Zonai Descendant : A Zelda BotW Story

Chapter One

 It was a hot, humid day in Faron Forest. The sun shone through the thick canopy of palm trees, illuminating the layer of mist that floated around Silent Falls, a quiet waterfall that came from the Spring of Courage and ran all the way through the whole forest. The serene noise of the forest sounded around me.

I sat next to Silent falls, staring mesmerized into the crystal-clear water as it trickled past me. I had just woken up and taken a trip down to the stream to fill up a canteen of water, but I always liked to stop and watch the falls for awhile.

I stared into the slowly moving water, catching glimpses of my reflection. I had long, wavy black hair that was currently tied into two braids, light-brown skin, and bright blue eyes. I wore a top made of patterned green fabric and a matching skirt, both of which had been crafted by my grandmother, a green headband, and a silver necklace with a green jewel hanging from it. On my hip hung a small, sharp dagger.

I lived in the Zonai Ruins. My ancestors, all the way back to ten thousand years ago, had lived in this very city. At some point, they had stopped maintaining it, and now it was just a pile of old artifacts, but it was still beautiful. Nevertheless, I wished I could see beyond this ruined city.

There were only 15 of the Zonai Tribe still alive, and, to protect our pure-blood heritage, we were forbidden from leaving the ruins for fear of falling in love with a member of another race, or being killed. I had never seen anyone outside my tribe, with the exception of a Zora traveler who had passed through once. Nobody else in Hyrule knew that we still existed, and, for fear of some rumors that went around that our ancestors' ghosts lurked in these ruins, people rarely came here.

Monsters filled the Faron Forest, but the Zonai were skilled warriors, and we were able to destroy practically any beast who had come our way. I once took down a Lynel with nothing but a tree branch and a rock.

We were also very religious. We worshipped the Dragon Farosh, who had disappeared with most of the Zonai Tribe thousands of years ago. We didn't know where he had gone, but we prayed for his return.

"Maya!" A voice snapped me out of my trance. "Hurry it up!" I grabbed the canteen next to me and quickly filled it up in the river.

"Coming!" I replied to my mother, standing up and running back to our "home". It was really more like a hideout.

I made it back and crawled into the "door" of our "home". It was a moss-covered hole in one of the ancient stone walls of the ruins, followed by a short tunnel that led into a large room that had once been a hideout for the warriors of the Zonai long ago.

In the corner of the bamboo-carpeted room, my mother leaned over a metal cooking pot, cooking a delicious-smelling breakfast of bananas and voltfruit. She looked up at me and smiled. "Did you get distracted again?"

"Yeah," I admitted, sitting down on a mat on the floor, where we would eat breakfast soon.

"Where's your brother?" My mother got up from the pot and walked to the entrance, leaning out. "Rahi! Time for breakfast!"

I groaned. "Can't you just leave him?" Rahi was my annoying, 5 year old brother who did nothing but pester me all day long. He came rushing in past my mother and walked up to the pot.

"Mmm," He said. "Smells good!" He crashed onto his mat on the floor.

"Rahi, where have you been?" My mother asked, lifting the pot from the fire and carrying it over to where our mats were.

"I was climbing," Rahi grabbed a handful of fruit as I sat down next to him.

"You be careful," My mother sat down next to us. "If you fall from one of those trees, you could snap your neck."

"I'm always careful," Rahi shoved the food into his mouth.

I scoffed at his manners and picked some pieces of the fruit for myself.

"Maya," My mother served herself some food. "Tonight, you can go out to Dracozu Lake to collect some more fruit. We're running low."

"Yes, mother," I said eagerly. There was a tall rock in the middle of Dracozu Lake that offered a beautiful view of the Faron Forest from above.

I finished my breakfast and was going to work on fixing a tear in the carpet when Rahi tapped me on the shoulder.

"Wanna go to the Takai Tree?" He asked, looking hopefully up at me.

The Takai Tree was the tallest tree in Faron Forest, and offered a breathtaking view of not just the Forest, but all the mountains, rivers, plateaus, and structures of Hyrule.

"Sure," I agreed.

〜

"Come on," Rahi raced through the forest, me following close behind him. We wove through trees, grass, bushes, and rivers, and we finally reached a massive palm tree that stretched high up into the clouds.

"Race you to the top," Rahi leapt onto the trunk, grabbing pieces of bark to help pull himself up.

"You're on," I grinned, knowing I would easily beat him to the peak of the Takai Tree. I jumped onto the tree and climbed gracefully up the trunk, passing Rahi in an instant.

"Oh, come on!" Rahi whined as I grew closer to the top. I reached the massive palms at the peak of the trunk and grabbed onto one, pulling myself up its leafy stem. I collapsed on the flat top of the palm tree, panting.

Rahi leaped up after me, about ten seconds behind.

"And you got a head-start!" I taunted my little brother.

"Not fair!" Rahi pouted. "You climbed the easy side!"

"Whatever."

I looked in awe over the view of Hyrule. To the north, you could see the huge, lava-covered Death Mountain, to the northwest, the wonderful structure of Hyrule Castle and the Hebra Mountains, to the west the vast Gerudo Desert,

and to the east, Lanayru and Necluda.

"Wow," Rahi said. "It's like it's more pretty every time you come up here."

He was right. It was the most beautiful view you could get from Faron Forest. It really made you realize just how small you were.

"I wish," I said, half to myself, "I wish I could see Hyrule."

"But you are seeing it," Rahi replied. "Right now."

"Not like that, idiot," I playfully punched Rahi's shoulder. "For real. Not just from afar."