drawing out the king’s scale. She pressed it into the stone. 

The stone lit up in blue— zonai blue—and it grated open. 

Water was sucked in, taking Zelda and Sidon with it. 

They fell through open air, Zelda’s breathless scream swallowed by her mask. 

They plunged into a deep pool. 

A clean pool. 

Zelda swam up through the water, and surfaced. 

She was in a cave of some kind, with the doors to the Waterworks high above her. 

Sidon was standing on the edge of the pool, staring off deeper into the cave. 

Zelda swam up to him and took off her mask. “Well, that was exciting,” she commented. 

Sidon nodded, turning back to look at the pool. “Look! The sludge is dissolving in the pool!”

Sure enough, the pool was slowly dissolving the murky water that had come in with them. 

Sidon lifted his hands and poured his power into the water. The process sped up, and the pool was clean in the blink of an eye. 

  “There is ancient zora magic here,” Sidon commented. “I feel stronger.” 

  “Let’s go find the source,” Zelda said. 

The Zora Waterworks were apparently a series of interlocked cisterns that managed the flow of water from the reservoir, with pipes diverted to the various waterfalls around Zora’s Domain, the names engraved in plaques above each pipe. 

However, most were dry. 

  “The drainage system must’ve been changed when the dam was completed, in order to hide Vah Ruta,” Sidon explained. “But this sludge… We need to purify the water of the reservoir as soon as possible,” he noted. “Before it spreads downstream anymore than it already has.” 

  At the center of the waterworks was a tower made of a combination of blue stone and zonai tech. 

Zelda and Sidon made their way to the tower. There was a control panel for the pipes, and then there was the dragon ring. 

The ring of stone dragons held a hovering mirage of zonai magic. 

Zelda pressed her hand—she refused to think of it as Rauru’s hand, thank you very much—to the screen and it dissolved. 

   “Emergency override authority acknowledged, ” a construct’s voice beeped from the panel beside them. “Would you like to open all culverts, allow access to the Rainfall Island, or shut down all culverts?” 

Zelda exchanged a glance with Sidon. He held up two fingers, then three. 

The second and third options then. 

  “Allow access to Rainfall Island, and shut down the culverts.” She couldn’t allow the rest of Hyrule’s rivers to be poisoned. The sludge had to be contained to the reservoir. Sidon gave her a firm nod, agreeing with her. 

   “Opening the upper water gate. Shutting down all culverts.”

The mountains around them shuddered as the supply to the waterfalls was shut off. 

  “Excellent work!” Sidon exclaimed. “Now, let’s proceed to this Rainfall Island! That must be the other half of the temple my father mentioned!” 

Zelda nodded, flooded with nerves as she followed Sidon to where they had come in. “Hmm,” the prince hummed. “Now, how do we leave?” 

Zelda grinned. “Sidon, have I ever shown you what my magic zonaian hand can do?”

  “Your what ?” 

…

Sidon was not a fan of Ascend. They burst up through the surface of the water, then both yelped as a strong current pushed them away from their place of emergence. 

  “I never want to do that again—Whoa!” Sidon exclaimed. 

The source of his shock—and the current—was a massive waterfall that plunged from the sky island down to the reservoir, right above the Waterworks. 

  “A bridge!” Sidon cried. “A waterfall is as good as a bridge to a zora! Hurry, Zelda! Climb on my back.” 

  “Sidon, wait,” Zelda hesitated. “Your father told us to regroup with the others after we figured out the Wellspring.”

  “But we haven’t purified it yet,” Sidon countered. He treaded water for a moment, his amber eyes full of worry. “Besides,” he added in a quieter voice, barely audible over the roar of the waterfall, “if we return now, my dear sister will try to help us. I fear that she will throw herself into further danger despite her injuries. My people need her,” he told her. “If something happens to Father, Mipha must be queen. I am too young for the post, and haven’t been raised for it.” He lifted his head. “But I have been raised to wield the spear to protect her. I couldn’t save her from that awful Waterblight, but I can save her from this, from whatever might await us atop the falls. She has no sense of self-preservation whatsoever and our people need her to lead us! Lady Zelda, my friend, please help me do this in her stead. I am strong enough for this, I swear!” 

