when hyrule wakes again- i.
megumi fushiguro x fem!reader
botw au
faint blue light spilled across the stone floor of the shrine, pale and fragile, touching the edges of the pedestal like something alive. the air was thick with silence, old and unbroken, humming softly through the walls as if the structure itself breathed. within that quiet, a figure stirred.
megumi’s eyes opened slowly.
there was no rush, no panic—only the dull awareness of existing again. the light hurt at first, seeping into him through lashes that felt too heavy to lift. when he did, the world swam, edges blurring as his vision struggled to make sense of color and shape. stone ceiling. ancient carvings. a glow that pulsed, steady and patient.
a voice followed soon after.
it echoed from everywhere and nowhere, gentle but distant, carrying no warmth despite its calm cadence. it spoke as though it had been waiting a very long time.
he tried to sit up. his body resisted, muscles stiff and unfamiliar, as if they belonged to someone else entirely. when he moved, the ache spread slowly, not sharp but deep, like something long-unused being asked to remember its purpose. eventually, he managed to rise, bare feet touching the cold stone floor.
he did not know who he was.
that realization came quietly, settling in his chest with more weight than fear. there were no memories waiting to rush back, no name rising to meet him. just emptiness—wide and disorienting. he searched himself instinctively, reaching for something solid, and found only fragments: the sense that he should be alert, that standing still was dangerous, that the world beyond these walls mattered.
the voice spoke again, urging him toward the pedestal near the shrine’s exit.
there, resting in a cradle of stone, was a small tablet. it glowed the same blue as the light around him, pulsing gently like a heart. megumi approached it with careful steps, crouching as he reached out. the moment his fingers brushed its surface, warmth spread through his palm, and symbols flared to life beneath the glass.
he did not understand them but something inside him did.
outside, the shrine doors slid open with a low rumble, revealing a world that took his breath without warning.
hyrule stretched endlessly before him, vast and broken and achingly beautiful. rolling fields swallowed by wild grass. ruins collapsed into themselves, stone devoured by time. mountains pierced the sky, their peaks dusted with snow that caught the morning light.
the wind carried sound with it—birds crying, leaves whispering, something distant and metallic moving far away.
the sheikah slate pulsed again.
objective: reach the tower.
megumi decided not to question it. he followed the pull of the glow, moving cautiously, every step deliberate. the land felt dangerous in ways he could not yet name. when shadows shifted too sharply, his hand twitched, instinctively searching for a weapon that was not there.
food became his first necessity.
he learned quickly, body remembering what mind could not. how to move without sound. how to strike cleanly. how to cook over a small fire, balancing resources with restraint. when night fell, the plains grew hostile bright eyes gleaming in the dark, distant cries echoing through the ruins. he slept lightly, if at all, senses sharpened even in rest.
shrines rose from the earth like quiet sentinels, their entrances humming with familiar energy. inside, puzzles awaited him, mechanisms ancient and precise. each trial left him stronger, not just in body but in understanding. pieces of himself returned through action rather than memory, as though purpose was something earned rather than remembered.
when he activated the great tower, the land unfolded before him.
map data streamed into the slate, lines etching themselves into place, revealing rivers, valleys, roads long forgotten. the world grew larger, and more overwhelming. beyond the plateau lay forests thick with shadow, deserts that shimmered under a merciless sun, and somewhere far away, a dark shape looming over the center of it all.
objective updated: seek out impa.
the name meant nothing to him.
yet his feet turned toward it without hesitation.
the road to kakariko village wound through narrow passes and quiet valleys, lanterns swaying beneath wooden roofs as dusk fell.
impa waited her house at the village’s heart, seated beside a brazier that crackled softly. she was small, aged, her back slightly bent, but when her eyes lifted to him, they were sharp and knowing.
“so,” she said calmly, “you’ve finally returned.”
she spoke of calamity ganon, of a kingdom destroyed one hundred years ago, of a princess who still fought alone to contain the darkness. she spoke his name as though it were sacred.
the sound of it stirred something deep and aching in his chest.
she took the sheikah slate gently, activating it with hands that did not tremble. images bloomed across its surface blurry photographs of places scattered across hyrule.
“your memories,” impa explained. “or what remains of them. these locations hold fragments of your past. if you truly wish to know who you were… then you must go and remember.”
before he could speak, she added softly, “and only then will you be ready to face what waits for you at the castle.”
outside, night settled fully over the village.
megumi left with the slate glowing steadily at his side, its pull guiding him south, toward a place marked only by broken stone and watchful guardians.
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