"Nothing stays secret forever" -Jennifer R. Hubbard

The Chasm

After the encounter with Gandrayda, the still battle weary group manages to descend the chasm.

"So, this is it?" Samus asks, scanning the immediate vicinity. "I can't see anything on my map, how far down are we?"

"I managed to estimate at least 250 meters below the surface, before interference ruined the count." Virginia reports.

"It's like a giant cave." Link comments while looking at the rocky landscape. "Well, at least there's only one place to go."

"Hold on, what's this?" Zelda points to a post holding an elaborate Yiga mask with a sign.

"It looks like a grave marker." Link answers while kneeling down in front of it. "Yeah, this belongs to Kohga, the previous Yiga master. I guess they buried him where he was defeated, how poetic. Well, you got your wish; the Yiga haven't stopped coming after me." Link comments as he remembers the night that Samus first arrived; Silas and several others were waiting for him and Zelda. After Link regales what he knew about the previous master, the group slowly walks down the cavernous pathway with several torches just barely lighting it. Several minutes later, the group stops as Zelda's hazard shield begins to glow.

"Hold on, what's this?" Samus asks upon seeing the shield react.

"Samus, there is a large trace of phazon in the vicinity, proceed with caution." Virginia reports. "Also, I detect several unknown markers approaching our location." Virginia shows the radar with many markers surrounding them.

"We should go. I don't think we should fight whatever's coming towards us." Link comments, not wanting to face the threat with the risk of phazon near them.

"Wait, where are they?" Zelda asks, hearing the radar beeping loudly, but no one appears. The silence finally breaks as a skeletal hand erupts from the ground and grabs Zelda's left leg, startling her. Quickly, she kicks it off and a Stalkoblin emerges, holding a club. Before anything more can be done, Link swiftly shatters the undead monster. The victory is short lived however; several more stalkoblins emerge from the ground.

"Ok, so Riju wasn't exaggerating when she said there was an increase of stal monsters." Link comments as he arms his bow with bomb arrows to shatter the monsters, Samus aids Link with several plasma shots and Zelda slashes the ones that get through to them.

"How are these things still moving?!" Samus shouts amidst the screeching stalkoblins.

"I'll explain later!" Zelda answers before launching a fireball, destroying several monsters. "Now, run!"

Taking the break between them and the still emerging monsters, the group turns around and escapes deeper into the cavern with more stalkoblins in hot pursuit. The monsters screeches echo, giving the group more incentive to run faster. Seeing the radiation warning on her HUD increasing, Samus uses her scan pulse to send a ripple towards their current destination. On her radar, she sees a large pool of phazon which they are quickly approaching and she gives the order to jump. Upon doing so, they see the phazon pool as they clear it, much to their shock over having missed it were it not for Samus. Hearing the stalkoblins, Samus opens fire on them.

"Link! Zelda! Shoot the rocks at the top!" Samus orders, pointing to the ceiling above the phazon pool. In response, Link and Zelda hit the ceiling with bomb arrows while Samus offers suppressing fire on the stalkoblins. Not long after, the ceiling caves in and the entrance is blocked, crushing several stalkoblins and preventing the rest from getting in. The dust clears and everyone takes a minute to recover from the ordeal, until Zelda turns around and sees a surprising landscape.

"Everyone?" Zelda speaks up, getting Link and Samus's attention as they turn around. What they see next is the ruins of many buildings with some resembling fortresses. The thing that catches their attention is the reddish-purple and black substance covering several parts of the ruins.

"What is all this?" Samus asks, scanning the substance.

"It's malice..." Link answers in apprehension over seeing it again.

"This is what's bringing the stalkoblins back to life." Zelda quietly adds. "It's odd though; while there are traces of it across the land, there shouldn't be this much left."

Unbeknownst to them, while they continue their discussion, a stalkoblin manages to climb out from a hole in the fallen rocks.

"Also, what's with these ruins?" Link asks, placing a hand on one of the buildings. "I don't recognize them."

"Not only that, but look at the torches; they weren't here before." Zelda points to the many torches scattered across the area, noticing that they were placed fairly recently.

"Well, we can't go back the way we came. Let's go further in." Samus concludes and they all enter deeper into the ruins. The stalkoblin that got through the rocks finally frees itself before falling down into the phazon pool. Crawling out and covered in the mutagen, the stalkoblin begins convulsing as the malice within its bones and the phazon begins a startling reaction. From behind, several other stalkoblins begin clawing their way through the rocks and some fall immediately into the phazon pool.

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The ruined city

The group journeys deeper into the ruins, making sure not to touch the malice and taking note of the fact that it's getting more and more accumulated. Finally, they reach a wooden plaque that has a type of scripture on it.

"Take a look at this." Link points to that same plaque. "What does it say?"

"I don't know; it looks Hylian, but I also see a bit of...Gerudo." Zelda answers, trying to read the text. "I can see a few words; the Immortal One, Goddess and blood of Hylia."

"What does that mean?" Samus asks, unable to decipher the language with her scan visor. Zelda, meanwhile, shows her excitement at what she's been able to read.

"This could mean something that the Goddess left behind for us. Look, it mentions the blood of Hylia; in other words, her descendants."

"Maybe. But what about that other part, the Immortal One. I don't remember Hylia going by a name like that." Link comments, skeptical over the scripture. "I don't know if we should go snooping around for whatever this is.

"I agree Zelda; there are some doors that should stay closed. Maybe this is one of those doors." Samus comments, trying to talk Zelda out of deviating from the mission at hand. Before Zelda can protest, they are interrupted by footsteps coming from behind them; revealed to be a stalkoblin with rotten flesh growing on it. Surprised by this creature's disheveled appearance, Samus moves to shoot it in the head and it falls to the ground.

"Samus, we didn't know what that was. Maybe it would've been best to see where it came from." Zelda comments.

"In my experience, things that look like walking rotting corpses are never a good thing."

