The Hyrule Paradox: Worlds Collide | BOTW Isekai (Book 1)

Chapter 42: Shattered Souls

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Beware fool, the eye of the Yiga.

They followed him up the staircase, cautiously trying to make as little sound as possible. He led them up the steps, knees bent slightly. They turned the corner of the stairs, and when they got to the top, they found what they had come looking for.

The chamber opened up into what Jordan knew was the first gatehouse down a set of stairs to the left, but directly ahead of them was the prisoners' cells. There was a Gerudo soldier sitting in one cell, and there was a second cell next to her's that contained both Maria and Allison. He didn't have a clear view of them, but they both looked defeated, and sat close to each other in their cell with their knees pulled up to their chests.

Jordan put his finger to his lips as they approached. The soldier turned her head and saw them immediately. She didn't make a sound, but she looked out of her cell to check to see if there were any guards around before waving them over. Olivia and Matt went to Maria and Allison's cell to see how they were doing. Jordan and Link crouched next to the soldier to hear what she had to say. She kept her voice low, her eyes darting back and forth on the lookout.

"What are you doing here?!" she hissed at them, clearly thinking they were insane.

"We're here to rescue everyone," Jordan responded, "What's your name?"

"I'm Barta, but don't worry about me, just get them out of here." she jerked her head toward the other cell, "The Yiga Clan..." her voice seemed to die in her throat for a moment before she tried again. "The screams are like a delicacy to those monsters."

"What do you mean? What did they do to them?" Jordan demanded, his heart beating out of his chest. Barta only shook her head frantically.

"Just get them out. I will escape on my own." She told them, "You got lucky, the soldiers are at dinner in the dining chamber at the moment. You must take the women and get out as fast as you can before they can return to their guard duties.

Jordan frowned in confusion. As far as he knew, this was the first gatehouse of the Hideout, and there were no other chambers besides the second gatehouse and Master Khoga's personal room. Was the Yiga Hideout bigger than he thought? Were there also training chambers, sleeping chambers, and other things he had never seen hidden inside the mountain?

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He wasn't here for a tour, he had a mission to complete. He realized that this was where he and Link would split so that Link could go after the Thunder Helm. Jordan stood and they clasped hands one more time before Link turned and walked down the stairs and made for the other end of the gatehouse.

Jordan moved over to the other cell, where Oscar and Olivia were trying to comfort Maria and Allison. "Don't worry, we're here to rescue you!" Olivia tried.

"Olivia please! I need to get out of here!" Maria cried. Jordan's blood froze. He had never heard so much raw desperation in a single sentence, and it sent a shiver down his spine. Both women looked horrible. The subdued looks on their faces told him that they had seen something awful, and they didn't seem to be in their right minds. There wasn't even a hint of a smile despite the fact that they had come to save them. It was like they were in a deep state of shock. Their lips were cracked, their faces much too pale. He took a deep breath to steady himself before he could look again.

They still wore the clothes they had on the morning of the attack. From his vantage point in the semidarkness, their pants looked stained by something in several places. They were shoeless, and they looked cold, their bodies pulled close together in fetal positions.

This is why they had come here, Jordan realized. This was why he had fought against the Yiga and hurt them the way he had, why he had even come up with this whole plan in the first place. He was fighting to save two defenseless women who were powerless on their own. The strength came roaring back to him. The Yiga had done something evil to them, and he would do everything he could to get them out of here, and back home safe and sound.

He leaned in close to the thick wooden cell bars and spoke to them in a whisper. "Shhh. Listen, we're going to get this door open, I promise."

Maria and Allison shuffled back and towards the corner of their cell, as if they barely had any energy left in them. Their body language was subdued and fragile. Jordan turned to Olivia as she scanned the cell bars, which were made of wood trunks tied together with rope.

"Do you think you could use your telekinesis to break the bars?" he suggested. Olivia nodded like she was thinking the same thing. She held her hand out in front of her, concentrating intensely. Rings of pink energy suddenly formed around the top of the cell bars. Olivia closed her hand into a fist and the energy sawed itself into the wood, eventually cracking the trunks under the intense pressure. The severed gate began to fall forward, but Olivia caught it with her telekinesis before it could crash to the ground. With an anxious glance at the staircase behind them, she magicked the severed door off to the side, taking care to put it down carefully.

Allison and Maria stood up and staggered towards them. Their legs shook dangerously unsteady, barely able to walk. Jordan stepped forward and caught Maria as she fell into him, and Matt quickly wrapped an arm around Allison's waist to make sure that she didn't collapse.

Jordan did his best to support Maria, but she was exerting almost all of her body weight on him. She was so weak. Gasoline doused the spark in Jordan's heart, and he could feel his anger begin to boil inside of him. It wanted to go all out, and punish the men and women that had made them this way. But the cooler side of Jordan extinguished it, reminding him that wasn't why he was there. Jordan looked at Matt and saw the same fearful look on his face. He turned to Olivia, urgency pouring out.

"We have to get them out of here, now."

"If we go–"

But before she could finish her sentence, they heard a noise coming from the staircase behind them.