Upheaval of the Past (Tears of the Kingdom Reader Insert)

Chapter 19 -÷- A Murcky Start

The trio of You, Link, and Visru were now on your way to Zora's Domain to investigate what was going on there, riding down Sahasra Slope to avoid the ruins which had recently destroyed the bridge to the path between the Dueling Peaks. Leaning onto the path from the slope, you opened the Purah Pad's map and explained the situation.

"Okay," You started, "There are two ways to Zora's Domain. The first is through the Goponga Village Ruins, which, while shorter, is rather heavily filled with Monsters. Or the path past Crenel Peak and back down." Link suggested that the three of you take the shorter path, since all of you would be easily able to defend yourself in the event of a fight. Visru seconded the idea as the three of you turned towards the path, slowly traveling through the ruins.

As the three of you were slowly making your way through the village, Visru asked, "Can you explain as to why this settlement was abandoned?" You sighed as you responded, "Goponga was one of the many settlements that were stomped into the dirt upon the Great Calamity, a catastrophe caused by a being known as Calamity Ganon." You heard Visru briefly halt his breath as you could hear him mutter, "So he still found a way past being sealed." You were about to question what Visru was talking about when yours and Link's Horses suddenly grew anxious, stopping in their tracks.

"Hey, what's up?" You asked as you softly tried to soothe your horse. You then looked up as you could see a pool of gloom that stood in your way, but looking closer, the pool appeared to be moving. "What is That?" You asked as suddenly five red hands emerged from the pool, with glowing eyes in each of the palms. The horses were frightened so much that they reared back, knocking the three of you off as they then ran away. You tried to yell to them, but it was no use. The three of you got up as the hands all snaked toward you. Link and Visru quickly pulled out their blades as the Avatars of Tulin and Yunobo appeared as well.

Following suit, you also pulled out your blade as you engaged in combat. "Visru! Do you have any idea what we're fighting?!" You called out as you managed to slice a hand off, only for two more to take its place. "I don't know, I haven't seen anything like this before!" Visru stated as he activated his power, and three more copies of him appeared and began to hack away at the hands. However, the more hands you tried to chop off, the more appeared. You felt like you were quickly being surrounded as you were finding it hard to keep up with the Gloom Hands. Eventually, one simply grabbed you and lifted you into the air, with the touch itself feeling like it was sapping you of your strength.

You cried out in pain as you tried to squirm out of the grip of the hand, but the others that were focused on you had begun to claw at you, and even knocked your sword out of your hand. You could briefly see Link as you were being clawed at, a look of legitimate panic on his face as he swung his blade around with inhuman speed, taking out hands before they could regenerate. The hand that was gripping you then threw you to the ground as you began to feel faint, the world slowly going black as you began to feel numb. You couldn't keep up, it felt like you were mere moments away from death.

But you were interrupted from these thoughts as someone slid under the dog pile of hands and grabbed you while still sliding, taking you out from the pile. You could barely see as the three versions of Visru then simultaneously performed a spin attack on the entire group of Gloom Hands, cutting each of them from the pool as they toppled over and fissled away into smoke.

You barely had the strength to look up as you saw Visru holding you in his arms, which were now stained with blood as he held you up, pulling out a bottle with an elixir inside that seemed to be glowing. He then tore the cork off with his teeth and spat it away as he looked to be saying something while he motioned the bottle to you. You tried to say something but couldn't, still feeling tremendous pain, despite partial numbness. Visru then opened your mouth and slowly slipped the liquid in the bottle into your mouth. As he was doing this, you were trying to swallow, holding on for as long as you could, but your eyes caught something else.