The outburst surprised her, both for his eloquence as well as his ferocity. 

Zelda studied him, and sighed. She hated the idea of taking Mipha’s little brother into battle, but if she was honest with herself, Mipha was in no state to fight. Nor did she have Sidon’s gifts over the control of water. 

   If either of them are likely to be the Sage of Water, it will be Sidon, she realized. Sage of Water, not of healing. She groaned. “We had best get going then, before someone comes to stop us,” she said. 

  “Yes!” crowed Sidon. “I swear, you shall not regret this, my friend! Climb on!” 

Zelda clambered onto Sidon’s back and he swam for the waterfall. She yelped as they defied gravity, soaring up the waterfall together. She clung onto his back as they swam up and up and up. It seemed to last for an hour at least as the ground kept falling further and further away. Sidon carried her higher and higher, until she felt that she must be higher than she had been on the Great Sky Island, the air growing thin. 

A curious weightlessness overtook her and they sprang free of the water. 

They fell as if in slow motion down to the cobbled surface of the ruins. 

Zelda was set down and Sidon bent over, panting. “That was intense,” he said. “We’re here!”

Zelda looked over the sprawling complex that floated in the skies. It was clearly a temple, as decorated and beautiful as Zora’s Domain was, made of the same blue stone, though it was worn and lackluster. It had been worn down by the ages, but was no less magnificent. Splotches of sludge laid over much of the paths and architecture, and the smell was still atrocious. 

Zelda hefted a splashfruit, watching it fall slowly back into her palm. “It looks as though the gravity in this area is less powerful than it normally is,” she commented. “We should proceed with caution as we get our bearings.”

  “A sound idea, my friend!” 

They proceeded together through the Rainfall Island. Soldier constructs and their captains were littered across the island. To Zelda’s relief, there was no sign of the tech being corrupted by Ganondorf’s Gloom or Malice. It seemed that the weakness that allowed such a thing was limited to Sheikah tech, rather than Zonaian tech. Given that the soldier Constructs were the shells of the Zonai, Zelda and Sidon avoided them. 

  “Does this mean they’re still alive?” Sidon asked in a hushed whisper as the pair hid behind a large wall to avoid a patrol. 

  “I don’t know but I’d rather not find out,” Zelda whispered back. “I need to work with Purah to see if we can communicate with them. The soldier Constructs are under orders to defend this area against all intruders. The steward Constructs are friendly.” 

  “Noted!” Sidon whispered as they darted out and snuck past the patrol. 

There was a Zonai shrine which she activated but didn’t complete. “This way,” she explained to Sidon, “if we need to retreat and regroup, we can simply warp back.”

  “Excellent!” He crowed. “Now, let’s finish this together and avenge my people!”  

The ascent up to the top of Rainfall Island landed them at the entrance to a vast plaza. There were five huge cylinders in front of a fanlike arch, and an altar below, which was covered in a huge morass of bubbling sludge. 

More sludge oozed out from the morass, dribbling in dark brown chunks across the plaza and then down to the Surface below. Purple light flowed through the sludge, brighter than it was down below. 

  “It’s corrupting the Sage’s power,” Zelda realized. “Like a parasite.”

  “But Ruta has been dead for thousands of years,” protested Sidon. 

  “Something here must contain some of her power, an artifact to be passed down,” Zelda argued. “In my memories, sometimes Sages had medallions or other objects that their successors inherit.” 

Sidon looked thoughtful. “So the sludge is using this object to bolster itself?”

  “Most likely,” Zelda confirmed. She pointed at the bubbling morass. “Let’s see if we can cleanse it.” 

She led the way across the plaza, shooting down the chuchus that tried to ambush them. 

