On the Devil's Doorstep

Waking of Saturday, March 23, 2019

On the Devil’s Doorstep

Looking for Shrines.

Woodland Tower out to the Elma Knolls and down below the northernmost Sheikah Sealing Pillar about the Castle. The air was Malicelike in there. Eugh. No shrines though.

Went up and killed the Lynel below Mount Drena. Aced it pretty good. Checked out Mekar Island again. Lots of baddies. Yowch. No shrines though.

Running around....

You know what? I thought, I’m gonna just try and fly from the Elma Knolls to Hyrule Castle.

And I did, with Revali’s help. Sailing, sailing through the airs I planned to land partway up the north Pillar. I was ready to cling onto it and start climbing. Oh my gosh I saw a Guardian perched on top. Was it alive? Was it dead? I would find out. Closer, closer.... ready to grab it and climb, aaand....

I PASSED RIGHT THROUGH IT?

UM.

OVER THE MOAT NOW.

HEADING FOR ONE OF THE CASTLE-ISLAND’S PLATFORMS....

I SANK THROUGH IT AND STOPPED.

I WAS IN THE ROCK UNSEEN. COULDN’T MOVE, COULDN’T TURN THE CAMERA. COULDN’T EVEN PAUSE.

AND SOME REAL INTENSE MUSIC STARTED PLAYING AND MY HUD MAP BECAME A 3D OVERLAY. LIKE UNTO A DIVINE BEAST.

I tried everything, but I just could not dislodge myself from the bleak black stone. Eventually I just hit the Home menu button to get out of the game.

Back in, and I was back on the Elma Knolls. I had that Dragonbone Boko Club thingy, so I’d already visited Mekar Island. That was good.

Hhhrmm but I needed a better approach....

I went to Woodland Stable, looking for Gotter and Parcy. But I couldn’t find them... Weren’t they here?

But I did find Molo. The Yolo guy.

He said there were some docks on the north side of the castle. And rumors about a mysterious shrine nearby?

THERE IS A SHRINE.

I’M GOING TO FIND IT.

But.... where are—?

I checked my sidequest menu. Gotter and Parcy were at Riverside Stable. I went there, talked to them.... Gotter just wanted to try the food, the old royal recipes. But Parcy told me about all the various ways to get into the castle.

I tried her Sheikah method. Approached from the east, near Mount Caramel or Mount Crumpet or whatever it was called [Crenel Hills], crossed Helmhead Bridge. Killed the Guardian. There were two Guardians on that island....

I was looking for her secret tunnel but I didn’t see it. So I waited for nightfall and.... There. The luminous stones. I see it now.

The tunnel was there. But.... with so many Guardian Flyers, the remaining space between still felt so treacherous.... So close and yet so far. How could I get in safely?

Well.... the night is young, I thought. Let’s try the Elma Knolls flight again.

It’s always a long paraglide and jog from the Woodland Tower to get to the Elma Knolls.

Or at least.... to get to where you want to be.

Too many trips to Mekar Island....

I was lining myself up just at the edge near the moat this time, not higher up the knolls and with no plans for an extra Revali boost, when three Stalmoblins popped up and start chatting it up with me—I have become an incredibly good quick-change artist. And then I was waiting for the blasted rain to clear, just so I could see where to land....

There were plenty of hampering circumstances, but at length the air did clear up and between my new Stal-friends I could scope in on the castle and see where I wanted to go—and there were explodable rocks there! Is that where the shrine is?

I leapt off.

Please let the ground be solid.

....

And it was. My boots connected, and glicked as they ought. I landed near the rocks, ready to call on Ja Baij.

But time stopped first.

There was a cinematic: The Swirling Calamity Ganon whirled up in a roaring ferocious, swinging about the castle, raging, roaring, raving, ravening.... mouth agape.... Oh gosh would it come and just eat me because I approached the castle wrong?

But no.... As the camera pulled back, trembling in the ragged tear of its orbit, Malice and dust stinging its eye.... there at the center of the storm, there in the middle, shining through the stone of the towers and parapets, in the center.... A brilliant, penetrating Golden Light.

