Last Corners

Friday, May 10, 2019 ~ 5

Last Corners

Back to the Outside Track.

I followed it counter clockwise again. I was almost to the entrance to the Dining Hall. There’d be Moblins in there—

Ah—phoo, I’d forgotten that stretch. That stretch of road just off the Dining Hall, that stretch where a dead Guardian had fallen down from above right in front of me before.

It just did it again.

Ahahah....

Now I was back inside.

I wanted to see if I could reach the Malice Balcony. It had been blocked on the west side.... and completely shut off on the south side opening. I had to be able to reach it from here, from the east....

I made it through the Dining Hall, down the corridor to the left, and to a doorway that led into the room below the balcony, some antechamber.

There was Malice blocking the way here, too. But this time there was an eyeball. I shot it, and the way cleared.

The room beyond was new to me.

There was a Moblin. Right in there to the right, squatting at rest on the floor and facing perpendicular to my entrance.

I walked in with my mask. I thought for sure—for SURE—he would see me, but.... Dang. I mean, I stepped into the room right at his 10:30, but he never stirred. Not when I crossed the threshold, not when I walked slowly along the inner wall, further down his left side. Not when I passed his 9:00, nearly brushing his ear. I came all the way down and back behind him.... and sneakstruck him in one.

Well at least it was quick.

Now, the balcony....

A broad and perhaps still handsome staircase led up to the south, opposite where the Moblin had been squatting. No Malice blocked my way here; the path to the last room was open. I started up the red-carpeted steps.

Another Moblin waited at the top. Oh this one saw me all right, as I came straight up his 12:00. And like they do, he started at my mask, and then began lumbering toward me to investigate this new, tiny brother.

I let him come down and draw close, maneuvering him onto lower ground before—“Don’t try it....”—dispatching him on the staircase.

After this I ascended further, but did not leave the mouth of the stairway. There was an eyeball up there, high and away on the far side of the upper room.

My Royal Bow was extremely damaged. But it had at least one shot left in it, if I could be sure not to waste it....

I took aim before the eyeball could spot me, and—“Royal Bow.... fly!” I urged it. And the arrow struck true, as the bow shattered in my hands.

And the eyeball shriveled and died.... and the Malice evaporated.... and I could see....

The rain.

The Observation Room this was called. Fitting.

A crumbled statue of the bird motif from the royal crest, its wings spread back and wild, stood on a plinth in the center of the room.

It must have been handsome once. Was this.... a stylized Loftwing?

I went up one of the smaller side-stairs, which led to the upper platform, and outside. A Thunderblade was embedded in the high, central floor, but I had no room to carry it. I did have room for the bundle of arrows I found just over the threshold, however. Handy.

And that ridiculous longshot Korok was still there. Yeah don’t think I’ve forgotten you, you little guttersnipe.

But....

My gosh, the view.

The balcony was splendid without the wall of Malice choking it closed. This really was a spectacular vantage point from which to look out over the castle grounds, and the town below. How green and alive it might have looked once, with birds chirping and people milling.... soldiers’ armor clinking.... wagons rattling.... melodious voices....

....

The giant gate, on the earthbridge over the moat, had closed its doors again.

The Guardian Flyer still circled, ready to murder in a dun world.

....

The grey waste of Castle Town looked inviting. To escape to.

How ridiculous.

...

I.... don’t think I can find another shrine inside the Castle Town.

....

How am I to do?

....

....

I consult my map.

I think I have visited all the inside areas of the castle.

Observation Room, Guards’ Chamber, the long corridor down to the Grand Staircase, and back to that Shaft Room, the West Passage on into the Lockup.... And on the east side from the Observation Room.... the Dining Hall, the other little Guards’ Room, back into the Library, leading off into the East Passage, and down to the Docks.

And Zelda’s Chambers isolated high on the west side.

....I’ve been everywhere inside.

And a fair number of places outside.

....

I don’t think there’s another shrine in here.