Sidon gathered the jellies and tucked them into his pouch. 

There was a Zonai ouroboros in front of the disgusting altar. 

Zelda winced as she waded through the shin-deep slimy muck. She placed her palm on the disc of light. It dissolved with a chime. 

With a great groan, the huge vases—Zelda didn’t know what else to call them—tipped over. 

Water poured out from one of the vases onto the muck. 

It fizzed for a moment, lessening. 

Then it renewed its angry roiling boil, as if angered by the water. 

  “We need more,” Zelda commented. “And whatever is causing that, I think we just tipped it off that we’re here.” 

The sludge was pouring out with renewed vigor, and it was creeping higher with every moment. It was now up to Zelda’s knees. 

  “Come back, let’s figure this out,” Sidon said, frowning up at the vases. “It seems like those faucets can gather water. 

Zelda opened the Pad and looked at it. There was a new teleport anchor here, in front of the entrance to the temple. 

It named the location as the Water Temple, which made Zelda wince internally. Her memories as Sheik shouted at her that water temples were nasty places. She armed herself with her good bow, and swapped her dive suit for the tunic she had bought in Lookout Landing. It allowed for rapid movement, which she felt would be needed in this strange low-gravity place. It also had a reinforced section of leather armor, which she also thought would be needed. 

She exhaled. “It looks as though this place has been altered to gather and filter rainwater,” she commented. She showed Sidon the map. “Are you ready for a dungeon crawl, Sidon?”

  “A dungeon crawl?” 

Zelda gave him a wry grin. “A rite of passage for those of us in the business of fighting evil, I’m afraid.”

Sidon returned with a sharp grin like the crescent moon and a thumb’s up. “I’m ready!” 

…

The Rainfall Temple was a mixture of temple and refurbished cistern. Zelda was vaguely reminded of a temple with golden walls and giant lotus buds. 

She and Sidon paused for a brief meal after finishing the last terminal, waiting for the giant vases to fill. 

  “Magic and technology have often gone hand in hand through Hyrule’s history,” Zelda told him. “This facility was likely designed to remove airborne Malice from rainwater, but it seems the capacity has been overloaded by whatever is creating the sludge,” she remarked. 

 The prince was unusually solemn. He swallowed his food—dried sizzlefin trout—and dusted off his hands. “Forgive me if this seems foolish, but I have a question,” he said with uncharacteristic disquiet. 

  “What is it?” Zelda asked. 

  “Won’t these monsters, and whatever is creating the sludge, just return with the next Blood Moon?” he asked. 

Zelda took a swig from her canteen. “A good question,” she said. She put a hand to the floor beneath them. “Put your hand here,” she said. 

Sidon obeyed. 

  “Can you feel the energy of this place?"

Sidon nodded.

  "Unlike the rest of Hyrule,” Zelda began, “temples like this one are flooded with sacred energy, bolstered by the power of a sage. The only reason Ganondorf’s Gloom was able to infect this temple was because it’s been a long time since there was an active sage,” she explained. “With a new sage, no evil will be able to corrupt it.” She hesitated. “Sidon, if… if I fail to defeat the Demon King,” she began. 

His mouth opened, amber eyes wide. 

  “Please, let me finish,” Zelda said, holding up her hand. “I would be able to go into that fight with peace of mind if I knew that the Zora would be able to flee here if needed.” 

Sidon closed his mouth, looking around the temple. “There aren’t many pools,” he said, hesitating, “but those could be stocked with fish. I believe all of Zora’s Domain could fit up here quite comfortably, at least for a while,” he agreed. “I shall speak to my father about it when we return.”

  “Thank you,” Zelda sighed. She stood, double checking that her arm was fastened on properly. “Now, let’s face whatever is causing this sludge!” 

 They approached the stone dragon ouroboros that served as a control terminal. 

The sludge lay before them, seething and roiling. 

Gritting her teeth, Zelda waded into the knee-deep muck and activated the terminal. 