The Princess was still there. Her holy power still held.

And on that heartening note, the cinematic ended, and I was free to move. I blew up the rocks. Treasure chest. I opened the chest. Rupees.

‘Kay cool.

I went clockwise over the dark stone, toward the east side, bent around a rugged corner and killed a decayed Guardian, and made my way to the tunnel by the glowy stones....

The East Passage.

It was all crumbled in here. Dust and grit and rubble strewn everywhere. The walls seemed rough-hewn, though I wondered how much of it was by design and how much by the ruin of time.

The music had muted as well. The same desperate progression as had sounded outside still floated hauntingly through these inner passages, only now performed by an organ running on minimal stops. The brass, tempestuous percussion and keening strings had stayed outside.

Malice still smoked through the air, choking the passage.

Keese.

They fluttered around up ahead, in a slightly wider spot, not yet aware of my presence.

I readied a weapon.

Oh, the Master Sword.... was glowing.

The hammering it made when it smote the Keese out of the air!

This place made my sword bare its teeth in righteous ferocity.

I followed the passage to where it widened slightly. A mine cart?

....

I didn’t want to take a mine cart.

No, I was become a church mouse once again, senses flared wide, stepping my way forward. I went slowly. Slowly. So very very slowly.

The railtrack had risen up on the left side of the widening tunnel; on the right side was a shallow pond—more of a little puddle in the ground, really. Dingy against the cracks between wall and floor, like seepage from somewhere. A large ice block stood in the midst.

Four fire arrows reduced it to nothing, and out came a Korok!

Even here. Even here they were hiding.

It was strange....

Further down the passage, I finally came to a Malice eyeball, beyond which I thought I could hear.... Lizalfos....

After I shot the eyeball, I could definitely hear Lizalfos. Quickchange!

These Masks are so handy.

There were Red Lizalfos everywhere. No, not red, they must have been Black. I dispatched them as I could isolate them, and they only dropped normal tails. Black Lizalfos.

I killed them and cleared the way until the path rounded to the right and widened in earnest in a large, round chamber, braced with heavy beams.

What was clearly a Talus sat dormant and obvious in the center.

It seemed to be the end of the passage, except for the telltale lack of a ceiling that I could see in the chamber.... The walls seemed climbable enough, and there didn’t seem to be any other way to go.

Hhhmhm but I didn’t want to have rocks thrown at me while I climbed.... with that Talus in the way....

....

All right then.

I killed it. And where it had sat, the ground was ruptured with escaping air—an updraft.

Even better.

I rode the current up the shaft. And up above I came to.... another chamber and then.... the Library?

That’s what it was called.

But everything was so smashed and ruined....

It was awful. It must have been so lofty and stately once, light shining in, such rich, dark tables, a beautiful place for study.... Now there was a great gaping hole high up in one of the long walls, as well as some of the ceiling above—a dismal drizzle poured in from outside. The short walls each had an ornate stairway up to the upper walkways and more bookshelves. But one of these stairways was partly collapsed, and the red carpets lining them were all frayed and moth-eaten. Books lay strewn over the tile, dog-eared to heck and back and now loved only by spiders.

It was sad.

More Lizalfos prowled and patrolled here and there. I slowly cleared out the room, luring them away one by one with my Mask until I could put them down out of sight of their companions.

But partway through my sweep, in the midst of the ruin and cascades of debris, I found something down on the ground level, on a table that must have been handsome once: an open book. A recipe book!

Inside was a recipe of the Princess’ Favorite: Fruit Cake. It consisted of any two fruit + Tabantha wheat + sugar cane. Apparently, according to the following notes, it helped to clear the head for better concentration on ancient technology research or something.... Heh, interesting....

Clear, clear, Lizalfos, Lizalfos, Mask, Mask—I continued to sweep the room. And on an upper balcony-walk, I found a second book. This one contained a recipe for the Chancellor’s Favorite: Monster Cake. It called for Monster Extract + Tabantha wheat + sugar cane + goat butter. So that was the proper recipe.... Further notes read that it was a dangerous dish that made the head fuzzy and might even encourage the formulation of evil schemes!