"I agree; let's get out of here." Link adds with his back turned to the bokoblin, eager to leave. Suddenly, that same bokoblin sits up. Zelda and Samus look on in shock as its wound closes up and its eyes (black with glowing yellow irises and reddish serpent like pupils) open. Link turns around to see the monster staring back at them, which screeches as it jumps at them. Link responds by intercepting and severing its left arm and to his surprise, it still forces him to the ground with unprecedented strength given its deteriorated appearance. "What is this thing?!"

"Hang on!" Samus shouts before running up and roundhouse kicking the creature away towards the ruins. Helping Link onto his feet, Samus uses her radar and sees many other blips surrounding their position. "Zelda, get over here!"

"What is it?" Zelda asks, having her bow ready.

"I think we're going to see more of them."

And, as if on cue, several bokoblins like the last one emerge from several points in the area, accompanied by moblins and lizalfos with the same condition. The three stare in awe as the creatures slowly creep towards them. Samus takes the time to scan the creatures and makes a startling discovery; these creatures have been reanimated by the malice and had their flesh partially restored by the phazon, giving them rotten appearances. Severally outnumbered by these stronger undead beasts, the three move to run deeper into the ruins, until they notice that the malice starts to glow. Seeing this, one of the mutant bokoblins starts hollering and screeching, making the others charge towards them.

"Run!" Link shouts as he and the two try to get as much distance between them and the monsters. Not taking into account their surroundings, they run through tunnels with torches lighting the paths and even more malice that glows in a very peculiar manner.

"Which way?!" Samus shouts, unable to map the area.

Zelda, holding a torch from the wall, tries to figure out which branching path to take. Before she can decide, several monsters emerge from one of the tunnels, forcing them to take the only other path. "Hurry!"

They continue to run for their lives as the monsters from behind gain on them and even more from branching pathways, once again forcing them to take the only other path available (unbeknownst to them, the malice lining the pathways continue to glow even more intensely, even making sounds similar to guttural growls). After several minutes of aimless running, Link stops them.

"What are you doing?! They're going to catch us!" Zelda shouts in protest.

"No, listen; they're not following us. I can't even hear their noises anymore." Link retorts. "Why did they stop?"

"It's true; my radar can't pick them up." Samus adds, pointing her arm cannon towards the dark tunnel.

"Is there something down this tunnel that they don't like?" Zelda wonders aloud, looking down the path they ran towards. "Could it be?"

"What?" Link asks.

"What that plaque said; about Hylia and those who carry her blood. Is it down there, whatever it is?"

Sighing, Link wanted to argue against going further without knowing what they may find, but decides to continue down that way. "Or it could lead to the divine beast. Besides, going back means running into that horde. I say we go forward."

"Agreed. We can't go back now, let's move on." Samus adds, seeing no other options. After fifteen minutes of cautious walking through the dark tunnel, the group stumbles upon an elaborate door; with a massive hieroglyph that resembles the Goddess Hylia holding a chain in each hand.

"Link, it's her!" Zelda excitedly states.

"Yeah, I guess you were right about her being further down this place, or at least her image." Link comments. "But, what's in it?"

"Let's find out." Zelda moves to figure out how to open the door, until Samus speaks up.

"Wait a minute."

"What is it, Samus?" Zelda asks.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this; I don't like the looks of this." Samus moves towards the door and points at Hylia's arms. "Check it out; she's holding chains connecting to each side of the door."

"What about them?" Link asks, curious as to where Samus is going with her investigation.

"It looks like...she wants to keep something from getting out."

Link and Zelda look at each other after Samus brings up a possibility; should they open the door? What could be inside that Hylia wouldn't want set loose?

"I don't know; I think Samus might have a point." Link says before placing a hand on the door. "Besides, it doesn't look like we can open the door; it's sealed tight."

"Then, what should we do?" Zelda asks, at a loss for ideas.

"I think if take one of the other branching paths then we might find a way out. I'll just have to shoot down whatever comes our way."

"Fine, I'll provide backup for you." Link states while holding the master swords hilt. While this is happening, Zelda takes one last look at the door and strokes Hylia's image, confirming that it be best that they leave it alone before rejoining her partners. "Come on; let's get out of here-"

The group turns around to see a glowing yellow handprint on the door, where Zelda placed her hand. The door begins to rumble as the expression on Hylia's face changes to one of sleep instead of determination and the chains inexplicably flake off.

"What did you do?" Link asks in surprise.

"Nothing, I only touched it."

Samus looks on as the door opens and a cold chill exits from within. Zelda looks inside and bear witness to an elaborate room illuminated with torches, as well as a higher concentration of malice.

"What is this place?" Samus quietly asks, trying to scan the room. From behind, the howls of many monsters echo through the tunnel, along with their thundering footsteps (once again, the group failed to realize that the malice glowed before the creatures made themselves known). Alarmed and with no other choice, the group moves to barricade themselves within the room. Link and Samus do their best to close the doors as Zelda moves inward (at their suggestion). Seeing past all of the malice, Zelda sees an intricate structure resembling a boar and an inscription on it; "I am the Immortal One. Only the Goddess herself can release me from my slumber. Those foolish enough to do so shall pay dearly..."

"...with the calamity upon this world." Zelda reads the last part out loud and realizes what this place is in actuality; a tomb. Fearful of what may be inside, Zelda turns around and rushes to close the door with her partners, wanting to be far away from the structure. With the door nearly closed, three mutant bokoblins manage to get through and they turn around to grab Zelda. Link attempts to stop them, but the other monsters try to force the door open, forcing him and Samus to keep it closed.

"Samus, can shoot those things from here?!" Link shouts, trying to keep the door closed.

"No, I might hit Zelda!" Samus answers with her back against the door and with her cannon aimed at the monsters seizing Zelda. "Wait, there's only one way out; where are they going?"

Zelda does her best to get free from her captors, but their enhanced strength prevents her from doing so. The third bokoblin grabs a nearby rock and begins smashing a part of the aforementioned structure and with each hit, the malice glows more and more vibrantly. "What are you doing?! We don't know what's in there! Stop!" Zelda shouts in desperation and one of the bokoblins hits her on the back of her head in response, rendering her unconscious.