With a grating groan, the vases tipped over. 

  “Brace yourself!” cried Sidon. 

Zelda grabbed onto the stone disc just before a tide of water and mud washed over her. 

The tide lowered. 

  “Look! The sludge dissolved!” crowed Sidon. 

In front of them was a lotus-bud shaped stone monument. The edges had been eaten away by the acidic mud. 

Zelda frowned. 

  “Zelda,” a voice behind her said. 

She froze, her breath catching in her chest as pure shock rooted her to the ground. Not quite believing her ears, Zelda turned. 

Link stood there, in the center of the plaza. He was in the middle of a wad of mud, up to his shins in the foul substance. 

He wore the gear of a zonaian prince, black and gold, with topazes and pearls on his brow. He looked exactly as he had in her dreams: regal and glorious. 

There was something sad in his brilliant blue eyes. 

  “Link,” she whispered, her eyes stinging. “How…?” 

  “You’re here,” he said, his voice sorrowful, pained . 

He shuddered and fell to his knees. “Zelda, help me,” he pleaded. “I can’t—”

  “Link!” she rushed forward. 

A strange expression crossed Link’s face. 

  “Look out!” Sidon shouted, tackling Zelda out of the way as sharp spikes launched towards her from the sludge. 

He shielded her head with his arm as they tumbled through the low gravity. 

Zelda pushed him off of her and screamed. 

Sludge crawled up Link’s body, encasing him in Malice. 

  “That’s how it got Father,” Sidon panted. “Something’s wrong here.” 

Two monstrously large like-likes were on either side of where Link had been—his form obscured by Malice and sludge as it morphed into something else around him. 

Zelda was sobbing into her palm. 

   It’s changing him—-just like Astor changed Queen Mirana into Waterblight!  

  “We have to get him back,” Zelda cried. If he was transformed into a Blight, could she still save him? Killing the Blights had killed their hosts.

  “I’ll take out these other creatures,” Sidon agreed. “You try to get through to Link!” 

Zelda nodded. 

Sidon gathered a ribbon of water around himself and plunged into the fight, spear flashing. The center of it began to glow in the presence of the Malice. He cut through the sludge with the water, hacking at the like-likes with limited success. 

  “Their hides are too thick!” Zelda called to him. “Back up, I have an idea!” 

Sidon backflipped out of the way as Zelda fussed a shock-fruit to her arrow tip and aimed it at the like-like. 

It screamed, its fleshy eyestalk exposed long enough for Sidon to slash at it with a blade of water. It collapsed. 

  “Now!” Zelda cried. 

Sidon lunged for it while Zelda attacked the other like-like. 

The tower of sludge was growing larger, morphing into a gigantic shark. It roared, its maw purple and filled with rows of razor teeth. 

   Somewhere, Link is inside that thing, she thought. She recalled her lifetime as the princess-regent of the Twilight Era—she had sacrificed herself to aid that era’s prince and the princess of the Twili. Her body had been puppeted by another Ganondorf, another pawn of Demise. If Link’s body has been in stasis this whole time, that might explain why he looks the same. She hesitated, ducking under another onslaught of projectiles from the like-likes. Her hand landed in the acidic sludge. 

She pushed her magic into it, searching for something, anything. She felt the Malice within it, and tasted salt and bitter hatred, the flavor of tears and a corrupted ocean. But there was no moonlight, no smell of petrichor, no taste of minty safflina—nothing that was distinctly Link . Had the corruption so thoroughly washed his essence away? 

   Something is wrong here, she thought, echoing Sidon’s earlier words. She bit her lip. Forgive me, my love, she prayed as she sent an arrow of light into the monster. 

It screamed and floundered. 

In the middle of the sludge, the limp figure of Link stood. Her arrow was embedded in his shoulder. 

   He didn’t say Sidon’s name, Zelda thought. He didn’t even look at him.  

