I sigh. “Always another test, am I right?”

Rauru chuckles. “Let me see the Purah Pad for a moment.”

I unhook the device from my waist, turning it to face the Zonai spirit. He indicates a small blue mark.

“Here. Go there, using the Fast Travel system, and you will find your path forward.”

He fades away, and I tuck the pad back on my belt after travelling back to the room I’d awakened in. the huge spinning gears there are just like the ones of the Temple of Time, and I Ascend up to a higher platform, Recalling the gears to reverse their flow of time, then crossing to a hole in the upper wall of the chamber, slipping a little on the damp stone.

 Following the tunnel, I use a couple of brightbloom seeds to brighten the darkness, making my path easier. The shrine is right where Rauru said, and I step through the rift, entering the shrine to face my final trial here.

Rauru doesn’t appear, and I quickly realise that this shrine is designed to test my new Recall power. A floating raft drifting towards me needs to be reverse-timed in order to cross a river with a strong current. The next river section has a freaking WATERFALL. Would Recall even work on that?!

Another raft drops from the lip of the fall, and I wait till I can hop on and Recall it, holding on for dear life. As I dig my nails into the wood, I find my craft rising as if lifted by some giant hand. Disembarking, I catch my breath, letting the power go and causing time to resume its flow.

The last obstacle in my path is a gate locked by a clock, the two hands moving in opposite directions. However, when they cross over, in the instant the hands are overlapping, the gate slides open. Waiting for my chance, I let the clock hands cross, and Recall them so they move as one, the gate opening. I dart through, face to face with the altar.

My last Blessing of Light claimed, I leave through the other tunnel, finding another glider ramp and some gliders, aiming for the Temple.

“Here we go! Whoooo!”

I take a running hop to land on my glider, surfing the air towards the Temple as I reposition in order to guide the bird-glider. The glider comes down in the pond outside the Temple of Time, and I paddle my way up to the stairs,  climbing out and making my way back inside.

Making my way back up to the Goddess statue, I see it starting to glow at my presence.  Approaching, I pray, and hear the Goddess’ voice in my mind.

“You who have conquered the shrines and claimed their Lights of Blessing. In exchange for four Lights of Blessing, I will grant you power.”

I murmur, “Please, Goddess Hylia… Give me the strength to open this door. Give me enough that I may save my beloved…”

“I will grant the power you seek…”

I feel renewed strength flood my limbs, and breathe out softly.

“Go, young heroine, and bring peace to the world…”

This time, when I push the door, it opens for me, and my right arm begins to glow again. Rauru stands there, as if he’d been expecting me.

“Ah, good. I see you have managed to open the door. You haven’t fully recovered yet, but that’s to be expected- you were almost beyond saving… By visiting the shrines and receiving their blessings, you have mitigated some of the corruption’s effects. Though our time together has been brief, I am so happy that we have finally met… you are exactly as Zelda said.”

He looks out at the long walkway towards an altar at the far end. “I’ve done everything I can for her. Now it is up to you, young woman.”

With those words, the glowing, translucent form of Rauru… disperses slowly into particles of blue light, leaving me alone. Turning to the distant altar, I take the first few steps, then realise I’ll need to use Ascend a couple times to reach the altar.

Upon getting closer, I can see a golden orb of light hanging in the air above it. It looks an awful lot like Zel’s power…

The light reacts with my new hand, and I raise it to the light. It glows brighter, and I get the strangest urge to draw the ruined Master Sword. The light slowly swallows the blade, raising it into the air, before… Recall activates. It’s not MY doing, though, and I can see the sands of time flowing in reverse, faster and faster, an unknown amount of time speeding backwards, all the way… to…

“Zel…!” I murmur soundlessly, seeing her standing opposite me, her hands out as she takes the broken wreck of the Master Sword from the air.  She looks down at the weapon, before holding it close.

I feel tears flow down my face as I reach out to the spot my Zel had just been, before the platform shudders, and, as I whirl, a glowing, gold-and-white dragon rises, flying sedately upwards, the clouds it had torn through dissipating, revealing the blanket of Hyrule laid out so, so, SO far below.