"Samus, go get her! I've got the door!" Link, having seen Zelda getting hit, shouts to Samus.

"You can't hold it by yourself!" Samus retorts, doing her best to aim at the bokoblins, but she is continually interrupted by the banging on the door. Looking upwards, she notices several stalactites above and scanning their integrity, she comes up with an idea. "Link, I think I can block the door with those stalactites! A few of them will start falling and when it all comes down, we need to back away, understood?!"

"Go for it!" Link shouts in agreement as Samus arms her missiles. Back at the structure, the bokoblin had finished breaking a part of the structure, releasing highly concentrated malice from within and the ones surrounding the tomb now glow intensely, as if expecting something. Samus shoots three missiles upwards, dislodging a few which they avoid. The other two bokoblins bring up the still unconscious Zelda to the structure, pulling up her left sleeve and bring her arm over the breach the third bokoblin made. Pulling out a small dagger on its hip, one of the bokoblins cuts Zelda's arm, spilling her blood into the breach.

"Link, get ready to move!" Samus shouts, at which Link nods, and fires a pair of super missiles at the ceiling, causing a cave in. On cue, the three move away quickly as any entering monster is crushed by the falling rocks. Now in the clear, Link and Samus furiously rush over and face the three bokoblins, who drop Zelda and attack the two. Link swiftly decapitates one as Samus blast a hole in the second one with her nova beam. The remaining bokoblin rushes them with its bloody dagger, only for Samus to kick it up in the air and for Link to vertically bifurcate it. With all three bokoblins "dead", Link cradles Zelda while Samus applies a salve (from Zelda's bag) over her arm to stop the bleeding.

"What were they doing to her?" Samus asks.

"I don't know..." Link answers, still trying to wake Zelda. Then, Samus points out that the malice is beginning to seep out from the breach on the structure, gradually increasing in quantity. Zelda finally wakes up and hurriedly sits up after seeing the malice and Link gets her back on her feet. "Zelda, are you alright?"

"Link, Samus! There's something in there; I don't know what is, but it's tied to the Calamity! We must leave now!" Zelda, in a panic, quickly explains to her group about the structure, rubbing her arm in discomfort due to the cut. Suddenly, an ethereal, emaciated, pale green hand with golden bracelets stretches out and clenches its fist, opening an entrance on one of the walls, much to everyone's shock.

"Run..." a voice, which Link recognizes from one of the many monks that he met before, whispers in their minds. Feeling that they should heed the voice, Link hurries his friends through the gat as the malice begins to "erupt" from the breach. With the three out of the room, the structure begins to crack as malice violently seeps out until it finally crumbles away, revealing several of those ethereal arms holding a "cocoon" made of malice. Soon, it overtakes the arms, dissipating them before the cocoon dissolves, revealing a mummified corpse wearing an intricate necklace with Gerudo symbols, armlets, bracelets, headdress with a red jewel, a long faded blue loincloth covering the corpses lower half and long red hair. The blood from Zelda's cut stained its chest as the malice creeps up it so as to move the blood into its mouth. A few seconds pass and the corpse begins to stir, before its eyes light up (similar to the eyes found in copious amounts of malice) and it lets out an ungodly howl as it flexes its hands. From the secret passage opened by that voice, the group stops as they hear the howls from behind.

"What was that?" Samus asks, pointing her cannon towards the direction the sound came from. The Creature roars once again and the monsters from the blocked entrance now furiously dig through the rocks in an attempt to enter. Loud rumbling is then heard as several points of the underground begin to collapse.

"Come on!" Link shouts as sand starts to spill into the passageway and they rush to escape being buried. Dodging the many monster arms emerging from the walls, the group finally reaches a large cavern with no visible exits and as the rumbling increases, parts of the ceiling crumble away and reveal daylight.

"We can get out through there!" Zelda shouts.

"But it's too high up, how will we reach it?" Samus asks, realizing that she can't jump that high. Just then, they're alerted by a voice from above.

"Hello?!" A lone figure calls out from her place on the breached ceiling, removing her cloak and revealed to be a Gerudo.

"Teake?!" Link calls out in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Never mind that now! Give me a minute; I'll get you out!" Teake shouts as she runs off to her sand seal to retrieve several meters of rope, with which she runs over to a stone pillar nearby and hurries to tie one end of the rope around it. After doing so, she ties the remaining ropes together and finally lowers it to the waiting trio. "Hurry, the room is getting more unstable by the second!"

"Got it! Zelda, you first; we'll be right behind you." Link orders.

"Alright." Zelda concedes and begins climbing the rope. Barely a foot away from the ground, they all stop to hear loud banging from the blocked path and the Creature emerges with a bellowing roar (with several monster howls behind it).

"What the hell is that?!" Samus shouts in alarm before scanning it.

"Unknown bioform. Subject is in a state of non-death and bioscans indicate that it is heavily aged and the presence of enormous amounts of malice." Virginia reports. "Proceed with caution."

"Zelda, don't stop! Keep climbing!" Link shouts as he arms his bow to assist Samus in keeping the Creature at bay. They both fire at it, but the Creature doesn't even flinch from the shots as it gradually closes the distance between them. Finally, the creature moves in on Samus, swatting her cannon aside and shoving her away towards the wall, demonstrating its surprisingly immense strength, and punching Link down. Looking up, the Creature sees Zelda trying to get away and it furiously pulls on the rope to get her back down. Teake does her best to keep the rope stable, but the rope finally snaps, dragging her towards the edge and hanging precariously from it. Zelda falls down and the Creature seizes her by the neck with its left hand before she hits the ground, bringing her face to face with it.

