Shrine Out Of Time 2.2 - The Last Shrine

Evening of Tuesday, November 17, 2020 (comprised of some raw note editings from April 29 through April 30, 2023 that I really hope sound consistent because I left it alone for too long) ~ 2

Shrine Out Of Time 2.2 - The Last Shrine

I was in my Hateno House.

I was out of practice. The buttons. The buttons....

I knew those could give me trouble. And so I decided to journey on foot.

I needed the practice.

The fabled Roscoe would be down on a southern beach, far to the west. I could probably get into ample trouble by following the coastline. That would give me practice on the buttons.... And Hateno was close enough to the beach.... I’d go there first!—oh, after I got dressed.

I said it before—this blasted game preying on my girly need to try on clothes! I remembered! As I perused my closets, I remembered. I’d bought an extra pair of Well-Worn Trousers from Granté, down in—up in Tarrey Town, and brought them here, to the Dye Shop.

To Sayge.

I never bothered to remember his name....

I donned some ensemble more suitable for the road.... or lack thereof.... left my house, ran down to the main thoroughfare, and jogged and sprinted my way back up the mountain, toward the Ancient Tech Lab. I was close enough to the beach....

But upon cresting the highest hills and looking down on that beach.... and being so struck by the familiarity of it.... I decided I didn’t need to explore any regions I’d been before along the eastern coast. Several times. I would go south instead.

I could see the Muwo Jeem Shrine from here, way out on its prominent overlook. I warped there, ran inland, then jumped off the crag, and ran and climbed and paraglided until I came down over Lurelin Village.

But I didn’t stop there. I ran straight up over the following mountain and paraglided all the way to Aris Beach. And there.... I started walking.

There were Guardian husks scattered across the sand. I used Stasis to check whether any of them were alive and—oh, that’s a Talus. I’d been so focused on the Guardians I hadn’t even noticed it.

I killed it. With a big wind-up of my weapon, like Ben said he’d done. And Urbosa nailed the thing in one. Felt good.

Walked.... walked....

Lizalfos appeared, and I donned my Lizalfos mask.

Skeletons cropped up, and I put on my Radiant Suit.

Electric Keese came out, and I put on the Thunder Helm.

The cost of a peaceful passage was only so much juggling and juggling....

But I knew there was a live Guardian down here somewhere; that one would be trickier to bypass....

The Lizalfos didn’t mind me sneaking up and sneaksriking them. I took their treasure from under their noses and they left me alone. These masks were so handy....

Kept walking.

I knew there was a live one somewhere.... I was sure I’d seen one.... some place.... some time....

And there it was.

A Guardian Stalker.

Sitting still as a spider.

I hated it when they did that.

There was a Lizalfos kind of near it, hunkered down in camouflage, facing my direction. I didn’t want to deal with them both....

On went my mask again, if it wasn’t already, and I crouched down and continued my westward march at literally the slowest possible pace. I didn’t know the reach of the Guardian’s ken.... but I wanted to get behind that lizard and kill it!

I circled wide enough to evade the Lizalfos’ interest, if not his swiveling little eyes, and.... came around his back side without the Guardian taking notice.

One sneakstrike put him down, leaving the field clear for just me and my larger opponent.

I crept closer to it still....

But the Guardian, it seemed, was nowhere near as lively as I’d feared. I came quite close and it still didn’t move.

It wasn’t even decayed. What was wrong with it?

Maybe some of ‘em just get low on batteries.

I tried whistling. It had worked for that turret on the castle grounds. But here on the beach.... nothing.

So.... I shot it in the head with an arrow.

That got its attention.

It came on....

And I put it down in three Perfect Parries.

....

And kept walking.

The beach was long.

There were more Lizalfos occasionally.... always more Lizalfos....

And the weird, overhanging rocks from the cliffs to the right....

It was a strange place.

And there, another tide pool, with a big hump of black rock rising out of it near the edge.

And I climbed up on that rock.

And there—

Orange—

There it was.

The last Shrine Pedestal.

It was set into a cluster of rocks just a few paces down-beach from.... a very large, very strange.... mushroom-shaped rock? It was tall, it was immense, with a high-rolling, grassy top, like a hill, but.... weathering down so narrow toward its base.... like a tree trunk.... A house-sized tree-trunk.

Maybe it had come to be this way from weathering near the sea.... maybe this area used to be sea caves.... Maybe.

Near the base of the MushRock I could see the light of a fire—a wok—a couple of large wooden crates, some barrels.... the silhouette of a dead Guardian there off the right side.... and the glow of—

The Orb.

Heh, the legendary Roscoe, I assumed.

And sitting on the ground beside it, leaning up against it with her palm upon its surface, her cheek against its face, her knelt legs folded off to one sultry side.... was a woman named Loone.

Heh. Fitting.

“So smooth and ancient...” I heard her murmur as I approached.

And as I came up to her directly.... “Your skin is so smooth and gorgeous, my little Roscoe.... Hm? Someone’s watching us? Oh, my sweet Roscoe! You’re so shy, aren’t you? YES, YOU ARE! Why not proudly show off your beaming beauty, my darling? You really MUST come out of your shell.”

This was amazing.

“Hm? The person watching looks like he wants something? Maybe he’s after... *GASP* Is he after you?! Don’t you worry, my sweet Roscoe! I would never ever EVER let you go!”

Well heck, that wouldn’t do.... I needed that thing!