My fear was that it would be like the Toto Sah Shrine, which I did not recall hearing my Shrine Detector brreep-brreep about. Hidden behind that rock barrier below Misko’s Treasure Cache.

But another thing I did not remember about that encounter was whether or not my Slate was even set to detect Shrines at that moment.

Would I be able to hear a hidden shrine?

I don’t know.

....

I’m really low on arrows.

Revali.

Take me outta here.

Dark Ascent

Waking of Monday, April 22, 2019 ~ 4

Dark Ascent

I still stood on Zelda’s Bridge.

I was feeling pretty accomplished! and now didn’t quite know what to do with myself.

....

Well, I came here for the memory, and I got it.

But before I go, I want.... that. The highest tower.

....

I’m gonna go get it.

*

Okay, Revali’s Gale did not work from my position of clinging to the top of the spire—scrabbled to throw another A-press and paraglide anyway, from the spire atop Zelda’s Study to.... further in.

I couldn’t tell. Maybe I could, once, in another life. But at present I barely had a grasp of the castle’s interior, and a great deal of that was collapsing in ruin. The higher exterior was a Malice-tormented forest of spires, tiered cliffsides, battlements running from who knows to why not, and the mightiest of flying buttresses. For myself it was only a fretful, embered surreptition of climbing towers.... paragliding.... climbing towers again.... So much Malice.... the air so blustery.... and I always wondering whether a Guardian would target me at any moment....

The cross section of the roughly conical shape of the castle grounds was narrowing; I was definitely making progress. I paraglided again—Sanctum—the name of the new locale gleamed into terrible focus across my screen—“NO, I DON’T WANT THE SANCTUM!” I hollered as I sailed toward the fire-bright architecture glowing under the hellish sky. I was not ready for this.

I slammed into a wall and clung on for dear life and was afraid to touch the ground below me. Would it trigger something? Defying physics I demanded my way instead up over a horizontal battlement until I could stand again.

I did not want anywhere called a “Sanctum”.... Not now....

I kept climbing.

Oh my gosh I could see inside windows and places to go, a hole in the floor with a ladder leading down OH GOSH....

Oh, nope, nope, NOPE, NOPE! Nope, nope. Nope! NOPE! NOPE!

*

I got up on top of a tower with a busted top; the collapse was flat enough to stand on. I am so high up now. I could see the tops of those five columns.... Might even be able to paraglide to one of them, but.... NO, first....

>_<

Oh man....

Very close.... I was very close.... This seemed to be one of a handful of side towers encircling the uppermost central column of the castle’s architecture.

Okay help me, Revali....

And he did—

OH!

GOT ON THE CENTRAL TOWER.

OKAY.

WOW.

OH MY GOHOHOSH, I COULD SEE THE WHOLE WORLD FROM HERE! So narrow, so open, so little to obstruct my views anymore.

All the Divine Beasts’ lasers were pointed right at me..... oh my gosh....

I kept climbing.... up the vertical stone, up the steep shingles.... It got cold, and on went one of my warming circlets.... Who built this spire? Did they freeze too?

“Vah Rudania.... Vah Naboris....” [waitthosetwoaren’tadjacent--] I named the distant, barely visible shapes as they passed under the orbit of my gaze, the ends of their lasers so MONUMENTALLY PRESENT. I kept climbing and looking and I looked up into the raging yellow-orange-fire sky and “WHAAAAT? WHAT IS THAT?”

THERE IS A DARK BODY IN THE SKY. ROUND LIKE THE MOON. AN ECLIPSE? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

IT IS NEARLY MIDNIGHT. IS THAT THE BLOOD MOON?

OH MY GOSH.

“I GOTTA SEE IT.” I SAID LIKE IAN MALCOLM. I MEAN. UM. DAVID LEVINSON. JEFF GOLDBLUM.

IS EVERY NIGHT HERE A BLOOD MOON NIGHT?

MIDNIGHT STRIKES.

AND THEN THE DARK BODY TURNED WHITE AND SHRUNK BACK TO SIZE.

IT’S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHY IS THE SKY STILL SO RAGING?