"What are you?" Zelda asks, struggling to breathe. The Creature observes her and after a few seconds, it shows anger and moves to strike her with its right arm. In that instance, Link reacts quickly and severs its left arm, freeing Zelda. Howling in pain, the Creature seizes Link by the arm before he can strike it again and reacts in shock at seeing the master sword, as if it were familiar with it. The monsters finally breach the pathway and the rumbling intensifies, cracking the ground they stand on. Zelda recomposes herself and, adding Nayru's Love to her rapier, repels the Creature by striking it on the head and rendering it unconscious. Meanwhile, the rumbling loosens Teake's grip and she falls down.

"I've got you!" Samus, recovered from the Impact, Jumps towards Teake and catches her as she falls.

"Now what?" Link asks. "How do we get out?"

"I hate to say it, but we're stuck." Samus comments, putting Teake down.

The monster horde moves to close in on them, but the ground crumbles and the monsters fall through. The cracks reach the group and they prepare for the worst. The rest of the ground gives way and they fall through.

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Link

Falling down the shaft, the group becomes separated and Link loses sight of his partners amidst the falling rocks.

"Zelda! Samus!" Link shouts in a vain attempt to locate his partners. However, he manages to see Teake as she falls. "Teake!"

"Champion?!" Teake, in a mix of panic and fear, calls out to Link.

"I'm coming over to you; hold on!" Link propels himself forward, dodging all of the rocks and grabbing Teake. Quickly, he ejects his paraglider in an attempt to slow the descent, once again dodging the falling rocks. Once on the ground, Link invokes Daruk's Protection around the two and the rocks bounce off of it. After the rocks fall, Link dispels the barrier and he Teake stand up. Looking past the rubble, Link desperately calls out for the others, before looking up and realizing that the lower part of this chasm (where they are currently) is divided by walls, concluding that they fell on opposite ends. Deciding that shouting further would be pointless, Link searches for a way forward.

"What are you doing?" Teake asks, getting back on her feet.

"I'm going to look for my friends." Link answers before finding a tunnel blocked with rubble. Activating the AKEB, Link slams the sword down on the rubble, crumbling it and clearing the path. Imbuing the sword with fire to use as a makeshift torch, Link walks down the path without a second thought. "You're welcome to join me."

Sighing and with no alternative, Teake reluctantly follows Link down the path. A few minutes in, Link decides to ask something that was on his mind for a while. "Teake, what were you doing up there in the first place?"

"Hmm? Ah, that." Teake responds. "We discovered Captain Buliara buried in the sand outside of our walls, with us realizing that you were with an impostor. While everyone scrambled to find anything suspicious in town, I came to find out if you were safe."

"Oh, well that was very kind of you." Link, in surprise, comments. "Thanks."

"Don't misinterpret; I couldn't allow a friend of Lady Urbosa or Chief Riju to come to harm." Teake reaffirms. "Otherwise, I'd have left you to your own luck."

"Right..." Link, now with a sour expression, answers.

"Now, may I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"You said that you're 'looking for your friends'. Why do you call them that?"

Link abruptly stops and faces Teake. "Is that an issue?"

"No. Not taking into account the armored one, then you are not the princesses' knight; you are her friend?"

Softening his expression, Link turns around before answering. "Both."

Afterwards, both continue walking down the path again. "You're a strange one, champion." However, both stop as Link's left arm begins to chime with a red light on it. "What's going on with your arm?"

"Hold on a minute." Link drives the flaming master sword into the wall (to keep their light source) and brings his arm up to activate his communicator. "Samus, is that you?"

"L_nk, can y_u he_r me?" Samus talks through the holo screen, which appears as nothing more than static.

"Say again Samus, I can't understand you!"

"Listen, it wa_ all _ trap; _ wanted us _ come h_re. The m_nst_r needed Zel_a's bl_d to rise from its gr_v_. We c_n't let it es_ape."

"Samus, I heard something about the monster and that we were led here. But, your message is very choppy." Link says, trying to see if Samus hears him. "What is that thing exactly?"

"Link, it's c_ll_d Ga_ndor_-" At that moment, the screen flashes "signal lost" before deactivating.

"Damn it!" Link punches the wall in frustration. After a few seconds of seething, Link pulls out the master sword (still aflame) from the wall and faces Teake. "Listen, we have to find them and get out of here. When we get up top, Riju needs to hear about this." Link says as he hurries down the path again.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Teake abruptly grabs Link by the arm. "You want to involve us in this? I told you no!"

"I don't want to hear about it Teake! Let's go!"

"Listen!" Teake finally grabs Link by the shoulders and forces him to the wall. "You will not involve Chief Riju or any one of us in your conflicts again!"

"Are we really doing this right now?!" Link, now exhausted from Teake's stubbornness, shouts. "Like it or not, we are all involved in this! Riju is my friend, she has to know!"

"You are not Chief Riju's friend!" Teake angrily declares, leaving Link speechless. "All you care about are soldiers that can be replaced at the drop of a hat! You care nothing about their wellbeing or their loyalty! It's all just a ploy to lead them to their deaths!" Teake finally crosses the line with her next statement. "You took our Lady Urbosa!"

No longer willing to tolerate Teake's insolence, Link uses Revali's Gale to blow her away to the other wall. Knocked off her feet, Teake observes as Link drives the master sword into the ground mere inches from Teake before he walks around in a huff. "I would never sacrifice anyone..." Link says with his back turned before quickly turning around. "I didn't ask for any of this!" Link shouts before taking a deep breath and calming himself down. "My memories; they've been coming back ever so slowly. But, the pain still feels fresh; I'm the last champion of the previous generation and I had to remember what I lost." Link retracts part of his suit and pulls out a picture he kept in his pocket, which he passes to Teake. "You're wrong, you know? The truth is I care, more than you'll ever know."

Teake looks at the picture and sees that it holds Link, Zelda and the four champions. Afterwards, she looks up at Link with an uncertain expression. "This picture feels very old. Where did you get it from?"

