The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule's Hope

Chapter 30: Calamity Link, Part 2

"Well, this is odd," Joji said as he stared at the screen, "Princess Rhiannon is near Hateno Village, but it seems like she hasn't moved from the same place."

The white dot on the screen moved erratically in the same spot. "That means the princess must be fighting something," Joji sighed, "whatever it is, it better not kill her before I do!"

"Whose idiotic idea was it to come this way?!" Aya asked as she fended off a corrupted Moblin. "I didn't think there would be this many!" Tulin said, "I thought Dori was just exaggerating!"

"She was not exaggerating!" Zya shouted as she impaled a corrupted red Bokoblin, "There are too many of them!"

"Ahh!" Koli shouted in panic as he whacked a blue corrupted Bokoblin in the head with the Boulder Breaker until its skull was completely pulverized, "There are so many of them I can't help panicking!"

Rhiannon hopped from behind a boulder and reached for the Master Sword, slashing 3 monsters at once. "I can't get the Master Sword to do the thing!" they shouted, "It happened during the siege of New Deya, why isn't it doing it out here?!"

"Rhiannon! On your left!" Aya shouted. Rhiannon turned to their left to see a corrupted black Moblin with a large wooden weapon. The weapon had sharp bones on the end. The princess instantly activated the orange force camp, then attacked the monster once it had fallen backward, slitting its throat in one swing. "Just what in Hylia's sake has taken over these monsters?" Tulin asked, "Are they really under Ganon's influence?"

Rhiannon stared at the Moblin's carcass. She flashbacked to the Divine Beasts–each one of them was infested with the same substance as the monsters, and the yellow eyes would sprout from them like flowers from the ground. "Dearest?" Zya asked, "Are you okay?"

"I just remembered something..." Rhiannon said, "...the Divine Beasts were also infected with this weird substance..."

There was then another flashback that crossed their mind. This time, it was the Blight Ganons. "It all makes sense now..." they whispered, "the substance, the Blights, the corrupted monsters... They are all linked to him, to Ganon. It's his way to spread around Hyrule..."

"That makes way too much sense," Aya sighed, "it's kind of scary to think about it."

"It's starting to get dark," Tulin said, "We should keep moving."

It was around sunset when they entered Hateno Village. There was an eerie vibe to the village for what Rhiannon noticed, the same offsetting vibe she felt at the Lakeside Stable by Floria Falls. "Is it just me or does something here feel... off?" Rhiannon asked. Zya looked around as well, there was something about the village that weirded her off. She noticed that the villagers would walk up and down the street but would not talk to each other or bat an eye, often bumping into each other without acknowledging it. Aya noticed that some of the villagers, especially the women, would hurry their paces when walking from one spot to the other as if they were running late, while Tulin noticed that as soon as they reached their houses, they would lock the doors and shut the windows–sometimes even closing their curtains. Koli, however, was staring at Death Mountain in the distance, specifically staring at Divine Beast Vah Rudania at the top. "Hey!" he exclaimed, "I can spot Rudania from he–"

"Shh!" the RhiGang turned around to see a man poking his head through the door. "Just what in Hylia's sake is happening?" Rhiannon thought, "I have to get to the bottom of this."

Rhiannon walked further into the village, storming down the main street. They noticed an inn just across a small river. When they tried to walk in, the door was locked. After giving up, Rhiannon noticed a particular structure in the distance–a house that was separate from the rest. "Hey!" Aya shouted as Rhiannon took off again, "Where are you going?!"