What was up with these dishes?? XD

That was two of them anyway. Did I need more? Would there be any more? I’d been pretty thorough over the Library, and I continued to look hard.... but I didn’t find any more recipes. That was Gotter’s errand done, then.

I didn’t want to get too far ahead.... I could see the pathways branching off the Library on my map, but it took a moment for me to realize they were hidden behind some some big metal cabinets. Magnesing one of these out of the way I uncovered a crooked, rubble-strewn, downward-leading passageway that led to the Docks.

More Keese, more Lizalfos. And....

There was a big space where I thought something like another Talus would be, as there had been in the other passageway.

But.... it was empty. All except for—

That giant brazier.

!!

The Shrine!

I backed up, and shot a fire arrow into the brazier.

UP came the Saas Ko’sah Shrine!

It was a Major Test of Strength with no stone pillars for cover, but only big magnetic blocks I could toggle up out of the floor with Magnesis! I’d seen David do this kind of trial....

I did it without a hit.

Once I came back out I proceeded down a ramp to the docks themselves, low on the moat in the huge, cavernous chamber. Faint light shone from beyond a bend in the immense stone passageway, dappling the water; it must have led to the outside.

There were more Lizalfos down on the docks, and I almost went to deal with the two obvious ones.... before I caught the movement of the other. I changed course and instead went up the earthen walkway around the edge of the huge chamber, and took out the sniper first. The one who would have seen me get up to mischief with the others. Dropped a pretty nice bow and a decent bundle of arrows, that one.

Once his watchful eyes were no longer a concern, it was down to the docks, where I killed the other two.

This left the run of the place to me. There were weapons and things scattered everywhere around this place, all among this ruin, boxes and barrels full of supplies.... It was a treasure trove of junk. And there were some good Hearty Salmon swimming near the piles—those were good fish.

Once I’d cleared out the Docks, I made my way back to the Library.

I’d seen to Gotter, but.... what about Parcy? Where was this Royal Guard’s Gear she was so interested in? It had to be close.... right?

I went up to the other end of the Library, the far end; there had been an upper exit there, at the top of the carpeted stairs. This led to more chambers, more Lizalfos.... and a long, long hallway. And still more Lizalfos.

The walls were cracked and crumbled here and there. Rubble spilled in huge cascades. Was the red carpet still so red by dint of its quality? Or was that just the glow of the constant Malice through the air?

There had been so many Lizalfos all throughout the castle that I was almost taken off guard when, near the end of the long hallway, I heard a sudden Moblin grunt.

A large set of double doors stood cracked slightly open; I could see movement beyond.... and I could tell that it could see me too.

I dashed aside in a tense flutter before whatever lurked within could take too much notice of me though, and quickly changed to a more appropriate headpiece....

Now a Moblin myself, I edged cautiously through the crack between the doors and into the next chamber, where the Moblin was. He seemed to be the only baddie around, which was good—it’s tricky when there are multiple breeds; Kilton’s Masks could only fool so much.

He held a huge sword.

I killed him.

And looked around....

The room was not draped in so much finery as the hallway had been; the surfaces were more bare, warm and wooden, the floor of finely cobbled stone. It was some kind of Guards’ chamber. And there were beautiful weapons everywhere.

And there!

Those were different. My pictobox didn’t recognize those.

The Royal Guard’s Shield. The Royal Guard’s Bow. They were sleek and dark, and looked like they’d be more at home under cover of darkness than anywhere else. Or infiltrating the dens of things that preferred such.

So I made choices. I dropped. (As my pockets were full.) And I picked up these new weapons. They evidently were ancient Sheikah Technology designed to fight Calamity Ganon, and they were strong and effective, but not very durable.

But surely there had to be a sword as well?

There was a broad staircase in the chamber, running up a couple of walls to a wooden balcony. I made my way up until I reached a part where a large chunk of the steps had busted with age or rot. There was nothing for it but to climb the wall.... higher....