"A friend kept it safe all these years. When he gave it back to me, I realized that all of us were part of a family created from bonds connecting the races. That we were the champions of our respective homes and protectors of Hyrule." Link's expression soon becomes one of melancholy. "They were my comrades, my friends; I never got to say goodbye..." Wiping his eyes with his right hand, Link straightens up before finishing his declaration. "I keep that to remind me never to fail again. I'll die before I let Hyrule be destroyed."

Link stays quiet after his declaration and Teake looks on with a gentler expression. Before she could say anything, a hand reaches out and tries to grab at anything. Link snaps out of his grief and gets Teake back on her feet and both are ready for a fight. Several mutated bokoblins emerge from the ground and walls, which immediately close in on the duo. Link slams the AKEB charged master sword onto the monsters, sending several of them flying backwards and Teake decapitates several stragglers with her scimitar and bashes others with her shield. Having dispatched a number of them, Link and Teake run down the path as more of the monsters emerge, their howls echoing in the tunnel. Reaching another large cavern, Link and Teake try to find their next path but are put in alert from loud rumbling below them. Soon, a mutated molduga emerges from the ground. Without the necessary weaponry to fight this monster, the duo run around the beast, taking care to not get hit by its massive size as well as the stalactites falling from the vibrations of its roars. Taking note of this, Link arms three bomb arrows and shoots them at the stalactites, dropping them onto the molduga and revealing a breach on the ceiling. While the molduga is momentarily incapacitated, Link calls Teake over to him before using Revali's Gale to blast themselves upwards towards the breach, finally getting out.

"Alright Teake, I need you to tell the chief and everyone about what we saw here! Especially about that creature; I think it controls these things."

"Wait, you're not coming?!" Teake, alarmed, asks as Link prepares to drop back down. From below, they hear the moldugas angered roars.

"I can't leave my friends down here. I have to find them." Link answers with quiet determination. "Please Teake, you must go."

Hesitating, Teake nods and releases Link's arm. Just as Link readies himself, she stops him one last time. "Link; I won't let you down."

Giving a soft smile, Link nods in acknowledgement and drops back down. Teake runs off, whistling to call her sand seal and races off with it towards Gerudo Town.

Back down, Link parachutes down in time to see the molduga tearing off rotten chunks of its flesh to get loose and it tries to devour him as he nears the ground. The suspense is cut short, however; the molduga retreats as the remaining sunlight from the hole burned it.

"So, these things still can't take the light." Link says aloud in reassurance as he puts his paraglider away. The molduga returns, its mouth wide open with tendrils of malice and phazon wriggling within. Before dodging to the side, Link shoots three phazon arrows, damaging the undead beast. As the beast convulses, Link sees a mass of phazon and malice swirling within it from the hole it created after it ripped itself off of the stalactite. The monster recomposes itself and tries to devour Link, at which point he conjures Urbosa's Fury, shocking the molduga. Seizing the chance, Link equips his helmet and makes a mad dash for the moldugas interior and with all his strength, rips out the mass and throws it at the remaining sunlight, disintegrating the malice and leaving behind the phazon. The molduga finally goes limp and unresponsive with the mass most likely being its "life force". Shaking off the malice from his armor, Link finally lets the reality of the situation sink in; the malice mixed in with phazon can bring back the dead. Realizing that there may be other long deceased creatures that could be reanimated, Link hurriedly runs down the nearest path to find his friends.

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Zelda

Awakening from the fall, Zelda wearily gets up off the ground, noticing that it looks like it swirled beneath her. Realizing that she's alone, Zelda calls out to her allies but to no avail. No longer willing to keep shouting, Zelda walks down the path lit with luminous stone deposits, until being assailed by three mutated bokoblins. Thinking fast, she conjures Nayru's Love which repels the creatures and she swiftly cuts them down while they're still disoriented. Having done that, she quickly runs down the path as more creatures start to emerge from the floor and walls, until a few of them grab her. Struggling, she reaches for her dropped rapier and slices off their arms before continuing down the path. Not noticing the drop in front of her, Zelda falls onto a steep floor and rolls down it. Stopping, she gets back up and, remembering that time she imbued a sword with her flames, rakes her left hand across the rapiers blade, setting it ablaze and giving her some light. She then reels at the sight of a guardian staring at her but relaxes upon seeing that it's inactive.

"Wait a minute; this looks recent..." Zelda says aloud, pointing out that a part of the guardian has been ripped apart, despite having been here for quite a long time given its state. Her attention is then brought to the wall behind the guardian, or rather the Gerudo structure that was built. "What in the world is this place? Urbosa never told me about this; could she not have known?" Shaking the idea of these suspicious ruins from her mind, Zelda walks in and sees even more ruins of Gerudo origin. However, these ruins once again resemble those of a fortress; a far cry from what the Gerudo of today use. Undeterred, she continues further in to see if Link, Samus and Teake passed through here, doing her best to push a door open. After pushing enough for her to squeeze through, until a hand grabs her by the neck, pulls her in and throws her down. Looking up, she stares in horror as the Creature looks down on her with an arm made of guardian parts (to replace the left arm that was severed) and cannon pointed at her. On instinct, Zelda immediately conjures her barrier and deflect the laser back at the Creature, giving her time to climb up the nearest ladder before cutting the ropes keeping it tied to the wall. Roaring, the creature summons more mutated monsters to give chase.

"It can use weapons?!" Zelda says to herself as she's ambushed by a bokoblin which she quickly slays by driving her rapier through its head. Several more bokoblins rush her, but Zelda launches a fireball at them, hindering their progress and letting her get away. Upon reaching the exit to one of these buildings, the Creature busts through one of the walls and tosses Zelda back inside the building. Dropping down, it moves in to stomp on her but she rolls to the side and makes a run for it, dodging several of its laser blasts in the process. Roaring in anger, the Creature gives chase, punching away the monsters that Zelda managed to avoid. Reaching a dead end, Zelda turns around to see the Creature closing in on her and she shuts her eyes in fear. Finally entering the dead end, the Creature looks around but Zelda is nowhere to be found, only a swirl on the ground where she would've been standing.