A voice I’ve missed beyond anything fills my mind.

“Linka… Linka… you must find me….”

Beneath me, I can see a large body of water. Looks like I have one more dive to make.

“I’m coming, Zel… I’ll find you, and I’ll never let you go again… I promise…”

And, with that, I take three steps back, before leaping from the brink, diving, the distance between the Great Sky Island and the surface of Hyrule covered in barely a few minutes.

“Oooooooohhhhhh SSSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII---!!!”

SPLOOSH.

Hauling myself from the small lake and spitting a mouthful of water out, I start heading for Lookout Landing, the research outpost-town, as the sun sets. The moon is turning red.

“Ohhh, poop…”

 A figure stands on the hill above me. A figure I know all too well. Her short blonde hair, her curves visible through her clothing… Zelda. She’s standing there, staring towards Hyrule castle’s new position in midair, before speaking, quietly, but loud enough to carry well.

“Witness the Blood Moon’s rise. When its red glow shines upon the land…the aimless spirits of monsters slain… return to flesh…. Just as they did in a war long past. The world is threatened once again…”

A cloud passes overhead, and when I can see again, she’s gone.

I stare, as if I can make her reappear by sheer force of will. “What…? That can’t have been her, can it? The moon…”

I look up, at the pale blue moon, its rays blanketing the fields and forests. Sighing and shaking my head, I turn my mind to rest. I must be getting tired, if I’m seeing things…

Lighting a fire, I settle back against a fallen mass of stone, trying to sleep, my mind racing. We ventured beneath Hyrule castle… we discovered some ruins dating back to far, far back in the ancient past…. Then, at the deepest point of the ruins, we found… someone, who seemed to not only harness, but was the origin of the Malice, and the gloom. I was injured to the brink of death, and failed her. Zel fell, and then disappeared... Then I woke up on an island in the sky, where my arm was… replaced, and I was given the Purah Pad. But Zel had it with her when she fell… then, after managing to get through the Temple of Time on the island, I dived from thousands of feet up and survived…. And then I could swear I saw Zelda praying to the Blood Moon…

My night is restless, and I wake early, before the sun has risen. The dying embers of my campfire glow faintly, and I kick some dirt over them to stifle them. Time to get moving. The less time I spend sitting around feeling sorry for myself, the sooner I can find my girlfriend and save her!

With my determination unbowed, unbent, and unbroken, I make tracks, hotfooting it towards Lookout Landing. It’s still a day’s travel from where I landed, and the sun is already set by the time I make it to the gates. There’s a guard, part of one of the Monster Extermination Squads, at the entrance, armed with a wooden spear.

“Linka? Ms. Linka? Is that really you? Where have you been?!”

I nod, panting. “Hi, Mondi. It’s been, what, six months or so since I last came by, if I’m not mistaken?”

He nods. “The last thing we heard, you and the princess went beneath the castle to investigate the gloom! And that’s when the castle rose into the air! Everyone’s been so worried about both of you. Purah’s barely slept! She’s been trying to figure out where both of you went.”

I nod. “She’s most likely in the telescope building, right?”

Mondi nods. “That’s right. Please, hurry. She’ll be overjoyed to know you’re alright.”

I smile. “I will, thanks. Goodbye, Mondi.”

Entering the town, I head for the telescope building, taking the stairs up to the second stairway. By the door, a young Sheikah woman, more of a girl, seems to be waiting. The moment she hears my footsteps, she turns and hurries towards me.

“Um!”

I blink at her.

“That hair! Those eyes! Duh…DUH… DOC! Doctor Puuuraaah! The knightess! The knightess has returned!”

A second later, the sounds of heavy objects falling, being shoved, the clatter of ceramics, and what sounds like a cat yowling, as well as heels clacking, break the relative stillness. The door is wrenched open, a female figure standing in the doorway. Long legs, clad in crimson stockings. A white over-layered top and semi-detached sleeves, with a crimson undershirt,  and a pair of golden goggles with glowing blue, half-lidded lenses. Stark white hair pulled back in a wild bun.