  “Zelda,” Link gasped, clutching at the arrow in his shoulder. There was pain and betrayal on his face. “What are you doing? Why would you hurt me?” he stared at her with horror and fear, the expression so gut-wrenchingly real that Zelda almost dropped her bow and begged for his forgiveness. 

But Zelda remembered when he had been encased in the Calamity. He had never worried about his own safety. He had been willing to be sealed away alongside it if it meant his people would survive. He had accepted oblivion, had embraced her power even though he had known it might mean his own end. His love for his people, and for her, was so deeply ingrained in who he was as a person that no amount of corruption would change it.  

Tears in her eyes, Zelda drew back the bow and shot him in the face. 

Link’s head snapped back on impact. 

 Sidon yelled wordlessly in shock. 

   He doesn’t have the Master Sword, she thought grimly. The real Link would’ve told me to keep fighting. 

Link raised his head slowly, and pulled the arrow out of his forehead with a hiss of pain and anger. “How disappointing,” he clicked his tongue.

Zelda raised the bow again. “You are not him,” she said, tears of rage and pain streaming down her cheeks. “My magic doesn’t hurt him. Take it off, Ganondorf! ” she shouted. 

Sidon’s amber eyes were wide as the full moon as he braced himself to face the false king. 

Link threw back his head and laughed. 

  “Did I amuse you?” he asked, and the cadence of his voice was wrong , layered with Ganondorf’s baritone rasp. His smile was cruel and wrong and horribly familiar. He looked at the bracelet on his arm, with the blue gem on it. “I had hoped to get more use out of this puppet before I cast it aside.” He sounded rather disappointed. “You, meddlesome tadpole,” he sneered at Sidon, “you will meet your end here, and I will use this prince’s form to bring your head to your father. Such good friends your people will be with Hyrule after this.”

  “You will not touch him,” Zelda snarled. 

He turned back to Zelda, the pupils of his eyes pure scarlet. “I had such high hopes that I would face a proper opponent after so many millennia sealed away. Imagine my disappointment to be met with a weakling such as you. Where’s your special sealing sword, little goddess?” He crooned to her with a horrible sort of corrupted affection, mocking and cruel. “Still broken?” The phantom who wore her husband’s face looked down at himself. “He wanted it with him, in the end. It wouldn’t have helped him though. My power was too much for his frail body to withstand.”

   He doesn’t know, Zelda realized with a jolt. He doesn’t know where the Master Sword is—when the Master Sword is!  

  “I don’t need it to defeat you,” she said instead. Let him think what he likes.  

She drew back her bow and poured more power into her arrows. 

  “Enjoy your final moments here,” the Phantom Link said, bowing mockingly. “My servants will make short work of you both.” he turned to wisps of malice and gloom, drifting away on the wind. 

  “COWARD!” Zelda screamed. 

The temple trembled, and a monstrous tentacle lunged out of the sludge. At the end of it was a huge mouth lined with dozens of teeth. 

  “Look out!” Sidon shouted, batting it away with a smaller tentacle of water. 

A shape rose out of the sludge, no, made of the sludge. 

   Is that fucking BELLUM?! Zelda thought, aghast. It was some sort of amalgamation of Bellum and Tentalus from her lifetime as the Spirit Maiden. It had a bell-shaped body made of sludge, and it seemed to sweat more sludge that then transformed into sharks and octoroks that spat Malice. 

  “Take out as much sludge as you can!” Zelda called, fusing a zonai spring to her shield. “I’m going to try something.” 

She flipped forward onto the shield as Link had once taught her, bouncing high into the air. 

She rapidly fused an opal to an arrow and aimed it at the monster, then fired. 

Water exploded across the plaza, dissolving the sludge-monsters but not the main one. 

Beneath the coating of sludge, the mucktorok—as Zelda mentally dubbed it—had a pale purple body but was easily big enough to eat a shrine. 

The burst of water stunned it, leaving it prone, its eyeball exposed. 