Opening her eyes, Zelda sees that she's back in the hall where the Creature busted through the wall. Though, confused, she finally exits the building and runs into the ruins to hide from it. Still pondering what it is and how it can use weaponry, Zelda looks around from her spot behind some ruined walls to see several monsters patrolling and another path leading to a tunnel, the downside being that she has to run through several meters of ruins to get to it; no doubt with monsters hidden around them. Regardless, Zelda sneaks around the patrolling monsters and makes her way to the tunnel. Surprisingly, not a single monster was in the route she took to reach the tunnel. Her relief is cut short however, as a laser blast over the tunnel causes it to cave in and throw Zelda back. Looking at where the blast came from, she sees the Creature from a distance slowly closing in on her and she makes a run for it to the nearest place where she could hide from it. As she runs, Zelda realizes that the Creature wanted to corner her, hence the lack of monsters on the way to the tunnel. The Creature lands a few feet away from Zelda, having jumped from a great distance and swipes at her with its claw, which Zelda slides under to avoid. Tossing a fireball at the Creature, Zelda runs into one of the buildings and barricades the door with a large bar, unaware that she had just cornered herself in a tower. Seeing no other alternative, Zelda runs up the spiraling stairs, shoving monsters down the center every so often as she ascends the stairs, until several blasts rock the tower, making it dangerously unstable. Finally reaching the top, Zelda hurriedly scans the layout to see if she can find another exit and the Creature jumps up and roars upon having located Zelda. Drawing her rapier, Zelda prepares to face the Creature.

"Fine, no more running!" Zelda shoots a fireball directly at the Creatures face, disorienting it and leaving it open to a thrust to its chest. Recovering, the Creature shrugs off the stab and shoves Zelda away, shaking the tower in the process. Before she can react, the Creature grabs Zelda by the leg and throws her off the tower. Remarkably, Zelda quickly reappears behind the Creature and slashes downward on its back, having figured out how her new power works without using it in reflex. Realizing that the Creature can't be defeated by conventional means, Zelda does her best to try and knock it off of the tower, but with a lack of strong blows, she has little progress in forcing it back. As it closes in on Zelda again, an explosive blast forces it back towards the edge. Zelda looks to the right on the cavern wall and gradually smiles.

"My turn, gruesome!" Samus shouts from her spot behind stone columns as she arms another super missile. As the next super missile closes in, the Creature grabs it and tosses it aside. The tower continues to shake as more concrete blocks gradually fall off. Zelda uses her power to blind the Creature and temporarily restrain it, giving Samus the opportunity to shoot it again, stunning it. Zelda quickly imbues her rapier with flames and slams it down on the Creature, forcing it towards the edge and she decides to shove it down with her. As they both reach the halfway point of the tower, Zelda uses her new power to instantly reappear on top again and with a resounding thud, the Creature hits the ground. Looking down, Zelda observes the Creature to see if it's finally dead; the Creature eyes shoot open and it turns its claw back into a laser cannon, shooting at the tower. Losing balance, Zelda tries to stay on the quickly crumbling tower.

"Zelda, can you use that power to get over here?!" Samus shouts.

"I'm going to try!" Zelda answers as she tries to concentrate amidst the shaking tower. After a few seconds, Zelda disappears from the top of the tower and reappears in freefall near the wall where Samus is. Quickly, Samus grabs her hand and pulls her up and they both watch the tower finally collapse on top of the Creature, burying it under the rubble.

"That was close." Samus comments, relieved to see one of her friends again.

"It was." Zelda answers, trying to catch her breath. "Wait, where's Link and Teake?"

"I don't know. I tried contacting him, but these caves keep causing interference." Samus answers as she tries to reestablish communication again. "Listen, I know what that thing is."

"You do? How?"

As they're moving down the path, Samus regales Zelda on her own experience.

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Samus

Falling down the shaft, Samus rolls into a ball and begins ricocheting off of several falling rocks until she lands on a nearby ledge connected to a tunnel which she rolls down. Unfurling, Samus scans the immediate vicinity for any threat, ultimately not seeing anything. Cautiously, Samus walks down the tunnel with her thermal visor activated to compensate for the lack of light. Suddenly, an arrow zips past her head and lodges itself on the wall. Pulling it out, she sees that its arrowhead is made out of phazite, indicating the threat; the Yiga. More arrows begin to fly towards her and Samus desperately tries to avoid them, knowing full well that they can pierce her armor. Soon, the arrows stop and several footsoldiers appear and attempt to restrain her, increasing their strength with hypermode. Struggling, Samus looks up as a shadowy figure looms over her, who morphs their right arm into larger size and slams it down on her head, rendering her unconscious.

Sometime later, Samus awakens in an area lit with torches and several Yiga observing her. Startled, she tries to get away, but realizes that her arms and legs are bound by chains which course electricity onto her, making Samus scream.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." An all too familiar voice rings out as the electricity subsides and Samus refocuses. "The electricity is just to keep you from bringing out your suit again, but the shocks become stronger each time. So, watch it."

"I figured you were still kicking." Samus says as the figure walks in front of her. "Silas."

Silas moves in front of the torches surrounding Samus, revealing him with several scars on his face and even, surprisingly, being a little over a foot taller. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Samus. Even if you dropped that mountain on me..."

"I'll just have to try harder then." Samus answers without a shred of fear.

"Heh, you like to get under my skin, don't you?" Silas scoffs at Samus's remark. "But, I suppose I should thank you anyway."

"What are you talking about?"

"For coming her with the princess, of course. Gandrayda did a good job with leading you down here." Silas answers with a smile, much to Samus's confusion. "If it's any consolation, she truly didn't know about what was actually down here."

"What are you saying? Stop being indirect!"

"Patience; I was getting to that. First off, the chasm within our old hideout has been here for thousands of years. I wanted to dig deeper, in a manner of speaking, to see what lies within. But our previous Master Kohga was against such things, he said that there's no need to risk possibly dying in "a big hole in the ground", the fool... Finally, after he was done away with, I took command and I went down with my men to see what was hidden beneath our feet."

