Marked

Waking of Wednesday, June 20, 2018 ~ 5

Marked

From the Kuh Takkar Shrine I hiked all the way to a point called Zirco Mesa, and, as I had done on many mountaintops before.... I found a Korok, hiding under a rock and thinking he was just so clever....

Maybe this was when I had looked at my map. All the land around me was so rugged, and I wondered where Vah Naboris might stand when I was done with it—until I remembered running across the weird, flat, empty top of Spectacle Rock.

....If I were gonna park a Divine Beast somewhere.... I might just do it there.

The thought was encouraging anyway—I had already visited the spot, and besides that, there was nothing of terrible interest there that I would miss should it become inaccessible.

Maybe this was when I had looked a little longer at my map.

Maybe this was when I had looked a little closer.

At some point, in scanning over the towering steeps of the Gerudo Highlands, I chanced to skim across the Yigas’ Nest up Satan Canyon.

There was something new there.... something else that had not shown up on my map before.... Very close to the habitation-icon, almost right underneath it.

It was a red X.

And it was labeled RIP.

D:

That was because I had clicked “continue” instead of “quit”.

That was because I had clicked “continue” instead of “quit”....

That was when the Yiga had killed me. I had perished using the World’s Most Interesting Bomb.

And I thought of Mario Maker videos I’d seen, showing where so many players had died in each level.... that little red X....

My map was marked. It was marked now.

I looked at my saves.

I could go back. If I wanted to.

I could.

....

I wonder why I didn’t.

Hm.

I bet there were a lot of players whose maps may have been peppered with X’s.

But mine never had been.

And so, so long ago when I had gone back at the Eastern Abbey, after that very first Guardian had shot me—

I had erased that death. I had wondered about it at the time.

But this one....

So this is what happens. This was what happened when you died in Breath of the Wild.

Mipha didn’t save me.

....

I chalked it up to that, and—I could’ve gone back....

But I didn’t.

I don’t know why I didn’t.

—And carried on.

Hylian Barbecue

Waking of Thursday, June 8, 2017

Hylian Barbecue

“Hey David, say that really sad line that Folken says,” I grinned.

David laughed as his eyes raked the ceiling for recollection.... “Oh yeah, uh.... ‘Will somebody please tell me WHY . . . . MY WISHES NEVER COME TRUE?’ T___T ”

“But they do, David!” :D And I dived into the cupboard and powered up the WiiU.

I warped from the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab tooooo.... “The Shrine of Ja Baij will do nicely!” I said. ^_^

“Are you going Guardian-hunting?” David asked.

“Nope!” I climbed out of the East Abbey, got on the edge of the Plateau wall, set my nose toward the Bridge of Hylia.... and took a flying leap.

David might have sunk into his phone again.

I hit the ground running and booked it for the bridge! I dashed across the stones—stopping only briefly to throw a rock into the water far below to scare up a Korok—one shot!—and kept on running!

I ran past the Lizalfos in the middle! Didn’t have time for them!

I ran all the way to the other side!

And there mounting up from the cracked and craggy hills to the right was....

“Wait are you doing a Tower?” David asked.

“Yes!”

“Ohoh!” he perked up at this—he’s been dying for me to explore more.

“Wishes do come true!” I cheered.

“You’re doing it, Peter!” he cheered back.

This Sheikah Tower looked easy enough! There were a few Bokoblins about, but honestly who cares about Bokoblins?

I didn’t follow the path but was once again keeping to the high ground, on the right side, the side near the bridge. Maybe the left would have been better as it connected with that big ridge surrounding the lake.... more ground to stand on....

But no matter! I huffed it up into the hills—the earth was so cracked and shattered here! I wondered if it had become all broken up like this when the Tower had burst out of the ground....

My progress was just dandy as I leapt from slab to slab of the erupted crust. My Champion’s Tunic showed me the life-meters of enemies I couldn’t even see—hiding in the low path that ran through the shade of the widest cracks.

Part of me thought it was nifty, but part of me thought.... it was kinda cheap....

Couldn’t say it hadn’t come in handy sometimes, though.

I came to a high spot and thought to have a little look around, but....

Fire Wizzrobe.

It had just come into view, close enough for me to see. Him I didn’t need. As viewpoints went, this would have to suffice; I didn’t want to stir up any unnecessary trouble—

That high-pitched giggling off to my right side.

Uh-oh.

Didn’t move fast enough. There must have been another Wizzrobe, and it sounded like he’d spotted me.

Another Fire Wizzrobe, just my luck.

I sprinted for it, hopping over the cracked earth—maybe if I put enough distance between him and me he’d lose interest....

But as I made it to the lattice-like walls and huffed it up the tower, I could hear the Wizzrobe still following me. Rats....

Well, I’d just have to move extra quick-like. And just as well, because it was bedtime for me anyway. Surely the Wizzrobe would leave off if I just kept climbing farther and farther away....

I heard the swishing, plishing sound of magic warming up, and tensed myself to jump to a higher part of the viney lattice if need be. A roaring rush of sound followed, and an explosion rocked a lower part of the tower—seemingly on the other side from where I was.

