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King of the Gerudo- Chapter 1: Forgotten Foundation
Summary: it’s been three years since Calamity Ganon attacked Hyrule, and everyone was recovering well from it. Until the strange substance gloom appeared, making people sick when they touched it. Wanting to find answers, Zelda and the champions went beneath the castle against her father’s wishes to try to solve the problem. Meanwhile, the King of Hyrule is desperately trying to figure out more about the gloom, though no one knows the true danger lurking beneath Hyrule…
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It was cold and damp as Zelda, Terrako, and the champions traveled underneath Hyrule castle, the light from her torch being the only thing illuminating the dark hallways. It was uncomfortably quiet as the group walked down the staircase, the strange gloomy substance floating through the air menacingly. Zelda studied it for a minute, her eyes narrowed as gloom danced in front of her. Strange…
“This gloom is rather misty down here,” she stated, reaching out to feel it phase through her fingers. It was soft, and didn’t seem to harm her as it went through her hand. She pulled her arm back and studied her fingers, which seemed untouched.
“Careful Zelda, people have been getting sick when they touch the gloom,” Urbosa warned, stepping down the stairs where Zelda was. The princess looked up at her and smiled.
“It’s alright, there doesn’t seem to be a high enough concentration of gloom down here to hurt us. I think we’ll be safe,” Zelda looked behind her as the rest of the champions walking down the stairs, all muttering quietly to themselves. She turned back at the darkness in front of her where Terrako watched cautiously and took a deep breath. “We’ll be safe for now.”
The princess of Hyrule continued to walk down the stairs, Urbosa and her little guardian friend following closely behind her. She heard Daruk grunting as he squeezed through the tight halls, and there was the occasional grumble from Revali, but overall the group was silent, which didn’t help Zelda’s nerves. As she reached a landing of the stairs, she heard Link quietly catch up to her, his stare intense as he looked down the hallways, the gloom seeming to get thicker.
“I didn’t realize how deep this goes,” Mipha muttered, mostly to herself. “It’s hard to believe that this has been down below Hyrule Castle this whole time.”
“Yes,” Zelda responded quietly. It was strange, she felt like she'd explored every inch of the castle as she studied and trained herself for the calamity. Finding new, untouched areas of the castle was surreal… and exciting. If only the gloom didn’t make the situation frightening. She continued on, moving past Link who was still staring, and almost stepped down the stairs when Urbosa stopped her.
“Something’s not right,” she said in a low voice, eyeing Link with an intense glare. Zelda gave Link a confused look, who had his brows pinched together, staring at Urbosa. The Gerudo chief gestured to his sword, and Zelda gasped.
“Your sword, Link! It’s glowing!” She exclaimed, walking closer to the hero who had the master sword out, studying the glowing blade. “That’s not a good sign… Something is up ahead, we should proceed with caution.”
“Why don’t you stay back while we continue further,” Mipha suggested. “It might be too dangerous for you.”
“I’ll be fine, Mipha, I want to get to the bottom of this.” Zelda turned and continued onward, not allowing Mipha to argue any further. As the group walked, Zelda couldn’t help but study the walls and ground around her. She remembered her father telling her to stay away from beneath the castle, that generations before her were strictly given orders to leave it be, meaning that everything she was seeing was being seen for the first time in centuries. Though there has been nothing special about the halls they were traveling, she couldn’t help but feel giddy over being the first person in centuries to see it. She wondered what they would find down here.
Soon the group reached a long hallway with pillars and statues she'd never seen before. She gasped and jogged to one of the statues, admiring the sheer size and workmanship of it. They seemed to be resembling a creature with a long neck and big ears. Could it be…?
“Zelda!” Urbosa and Link ran up to her. “Don’t run off like that! We don’t know what’s down here!”
“Apologies, Urbosa, but just look at this!” Zelda took out her Sheikah slate and began taking pictures of the statues. “I believe this may be a Zonai!”
“A Zonai?”
“A Zonai! I read about them in my studies, and it was believed that they possessed godlike powers and descended from the heavens!” Zelda moved to the side to get a new angle on the statue, the champions watching her patiently as she took pictures. “Look at those ears! They kind of look like us, don’t they?”
