i went back into my archive to replenish my queue, like i do every once in awhile. and, the thing is, i don’t think ppl remember just how big Sidlink was on tumblr when the game first came out.
like, don’t get my wrong, i certainly zeroed in on any and all Sidlink art that i could find, but, there was so much of it!! The particular date i went back to was December of 2017, and that was quite a peak time.
so long story short, whenever i go back the archive, its pretty much a sea of red 😆
“Your Highness, we found something. And I think you’re gonna wanna have a look at this.”
********
Princess Zelda’s entourage was escorted into the underground chamber. Link and Impa stood on either side of her as guards, while Purah and Robbie led them all down into the excavation site. Several Sheikah were working on digging through the ancient technology artifacts, pausing in their work only to let the Princess and the others through.
Filing down a natural stone hallway carved into the mountainside, they came upon a chamber with an ancient technologically advanced tub. It was dry and unused.
Purah sidled up to the machine and gave her lecture with her usual Purah flourish, “Your Highness, the tub that you see before you is a very special bit of ancient technology that we have uncovered. Deciphering the ancient runes that we have found, we have discovered that the ancient Sheikah named this fantastic device “The Shrine of Resurrection.”
Princess Zelda blinked, as she considered both the device and the name, “Shrine of Resurrection? A most curious name.”
“Yes!” exclaimed Purah, slapping the tub with her hand, “We are in the middle of discovering more details, but we are fairly confident that we know what this device was even used for. And it's absolutely fascinating.”
Zelda leaned in curiously to look on the inside of the tub, “And what have you found?”
Robbie stepped up, pulling out his notebook, “From what we have translated, the ancient Sheikah were deadly serious in trying to build powerful weapons that would somehow stop the Calamity that they had reason to suspect would happen in their lifetime. That's what the Divine Beasts, the shrines, everything our ancestors built, were for. This device is no different, built as a sort of weapon, but a weapon with a very unique ability that we didn’t even think was possible.”
Princess Zelda nodded politely, “This is a very curious weapon indeed, it doesn’t even look like a weapon. Please go on, my interest is immense.”
Impa gathered a couple of crates so that Link, Zelda and her could listen to the excited ramblings of her sister in more comfort. Sitting down, Zelda motioned for Purah to continue, “You see your highness, imagine if you will, when on the battlefield, there are bound to be casualties of course! Your numbers dwindle and maybe even your prized fighters are out of commission. That’s not good! That’s where this little beauty comes in!”
Purah twirled herself to the terminal and activated the device with the Sheikah Slate. The machine whirred to life and a strange glowing blue liquid began to fill the reservoir. The Trio looked into the tub as the blue liquid swirled and splashed along the sides.
Robbie came up and stuck his hand in the liquid, scooping some out and letting it drip back down into the reservoir. He wiped his wet hand onto his shirt to dry it off and stuck it out for the Princess, “Here, your highness, feel my hand.”
Impa eyed Robbie with great suspicion while Princess Zelda tepidly reached out to shake Robbie’s semi dry hand. “Your hand... it's so soft and smooth.” Zelda said, now rubbing the back of Robbie’s hand, the texture visibly younger.
“You see your Highness,” Purah continued, scooping the water onto her own hands and rubbing it over her arms, “This chamber has unimaginable healing properties. Scrapes get healed almost instantly, cuts within seconds, burns within minutes, wounds within hours. A soldier with a broken bone could theoretically be healed within a day.”
“That’s amazing!” exclaimed the Princess.
Impa too had a look of surprise on her face, her ancestors were certainly full of surprises. “That is truly a wonderful machine, but what use it is to us now? We could have used it during the War of the Calamity for sure, but it’s over.”
Robbie raised his finger in protest, “There will always be a need to heal, even during periods of peace time, Impa.”
Purah continued the thought, “Just because our ancestors used their technology for war doesn’t mean that we can’t repurpose their inventions for our needs. But I do agree, that this little discovery would have been useful much earlier.”
Zelda nodded her head in agreement, as she remembered the fierce battle that had happened the year before. She turned to her other side to look at Link, her champion knight, “Link? You’ve been awfully quiet this whole time, do you have any thoughts about this?”
Link shook his head, as he stared at the swirls of blue liquid. A machine that could heal a soldier to near perfection... a machine that could keep someone fighting...forever.
Purah barreled into the conversation again, visibly excited and vibrating with anticipation, “Also, Your Highness, we have made yet another discovery just a few days ago!”