Water struck out in a massive recreation of Sidon’s trident, stabbing the monster in the eye. 

Zelda landed and sent another light arrow at it, compounding the injury. 

Sidon stretched out his arms, gathering a wave of water around him. As soon as it came near him it glowed a bright blue and became clear. Holy. 

  “FOR MIPHA!” Sidon roared, sending the torrent of water lashing out at the mucktorok. He was in the center of the mini hurricane, lightscale trident flashing. 

Zelda caught a glimpse of his magic soaring into the trident and the water doubled in volume as it attacked the mucktorok. Where it met the mucktorok’s body it became blades of ice. 

Zelda lifted her hands and summoned a hailstorm of lancets of light. She drew on the light that inhabited her, the light Rauru had given back. 

Mucktorok screamed as Sidon stabbed it ruthlessly. 

  “Begone!” he cried. 

With a final stab of the lightscale trident, the mucktorok exploded into light and wisps of malice. 

Zelda fell to her knees and retched onto the plaza. 

Flakes of sludge and malice wicked away into nothingness. A sense of calm, cool and clear as the waters of a sacred spring, surrounded her. It welled up from before her and washed over the plaza in a deluge that felt like jumping into a deep pool. The smell of lotus flowers and clean water replaced the filth. 

Zelda looked up. 

That powerful magic radiated from Sidon as if he had become a second sun. It resonated and reverberated through the temple like the clang of a bell. 

  “You’re the Sage,” she whispered. “This place has accepted you as its master.”

Sidon blinked in surprise, then jogged over to her. “Nevermind that right now, are you alright?”

Zelda nodded. She had some bruises and cuts from the projectiles, and more sludge burns than she could count, but she would be alright. Her arm, the one Rauru had given her, felt like it was crawling with insects and burning at the same time. She sent a pulse of light magic through it, which left spots dancing in front of her eyes. But the terrible sensation eased. 

  “I believe some of these pools up here can function as healing pools,” Sidon remarked, looking around. 

  “It’s alright,” Zelda rasped. Truthfully, her mind was elsewhere. 

  “Sidon,” a voice called. 

Zelda turned and Sidon looked beyond her. 

A spirit stood in front of the lotus-bud statue. 

It was Ruta. She wore a zonaian helmet and held a phantom version of the lightscale trident, though hers was hollow again. 

  “Forgive the… unusual garb,” she said, gesturing at the helm, her voice a bit muffled. “It allows me to speak with you long after I should have departed this realm.” 

Sidon looked at Zelda. 

She gave him a solemn nod. 

He approached the ancient Zora Sage, with Zelda behind him. 

  “You are the Sage of Water, yes?” Sidon pressed. “Queen Ruta?”

  “Yes,” the sage replied, and it sounded like she was smiling. “Thank you, Sidon, for purifying this temple so that it may be a place of cleansing and safety once again. And thank you, Goddess Incarnate. I know that fight could not have been easy.” 

  “What was that thing?” Zelda panted. 

  “A demon of the old world,” Ruta said solemnly. “One that almost meant my end during the Imprisoning War.”

  “So it’s true then,” Sidon said. “We face the Demon King?”

Ruta nodded. “Yes, he has broken free of the Seal King Rauru placed on him.” She hesitated. “Please tell your sister that I could feel her spirit during the battle against the Calamity. We Sages allowed our magic to be siphoned by the Sheikah in order to combat it. I was… somewhat aware of what transpired, and glad to have been able to assist her in whatever small way I could.” She looked at Zelda. “That is partially why the temples have fallen into the state they are in now. We Sages have been greatly weakened.” She looked at Sidon. “You do not carry your sister’s gifts of healing, but you do have my power over water. I ask you, please look at this memory.”

  “Memory—?” Zelda began, but a gentle tide of blue energy washed over them.

The landscape rippled around them. 