“Give or take a few features,” Revali muttered, studying the statue intently. Zelda giggled and took one more picture before looking at the other statues and ruins in front of her. She frowned and walked towards a fallen pillar.
“They were descended from the sky… but why are their ruins underneath the castle?” She wondered, tracing her fingers along the cold and bumpy stone. She finally stood up and walked to the doorway, with the champions following her. As soon as she crossed the doorway, however, two keese ambushed her, and she yelped as she jumped back from them. Link sprinted towards the monsters, killing them in seconds, with Terrako giving angry beeps at the dead monsters.
“Are you alright?” Mipha asked worriedly, and Zelda waved her hand.
“Oh I’m alright, just a little startled,” she breathed, laughing slightly.
“It’s bad enough that we’re disobeying the king’s orders to stay away from here, the last thing we need is for his daughter to get injured,” Revali said, crossing his wings in front of his chest. Zelda laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head.
“Sorry, I’ll try to be more careful.”
Revali’s glare softened and he rolled his eyes. Daruk let out a sigh of relief as he squeezed through the doorway, stretching his arms above his head.
“Thank Din, a big room!” He cheered, nearly smacking Revali as his arms fell.
“Watch it!” He shouted, and Daruk simply chuckled carelessly. Zelda smiled at the two and glanced at the wall in front of her. It wasn’t like the rest of the walls, and she jogged towards them, straining her neck to look at them fully.
“Why, what is this?” Zelda gasped as she moved her torch to see better. In front of her were murals etched into the walls, the style similar to the Sheikah murals of the calamity she’s seen so many times. A figure stood out to her, it resembling the Zonai statues from the other room, with seven strange shapes floating around it. She took a step back and looked at the whole thing. “Why, this must be the written history of Hyrule!” she exclaimed, pulling out her sheikah slate again and beginning to take pictures, worry making way for excitement as she clicked. “Look! The Zonai were descended from the heavens! And they appeared to have bonded with the Hylians and found Hyrule!” Zelda took a picture of the Zonai and Hylian figure holding hands and she glanced over at something far more ominous. A large imposing figure stood over the Hylian, with the strange shape floating above them. Figures of monsters and the evil figure were shown to be attacking Hylians, with it ending with the Zonai fighting back. Zelda gasped at the realization at what this meant. “This not only shows the founding of Hyrule, but it shows a great battle the young kingdom faced! Of course! It all fits my studies! This shows the great war… the imprisoning war!” Zelda spun around to face the champions, a huge smile on her face. “We have seen history that’s been lost to time! This is a huge discovery!”
The only champions that were listening to her ramblings were Urbosa and Mipha, who were politely and patiently watching her. Link, Revali, and Daruk were simply arguing with Terrako running circles around them.
“Oh! Uh…” Zelda looked down awkwardly, putting her sheikah slate away. “Apologies, I got quite excited back there. No reason to waste time with these murals…”
“No, princess, it is quite fascinating!” Mipha said, joining Zelda’s side and looking up at the mural. “That beast the Zonai is fighting, it looks to be calamity Ganon, doesn’t it?”
Zelda smiled slightly. “Yes, but it’s not Ganon. Apparently that beast was the demon king who stole power from Hyrule…”
Mipha hummed. “I wonder who the Demon king was. There’s not a lot about him.”
“No… there’s not.” Zelda continued to stare at the murals, and her eyes traveled to the rest of the wall, which was blocked off by rock. “It seems the rest of it is blocked…”
Urbosa walked up to the two princesses and stared at the rocks. She turned around to the men who continued to argue. “Daruk! Get over here!”
The argument ended abruptly and the goron champion trotted towards the group. “What’s going on? Is everything ok?” He asked, and Zelda giggled.
“Destroy this rock, Zelda wants to see the rest of the mural.”
“On it!” Daruk pulled out his weapon and walked closer to the rock, but Zelda realized something.
“Wait! You might destroy the mural behind the rocks!” She shouted, running to Daruk. “We’ll need to carefully remove the rocks if we don’t want to damage it. This is a priceless piece afterall.”