The next passageway leading off the upper Guards’ Chamber was smaller, cold and stony, and seemed to bend and twist all around on itself. And it was lined with a series of blocked doorways that looked tantalizingly explodable.

They were.

Moving slowly, cautiously, I blew the first one up. Inside the hollow was a large and mighty armored statue, resting its hands on the hilt of a Rusty Claymore, the bladetip at its foot.

It was very impressive-looking, but I left it there.

Oh, but I did take the seed from the Korok hovering in the corner. Even here.

There were so many weapons about.... The next hollow HAD A LIZALFOS AND I WAS STILL IN THE MOBLIN MASK—I gasped as he saw me, as he recognized me. Gave me a start but I could take him! I ran back quick and killed him before he could breathe to another soul that an intruder walked the castle grounds.

Hooooohh.

It was finally in the last hollow.... that I found the Royal Guard’s Sword. In a pedestal.

An ancient Sheikah replica of the Sword to Seal the Darkness. It looked just like the Master Sword, only darker, just like the other Royal Guard’s things had been.

But I noticed that the hilt was backwards. The wings.... angled gripward instead of bladeward. That combined with the menacing sheen of the darker metals used.... gave it an almost perverse look.

Replicate the Sword that Seals the Darkness?

.... It just....

Hh.

....

I took it.

This was Parcy’s Royal Guard’s Series. I didn’t think there could be armor involved.

This was it.

I was going back now.

I was going back....

But what was behind that other passage off the Library, leading up? It had been blocked by Malice, and the attendant Eyeball was on the other side, but I wondered if I could....

I drew a bow, aimed carefully.... and shot the Malice Eyeball. And what do you know? It worked from behind! I’d shot it right through those goop-strands....

The dark barriers disintegrated, and now the rainy outside and the bony glow of naked rubble glared in an off-white rectangle at the top of the steps. I went up NOPE! NOPE. THERE’S A GUARDIAN. GOING BACK INSIDE NOW.

Hm.

....

I had Gotter’s and Parcy’s things.

....

I’m leaving.

But I couldn’t warp from this map....

To the Docks then.

I would swim out.

And I did.

My paraglider gave me a headstart out of range of a Guardian’s laser and I was plashing through the choppy water before I registered the sudden change in volume.

The music was more orchestral outside; I’d forgotten it was like that, with all my sneaking around the inner parts. It was still the same progression, but now pronounced again by a doomful, desperate brass section, and punctuated underneath by that iron-sharp snare drum that tasted like spikes at your back and on your heels.

And I heard it again.

As I had heard it while I was sneaking about inside the castle.

At times the meter broke apart, the theme turning to a fit of asymmetrical hammering like the darkness inside a mad dog’s head. And yet underneath.... That dissonant, ascending organ line....

He was still serenading her.

Still serenading his captive.

And when the meter was allowed back to a semblance or order, she would answer, with her Ancient Lullaby, perpetually rocking the balance of power in a Dreadful Dialogue.

I swam, I swam.... waiting for the map to change....

I swam, I swam....

Malice still swirled hellishly all around me as I kicked and paddled for the northern shore, the current sweeping me carelessly away....

If I could just reach the shores of the Elma Knolls....

And still the nightmare music played.

Swim, swim.... swim, swim....

I swim....

And of a sudden the dripping crimson dissipated and the air cleared. The Malice evaporated. My HUD showed the normal map of the countryside.

And I made it.

Bedraggled back onto the shore.

That would be a good artwork.

Here in the rain at night as the moon goes down above me.

Unscathed from the belly of the beast.

Angled low from the east, to see the back of the castle on the left, and the high western sky in the middle, and maybe the muddy rise of the Knolls on the right. Link on hands and knees, sopping wet in his Zora Armor, like I was.

The sky and the moon all warped with pink, like the bending air of a heat-haze, or the rainbow sheen of motor oil on the ground.

....

I think I’ll get to Riverside by myself.

Woodland. Woodland I mean.

I’ll get to the Woodland Stable on foot.

The Princess is a Nerd

Waking of Monday, March 18, 2019

The Princess is a Nerd

Looking for Shrines.

