Maw of the Earth: Prologue Part 1
Opening the great mahogany door to Impa’s office, Princess Zelda of Lanayru felt a hitch in her breath.
She knew she was asking for something absurd, something dangerous… but she remembered that tugging feeling in her brain, the one that compelled her to leave her native mountains and to adventure southward. What lied in waiting there was a mystery to her, but this feeling of separation from something, perhaps someone… it had haunted her for years.
“Regent Impa?” She asked quietly. The regent, an older Sheikah woman, was busy at her desk, and looked towards the young woman with her characteristic chilly demeanor. She took over the position as leader of her people when her father died ten years prior, and was not a woman to be trifled with. Still, Zelda had been one of the few people Impa had trusted, and she trusted her as well.
“What is it, Princess?” she said, laying down her quill.
“I… have a request of you, Regent…” She stepped further into the room, which was lit by a warm fireplace which proved a welcome remedy to the bitter cold outside.
“Sit and state it, then,” the regent said as she herself transitioned from her desk chair to a floor seat. Zelda obeyed, fidgeting with her gloves as she practiced how to phrase her request.
“In two days I will be 23 years old… the same age as many men in this kingdom are when they go off on adventures beyond our borders… I wish to do the same.”
Impa sighed. “You have made this desire clear before, Princess, but you are not ready for such an undertaking.”
The princess paused, taking in a weary breath. “With all of my respect, Impa, when will the time come when I am ready?”
“When you have mastered combat-”
“I have been training under you for years, Impa,” Zelda interjected. “If I can’t hold my own, then why would you train me?”
Impa paused, pursing her lips, before continuing, “... That, and when you learn to accept help from others.”
Zelda balked. “I am doing that at this moment, Regent.”
“Perhaps, but you seem intent on adventuring alone, are you not?”
“I can travel alone. I don’t need to be babysat!”
The regent sighed, adjusting her sleeves. “I should hope not, but this is not babysitting, it is cooperation. Those men who do go on adventures do so with help from others. You have not shown me that you are capable of working with others, so I have little faith that you could work alone…”
“I’ll prove to you that I can do it,” she blurts. Her face was growing hot… she felt like a child being talked-down to by a domineering parent, not a functional adult. “I’ll… I’ll slay the blue beast.”
She knew what she said was foolish… the blue beast was an unknown and enigmatic creature, thought to bring certain death to all who encounter it. Larger than ten men, and capable of becoming even larger and more powerful via some sort of magic, it’s unknown when and how the creature first appeared, but it has lurked near the kingdom up on Mt. Lanayru for centuries.
For once, Impa’s stoic face changed to disbelief. “Do not be foolish, Princess,” she hissed. “All that will do is bring you to the same end as your father.”
“If it does, then I am content to die the same way he did… fighting.” She sighed. “But if I return… then I cannot be shackled here any more.”
With that, the princess stood and left, slamming the door on her way out. Her whole body shook with anger and frustration, but as she returned to her own area of the castle those shakes turned to heaves as she began to sob. She hurried across the elevated pathway, rushing to get out of the cold. Her tears grew bitterly cold against her face with the chill outside, which stung and blurred her vision.
Slamming the door once more to her room, she looked at her bow and quiver, neatly hung up on the wall near her bed. It was nearly dusk outside, which should mean that the night would obscure her movement…
As quietly as possible, she prepared for the coldest climb of her life.
Zelda snuck off, quietly and with as little movement and tracks as possible. If she moved fast enough, her footprints in the snow might be indistinguishable from those of the local fauna, she thought.
Mt. Lanayru was virtually untouched by mortals, spearing into the sky as a beacon for travelers to her kingdom. It also got inhumanly cold during the winter months, and took many lives… including her father’s.
Well, either the cold took her father's life… or it was the blue beast who slew him. Some see the blue beast as a mere apparition, as it seems to merely watch from a distance, and never approach. Those who attempt to investigate it- like her father, the King of Lanayru- never return…
The snow got deeper and deeper, reaching the lip of Zelda’s boots and starting to seep through her winter pants and to her skin. She was already tired after just a half hour of climbing, but she knew she had to continue… though she wished there was another way to prove her worth.
It grew harder and harder to breathe as she ascended, each breath colder and drier than the last. Paradoxically, she felt quite hot on her skin, as if it were mid-summer.
The cold was getting the better of her. She collapsed into the frigid snow, her legs too weary to carry on and her breaths hampered by piercing cold air.
The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was the starry sky between snow-covered trees…
