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The air continued to thicken as they descended deeper below Hyrule Castle. The gloom burning Links lungs with every inhale.
Link watched quietly as Zelda studied the long faded carvings on the walls. Link was carefully eyeing the malice-like smoke coming through the cracked brick.
They had come to investigate what was causing the mysterious illness across Hyrule. They had to move all their main operations to a fort in the ruins of the castle town before they lost more knights to the sickness.
Zelda uses her torch to illuminate the gloom-covered ground below them. Link looks to her as if to ask if they should turn back. She shakes her head, “we’re so close to finding the source of the gloom; we need to find and dispose of whatever’s causing it before it becomes too concentrated.”
Link nods as they continue the descent. Upon walking into an abandoned corridor Zelda spots a fallen pillar and calls Link over. It has ancient carvings and inscriptions.
“See these figures?” She says while taking pictures with her Purah pad, “These must be Zonai ruins! They have such large ears…” Zelda says excitedly. As they continue down the corridor, they find more ancient Zonai carvings as well as pillars. At the end of it, there are statues on either side of the exit. “How did their ruins end up beneath Hyrule castle? I’ve only seen them in Faron”. Zelda wonders aloud. “We need to continue deeper.” She says to a worried Link.
Zelda continues down the stairs and he trails close behind her, looking out for anything that could endanger the princess. He sees a few Keese in the distance and runs ahead, drawing the Master sword. He runs into a large circular room and quickly kills the angered keese. As he’s sheathing the sword he hears Zelda running up behind him.
“Link! Are you okay? You aren’t hurt are you?” he shakes his head, watching as she inspects him for any injuries. They had become closer since they defeated the calamity, she had helped him recover more of his lost memories. He considers taking her somewhere relaxing after they finish investigating, maybe a hot spring like the ones on death mountain. She’s been so stressed with the gloom as well as the increase in monster camps.
Zelda suddenly gasps, bringing him out of his thoughts. He turns to see what she was looking at. There are murals covering the stone walls, seemingly depicting some sort of battle.
Link takes her torch and holds it close to the wall for her. She closely examines the wall.
“It seems to be depicting a battle between the demon king and the Zonai… I remember reading this in my studies. Is it possible these murals depict the same legend?” She says, running over to the next mural.
“If the creature here truly represents the demon king, then… this must be the Imprisoning War! Link, do you know how big of a discovery this is!” Zelda shouts excitedly. Before pulling out her Purah pad to photograph each mural. “The last one’s seem to be obscured by fallen rocks and debris.” He hands the torch back to her as they continued deeper into the caverns. The gloom gets thicker with every step. He unsheathes the now glowing Master sword.
They exit into a massive room. A figure in the center with a glowing arm holding it down. The gloom is so thick Link can barely breathe. As they approach the glowing arm they see the gloom coming from below the body. Suddenly the arm’s grip loosens and falls off the chest of the body. A small tear-shaped stone breaks off of the arm and rolls to Zelda’s feet. He watches as she picks it up and inspects the glowing stone as its light continues to glow brighter. Suddenly the body sits up and its glowing, malice-filled eyes open and stare at her. Tendrils of gloom explode from him. As they’re about to hit Zelda, Link jumps in front of her wielding the master sword.
However, this only stalls the malice for mere moments before his arm erupts in pain. He tries to pull it away but the gloom holds tight, corrupting his arm as it spreads up to the rest of his body. He’s on the verge of passing out when the gloom finally dissipates. The master sword clatters to the ground, unable to hold it after losing all feeling in his now blackened arm. He quickly grabs it with his other arm as another tendril shoots at him. He shouts in horror as his sword shatters, barely cutting the man's face. As the gloom rushes up his other arm, he collapses to the ground in pain. The gloom corrupts his other arm before once again dissipating. He looks up attempting to blink the tears out of his eyes as the man taunts him.
“Was that the fabled sword? A sword as weak as yours will not save you from my power”. He says looking down at him. He watches through blurred vision as he prepares another attack, again, aimed at Zelda. He quickly stumbled up in front of her, a human shield. No longer having a sword to defend himself.
His mind and body are quickly engulfed in white-hot pain. He felt each of his limbs slowly, painfully go numb one by one. He felt like he was no longer attached to his body, floating in a dark, painful void. He felt the pressure slowly dissipate as the gloom finally retreated. He was left in a crumpled pile on the ground. He watched as the man continued his taunting. He distantly heard someone calling his name, their voice filled with desperation. He tried to turn and see who it was, however, the second he tried moving waves of pain fell across his body.
He tried to cry out in pain but found his throat raw and unable to produce sound. Had he been screaming? He forced himself not to turn as the voice kept trying to reassure him that he would be okay. pain once again jolted across his body as the source of the voice turned him over to look at them.
Zelda
She was crying, tears dripping onto his blackened, gloom covered body. As dark spots began filling his vision, he watched as the room begins collapsing.
‘Maybe I can finally be free from this torturous cycle’ He thinks as his vision continues to wither. Zelda continues to tell him that he’ll be okay and that he needs to stay awake, repeating the mantra to him.
He is not sure he believes her
Her words suddenly stop. Link forces the darkness to retreat, just for a moment. He watches as Zelda trips and falls back into the abyss below. He moves in an attempt to catch her, pain flooding his mind. However, When has pain ever stopped him before? He reaches out for the princess, his princess.
He touches her fingertips, his numb hand slipping and missing her hand. He continues to fall, watching as she disappears in a ball of light. He looks up as he continues his descent. The glowing arm reaches to grab his hand, and he watches as his gloom-infested hand crumbles and slips through its hold. He looks back down as his vision darkens, though looking down is not much better. As he stares down at his quickly approaching demise he wonders if Zelda is okay. Who will catch her if not him?
Luckily, Hylia has chosen to spare him and he finally melts into the peaceful darkness of unconsciousness.