TOTK: The Lonely Hero

Mattison's Independence

After a long night of agonizing stomach aches, a tired and restless Link crawled out of bed. After changing into his usual Hylian attire and Champion's leathers, he left the Rollin' Inn and mounted Epona.

After bidding farewell to the Gorons, declining Yunobo's offer to take some prime rock roast with him for the road, Link soon rode off. As his mare trotted her way down Death Mountain, he plotted his course for the next few days.

"I'll stop by Robbie's old ancient tech lab to see if I can find anything of use to bring him. Then I'll head back to Hateno Village to see him."

Passing through the rough and rocky terrain of the dormant volcano, he eventually made it to the bottom of the mountain. There, stone ground gave way to dirt, and the horizon of scorched rock changed to that of green fields and forest, and of a blue rushing river.

Having finally returned to lusher lands, Link rode southeast along the road, before turning to head northeast, riding along the border between Eldin and Lanayru. Along the way, he would stop whenever something came up. A shrine, Korok seeds, the odd traveler in need of help, even helping out a man set up advertisement signposts for Hudson Construction.

He kept this up, all the way through to Akkala, with its hilly, uneven terrain, and trees with leaves red and orange instead of the usual green. After revisiting the sites of the old Akkala Citadel Ruins and the region's Skyview Tower along the way, Link made his way eastward.

"He seems to pop up on every road."

As the evening began creeping in, the swordsman decided he'd have to make a stop soon before he could get to the lab.

"Tarrey Town isn't far from here. I can stop at the inn for the night."

As he entered the old Torrin Wetland, riding through the woods, something soon caught his attention. To his surprise, the woods had become much smaller since he'd last been there, with a large chunk of the trees having been removed and a large open field. Much of the water had been drained as well, now concentrated in a few corners of the old wetlands.

Where the trees were gone, its place was a newly erected construction site. A few wood structures stood by the shore of Lake Akkala.

Curious, Link rode up to the place. There, he found not only the usual Hudson Construction workers who resided in the town, but also a number of Zonai researchers, who were busy hauling old Zonai machinery out of the lake.

At the edge of the lake was a tall wooden platform which let to a long, winding railcar system, connecting the old wetlands below to Tarrey Town above Hanging from it was a gondola lift, a simple contraption made of a few flat wooden boards, tied together to two Zonai wheels, standing atop the rails.

He dismounted and headed on over to it. Upon seeing his face, and the bright, blue Champion's leathers he wore, several of the construction workers and researchers began to murmur with one another.

"Is that Sir Link?"

"Why is he here?"

"Is the princess with him?"

Walking past the onlookers, Link hopped onto the gondola lift and struck it With a whir, the wheels came alive, as they began driving along the winding rail. Link went up and down, then up again, circling around, until eventually, stopping at a small docking area, right at the edge of Tarrey Town.

"Hey!" a gruff voice shouted, as he hopped off.

Turning to the source of the voice, Link soon recognized the man as Hagie, a rather plump, middle aged Hylian man, and one of the resident employees of Hudson Construction. The swordsman simply waved his hand to greet the man.