Oh would he just get lost already?

I only listened to the Wizzrobe skipping through the air again as I continued to climb, and catch my breath on the platforms. More magic. More explosions. And then—

There was a sound from the Wizzrobe that was quite different, and then it was as if the earth were erupting in fire here and now around me. Flames licked up through the air, and burning stones bigger than my head fell like hail around me, and the sky and all beneath it became tinged by a red haze and everything was shaking and rumbling and rumbling and shaking and ROARING . . . .

This was the Wizzrobe’s doing?

“What the heck is going on?” I wailed. D8

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen this happen before,” said David.

“Nothing attacked you here?”

“Well I watched where I was going—I didn’t let anything see me.”

I kept climbing. None of the raining firestones were hitting me....

“It’s getting hot....” David pointed out.

“I know....” I said, though I was mostly just focused on keeping climbing.... I spared the thermometer a quick glance. It was in the red.

“Drink an elixir!” said David.

“I don’t have any.”

“Nothing?”

“Nope.” I had to stop on a platform to regain my stamina.

“You’re slowly getting hurt from the heat,” said David.

I was panting. Two hearts were gone.

“Just kill it!”

“Rahh—” I jumped onto the wall again. I was almost there....

The earth still rumbled—the fire still rained—another jump—costly—didn’t want to risk another one here at the end—a third heart was burning away—

And as I climbed over the last horrible outleaning lattice and cleared the upper edge—

The firestorm ceased.

The rumbling stopped.

The sky became light blue again; the haze of heat and fire was gone.

And I stood, and the world was calm, and quiet.

“Oh man....”

Friggin’ Wizzrobe.

Maybe I should start brewing some cooling elixirs....

The Forest of Killing Time

Waking of Wednesday, June 7, 2017

The Forest of Killing Time

Yesterday I had to reset my clock. The power had been out for a couple of hours, because some men from SRP came to our neighborhood and removed an old transformer in the alleyway, replacing it with a newer one.

Must’ve been that devil from Hateno Village again....

That night I had dreams that after the next Blood Moon.... two rusted Guardians waited down the hill from Robbie’s house.

I had seen something very strange when I downloaded the Akkala map. And now at Robbie’s house I could see it with my own eyes: far to the northeast, standing tall from the sea like some kind of prison, was a great, cubic island of black stone.

It was a maze.

And at its heart in the back the orange glow of a shrine could be seen.

David had told me it was swarming with Guardians, so I went to have a look for myself. I jumped off the seaside cliff, and paraglided through the rain....

As I neared, a Flying Guardian came into view, sweeping over the twisting passages. Anything below it would surely be trapped like a rat.

Then another came into view. And another. And another.

Four Guardian Flyers patrolled above.

And who knew what lay in wait inside....

I sure didn’t, because my stamina ran out just before I got there.

I warped from my freefall back to Robbie’s, and thence.... to the Plateau. I wanted to see if old Guardians could be salvaged more than once.

Turned out they couldn’t; none of the old rusted ones around the Temple of Time had anything left for me to find.

Feeling braver, I tried around the East Abbey—home of my first nightmares. There wasn’t much to be found there either. But I took the opportunity to mark on my map where the live Guardians were situated.

As long as I was back on the Plateau I felt like wandering through it again. I had a Warm Doublet now, and I wanted to see the top of Mount Hylia.... and pick up some treasure I’d meant to get before, high on a tower near the treehouse where I first learned to cook.... There were plenty of Koroks that turned up along the way as well....

And then there was something that Jenn had said, so long before.... “How do you beat that miniboss in the forest?”

I hadn’t seen any such miniboss.

Of course, I hadn’t combed the entire forest, either. What was it, a Hinox? A Lynel? I wandered through the trees until I came to a little open spot of ground that made me think once again what a splendid fighting arena it would make....

And a Stone Talus burst out of the earth—not even Talus Junior—just STONE TALUS.

And the Piano conjured up all its percussive friends and laughed at my blundering into the trap!

I ran. The Talus dug up huge boulders out of the earth and hurled them at me! I could only dodge them and get behind the thickest trees—oh gads, one hit with one of those....

I put some distance between me and it until it quieted down again, and then....

I ran back in and climbed up on top of it before it could fully unearth itself this time! The Piano started up again and the Talus pitched and rolled—it is HARD to stand on top of a Talus! But there was its big lump of ore sticking out—I could attack that—if I could reach it....!

It flung me off and I hit the ground and rolled to a stop.

“Get up get up get up, Link!”

I ran back in, so close to its stubby little legs—stubby, they were as tall as I was—and sheltering beneath its bulk, I thought ridiculously: The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm!

The Talus’ huge, huge hammerlike upper appendages pounded the ground—but I was too close to its body. I jumped and gained a lucky purchase on its.... back? I think. It was hard to tell—and started climbing—at times hanging almost upside-down underneath it as it rocked and lunged! But I scaled up its stony hide and got to the top once more.

I hammered away at the protrusion of ore with my Special 38 Big Stick—the Knight’s Claymore—knocking chunks of Amber off at every stroke—the stone beneath my feet rumbled and jerked so erratically—it was so difficult to maintain my stance—but then with a final swing the ore protrusion shattered and the Talus was defeated!