Silas continues his explanation by noting that there were many sealed off tunnels, which they used explosive barrels to clear out. Going deeper, they found many ruins, all of Gerudo origin, strewn all over the underground. Along the way, they came across enormous quantities of malice, which brought several stal monsters with it. Like them, Silas also came across the sign that mentioned "The Immortal One" and had to see what that meant, traveling through several tunnels until reaching the door with Hylia's image. Unable to open it, Silas was close to frustration until a voice began to speak to him. Unnerved at first, Silas began to listen intently as the voice, sounding as sinister as that of even Demise, told him that only the blood of the Goddess could free him of his confines. Finally, the voice revealed its identity to Silas and he felt a cold chill run down his spine. "...Ganondorf..."

"The great King of the Calamity himself..." Silas says in quiet amazement. "Yes, the true avatar of Calamity Ganon; right underneath our feet!" Silas shouts to the Yiga present, who erupt in applause. Silas then puts up a hand to calm them down before continuing. "Of course, we needed the princess to release him. Rather, all we needed was her blood."

"Why her? She's not a goddess." Samus retorts. "According to her, the Goddess Hylia doesn't exist anymore."

"Not exactly. Long ago, the Goddess Hylia gave up her immortal form and was reborn into this world as a human. Over the centuries, her soul would be reborn again and again, culminating into what would become the Royal Family of Hyrule. The whole of the family may be dust, but the current incarnation of the Goddess still lives. She kept Calamity Ganon imprisoned for 100 long years..."

"Zelda?!" Samus shouts in realization. "She's the Goddess Hylia reborn?!"

"Yes." Silas answers. "Now, the work is done. We have not only our liege, but the King of the Calamity as well and I'm sure by now, he's hunting for the princess."

"For what reason? He's back after all; Zelda shouldn't mean anything to him anymore."

"That's where you're wrong; his hatred for the Goddess is intolerable. Now, he wants nothing less than her death." Silas pauses briefly to take in what he's about to say. "If the current incarnation is slain by the malice, the cycle of reincarnation is broken and the Goddess is lost forever."

Samus stares in shock before regaining her composure. "We're not going to let you do that."

Silas, in response, punches Samus in the stomach with his arm in a battering ram form. "You have no say in the matter; I'm done with you skulking around." Silas once again smacks Samus around with his arm and she grunts in pain. "But, I'll make sure your end is as slow as possible."

Samus does nothing but take all of his hits, waiting for any possible chance, until she see one; Silas lifts his arm upwards and morphs it into a blade. Quickly, Samus moves to the right as far as she can, enduring the electricity from her movement, and Silas unintentionally breaks the chains holding her left arm and leg. Seizing this chance, Samus grabs the surprised Silas, sending the electricity into him as well and he desperately tries to get loose. With his enhanced strength, Silas pulls both he and Samus off of the remaining chains and they both fall to the ground, convulsing from the electricity. The others react in alarm at hearing the commotion, as well as an orange flash followed by a ball zipping past them.

"Stop her!" Silas shouts and the Yiga move to stop Samus from escaping. Using the boost feature, Samus ricochets from wall to wall, in an effort to confuse her captors, until a blademaster swats her towards some explosive barrels. Having her cornered, the Yiga rain several phazite arrows onto her landing spot and Silas blows away the dust with his arm, seething as he sees that Samus is missing. Before he can give the order, Samus charges her speed booster (having quickly escaped the onslaught) and shinesparks up at a tunnel that she discovered with her scan visor. Upon reaching it, she dismissively waves at the dumbfounded Yiga before sealing her exit with a salvo of missiles. Silas can only exclaim in anger as his eyes glow blue and a peculiar red light glows on his chest.

Finally in the clear, Samus runs down the tunnel and tries to get in contact with Link. "Come on, come on..."

"Samus, I have managed to reach Link. Be quick however; the signal is extremely weak." Virginia says as she patches Samus through to Link.

"Good. I'll be brief." Samus sees a small screen in her visor, covered only in static. "Link, can you hear me?"

"S_y ag_n Samus, I c_n't un_er_and _ou!"

"Listen, it was all a trap; Silas wanted us to come here. The monster needed Zelda's blood to rise from its grave. We can't let it escape."

"Samus, I h_rd som_thi_g about the m_nst_r and that we w_re l_d here. But, y_r m_s_ge is very chop_y." Link says, trying to see if Samus hears him. "Wh_t is t_at thing ex_ctly?"

"Link, it's called Ganondorf!" At that moment, the screen goes black. "No!"

"We have lost the signal." Virginia reports.

Before Samus can vent her frustration, she hears several explosions coming from down the tunnel and she decides to investigate. Reaching the origin of the explosions, Samus looks down from the tunnel and sees more Gerudo ruins, damaged Guardians and mutated monsters. What catches her attention is the ruined tower with a frantic Zelda atop it as well as the Creature now known as Ganondorf. Realizing that Zelda is at a disadvantage, Samus arms her super missiles and fires them at Ganondorf. "My turn, gruesome!"

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"And the rest, you already know." Samus says as she finishes her account of events. Zelda, however, is speechless over what she was told.

"It can't be..." Zelda says in shock. "Samus, how in the world did they know about the malice's danger to me?! No one knows that!"

"What?"

"That is a secret that only a select few know of. How could the Yiga possibly know?!"

"I don't- what the hell?" Samus's attention is brought to the ruins beneath them, specifically the collapsed tower, as they violently shake. "Zelda, run!"

From the ruins, Ganondorf emerges and jumps towards the pair, taking a swipe that narrowly misses them. They make a run for it down the tunnel with Ganondorf in hot pursuit. Even more unsettling, he appears to have doubled in size and has malice leaking from his body. The only way now is forward with Ganondorf's roars echoing through the tunnel as he chases them in a quadrupedal stride to compensate for the lack of space in the tunnel. Eventually, the tunnel becomes too narrow for Ganondorf to pass through, giving Zelda and Samus time to find another way.