Bottom of Lake Totori. Nope. Just a lot of swimming and Stamina games. And dripping through the air shafts.

The Devil’s Own Highway, via Moza’s.... enchanting abode. Nope. Just some Koroks and coyotes.

Purifier Lake. Killed the Hinox and the Lynel. Rusty Shield finally gave out in a blaze of glory.

Nope.

The eastern skirts of the volcano. Found some ruins, the Shadow Hamlet Ruins.... But nope.

The northeastern shore of the mainland. Nope.

There was....

....

I needed a Korok Leaf....

Warped to the forest and picked one off the ground. Finally spoke to one Kula the Korok, who wanted to see an Ice Rod. Heh, another Nebb....

I was busy.

Boating around Lomei Labyrinth Island. Nope.

Almost drowned when the wind blew away my boat after I swam to the border. But there was ground to stand on at the island.

No shrines.... where are there more shrines....

Tried a bit around the northeastern Central Plains. Nope.

The northern skirts of the Gerudo Highlands, as far west as I could go. Nope.

The eastern edge of that bowl of jungle-forest on the way to the Spring of Courage. Nope.

Hateno.

....Cooked more meals. That Lynel was brutal.

Bed.

Sleep.

Good night.

Just kidding.

Came back late when everyone else had gone toward bed. To bed.

Checked out Strock Lake. Very strange winds. Lots of treasure, a few Koroks, butt-tons of Lizalfos and a heckton of trouble. But no shrines. Nope.

Checked out the western edges of the Central Plains. Nope.

Hem and haw. Shilly Shally.

....

I shall.

I warped to the shrine near Serenne. And.... I moved toward the memory.

Uh.

There was a memory near there, just to the south and east a bit. A memory by a tree on a grassy hill, with the back side of the Castle in the distance. I’d seen it before. Even stood in it. Why did I never mention it before? How disgusted I am with myself as a journaler....

Maybe it was when I was looking for Mei. That run all the way across the Elma Knolls....

I did not rely too heavily on my map, but decided to go by sight in the midst of the thunderstorm. Stalgoons came out to waylay me, but I am a quick-change artist.

The first batch I left behind.

The second batch popped out right before I could get to the tree. Ugh. I did not want to wear down my weapons dealing with them, but I didn’t want to view the memory with them hanging around either. They all three told me their life stories for like three or four hours....

“Dawn take you all and be stone to you,” I urged them under my breath.

And at five in the morning.... they did.

The Memory....

Zelda and I sat near the tree on a beautiful sunny day, Zelda taking pictographs of all the flowers she could find. We were just sitting. The flowers were so lovely....

“The flowers of Hyrule aren’t just beautiful,” she says, “But they are also incredibly useful.” She expounded on their various properties and their uses as herbs and ingredients.

And then.... she stopped, seeming to slow down and breathe as her eyes softened.

“This one here...”

And then I saw it.

“This one is called the silent princess. It’s a rare, endangered species. Despite all our efforts, we’re not yet able to grow them domestically.”

She stroked it so lovingly. I felt suddenly guilty for picking every single one I could get my mitts on....

“The princess thrives out here, in the wild.”

Her eyes still looked at it.... though they looked at a thousand things more that I couldn’t see.

Does she now.

“The best we can hope is that it continues to grow strongly out here in the wild.”

I looked over her shoulder at the flower.... before with an excited little yelp the princess lunged forward on her hands and knees like a child.

“Oh I can’t believe I’ve caught one! Look at this!” She turned back to me with her hands cupped in front of her. “Ta-da!” She opened them.

A green frog chirruped and puffed and wriggled in her palms.

“They say that ingesting this specimen can actually enhance certain attributes!” Her eyes became more focused than I’d ever seen them before; he speech quickened; it all seemed to come flooding out of her.

Oh . . . I breathed out a single, hard little sigh in the shape of a smile.

I could see now.

There you are, I thought.

The princess.... was a nerd.

“And we wouldn’t be in a controlled environment out here, but with your excellent physical condition,” she kept coming closer, “you would make the perfect candidate to test this theory!”

