M The Heir to a Throne of Nothing

[Miyamoto Musashi]

This first post contains a lot of spoilers to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

In another world, universe even. There was a tale of a Princess and a Hero, whom together rose against a common foe. An ever-lurking evil, that even if defeated, would always linger in the shadows, gathering power, biding its time before eventually, it would return.

Trapped in a perpetual cycle, a reincarnation of this Princess and her Hero, bound to forever defeat the ancient evil. This cycle was no different.

The ancient evil, Ganondorf, would be defeated by the hero, Link, and sealed away by the Princess, Zelda. And thus, their cycle would come to an end. And in the far future, their lives far passed, the cycle would renew. The ever present evil rising, only for the Hero and Princess to rise against it once more.

And so, the light prevailed, and the darkness was kept at bay.


Hyrule – Road to Fort Hateno

The rain doused all with its oppressive wrath, the skies torn open as the heavens raged. Thunder struck down from the skies, tossing gravel to the air, only for it to scatter down. With luck, the rain would douse any smouldering grass before it ever received the chance to turn into a true fire. All knew the world was bad enough as it was.

The world was ending.

The champions chosen to defend it, lay fallen, their armies turned against them.

Calamity Ganon had returned. And more so, it had known their plan. Seen through it from the beginning and turned it against them.

Now it was only them that remained.

The Princess and her appointed knight.

She could feel his hand holding hers, still warm as ever, a beacon of hope in this insane mess. Her heart felt crushed as it was.

Suddenly, she felt the ground disappear from beneath her, before she crashed into dirt.

He turned, just like he always did when she fell behind - and before she realized, he was already there, his hands upon her shoulders to try and raise her.

She stared at him with teary eyes. It was pointless. They had lost. “They’re all dead! And it’s my fault!” she howled as her tears disappeared into the rain. Slowly she collapsed against him. “All we did was for nothing. All whom I know and love - My father, Mipha, Daruk, Urbosa, Revali - my people! They’re all dead!

And it’s all my fault. I doomed them all.” she despaired.

It was all because she hadn’t been able to fulfill her destiny. To master the power that had been her responsibility. The ability - the power to seal Ganon away still escaped her.

No matter her prayers - her dedication, the goddess Hylia had abandoned her. In their most desperate hour, she had left the people of Hyrule to fend for themselves. And they had failed.

Hyrule - and the world as they knew it?

It was done for.


Hyrule – Fort Hateno

The rain continued to pour upon them, the crackling of thunder drowning beneath the constant clash of sword to metal. His sword sang with each strike, felling guardian after guardian as it struck.

Of course, it was hard to believe these spider-like machine monstrosities had once been their allies, their plan to defeat Calamity Ganon.

Now?

Now they were the reason the lands burned and its people bled. Upon this field alone, corpses of all kind, civilians and soldiers alike laid lifeless. Its once lush, green grass stained by blood and fires alike. The rain wasn’t enough to stop the fires.

And in the end, no matter how she looked at it, she’d doomed them all with her inability to access the power that she’d been destined to wield against this…this horror. How would they recover? The girl had no clue.

Her steps closely in his wake as he defended her from machine and monster alike. In the midst of fallen machines they watched as dozens more charged rampant across the landscape, laying waste to anything they could find.

With luck, they wouldn’t be noticed and could proceed safely.

Of course, luck and anything beyond misery had long since abandoned them. One of the machines - Guardians - noticed them, averting its predestined path to come for them instead.
“Link! Go!” she ushered, attempting to help the knight to his feet. “Leave me, I’ll be fine! Just save yourself!” she cried out. Of course, that wasn’t true. She knew she was as good as dead without him. But she couldn’t watch him die, not today, not like this!

He probably knew it too, judging from how the man wouldn’t budge. Yanking the sword from the ground, he staggered backwards as the Guardian took aim. Its laser-like targeting system centered itself to him as the warning beeps sang the tale of imminent death.

It would be the end.

----------

“NO!” she screamed, pushing the knight aside and taking his pl----....

The girl collapsed into the grass, a splash emitted as she hit the puddle of water forming beneath her.

Forcing her muscles to move, the girl looked down.

Oh.

That made sense…

The blast had torn through her lower torso, leaving a beautiful hole where her stomach had once been.

But, one wouldn’t survive this kind of wound, would they? No, of course not. You’d bleed to death, if the trauma didn’t kill you first.

Haha.

Hahaha.

HaHAhaHA.

It really was ending, this world of theirs! Hyrule.

There would be none left to tell the tale of this day.

The darkness had won, the prophecy had been subverted. There would be nothing but Nothing.

She truly was, the heir to a throne of nothing.


Hyrule – Great Plateau – Shrine of Resurrection

Hues of blue washed over him, as the hero glanced once more toward the ancient Sheikah technology. A round basin, filled with something water-like, submersing the dormant princess within. This place was known as the Shrine of Resurrection. And even wounds as great as hers could be healed, given time.

As he stood before the control panel, he had little choice but to place Zelda’s precious Sheikah slate upon it, the recess carved into the ancient stone accepting the device gleefully. The inscriptions lit up, pulsing azure as the top of the basin began to lower itself, sealing the now slumbering Princess away from the world.

Of course, he still had a mission. Her possessions together with a bag of coin left behind into a stone crate, he turned toward the hallway-like entrance into the cave, and headed out.