“Oh,” Daruk stepped back and put his weapon away, a disappointed frown on his face. Urbosa turned to Link and Revali, who were now staring silently away from the group.
“Link, you’re handy aren’t you? Remove this rock,” she ordered, but Zelda shook her head.
“No, it’ll take too long to remove this rock. There are more important things to worry about right now,” Zelda stared at another doorway, dread beginning to rest within her stomach. “The mural can wait,” she said softly, walking to the doorway. She heard the shuffling of footsteps as the others followed her, the air around her only getting colder and thicker. The misty gloom turned into a fog, making it difficult for her to breath. The dread was getting worse, and she felt like she wanted to cry as she got deeper and deeper. Her legs were shaking terribly, and she needed to grab the wall in order to keep her balance, but she kept moving, with the champions following closely behind her. Finally, she reached the end, and she was met with a large open room covered in gloom, and in the middle was something she’s never seen before.
A person, rotten and decayed was being held by the chest of a glowing green arm, with green magic swirling from the top of it. Gloom poured out of the chest of the corpse, poisoning the room with its haze, and as Zelda looked further, the mouth of the corpse was open, as if it was screaming before it met its end. As Zelda cautiously stepped closer, the arm’s light began to flicker, and she gasped as it went dark and fell to the ground, causing a yellow stone to break from its bracelet, landing right in front of Zelda. She kneeled on the ground, picking up the strange stone. It felt warm in her hands, and the light was almost soothing. She felt something within her began to grow as she held it, and she traced the delicate etchings on the stone with her thumb.
“What is this…?” She started, when the corpse in front of her began to move. She jumped up and found herself pressed up against Urbosa, who had an intense glare as the corpse’s head began to twitch. The sickening crack of its bones filled the air, and its head suddenly turned to look at the group, glowing eyes full of malice appearing to stare back at them. Zelda felt her heart drop to her stomach and she instinctively moved further into Urbosa. Gloom suddenly shot out, aiming straight for the two. The princess let out a scream, bracing herself to be struck, but Link was in front of her, swiping at the gloom with the master sword. It retreated for a moment, until it shot out again. Time slowed as Link swiped again, and the glowing sword that sealed darkness away shattered into pieces, one shard slicing the corpse’s cheek. Link let out a pained cry as the gloom suddenly covered his arm entirely.
“LINK!” Zelda shouted, catching him before he crumpled to the ground. Mipha was at his side in seconds, and the champions stared at the corpse as it began to rise.
“Was that the sword that seals the darkness?” Its raspy voice echoed through the room, the malice filled eyes never leaving Zelda’s. “That sword shattered under a fraction of my power, Rauru placed his faith in you, and that was all you could do?”
The creature was standing straight now, it towering over the group. Link began to get on his knees, panting in pain as he glared at the corpse, but its eyes stayed on Zelda, and it began to laugh. A sick and uncanny laugh that echoed through the room.
“Zelda,” It said, its rotten mouth curling into a smile, and the princess whimpered. “It’s been a long time…”
“H-how do you know my name?” Zelda asked, her voice shaking uncontrollably. The corpse smiled at her, making her feel alone despite being surrounded by the champions. Its arms were brought to its chest, where high amounts of gloom suddenly swirled in front of it. Gloom was shot at the ceiling, causing the ground to shake violently. Zelda couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t breathe, and she didn’t know if she was still near the champions. She heard the distressed cries of Terrako near her, and she hugged the guardian tightly as she searched for the champions. She heard the cries of them as the ceiling began to rise, and she crawled across the ground with Terrako in her arms, but the ground beneath her suddenly gave way, and she let out a yell as she and the guardian plummeted towards the darkness below.
“ZELDA!” She heard someone cry, and she saw Link reaching out to her, his decaying and broken arm reaching for her, but it missed. Zelda screamed as she plummeted, desperately reaching for something, anything, that could catch her. She felt a warm tingling coming from the stone she still had clutched in her hand, and warmth surrounded her whole being. As she stared at the helpless champions, a bright light appeared in her vision, a dizziness overcame her, and then there was nothing but darkness.