And closer!

“Go on!” she urged excitedly, thrusting the frog into my face as it hopped up from her palms!

“Taste it!”

I backed up.... gasping in.... hesitation for I dare not say disgust here why oh gosh she’s the princess....

Oh my gosh.... the princess.... is a NERD. X-)

After coming back to myself I took a portrait. Several portraits. Then culled. Narrowed. Until I was satisfied.

In flicking through my albums, I saw that the pictograph of Windblight Ganon.... it had four.... protrutions out the back, like Revali’s four braids.... and I felt.... sick....

Enough.

HATENO.

HOUSE.

BED.

It was 11:something in the morning. Slept ‘til noon.

The Long Way Back

Waking of Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The Long Way Back

I shared a somewhat.... irksome exchange with David the other day, as I lamented to him about all the dead-ended rivers I had searched. I told him I had searched every waterway downstream from the wetlands, and that none of them led to Lake Hylia.

And in a terrible digging voice and with shrewdly narrowed eyes he answered, “Are you sure?”

Well.

I did wonder about that lake beneath Digdogg Suspension Bridge, and I hiked to the actual bridge (upon which I had never set foot) to have a look. In skirting round the sleeping Hinox and peering down over the edge, the water really did seem to come to a dead end just there.

But I wanted to be thorough. I pressed on into the desert landscape of the other side, had it out with a couple of mounted bokoblins—and one of their horses, a pretty, peach-dusty thing with a sandy mane, decided he didn’t want me on his back, and promptly jumped us both into the drink.

David lost it completely.

I just.... blinked.

....

The horse looked like a good mount, but I had no stamina for swimming after him, and so warped to the shrine just away beneath the bridge. After that it was a boat-ride back to the waterfall, a quick ascension in my Zora Armor, and.... I was still quite far away from where I had been....

But, as I was so close to the Great Plateau, I simply put on my Warm Doublet, warped to the shrine on the icy mountain, ENCOUNTERED A STRANGE TREASURE CHEST with the letters “EX” on it—for a moment I was terrified it might be a T-shirt or something.... but it was Bomb Arrows—don’t ask—and PARAGLIDED back to Digdogg Suspension Bridge.

I’d dealt with the bokoblins, and I finished off their friends in a nearby treehouse—David got quite a kick out of the Great Thunderblade I had acquired from Sheem Dagoze.

And after a good look about the place.... I decided that Yes, this really was a dead end to the river.

Ignoring my shrine-locator’s beeping, I ran all the way back to the Outskirt Stable.

It was....

It was time to start back. And set my face toward Akkala. And Robbie.

I did still decide to do this all on foot, however.

“Aren’t you gonna just.... Beam-Me-Up-Scotty?” David asked.

“I don’t wanna Beam-Me-Up-Scotty,” I said.

“You’re gonna walk the whole way?”

Well, maybe I’d Beam-Me-Up-Scotty just a little. I warped back to the Sheem Dagoze Shrine, and started north, for the Elma Knolls.

But first I came to that big toothy crack in the earth, found a shrine in the bottom of it, and completed that—I’m up to nine Spirit Orbs now; I really should find a Goddess statue....

And after that it was a very long jog past that sparse ruin over the water where I’d played hide-and-seek with the Korok—The Ancient Laboratory Ruin or something like that—aaaaall the way across the Elma Knolls with their endless wolves, and those mounted bokoblins with the fire arrows or whatever they were.... Got hit a couple of times there—

I didn’t feel like chewing through my food, but decided that, if I fell, I would just rely on Mipha.

What good is a gift avoided? And Mipha’s was a very good gift.

It was a very long trek, and the bokoblins cut me down to one heart, and a mob of giant blue chuchus cut me down to one quarter heart—but I kept running. And I kept killing wolves, never shying.

And it was raining, and I found Mils and Mina—not Nina, as it turned out—fighting against some bokoblins on the road, and I helped them out, and—

“Well there’s a split off the river,” said David.