“Another discovery?” asked Zelda, caught with surprise at the onslaught of news.
“Yes yes!” Purah exclaimed. “So, you see how this is just one machine of resurrection right?”
They all nodded their heads, continuing to follow along with Purah’s animated ramblings. “Well, a few days ago, we discovered that deeper within this Plateau, farther down in this excavation site, there is another cavern. It was well hidden, and it if hadn’t been for a fluke, we might never have discovered that it was there at all.”
Robbie interjected with his own high-spirited dialogue, “And do you know what we found in that cavern? We found other resurrection machines! Loads of them! There are enough chambers in there to sustain a sizeable army!”
“That’s--” Princess Zelda grabbed her hand to her chest, “That’s unbelievable!”
“Come, come, your Highness, we’ll show you the machines!” Purah said, grabbing the Princess’s hands and leading her away, Impa nervously going after her sister. Link and Robbie followed after.
*****
They were deep underground, the Sheikah researchers were few and stationed away from the site. A minimal number of lights had been set up, just enough to get around, but not so many that vision wasn’t a struggle in the expansive cavern. The site had just been unearthed, so Purah, Robbie and their team had not had the chance to do much of anything. It was practically untouched.
There were rows and rows of machines, the same make and model that Purah and Robbie had shown off before above them. But, whereas the machine that had been demonstrated was in pristine working condition, these machines did not look like they had been as lucky. It was obvious that the cavern had suffered from the instability of Mother Nature. Some chambers had been covered in mud, or broken with falling boulders. Some were eaten with rust, covered in lichen. Water dripped from the ceiling onto the delicate inner workings of the machines, a sure sign that repairs needed to be done, if they could be done at all.
Purah and Robbie poked through the rows of Resurrection Chambers, less animated and more absorbed in curiosity. Princess Zelda also wandered the great cavern with Impa close at hand. Link left them to chat to themselves, talking science, talking tech, talking Sheikah mechanics and runes. Link cared only so much as Zelda cared about that stuff, but to him, it was only interesting as far as if he was being made to use it.
Through the darkness, the chambers gave eery, shadowy silhouettes. More like coffins. Rows and rows of headstones, meant for soldiers, to give them unlimited life to keep fighting. An undead army? Link shivered. Why did that thought unsettle him so? Purah. Robbie and even Princess Zelda were excited to use the chambers to heal, but... was that really what these things were for?
Link moved farther into the cavern, examining the shrines. They all seemed to be out of commission. Link perked up his ears, he heard a faint humming coming from the darkness. A whirring, at precise, regular intervals. Something mechanical. There was no way one of these machines still worked, right? It's been 10,000 years since anyone had even seen this chamber.
Link stepped lightly, trying to follow the faint sounds off in the distance. He came upon a machine, the same as all the others, the lid closed tight, covered in lichen. Link put his hand onto the chamber, it felt warm and gave faint vibrations as if being supplied with power. He placed his ear next to it, the whirring of machinery unmistakable. This machine was in use!
Link ran back towards the others, waving to get their attention.
“Link?” Princess Zelda came up to him to better understand his motions, “What is it? You found something?”
Link nodded and grabbed the Princess’s hand, urging her to follow after him. Link was a man of few words, but Zelda both understood and encouraged Link’s communication. They quickly came to the chamber that had the buzzing sounds, Link placed Zelda’s hand on the chamber to feel for herself.
‘Oh! It’s warm.” she said, placing her head closer to hear the subtle clicks the chamber gave off.
Purah, Robbie and Impah came running after, to see what was the matter.
“This chamber,” Princess Zelda straightened up, “It’s in use!”
Thank you for reblogging my WIP this week 😀 My stuff doesn't tend to get a lot of traction, so it's much appreciated!
you are most totally welcome! and this goes for everyone, but if you have art you want reblogged just send it my way!
but for a general update to this blog, long time followers may have noticed that my content has slowed significantly over this past year. it’s been a rough year for me, and i’m dealing with family issues, personal issues and general malaise.
so, i apologize for the slow content, i’m dealing with a lot and i’m frankly getting a bit bored of this blog, a little burnt out.
i’m still going to be here as long as i can, but i don’t foresee me getting back to how things were, at least not anytime soon
thank you for being with me for as long as you have 🤲❤️ i love zelda, i love this fandom with its brilliant writers and artists