The Water Temple was intact and beautiful, though it bore a few minor scars from aerial battles against legions of aerocudas. The Sage of Water was healing a young zora boy from Gloom burns, but her own injuries were apparent. Vast scars covered the majority of her body, and she was missing two fins. She had a kind face, much like Mipha, and amber eyes. She wore silver and zonaite jewelry, with her Sacred Stone on the back of her hand.

A figure in zonai garb approached. A hylian. He bore several Malice-scars on his arms, neck, and cheek, nearly obscuring the vee-shaped markings below his eyes. His blue eyes burned with determination. 

  “Sage of Time,” Ruta said, “what can I do for you?”

  “The Seal that holds the Demon King will be temporary,” Link said bluntly. “He’s going to break free again.”

  “When?”

  “Roughly forty-thousand years from now.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Ruta asked. She nudged the zora boy to rise, and he obeyed, limping away so that the two Sages could talk in private. 

  “Guide the next Sage of Water so that they may stand alongside the Goddess Incarnate,” Link said. 

  “Your Highness, Hylia didn’t incarnate during the war. What makes you so sure she will in the future?”

  “Because she is my wife,” Link said fiercely. “She would never abandon her people, her friends. But she will need the help of the Zora. Please, promise me that you and your people will stand alongside her when the day comes. All the kingdoms will need to work together to bring him down. I beg the aid of Zora’s Domain.” He sank to his knees, bowing his head to the Zora Queen. 

Ruta sighed, then nodded. “Please rise, Your Highness. When the Demon King breaks free, if Zelda comes to us, the Sage of Water will awaken and fight alongside your goddess,” she vowed. 

Link beamed, a look of profound relief on his face. “Thank you,” he said, pressing his hand to his heart. 

  “Have you figured out how to return to your era?” Ruta asked. 

His smile became somewhat sad. 

Their surroundings shifted to an island in the center of Lake Hylia. In the distance, a half-destroyed ruin sat atop the Great Plateau. The surface of the lake was covered in a sheen of oil, and many monsters floated belly-up. Hundreds of lizalfos, gigantic octoroks, and many-toothed monsters Ruta had no name for. A dead gleeok bobbed in the water as well, surrounded by blocks of ice. The dead zora warriors had been taken from the ruins of their home and now awaited burial. 

  “How long will it take to restore the Domain?” Ruta asked a nearby zora warrior. 

  “The monsters managed to destroy half of the structures below the surface,” they replied. “We ought to keep the eggs and tadpoles in the Wellspring for a while longer, until we are certain no monsters remain. As for the monsters themselves, what shall we do?”

Ruta sighed. “Make sure to remove all monster debris, we don’t know if the Blood Moon will return. We don’t need these beasts resurrecting themselves in the middle of the nursery. Burn the beasts and bury the ashes in the hills to the south.”

  “Understood, Queen Ruta,” the soldier agreed, and dove into the lake. 

Zelda gasped as she returned to herself. 

  “Sidon, my cherished kin,” Queen Ruta said. “You have already been so strong and brave for our people. The last time the Demon King walked the earth, we lost an entire generation. Our people were nearly wiped out. You are young, but I must ask… will you stand beside Zelda as the Sage of Water and protect our people? Will you fight the Demon King?”

  “Yes,” Sidon said without hesitation. “This Demon King has caused my people too much anguish!” he turned to Zelda. “And Zelda has been a true friend to the Zora for years. It is time for us to return the favor.”

Ruta nodded, pleased. She turned and waved a hand. 

The lotus statue opened with a creaking, crumbling noise. Stone dust whispered through the air, revealing a curious object as big as a person. It glowed with a pale light, shaped like a curved teardrop—a magatama. 

The hair on Zelda’s arms stood on end. She felt rooted to the spot. A sense of divinity and horror crept over her in a nauseating duality. 

  “What is that?” she choked out. 

  “Ah, yes, Link mentioned you would be sensitive to it,” Ruta said sadly. “It was freely given, unlike many of its brethren.”

  “I don’t understand.” 

