Before the Calamity

The End

"Let's not waste time. We must get to Hyrule Castle." He stated, voice devoid of emotion. The two of them charged head on into Castle Town.

The once cheerful and lively place was nothing of the sorts now. Men, women, and children all screamed and ran, trying to flee from the monstrosity. The realization sank in that these were the same people they had danced among only a few weeks back. As they reached the castle, the two of them stopped. The walls were crumbling down, breaking the structure to ruins. It was being demolished. There was no hope of getting inside. Zelda gasped.

"Father..." Something squeezed tight on her heart, causing her to feel sick. She only stood there, frozen with disbelief. How could she let this happen?

She couldn't dwell on it for very long, though.

"Look!" Link shouted. She turned to see the Divine Beasts, seemingly ready to strike. But something was wrong... Instead of the blue glow, they now shone a bright red. The same shade as the Beast itself. The Guardians, too...

"No!" She cried, realizing what this meant. She had never imagined that things could go this badly. "Link! The Champions! They're all in the Divine Beasts!" She found herself unable to breathe normally, gasping and sputtering like a fish out of water.

"We have to get out of here!" Link yelled. He forcefully grabbed her arm. He knew that he needed to fight the beast, but he couldn't risk her safety. He had to get her out of there before she was hurt.

His grip was so strong that Zelda had no choice but to comply. She ran behind him.

Luckily, they had made it in just enough time, because the town went up in flames a moment after they escaped. The princess turned back, seeing nothing but wreckage in the place of her home.

"No!" She screamed, but she kept running. A few of the corrupted Guardians had spied them, but somehow the two of them had escaped their pursuit. They kept running, though, in constant fear of being seen.

The two of them were terrified. Neither knew anything about what they were up against. Link didn't have even the slightest clue how to combat a machine, and Zelda had only done minimal research on them. If they were caught, it was over...

Rain began to pour down from the sky, torrents of it pounding into the earth. The sky darkened as a great evil took over the once beautiful land.

"Link! Where are you taking us?" She shouted, having no idea what to do herself.

"We're running away! Far away! Just like you always wanted!" He replied, his voice wavering with worry and grief. The two of them grew tired, but continued fleeing, pure fear keeping them on.

As they reached the Bottomless Swamp, the princess began to pant and whimper. She was nearly out of breath and her lungs burned. Her insides felt like they were being compressed together by an unrelenting force. Everything hurt. She turned to look back, and then her hand slipped from the knight's. As soon as she let go, she fell back and Link stopped immediately. He turned back to her, fear pulsating throughout his body. Instead of standing up, she knelt on the ground, defeated. He approached her.

"How..." He sheathed his sword. "...How did it come to this...? The Divine Beasts, the Guardians... They've all turned against us." In her voice, there was despair and dejection that he had never heard before.

"It was... Calamity Ganon... It turned them all against us!" She slowly brought her eyes back up to look at him. "And everyone, Mipha, Urbosa, Revali, and Daruk; they're all trapped inside those things." She thought about the four champions. The sweet and kind Mipha, the fearless Daruk, even the proud Revali. And most of all, Urbosa, who had been there for her so long, always knowing how to help. And now she had failed her. "It's all my fault!" She buried her face into her hands, trying to hide a downpour of tears. "Our only hope for defeating Ganon is lost, all because I couldn't harness this cursed power! Everything... Everything I've done up until now, it was all for nothing!" She slowed. "So I really am just a failure!" She shouted, looking into his eyes. She felt fear, anger, sadness, all welling up inside of her too quickly. "...all my friends, the entire kingdom... my father most of all.." she quieted down. "I tried and I failed them all..." She looked at him, utterly despondent. "And left them... all to die..."