“I’m head over heels for my special friend who’s been around since ancient times! You’re so ancient and special, Roscoe! YES, YOU ARE!!”

The way she just kept stroking it....

But then her voice dropped— “Sorry, my sweet Roscoe, but I fibbed a little... The truth is...” —and then rose again! “I wanna see Guardians! Flying ones! Small ones! Ones that walk around! I wanna see all the Guardians in the world!! Not the ones around here that have rusted away, either. I wanna see fresh and lively Guardians! If I ever do get to see them... I may just have to leave you, my friend.”

For a moment I panicked. Did I need to actually herd a Guardian over this direction and show it to her?

But no.... I remembered.... That’s what Ben had said—she only wanted to see pictures of different types of Guardians.

Well, there was my out.

“Oh, but don’t you worry! Getting near a Guardian is too dangerous for me. Flying ones, small ones, ones that walk... I’m afraid seeing Guardians like that is nothing more than a dream within a dream for me...”

Well, no worries, Loone. It wasn’t too dangerous for me. And it was already a waking nightmare within a waking nightmare to boot.

There was just one problem.

My album was full.

I hemmed and hawed a good long while. I didn’t like deleting records.... Well.... Lasli-in-the-Fireflies had replaced the picture of Impa’s orb....

I.... erased her pictograph. Ach.

Then it was a simple warp to the Castle; easy enough to find Guardians there. I found a flyer first. And the pictograph came out marked with a little red exclamation mark. Good.

I took it back to Loone, but.... she gave no different responses.

Uh.

....?

Let me see....

The quest was called Guardian Slideshow.

Oh no.... she.... she wanted to see all three of them at once?

Then I would need to delete.... two more pictographs?

How could I?

ajhglajgkeklr;ajkf

I pushed it aside, went back to the castle; I would decide when it was upon me.

I made my way to the Observation Room. And I erased.... one picture of Windblight Ganon. For I’d had two of them. The one I erased was less dynamic, but it did better showcase the blight’s four “braids”.... like Revali’s....

I’d just.... found it.... interesting I’m sorry, my friends....

Somewhere near the Observation Room, I snapped a pictograph of a Turret. But no exclamation mark appeared on this one.... Huh.... So by “little one” she must have meant a shrine-crawler, then....

I paraglided down toward Castle Town, got a pictograph of a Crawler, and then.... warped to the Shrine of Oman Au. There were crawlies in there.

Hemmmmmed and haawwwwwed and hemmmmmed and hawwwwed....

That picture.... that picture that I took of the Great Calamity, Calamity Ganon.... right up friggin’ main street.

I actually went and made sure it was on my computer first.... and then.... I deleted it.

It definitely needed better retaking.

And there were other facets of Ganon I had failed to capture as well.

I would find him again.

Soon enough.

I got the crawly, beat the shrine, warped back to Ka’o Makagh.... climbed over the mountain, came back to Loone.

“My sweet Roscoe... Don’t you worry, my special friend! I would never ever, EVER let you go. ...Unless, of course, I find a way to see a flying Guardian and a small one and one that walks around.”

Ah-hah, my choices, “I’ll show them to you.” or “You’re...funny.”

She did seem maybe just a wee bit touched, but....

“I’ll show them to you,” I offered.

“Hm? Someone’s speaking?” she said. Oh gosh.

“You’ll...show me? A Guardian?”

Oh, she addressed me this time! But she was still glued to her precious ball.

“Hey, you! Could you please not bother my Roscoe and me?”

But I held up my Sheikah Slate, and showed her—

“It’s not like you can show me a Guardian or anything...”

—the Guardian Skywatcher.

Suddenly Loon was on her feet. “That image... That’s a flying Guardian! Wow, I feel alive with terror just from gazing at its beautiful form!”

Beautiful?

....Well, I know most of that feel, sister.

I then showed her Oman Au’s little crawly.

“A small Guardian! Awww, it looks so vicious for its tiny size! Adorable!!”

Adorable?

“Hold on... If you’ve been able to show me two types, then that must mean...”

And I held up my slate once more with the pictograph of the Stalker.

“A walking Guardian! I can’t believe it! Nothing could be more dangerous! What an exhilaratingly scary sight!”

Exhilarating? Wait, let me look it up.... “Ex-” plus.... “hilarus” as in “hilarity”?

....

Well maybe if your sense of humor is very, very dark.

“Phew... What a joy,” Loone sighed. “Hey, you! Give me that box, OK?! I wanna look at those images every single day!”

Uh oh.

“I can’t do that,” I said.

“You can’t? I see... How unfortunate.” Her face wilted into her palm. “I guess I’ll just have to burn those images into my imagination.”

“Can I have that orb?” My only option.

Loone raised her head again. “Hm? Oh, you mean Roscoe? Sure, that weird sphere thing is all yours. Really, I’m over it.”

Oh wow, Loone. XD

“Yeah, I’m all about Guardians now! If I close my eyes, I can see them in my imagination! It’s glorious!”

Heh, and I hope that’s the only place you’ll ever see them.

I’d been taking my time.

Mom and David were in the room with me, and David had been impatient, but.... he said if he’d known it were the last shrine....

He was understanding about that....

I picked up the Roscoe Orb, walked it over the few paces to the pedestal, and set it down in the hole.

Up came the Shrine of Shoqa Tatone.

The Final Shrine....

I stepped inside.