  “You will in time. This is a Sacred Stone,” Ruta told Sidon. “It will magnify your power thrice-fold. But be warned, do not swallow it or you will be forever lost.” 

Sidon nodded. He approached it, glancing at Zelda. 

   Link used one, as did Rauru, Zelda told herself. I’m sure it’s fine. She nodded to him, and Sidon faced the Sacred Stone with renewed determination.

It drifted down towards him. 

He placed his palm against its surface and it changed to a vivid blue. It suddenly shrank and placed itself on his wrist. Jewelry formed to hold it in place. 

He laughed delightedly, and all the water on Rainfall Island floated into the air. 

  “I will teach you to master it,” Ruta said. “For now, however, your Domain needs cleansing and your family worries.” 

Sidon nodded. “Come, Lady Zelda! We have much to tell my father!”

  “Wait,” Zelda said. “Did you see that thing that took Link’s form?”

  “I sensed it,” Ruta hissed. “It is an evil thing. Such a form was how Ganondorf was able to murder Rauru’s queen, the gentle Sonia.” She hesitated. “Seek the dragon’s tears, Lady Zelda. They will reveal much.” 

Sidon knelt in front of Zelda. “Give me your hand, my lady.”

Zelda obeyed, placing Rauru’s arm in his palms. 

  “I, Sidon, Sage of Water and Prince of Zora’s Domain, swear to fight by your side against the Demon King. Wherever I am, no matter how far, I shall answer the call.” 

A pulse of power flickered from Sidon to Zelda, and one of the rings on Zelda’s hand turned green, with a small zonai rune engraved on it. 

  “A wise choice,” Ruta chimed in. “now you will be able to communicate across vast distances, as well as summon him to your side. We Sages can also create Phantoms of ourselves. Sidon’s will obey you, Lady Zelda.” 

Zelda blinked. “Incredible,” she murmured. “Thank you, Sidon.”

Sidon grinned. “Now let us cleanse the Domain!”

Zelda frowned, but allowed herself to be carried away by Sidon. 

Together they dove down from the Rainfall Island. Purified water fell beside them, resplendent with Sidon’s new powers. 

Zelda unfurled the paraglider, groaning in pain as her arm yanked on the sore socket. She didn’t much fancy a dive into more polluted water. 

Sidon plunged ahead, giving her a wide grin. 

Where he dove into the reservoir, clean water rippled out in a shockwave, until the waters of the reservoir were a deep clear blue once more. 

She glided down alongside him as he swam, water carrying him out of the lake and over the Domain in a huge wave. It washed away all the sludge, leaving the plant and animal life bedraggled and damp but unharmed. 

Zelda grinned as she landed on a zora tower, watching Sidon swim up waterfalls to clean them, and the smell of sewage and malice was wiped away. 

Zora emerged from the hidden Pristine Sanctum and began to cheer. At the head of them were Mipha and Yona, beaming at Sidon with pride and awe. 

Zelda smiled as she watched the zora greet their new Sage, the waters returning to the reservoir as he walked among them. Their troubles were over, at least for the moment. Their wounds would heal, and they would be safe. 

Yet Zelda could not bring herself to join in their joy as she thought back to the Phantom version of her husband they had encountered on Rainfall Island. 

   If Sages can create Phantoms, that means I definitely encountered Link’s true Phantom on the Great Sky Island, she thought, flicking her fingers to look at the Chronesis rune on the back of her zonai hand. But is it possible for one Sage to steal another’s Phantom? What happened to Link? She knew she had to find him—the real one and the Phantom who sabotaged the Zora. I need to move on soon, check on the other nations… but where to next?  

   “Zelda! Come join us, my dear friend!” Sidon called. 

  “Are you hurt?” Mipha asked worriedly. 

Zelda mustered a smile. “I’ll be alright. We have a great deal to tell you and King Dorephan,” she said, exchanging a look with Sidon. 

  “Did you catch up with His Majesty?” Mipha asked. 

  “About that…”