“Thank you, Josha! Ok… now where have you been?!”

The figure clacks a pace closer. She looks familiar.

“Linky… you’re not a ghost, are you?”

Before I can respond, the woman’s lenses seem to focus on my arm.

“Now, that looks interesting…”

I tuck my arm behind myself, breaking her lock-on. She straightens up.

“Phew… one step at a time.”

She lifts the goggles up, settling them on the top of her head, revealing a set of spectacles with crimson frames.

“What exactly happened?”

I blink. “Wait… Purah?!”

She giggles. “Well, who ELSE calls you ‘Linky’? And yes, I can tell what you’re thinking! ‘What happened, you were so tiny and adorable and a little girl!’ Well, I managed to age myself UP this time instead of all-the-way-down. It’s nice to be able to reach high shelves without needing a jetpack!”

I stare, shaking my head. “I haven’t seen you in half a year, and now you’ve done something insane with your ‘science’ all over again…”

She smiles. “Exactly! So, your turn! Explain yourself, missy! Starting with that arm!”

It takes about three or four hours, but I finally manage to satisfy the curious Sheikah. She nods in thought as she sums it up.

“So, when you and Princess Zelda went go beneath Hyrule castle, you discover a mysterious mummy which suddenly reanimates.  Then, Zelda falls into a fissure and vanishes. That must have been when the castle rose and the ruins fell… then, later, you wake up on a sky island, saved by the arm that was stuck to the mummy. You get the Purah Pad from an unusual creature… and learn that your new arm belonged to someone named Rauru. The Master Sword disappears.  You hear the Princess’ voice… and find your way here.”

She scribbles on a notepad, clearly intent on learning all she can.

“Then… are you saying you came from up THERE?!”

She points at the distant floating landmass, and I nod.

“Yes.”

The young Sheikah girl, Josha, is leaning in, fascinated. Purah chews the end of her pen.

“This Rauru you met… I think that’s what the first king of Hyrule was named. Are they one and the same? So much of this doesn’t make sense yet… but I’m certain that mummy you found under the castle MUST be related to the Upheaval.”

She turns to stare pensively at the floating edifice of the royal palace.

“The castle rising up… the ruins falling down from the sky… the mummy must be connected to it somehow… and then there’s the most important detail of all. You’re sure you heard the princess speak to you? And she gave you a clear message to find her?”

I nod. The look on my face must be showing how much I miss my love, because Purah takes a step back.

“If that truly was the princess, then that means she’s alive! Maybe she’s trapped beneath the castle and needs help… that settles it. I know you only just returned, Linka, but I need you to meet with the search party up by Hyrule castle’s former site. They’ve been searching tirelessly for you two. The captain in charge is named Hoz. Work with him to find your princess as quickly as you can. I fear that mummy may still be lurking somewhere around there. Which is concerning, to say the least, but we have more immediate problems to deal with right now. I’m counting on you, Linky!”

I nod. “Even if you WEREN’T asking me, I’d go alone if I have to. I WILL find my… I will find the princess.”

Purah’s eyes narrow. “Still can’t say it aloud easily, can you…?” she murmurs, but I’m too distracted.

Making my way back down the stairs and out the other gate to the one I came in from, into the Central Square of the old Castle Town, tents and stacked supplies everywhere, donated to the rebuilding effort by the Gorons, the Rito, and the Zora.

I head straight for the gate across the bridge. It’s rusted shut and won’t budge an inch, but part of the stone gate-frame is broken enough to allow a fairly skilled climber, such as myself, to scale it and make my way past without much trouble.

A couple of people are there, but I move past them, not even pausing for breath, instead continuing up the path, arriving at the First Gatehouse a few minutes later. I don’t see anyone particularly important, and grab someone to ask.

The guard turns as I tap him on the shoulder.

“Did you come up here to help look for Princess Zelda too? Yeah, me and a few others had the same idea. We all owe a great deal to the princess. We were hoping to help, anyway… but the captain is way up on top of the gatehouse. It doesn’t look like he’s coming down anytime soon, either.”