I looked toward the castle. Beneath the unholy Calamitous Clouds, one fell fork split off and meandered away into the blackened landscape. It looked just like another part of the moat.

“I don’t think Lake Hylia’s in there,” I gestured to the castle lands.

“But.... open your map; maybe it connects with.... these down here.”

He indicated some rivers along the vein that ran between the Dueling Peaks.

“ . . . . Huh,” I said, “Maybe.” Perhaps.... this warranted some looking in to.

Also I had the feeling David was . . . . mmmm maybe nudging me around a bit.

The sun came out like a bad cliché when I finally jogged onto the friendly grounds of the Woodland Stable. It was 11:15 in the morning. I decided to take a forty-five minute nap to rejuvenate my aching one-quarter-heart body, and at noon, I took Thrice out for a ride.

We took the Thims Bridge road, over the mossy mounded hills and past the Honeydell—saving Leekah from a bokoblin on the way of course. But I stopped at one junction of the road I had never explored.

“Stay here,” I told Thrice, and climbed a bit over the rocks beside the long stretch of a T-junction. The stretch that pointed toward the castle....

“In my experience,” said David, “The closer you are to the castle....”

The farther you are from harm? I thought hopefully.

“The closer you are to trouble,” he finished.

“I’m just gonna take a little look,” I assured him, inwardly thinking how VERY like Famous Last Words those sounded....

I crept among the rocks until I was high enough to peer into the central plain before the castle. There at the base of the hill I was on.... coursed a little river. Flowing north to south. One that very probably could only have come from that split David had shown me earlier, among the big cubic stones surrounding the castle.

. . . .

Maybe....

Maybe....

I looked at my map again.

The river system near the Dueling Peaks.... the river that this one by the Honeydell may have connected with.... was called the Hylia River. And it was joined by the Squabble River from the Dueling Peaks....

But further downstream it was still called the Hylia River....

And then it ran away southward off of my known map.

Could it be . . . . ?

I came back to Thrice, and we pressed on to the Wetland Stable—saving Leekah again on the way—and I stopped.

Oh I was aching to go on. I had arced all the way north around the castle again in a great upside-down U, and I still had the drive and energy to keep going....!

But it was late again, and I did have to get up early.

But to be absolutely sure....

To see those waterways....

There was one more thing I could do in pursuit of the hapless missing Mei.

And it lay at the top of the alleged scariest Sheikah Tower in all the land.

The Maddest Dash

Waking of Saturday, April 22, 2017 ~ 2

The Maddest Dash

Every stride down the riverside road took me closer to the castle, and the swirling, looming Calamity trapped within its grounds.

I didn’t know what I would find.

The way was barren for the most part. The hills began to mount and roll all grassy on the right side, to the north, while on the left side, lower down, the land looked as pleasant and natural as ever.

I even saw a shrine down there. Just the glimmer of orange, inside a hidden cavern it seemed. But heck no way was I gonna give time for it now! Especially as it lay across the river. No fooling around in there. Not right now.

I had a Zora to find.

I passed charred wooden ruins and smashed timbers on the right—a few new bogs had formed there. And I saw a wolf sniffing around one of them. I snapped its pictograph before moving on. My Compendium told me they traveled in packs, and would surround their prey; but this one walked alone. Hmm.

I didn’t bother with it.

Past the ribcage remains of a few overturned wagons, I saw two Hylians having a row with two Bokoblins, and bolted ahead to even the odds....

The man’s name was Mils, and woman’s either Mina or Nina. Nina I think; I don’t recall their names forming an alliteration [they did; it was Mina].... Actually Nina [Mina] looked like a Sheikah come to think of it. White-haired.

Well it was encouraging to see other people out here at any rate.

They thanked me for the assist and we parted ways, they back the way I had come, at a healthy jog; and I ahead to the northwest, a little faster.

Molo had mentioned some docks by which one could reach the land where the castle stood, and I saw the road that led down toward them. It looked like a wooden bridge. And a six-legged Guardian sat camped out on the other side like a cheapskate.

But hadn’t I seen....?

I looked at my map again.