And as it toppled I jumped and ran for it! I’d had giants fall on me before and I was NOT going to have that again!

The Talus collapsed and exploded into a resplendent pile of glittering gems—with two Rubies this time I think—which I happily collected before skipping off on my merry way through the woods.

I beat a Talus! ^_^

When I’d had my fill of the Plateau, I thought of where else I might find Guardians to salvage. My first thought was the Valley of Terror near the Dueling Peaks. But I also thought perhaps to sweep the road between here and there....

I paraglided down into the Forest of Time just to the northeast, because that had looked interesting on my map, dodged a couple of Moblins, and headed for a tall wooden lookout tower to take shelter in. Some Stalkoblins (as I’ve learned they are called from my Compendium) popped up in my wake and started throwing rocks at me as I climbed the ladder. It hurt more than I thought it should—and then I realized I was still wearing my Warm Doublet. Not a lot of defense threaded into that one. Except from the elements.

I came out onto the high platform, and choked—the tower was loaded with high explosives.

“Oh, nope!” I shouted, heading for the first barrel. “You.” I grabbed it— “Out.” —and chucked it over the edge. It exploded in a magnificent fireball, taking at least one of the Stalkoblins with it. “And you.” And the other— “Git!” —went over in like fashion.

The volatility of my immediate surroundings now significantly lessened, I had a look around. You know, it was a nice little tower—a nice, wide platform, little guardrails.... I could see the east road I had first taken so long ago, threading away through some ruins—

And there were Guardian husks down there.

I could search those—

But no, I couldn’t. Not right now.

Because a Blood Moon was rising.

Those east road Guardians would have to wait.

I warped back to Robbie’s and paraglided down the hill, grateful it was steep enough to allow me to do so. I found the rock again . . . . and waited.

I readied myself for a scuffle—I knew there were those three Stalmoblins there at least, but the Guardian?

I waited . . . .

11:30 struck, and the ground began to smoke. Unholy embers. Hazy light. Swift red clouds. And the Piano rumbled the pained low groaning it reserved only for those moments . . . .

I stood away from the rock, and faced the space where the Guardian had been before, when Zelda’s warning came in vision to my mind once more . . . .

And when she had done speaking . . . .

THE GUARDIAN WAS BACK.

Back and awake with blue light, clicking and whirring as it swiveled its can-head, looking for things to shoot.

“Dang it!” I hopped over to the other side of the rock.

The Stalmoblins didn’t appear.

But now the Guardian was back.

How’d you manage that, Ganon? Resurrecting machinery you never even spawned in the first place?

Ah poop this was so lame....

I climbed back on the rock, and destroyed it the same way I had destroyed it before, with arrows to the eye.

And when it broke down and exploded, I looked hopefully for Ancient Gears or Cores....

But all that was there was a pile of screws.

“You cheapskate,” I muttered as I hopped down to collect them.

Well screw you too.

. . . .

You know, they might actually have been springs, but then I couldn’t have made that joke.

Bad Things

Waking of Friday, March 3, 2017 ~ 2

Bad Things

I must’ve been getting these four Spirit Orbs all out of order, I thought. I bet that snowy one was supposed to come last, it was so far away and tricky and dangerous....

But I was proved wrong by the last shrine sitting in an unassuming little place called the East Abbey.

It was an open, crumbling ruin, and there were more of those big dead crawlies all around it. I scavenged them as usual until I came to the chamber just before the shrine where one of the crawlies activated at my approach.

It couldn’t move from where it lay rusted all wonky in the earth, but it searched me out with its deadly constant and accurate laser-eye.

When I was brave enough to glance, I could see that the way to the shrine was blocked by a large, cracked boulder. I bet that thing was explodable. Perhaps I just had to lure the thing’s aim over there....

It was a bad idea.

It tracked me true to every sprinting movement and with one blast killed me in a heartbeat.

I....

Oh, how he rolled on the ground before he came to a stop....

I quit, and backed up a couple of saves; I didn’t want that death on my record—did I back up enough?

I do not know.

Perhaps I’ll never know.

Ben and Cami and the girls were in the room, too. And David.

I had to circle wide around—more of those things activated—it was terrifying—it was awful—it was awful—it was terrible—where could I go? Where could I hide from their terrible terrible eyes?

Eventually I found a wall near a great drop-off that I could scale to get into the chamber where the shrine was.

Ugh, those horrible things....

No mini-crawlies in the shrine again, and that was nice. This shrine belonged to Ja Baij, and he gave my Sheikah Slate the power of bombs.

Even his name sounds very bombish, don’t you think?

And when I completed his trial, collected his Spirit Orb, and exited the shrine, the Old Man parglided in to talk to me once more.

This was the fourth shrine. And he’d give me the paraglider. But I had to meet him at the place where lines drawn between the shrines would intersect on my Sheikah Slate map.

He said he had something important to tell me....

And as he said this.... he didn’t simply walk away as I’d seen him do, but he.... slowly disappeared, faded away in a softly twinkling pale green light.