Alright, that answers tha. I can get up easily if I use Ascend, but I think I should keep my new abilities secret as much as possible. Gripping onto the stone and digging my fingers into the gaps between the bricks, I scale the wall, ending up on the roof of the gatehouse and spotting two people, one wearing a metal helm with a red crest on it. Perfect.

I approach. “Captain Hoz?”

“Hrrmmm? What is it, I’m quite busy here…”

The captain starts to turn, before halting as he sees me.

“….Huh?”

He whirls to face me properly. I smile. “Hello.”

“Ms. Linka? Is that you? You’re alive! And in one piece, it looks like. Does that mean Princess Zelda is safe too?”

I shrug. “Mostly, at any rate. As for the princess, I have no idea. We were separated while beneath the castle.”

Hoz blinks. “You’re alone? But you heard the princess calling out to you and you’re here to help with the search? I… see. Er, maybe I don’t. I’m a little confused, but that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is continuing our search for Princess Zelda! I AM relieved to see you come up here and help us out, though. We needed some good news. The sheer amount of Gloom has gotten… overwhelming. Our work carries on, but we’ve been a bit dead in the water.”

I open my mouth, but the other searcher shouts.

“CAPTAIN! It’s Princess Zelda!” I rush forward a few steps, pulling the Purah Pad out and aiming where the man points. Across from us, on the flat top of a small guard tower, stands Zelda.  She’s staring towards up, and I narrow my eyes, gazing at her through the scope built into the Pad. The look on her face is… cold, almost dismissive.

 Hoz doesn’t seem to notice the look on my girlfriend’s face.

“Princess Zelda! She’s safe!”

As Hoz cheers, Zelda turns to look upwards, her arms raised, and she floats up off the top of the tower, and then vanishes in a burst of golden light.

Hoz’ cheers die down.

“Wait… what… you saw that too, right, Ms. Linka?!”

I nod. “I also got a good look at her. I… I don’t… I think something’s wrong. She was looking at us with a very unfriendly expression. That’s not normal for her. I would know.”

He tilts his head. “Well, that’s true. We should tell Purah! Considering what we just witnessed, I think it makes safe to withdraw, but it will take a bit.”

“I’ll go and tell Purah about what we just saw.”

While Captain Hoz orders the retreat, I hurry back to Lookout Landing via the Purah Pad’s warp function and sprinting back at full speed. Purah is still where I’d left her, engaged in an intense discussion with Josha. She brightens when she sees me.

“Linky! Well, did you find anything?”

I explain what I’d seen up at the First Gatehouse, and Josha starts in surprise as the older Sheikah girl exclaims, “You’re telling me that Princess Zelda was at the castle, and the she transformed into LIGHT and flew off? As expected, Linky, you do tell the wildest stories. But if you’re telling me that’s what you saw, then I’ve got to believe it. You’re honest to a fault. And it sounds like we’ll need to change our approach. Since the princess flew off, maybe we should redirect our efforts and dig into the Upheaval. For now, at least. I’ve already got a few regions in mind to start exploring. I bet we’ll pick up clues about where she flew off to as we look around. Ooh, yeah. You’ve got the Purah Pad on you, right? Can I see it for a sec? ”

 

I nod, handing over the device. Purah busies herself with inspecting it.

“Hmm… it’s a little worse for wear, but… seems to be functioning fine. Map, map, map… aha.  Well, it’s all corrupted, except the data you got on the Great Sky Island. We can restore it, but it’ll need updating. We’ll have to use map data from right around Lookout Landing. But, for THAT, we’ll need our Skyview Tower.”

She turns to the younger Sheikah beside her. “Josha, what’s the status of the Skyview Tower right now?”

 

The little Sheikah girl adjusts her glasses and bites her lip.

“Let me see… Outwardly, the structure looks to be complete. But, internally, there are a few systems checks that still need to be run… and the travel point is still undergoing final adjustments!”

Purah sighs. “The travel point needs tweaking? Sounds like I’d better get cracking. Sorry about this, Linky. I’ll get it up and running right away, so just hang tight. In the meantime, why don’t you rest up? You must be exhausted.”