I had mistaken something else for Molo’s “docks”: a great jutting bit of land, all square and elevated above its surroundings. I’d thought it was perhaps made of stone, but....

Well I’d see when I got there I suppose.

The rolling hills piled steeply to my right—the Elma Knolls. And I soon discovered them to be infested with wolves. Eventually one appeared unavoidably close to my path.

I kept running. Straight for it.

I’d been a wolf before! I thought, remembering Twilight Princess, I’ll best you....

And I did—and was rewarded with a thick slab of Gourmet Meat.

But the wolves did fight dirty, circling and circling and keeping back from my sword strokes. But once one of them was killed the rest left off in a hurry—true to the Compendium’s word.

It was only a minor slowing inconvenience—I had to keep going.

And to my left I saw one of those flying terrors—the same kind I had seen near the tower north of Upland Zorana. Hovering and shining red lights down below....

I snapped a pictograph.

It was a flying Guardian.

FANTASTIC.

There were a few of them near the castle, as it turned out. I always found it alarming whenever they seemed to be hovering in my general direction, and you bet your pants I hightailed it into the hills on those occasions! Between Guardians and wolves, I’d take the wolves.

But the Guardian Flyers would eventually make a sharp turn—following a set patrol pattern it seemed—and I would bend cautiously back toward the road, and the river, cutting my corners as fine as I dared....

The castle—the castle grounds—were.... enormous. I did reach what I had thought was the dock, or half of a bridge. But it was not a dock.

It was, in fact, one of a number of immense, black, cubicle stones, shot with magenta light in archaic designs, which surrounded the castle, all jutting inward like the teeth of a baited trap.

Perhaps.... a part.... of whatever apparatus bound the great Calamity to its prison in the castle grounds.

This one just happened to be on my side of the river. The side my Sheikah Slate had downloaded into its map. That’s why it was showing up.

I would not touch it.

It was a long, long trek across the Elma Knolls. Sun and moon arced. Rain came and went. I passed a Hinox slumbering in the middle of what looked like a lumber yard—I considered killing it, but.... my arrows were running low after that Woodland Tower. And I didn’t fancy getting smacked in the everything by one of those logs.

I killed wolves, I startled birds and foxes, I grabbed plants on the go, I ran from a mounted bokoblin—thought about killing him too, but he was packing some kind of super arrows and I had to keep running.

I just had to keep following the river.

That Mei might have passed so close to the castle, so close through the unholy darkness, beneath those undulating clouds of purest evil....

I just had to keep following the river.

I just had to keep following the river....

And I did.

And after a long, long time, it began to bend away from the castle and the Calamity, so blessedly away.

And I followed it.

It had been a big, big castle, and ground, and maybe a town. Perhaps once the bright center of the land. Maybe I should have known it would take such a long, long time.

I followed the river, running and running and making only brief stops—mostly involving Koroks. One of them led me on a merry game of hide-and-seek through the few standing walls of a ruin on a high plateau overlooking the water.

The place was wide enough that it had seemed like boss-room bait, but there were only a few fat blue chuchus lurking in the ground. I dispatched them easily, and played the Korok’s game, as a mighty thunderhead brooded in the western distance, lightning strobing in its shadowy depths....

I ran on.

Bridges spanned into the dangerous ground on my left at whiles—now I was more west-northwest of it.

I ignored them.

Through the darkness of rain I came to a great crack in the earth, with jutting crags like teeth on either side. Things were nesting in the dangerous paths at the bottom it seemed.... But I only paraglided across to the other side—and kept on running.

Stalmoblins burst from the ground and chased me—I had no time for them.

The grass began to give.

Rocks showed through the terrain.

I passed a Sheikah Tower high up away on the rocky hills to my right.

It looked close, but....

Later.

I came to great bald mountains and cliffs of bare stone and—

THE RIVER SPLIT?

David laughed at me.

He’d been with me for a while now.

“Ugh, which way?” I lamented.

“Try the left one; it follows the map line.”

I swiveled between the two in agony.

“Uhhhh.... Okay....”

And so I took the left fork.

I just had to keep going....