Until That Day

Fort Hateno

Zelda

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The sun had set and rain started to pour down. It began getting harder and harder to see what was in front of us, I was merely hoping Link could see better than I could.

A beam of light shot through Link in an instant, throwing him off of Epona. A guardian had appeared up ahead and sent Epona running terrified in the opposite direction.

"LINK!" I shouted, jumping off Storm and running to him.

"No, go Zelda, it'll just get you too!" Link staggered up and blocked the second beam with his shield, parrying it into the creature's eye and stunning it.

"I'm going to say it's weakness lies in its eye." Link said sarcastically, holding his abdomen. The guardian loaded up again, but Link shot it's beam right back in its eye for a second time. This time Link was ready. When it was stunned he ran the Master Sword through the guardian's eye and caused it to self-destruct.

"Well that'll work." Link commented. He looked around for Epona, but I shook my head.

"Oh Hylia. Okay well, want to use Storm?" Just at that moment, another guardian shot at us, narrowly missing us both. Storm freaked and sped away, leaving us standing in the rain against another guardian.

"Okay, now it's going to be on foot, come here!" Link shouted. He ran off in the opposite direction of me, readying his shield once again. Each time the machine was about to shoot, Link would stop and parry the beam right back at it. He only missed a couple times, but it was keeping us alive.

Suddenly, the Shekiah slate started to vibrate erratically.

Powering up the map of Hyrule, the map went dark. Where previously blue markers reported the Divine Beasts as functional it was now glowing the same red as the guardians had been.

Ganon is taking themI That's not possible! It can't be!

"No, no no no no no!" I whispered. The beasts were attacked by Ganon, much like the guardians had been.

Ganon can possess all of our technology that was to protect us.

The champions are all trapped inside those things.

"They're all trapped, Link." I shouted at him. As another guardian exploded into parts, Link matched my gaze. He knew what that meant. Sadness flickered across his face.

"Let's keep going." He put the slate back in his bag and grabbed my hand. We kept running and weaving monsters, but we were trying our luck. One of the monsters would likely catch us, and soon.

Link

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The champions were gone, much like the castle itself was likely gone.

Oh how we weren't truly ready...

I had to get Zelda to safety, we could worry about the rest later. The ground was growing slicker, and suddenly I felt Zelda's hand slip from mine as she fell to the soggy ground. There she stayed.

When I ran back to her, I found her crying.

Oh Zelda...

"How could this happen?" She whispered.

I put the Master Sword away and kneeled down to meet her.

"We made all the proper defense, but all because I couldn't harness this stupid power! Now they are all trapped inside those things, my father most of all, I tried and I failed them all.."

Zelda looked up at me, her heart breaking. She collapsed in my arms, letting me grip her tight.

"You didn't fail us, Zelda. You've done everything you could." I whispered.

"It wasn't enough. I wasn't enough," she murmured.

After holding her tight for a moment, as much as I wanted to let her grieve, I knew monsters or guardians weren't far behind us.

"I'm so sorry, but we need to go before-"

Another guardian beam shot right beside us. I pushed Zelda up and ran with her once again. The guardian seemed not able to hit a moving target, so I weaved with Zelda until the thing lost interest. We approached the Dueling Peaks, which only had a couple monsters here and there. I ran them all through with the Master Sword and kept Zelda running until we reached the stable.

Or what used to be the stable.

The stable was in a heap of smoldering wood, no longer even close to the structure it once was. The rain landed hard on the smoking wood, creating hissing sounds. Beyond the stable, the entire field in front of Fort Hateno was full of the activated guardians.

My heart dropped, but it looked that Fort Hateno still stood. There was hope at the end.

"Zelda, please listen. Keep running in erratic directions and keep going. No matter what, alright? You need to get to Fort Hateno, there was more reinforcements there."

Zelda looked at me strangely. "But you're coming, aren't you?"

"Yes, Hylia willing." Before she could say anything else, I darted into the field and kept making sure she was following. I avoided the beams, up until a guardian knocked me over with one of its long legs, then shot me. Searing pain ran down my chest, as the guardian hit me again.

My breath was gone, all I could hear was Zelda shouting.

The guardian hit me once again, this time hitting my leg. Searing pain spread throughout my body, but I had to get up. Zelda needed to make it to the fort.

I jumped up and found my shield laying behind the guardian.

Okay, that's not great.

Maybe...

I quickly readied my bow and released an arrow right into the eye of the guardian, which caused it to stumble back. It didn't deal as much damage as the parry had, but we were getting somewhere.

I slashed the guardian, causing it to retreat.

I didn't know they retreated...

Zelda rushed up to me. "Are you okay?!" Her face was worn with worry.

"Fine, now let's go before-" More pain exploded across my back. I turned to find another guardian.

"Grab that shield!" I sent her for the shield, barely avoiding another beam. When she tossed it to me, I parried the guardian's attack, but a little bit too late. The beam shot off to the left as my shield broke into flaming pieces.

"Well." I said sarcastically.

Zelda took my hand and started running and weaving, but there were so many guardians gearing up to attack. I started to feel my chest and leg pound with pain, making me wonder if I'd even make it to Fort Hateno at this rate.

We were halfway across the field when some guardians had lost interest. The pain was starting to outweigh any adrenaline rush I had. I slipped on the wet ground as my leg finally gave out, catching myself with the Master Sword. The pain in my chest continued to get worse, before long I was grasping for air.

"Link!"