Until she would awaken once more, the task of holding the ancient evil at bay, fell to him.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

Somewhere along the years, the Shrine of Resurrection had been forgotten. Its existence fading back to myths and legends, even as the Princess slumbered within. The years slowly eroding the specifics from memory, leaving but rumors and fables, of the calamity that once crushed the Kingdom and its protectors.

Hyrule was different now.


-------


The darkness grasping her began to slowly abate its grip upon her. The ever present, never ending black slowly allowing shades of gray and hues of blue take form. The crushing void slowly lifting, as something seemed to be cutting away the webs that had held her down for so long.

Finally, the shell began to crack, as light struck through and her eyelids parted. Her hearing subdued by the submersion, she realized.

She yet lived.

As the gears of her mind slowly began to creak into motion, the azure lighting became ever evident to her, as somekind of signals finally made it through. Her body, in its entirety, was still there. Even the hole in her abdomen she could still somehow remember, had vanished, leaving no scars, or any other signs of its once lethal presence.

The Shrine of Resurrection, she thought. It made sense. He would’ve brought her here, just as she would’ve brought him here. Slowly she began to sit up, surprised at how there was little soreness or other kinds of failures in her motor skills. It almost seemed like it was the same as the day she had nearly died.

Of course, one could’ve argued that she had had very little to begin with, but she didn’t let that bother herself. Clothed in naught, the Hylian maneuvered herself out of the basin, emerging dry, regardless of the liquid. It was… interesting to say the least, and had she had a vial, she would’ve likely - even in her newly resurrected - state, taken a sample.

Her arms outstretched, the newly-living girl let out a grunt as she sought to revitalize her bodily functions. Even if there seemed to be little in the way of lacking already. From the corner of her eye, she caught the inconspicuous stone crate.

Energized, she took it upon herself to beat this first challenge, making her way over to it in a confident stride, her delicate hands grasping upon the cold hewn stone lid, attempting to lift it.

With grunts of effort escaping as she struggled, the Princess lifted, her muscles straining at their limits, even as the lid remained unmoving in its protest to keep the girl from her prize.

“Tshh… Now what?” she pondered. Of course, given the rotting nature of wood, the stone crate was a natural choice, but she had hoped that Link would’ve considered her strength, instead of his own.

But, he was hardly here, and she could hardly complain. In her birth-like state, the ever pampered damsel began to discover the unpleasantness of cold. It was cold here, beneath the grounds of the Great Plateau. Lucky for her at least, she wasn’t soaked.

Of course, the gates into the Shrine remained shut, their ancient technology refusing to open to anyone from the outside without a specific key. So leaving was out of consideration as well. Not that she was in any hurry to leave without any clothes.

Taking note of anything in the room, the ever chilling Princess desperately sought for anything to aid her in her plight of lacking muscles. Exactly when had she began to pace restlessly, Zelda was uncertain, but at least it kept her warm, even as her hair flowed behind her.

Tools… Tools… Tools tools tools!

If only she had tools she thought, huffing as she sat down onto the edge of the basin. Had Zelda had any shoes on, she would’ve likely kicked the ground in frustration, but without, the pain prevented her from such rash retaliation.

But for now, she was about as stuck as one could get.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

Remaining seated, the Princess sighed as she pondered her options. Unless she would suddenly transform into a Goron, there was little chance that she’d successfully lift the lid by herself. She’d have to chastise Link later, on his choice of containers. So thoughtless!

Leverage, was the next thing that came to mind. Of course, it would’ve been much too convenient for a sleight of metal to simply be there, resting against the wall. And given her luck so far with ending up here in the first place, the Princess could quickly see that there was no such convenience for her.

The chamber was void of branches, sticks and poles as well, as the Hylian kept crossing over option after option. Honestly, it would be rather pathetic to die like this. Starving within a chamber because she couldn’t figure out a way to get her clothes, because she lacked in physical strength.

“Tchh… I don’t like this.” she muttered softly as she made her way over to the pedestal, where the Sheikah slate remained. As she approached, the slate suddenly lifted out of the pedestal, glowing in bright Azure as the Princess reached for it, pulling it free with a gentle tug.

As she tapped upon the screen, the Princess quickly found that whilst the stone tablet still functioned technology wise, most features she had used, had disappeared, now appearing disabled. Gone was not only the ability to capture what she saw before her, but also the ice pillars, metal manipulation and bombs. Much to Zelda’s dismay, even the ability to control time had vanished. Map information had erased itself, and her research notes were long gone.

All in all, the slate was as she had originally found it - and profoundly useless in her plight.

Of course, given there was no water for her to make use of, the ice pillars wouldn’t help here. Bombs would simply destroy her clothes along with the crate, and the stone crate would care very little for manipulating metals.

Her brow furrowing ponders were interrupted oh so crudely as the stone doors pillars forming the door into the Shrine began to rumble, screeching as some of them began to rectact into the ceiling, and the vanished beneath the floor.

At least now she could get out, even if she was utterly indecent in her dressing. With how her situation was, the princess found little option but to search for a tool in the outside.

And so, she stepped into the tunnel, the light shining from the other end of it effectively blinding her from seeing naught but a dazzling, brilliant whiteness. Covering her eyes with one hand and carrying the Sheikah slate in the other, the Princess entered the tunnel with hopes of solving this first hurdle clear in her mind.