I nod. “Is the emergency shelter ready?”

“Yes, there are some beds free, as well as a kitchen, so it’s well stocked for getting some rest and rejuvenating yourself.”

“Alright, I’ll take a rest. Will a couple of hours be enough?”

“Yeah, that should do. Sleep well! We’ll be over by the Skyview Tower.” Purah beams at me, and I smile.

“Thanks, Purah. I’ll catch you later.”

The two Sheikah girls head off in to Purah’s workshop to grab their tools, and I head down to the emergency shelter, starting to yawn. Finding an empty bed, I curl up on top of the covers, my eyes growing heavy.

Oh, Zel… I miss you so much… what HAPPENED to you…? Why did you give me that look? I know I failed you, but if you’d let me explain…

 

 

When I wake, I sit up, reaching out for Zel, before remembering what had happened.  I can feel my heart aching, but I push myself out of bed. If there’s one thing I appreciate about my father Ewan putting me through knight’s training so early, it’s the ability to wake up when I want, even in a situation like this.  Climbing the ladder to exit the emergency shelter, I head over to Purah as she fiddles with the console inside the tower.

“If I put this here, then that goes there… no, no, that’s not quite it… wait… there! Aha! That should do it.”

“Good morning, Purah…” I say, morosely. I’m already suffering girlfriend-cuddle withdrawals, shut up!

 

She turns. “Hey, Linky. You all set? I just wrapped up here, myself. The travel point is working fine now. Or it will be, once you do your part…”

I blink as Purah claps her hands twice. “We’re ready, Josha! Pull the switch!”

I hear a loud humming, and look up to see lights springing into life along the tower’s walls. The cap on the top open, and with a fizzing cough, something rockets upwards, trailing smoke.

It detonates in a bright yellow light, lingering up there, as I spot another one, then a couple more. “Whoa… is that all of them active?”

“Yep-yep!” Purah smiles, proud of her handiwork. “Ok… now it’s your turn! Go hold the Purah Pad over that terminal!”

I approach the console she was fiddling with, holding the device out and letting the two interface. The travel point flickers one, and blue light runs up the tower’s surface.

“Alright, now the Skyview Tower will be active on your map! The travel point is ready for use!”

She leans in. “But Skyview Towers are about more than JUST travelling quickly. Their primary function is to survey the area. Or, more simply put, to make a map! My Purah Pad works in tandem with the Skyview Towers and scans the topography directly onto the map. Pretty great, hmm?”

 

I nod. “That’s actually really impressive. You’re amazing, Purah. I know Zel would approve.”

She smiles. “Aw, that’s sweet. By the way, here! I reinforced this and made it more responsive. It was a challenge, but when you asked me, I just couldn’t say no to you!”

Purah hands me a bundle of fabric and struts. I smile a little.

“My paraglider! Thank you, I owe you one.”

“No worries! Especially since I’m cashing that favour in right now! Step onto that pad there. I’ll be observing from the lab! When you’re finished, we’ll have a final briefing on the search for your girlfriend!”

The Sheikah science boffin darts away, her heels clacking on the wooden boards.

I turn round and step onto the pad. “Like… this? WAH!”

Six Guardian legs, prehensile claws clicking, snake out from beneath the pad, and I’m ashamed to say I squealed like a girl. They lunge, grabbing at me, pinning my arms and legs still as-

The two remaining ones affix a spool of cable to my belt, and then plug a connector into the bottom of the Purah Pad, still clutched in my right hand. Then the arms release me and retract, disappearing under the pad again. I blink.

“Dammit, Purah, you could’ve warned me… you KNOW those things almost killed me a century ago!” I pout.

Suddenly, the circular board beneath my feet starts shuddering and jerking like an earthquake’s just begun right below me. Then, it rockets upwards, rising faster and faster, the cable unspooling as I find myself inside the Tower, going up and up at increasingly-high velocity, until it hits the brake at the top. The Launchpad stops abruptly. I… don’t.

 

If anyone below was awake, they would’ve heard a noise that sounded like a giant breaking wind, followed by a scream, “OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiii….” That trailed off into the vertical distance.