New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 29 - What Awaits at Castletown

Across the Proxim Bridge we went, carefully and slowly because no matter how well built it was a century ago, that long without upkeep and with the weather beating down on it and the general air of decay hanging about like a shroud, we didn't want to be on it for any longer than necessary.

To be extra careful of loose materials and missing stones, we dismounted and crossed by foot with the horses led along behind us. Horses tended not to like bridges, anyway, and they were growing increasingly restless - Epona, especially. The brown beauty protested vocally with nearly every step, and she kept sniffing at the air, feeling something we did not.

And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a bad idea. This was a really, really bad idea.

When the stone beneath our feet ended, and we stepped onto the dirt road beyond it, I found myself faltering after only a single step. Link noticed right away and stopped as well, looking back at me with so much concern that at any other time, I might have been embarrassed, but I was too worried to care.

"(Y/n)? What's wrong?"

"The air feels strange here," I told him. Seeing his eyes widen, I hurried to explain. "It's not like it was before, when my instincts were telling me to run. I don't feel like I'm in danger. But it's harder to breathe here, and it's almost like..."

"It feels off, doesn't it?" I nodded in response, and he hummed thoughtfully. "I feel it, too. That'd be Ganon's influence on the area."

I looked off in the distance, northward. Hyrule Field was vast, incredibly so. It was nighttime, yes, but through the inky darkness there was a purple haze on the horizon, and I knew that cloud in particular could be nothing other than Hyrule Castle and more so, what I was seeing was Ganon's influence directly. But for it to be so strong here...

"Even this far away?"

Link nodded gravely, stepping closer to Epona to pat her side reassuringly as she pawed the dirt anxiously. "Ganon's dark powers cover the entire castle with evil, and after some time, it started to spread. It'd taken over Hyrule Field by the time the Calamity truly started, and by now it's permeated the soil, the air."

"I see," I murmured, looking upwards, into the sky - as though I'd see a purple tint to the sky as I did over Hyrule Castle, where a near-physical blanket shrouded the castle and the town below it.

"Of course, Ganon's reach is great," Link continued. "He still controls the Divine Beasts, and his monsters explore wherever they please. But only here does it affect the environment, the flora."

To his point, the grass here seemed dull, comparatively devoid of life. I turned on my heel, looking back over the bridge - even the sky seemed so much brighter there, despite the fact it was still late. The moon was still high in the sky but by now it had lost some of its rosy hue. We really should stop to rest soon, to get some sleep before dawnbreak - but we were both too on-edge, it would seem.

"You know all the stories about Hyrule, or nearly," Link said, and I tore my eyes from the landscape behind us and instead brought my attention to him. "So you must have a guess as to why Ganon's power isn't as prevalent elsewhere. Am I right?"

I was quiet for a moment as I looked away and thought it over. I thought first of Ganon's power - was he foregoing spreading it further so as not to expend too much energy? Or was it something else? Oh, perhaps it was based on geographic features. But what was there? A mountain range would be difficult to take over or at least permeate - they took thousands of years to even begin to form and to break one down, to break through one... All of that, but it was useless anyway, because Hyrule Castle was not encased within a mountain range.