"Left..."

"What?" Zelda asks, unsure of what she heard. Once again, she hears the voice again telling her to go left. "Samus, we should go down the left passage."

"Are you sure?" Samus asks, uncertain of Zelda's decision.

Ganondorf angrily roars as he gets one of his arms loose. "Yes, now come on!" Zelda grabs Samus by the arm and takes her through the passage. Running through several tunnels, Zelda continues to lead Samus despite her protests. The only answer Zelda gives to her is that a voice is telling her to go through these specific pathways, similar to what happened in her encounter with the zeta metroid several days ago. Finally, after the venture in the tunnels, the pair makes it to another massive cavern and they take a minute to catch their breath.

Looking up, Samus stares in awe over what is inside of the cavern. "Zelda."

"What is it-" Zelda looks up as well and, in a mix of shock and relief, sees exactly what they've been searching for; Divine Beast Vah Naboris. Before they can say anything, a pair of mutated bokoblins falls down from another tunnel. Realizing that they have been slain, Samus looks up at the tunnel and, to her and Zelda's surprise, Link jumps out from it and shakily stands upright.

"Link?!" Zelda shouts, pointing out Link's injuries and damaged suit. "What happened?!"

"I found you, finally." Link says, clearly exhausted. "There are a lot of those things and I think there might be more on the way."

Seeing that Link is about to fall, Samus rushes over to grab him. "Easy, I've got you. Where's Teake?"

"I got her out of here, I sent her to warn the others in town." Looking to the side, Link observes the corrupted Divine Beast. "You led me here?"

"Who?"

"I heard a voice; I think it was-" Before he can answer, Vah Naboris howls and begins to move on its own, rising upwards and causing the cavern to cave in.

"What's happening?!" Samus shouts.

"Vah Naboris is moving!" Zelda answers in awe. "I didn't think it could without a pilot or malice!" At that moment, several mutated monsters bust in through various openings in the wall and upon their arrival, Vah Naboris roars once again and begins violently hitting the ceiling to get away.

"Worry later; that's our way out! Everyone, get on Vah Naboris!" Link shouts as he moves his friends over to the Divine Beast. With Samus offering cover fire, Link uses Revali's Gale to elevate him and Zelda onto Vah Naboris. Samus vaults off of the legs and joins the others, moving to the interior while avoiding the phazon. Their attention is brought to loud banging from one of the walls and Ganondorf busts through.

"He's back!" Samus shouts before laying down a hail of missiles on him. Undeterred, Ganondorf uses his laser cannon to shoot at Vah Naboris' legs.

"He's trying to trap us!" Zelda shouts in alarm while trying to find her footing. Link grabs the ancient bow off of Zelda's back and arms two ancient arrows and shoots them at Ganondorf's cannon, disabling it and stunning him. Vah Naboris, now undisturbed, causes the entire ceiling to collapse, exposing the night sky and burying all of the monsters under several tons of rock and sand.

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Finally outside, Vah Naboris moves several feet away before standing still, no longer responsive and with the phazon beam still shooting out from its head and powering the barrier over the desert region. The breach that Vah Naboris caused now begins filling up with sand from the surrounding area, revealing more of the previously buried Arbiter's Ground ruins.

"That was close." Link comments in relief as hands the bow back to Zelda.

"Yes. But, how did Vah Naboris get back up on its own?" Zelda adds. "It needs a pilot."

"I...don't know."

"We can figure it out later. Now we need to restore the Divine Beast and then we have to talk about what went on down there and who Ganondorf is searching for." Samus says while preparing the phazon vaccine.

"Ganondorf?" Link asks, surprised at the fact that the creature has a name. "Hold on, what is he searching for?"

"Samus..." Zelda quietly remarks, not entirely comfortable with Samus wanting to talk about Ganondorf.

Samus looks at the two and, realizing that some things were not said and that Samus inadvertently revealed the knowledge of Zelda's secret to Link, Samus decides to regretfully continue. "I'm sorry, Zelda. But he has to know..."

"Samus!"

"Know what?" Link asks, now concerned with what they could know about that he was unaware of. Before anything else can be said, they are alerted to the sound of rumbling from beneath the sand. Soon, it erupts and Ganondorf emerges, roaring in anger and charging at the Divine Beast before jumping up to where the group is. Caught off guard, Samus is grabbed by Ganondorf and thrown outside before punching Link away. Finally, he turns his attention to Zelda, whom he grabs and turns his left arm into a bladed weapon dripping with malice.

"Get away from her!" Link launches himself back up with Revali's Gale, lands on Ganondorf's back and slashes at him with the master sword. Unable to focus, Ganondorf releases Zelda and tries to get Link off of his back. Zelda shoots a fireball at Ganondorf's chest to debilitate him and Link slashes across his face. Now howling in pain, Ganondorf tosses Link aside and grabs his own face in response to the slash, he blindly thrashes around until he runs into the phazon afflicted main control unit. Once again howling in pain, Ganondorf convulses as the phazon enters his body, sending several particles of it all over the place. Running over to Link, Zelda helps him back onto his feet.

"Link, we must get out!"

Looking down from their place, Link realizes that they are very high up. "I'm open to suggestions."

"I have an idea; hold on!" Zelda slings her arms around Link and she throws him and herself off. Concentrating, Zelda invokes her new power and has them appear safely on the ground. Still in shock over Zelda's idea, Link decides to put it off and go over to Samus, who had used her morph ball to cushion her fall. Reunited, the three try to come up with a strategy to fight Ganondorf, but their brainstorming is short lived as Ganondorf emerges and jumps down to their position. His appearance has changed quite significantly now; Ganondorf now stands at a staggering eight feet tall, his muscle mass has grown, his feet have become hooves, horns have grown on his head and are curved upwards and the malice on his body resemble wisps along with a high concentration of phazon illuminating his veins. The now monstrously empowered Ganondorf roars in anticipation of facing his prey...

To be continued