sup wall, since I'm back on that Shadows of History train... have this scrapped concept for a rewrite from February
Water leaked through the old roof of the tunnels, echoing when they hit the floor, which Zelda assumed had not been cleaned in a few hundred years or so. The air smelt like mold, and little critters would suddenly scurry past her, making her jump. Growth spurted from cracks in the bricks, vines climbed the walls, and she felt like a trillion beady little eyes were watching her. Her footsteps echoed loudly, announcing her presence like I’m here! Come and get me! It was really dark, so anyone or anything would have to be close to see her. That soothed some of her fears, but it made other ones worse.
For any monster this place would be like striking gold. There were animals to eat, it was dark, damp, deserted and underground. It was the perfect place for them to colonize and take over.
Luckily, Zelda had thought ahead. She’d taken a rapier from the armory and stuck it in her belt, and stolen a bow and arrow. Zelda kept her hand on the hilt of the rapier to reassure herself.
She marched forward, trying to push down her internal fears. Was she really doing the right thing? She shook her head.
No, I’ve already gone this far. There’s no turning back now. She told herself. Despite how awful her life in the castle was, she had trouble leaving it behind. Not that she liked anyone there. The nobles were all hat and no cattle, and as shallow as a hollowed out tree. Her life was going to change for the better. She had a million opportunities on her horizon, and she was not missing that, even if she had to go through old abandoned tunnels under the castle to get to them.
She had already escaped the pursuit of Link Akiran, the general of her father’s army. He’d been personally trained by Ganondorf himself since he was merely seven years old, and naturally, that turned him into a ruthless blood thirsty killing machine. At just seventeen years old he had climbed (more like Ganondorf carried him up) the ranks to become the king’s right hand man. To believe her own flesh and blood gave more of his time and energy to some kid he found on the street kind of hurt, but then again she was glad she didn’t have to deal with him.
The last time she saw him, curses were falling out of his mouth like a fountain of profanity. At the time, she was running for her life, so she didn’t have time to snort at him. Now that she was (hopefully) alone, she could snicker all she wanted. Link Akiran was feared by the whole army and all of Hyrule, even Zelda. She always made sure to never purposely agitate him, but he was like a bomb. If you said the wrong thing, or cut the wrong cord, you could set him off. That never ended well.
But remembering how he completely lost his crap when he realized he had failed to prevent her from getting away was completely hilarious.
Zelda looked back as the secret entrance closed behind her, and he had given up on prying it open. His eyes were wide, and his scarred eye twitched. “No- Nononono…” He shook his head and his chest rose and fell rapidly. She smirked at him triumphantly. “YOU-”
And that’s when the dam broke loose.
Hopefully, that would be the last she’ll ever see of him, and of her father or anything to do with royalty. It was all behind her now. More like looming behind her, though. She did feel a weight lifted off her shoulders, but now she felt a heaviness in her chest, pulling at her, like gravity was trying to reel her back in. Her mind swirled with doubts suddenly, but she kept walking onward.
Even if she did return, she would only be met with harsh punishment. Zelda saw what happened to those who disobeyed her father.
It was only once, but it stuck with her even now. She was thirteen, bored and a little too curious. That day there was an execution. A young man had been insubordinate. He refused to go through with whatever wicked thing her father had put him up to, so now, here he was, on his knees. Link Akiran stood above him, his sword raised, looking away with his eyes shut tightly. Back then, Link had some light in him left, but Ganondorf had snuffed it out at that very moment. From her bedroom she could hear his pleads, but with a shing he went silent forever.
Zelda couldn’t look a second longer and she tried hard to forget what she had seen. She distracted herself with old books, and did anything to keep her mind off of that scene. Three days had passed in isolation, and no one had checked on her. She didn’t want to go out. She didn’t want to look at either of them ever again.
Now she never would! Yippie!
She let out a sigh. Feeling more motivated, she picked up her pace a little.
Then she heard that annoying, ear piercing, dreadful screeching.
Godsdammit.
Zelda whipped around and pulled her rapier out of her belt, only to find out…
Those aren’t Keese, she observed in horror. Before her was the most dreadful sight to ever disgrace her retinas (other than Link). It was tall, its skin hung loose around its bones, its jaw was dislodged like it was stuck screaming, its eyes were just empty, soulless sockets. She tried to run, she tried to do anything, but her limbs just weren’t cooperating. The thing edged closer, making a low guttural screech.
Thankfully, she was able to break free of whatever had frozen her, and made a run for it. There was no way in the depths she was attempting to fight whatever that was. She knew there’d be monsters down here but she could never in a hundred years imagine that thing was lurking around.
ANNNNND That's all she wrote. Though I absolutely love this draft and have no idea what i was on when i wrote it, I had to scrap it for a multitude of reasons. 1. Idk what the freak i was doing with the gibdo/redead dudes in this. 2. I was gonna have Ravio be the hero in this but I didn't know how to make that idea work. I was going to pair them up with Zel, but that just didn't make sense to me since Ravio's supposed to be a foil to Link. While it makes sense because Link Akiran is aromantic and he and Zel hate each others guts at the beginning, it doesn't make sense because of Hilda. Like... idk where Hilda goes in this equation... So i gave up! No more Ravio lmao, back to Kagena. Makes me mad because i lowkey cooked with this... idk I just like the language and everything...