I KEEP CLIMBING. THE LAST SPIRE’S BASE SO TOWERING AND STRANGE, LIKE A STACK OF ALTERNATING GEARS.

WHO ERECTED THIS TOWER?

AND THEN.... I SEE FLOWING LEAVES AND HEAR THAT LIGHT WOODEN CLATTERING AS I NEAR THE TOP.

“Found you.”

I knew it.

I reached the final, heaven-piercing end of the highest spire on the tallest tower, and saddled into a hanging, one-handed cling. My gosh.

I examined the glittering dapple of leaves and woodwindwater sounds—and it was a Korok. Of course. Even here. Just between the beams of Vah Rudania and Vah.... Ruta, I think.

Oh my gosh, I could see the whole world. Everything.

Heuhuhuh! And on my map in the Castle Map, my location-indicator.... that little yellow arrow that showed where I was.... I looked like a flag on a pole.

Oh gosh....

The castle’s billowing Orchestra still blustered all around me like this hellish, hellish sky! What was up with this sky? The everpresent cloud wrack was driven endlessly tormented in unholy flames above my head. Day or night, it was always the beautiful, terrible color of fiery doom, blown on forever by forces unnatural.

So swept the Orchestra. Still pounding, still ringing, still tipping between the Ascending Organ of the Dark One, and the Lullaby of She who held him at bay. The tension between them still tautened on a rusty crank meant for torture before I realized—there was yet another theme there as well. One older even than Zelda’s Lullaby.

Those five notes ascending, springing like a flame, tonic to dominant, root to fifth—in minor this time. Preceded by those two hits that came clomping down like boots with something to say.

1__5__________1_1-2-3-4-5__________!

The Hero’s Theme.

My Theme.

And that made Three.

Should it have come as any surprise?

It pronounced its presence with a percussive flare, and swelled heroically with the string section, as though to proclaim its intention of slicing the ties and bringing this battle to rest one way or the other. Until at the cadence the Castle’s own theme cycled back round to take up the song again.

Like it does.

Should it have come as any surprise? That here in the Heart of Hyrule, here at the Crux of the Age, under the eyes of the Goddesses.... there would be Three.

There would always be Three voices in this Dreadful Dialogue.

....

I’d thought about the logging of this part, and had wanted to say that it wasn’t a Dreadful Dialogue after all, but a Dreadful Trialogue; but then I looked up the Greek roots, and the “dia” of “dialogue” actually meant “through” instead of “two”, and I was vexed by the thwartation and couldn’t bring myself to justify the pun.

Revali's Gale

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 6

Revali’s Gale

Did I get all the chests? I thought I did....

But I wasn’t entirely sure, and so rocked Vah Medoh’s wings one last time to check, running up to the higher wingtip and leaping off in a paraglide toward the head, and—whope, chest on the tip of the nose.

It held a Giant Ancient Core.

“I’ll take that!” I triumphed.

After that it was another paraglide over to the lower wingtip, and then.... back to the dorsum. And the main control unit....

I righted the Beast one last time.

Still had that Rusty Shield on my back. I’d taken it all the way through this Divine Beast. Just thought I’d use it until it gave out. Trusty old thing....

Consistently.... quietly, stillingly, delicately and in small ways.... I was still amazed by the views. I could see everything from up here. Everywhere I’d been, everything I’d done. Vah Naboris. Vah Ruta. Vah Rudania. Rito Village and Totori Lake directly below.

This was the final Divine Beast.

Now.... for the main control unit.

It was sunset.

“Well I’ll be plucked,” Revali started. “You defeated him, eh?”

He walked elegantly toward me on Vah Medoh’s mossy back, a spirit free and unfettered, and haloed in flaming teal light.

“Well don’t preen yourself just for doing your job.”

Revali’s congratulations were.... Heh, he.... He hasn’t changed, I thought, Not a bit. He is still so pompous and arrogant.

And yet still he somehow found me worthy—me, this lowly, ground-crawling Hylian—to receive the sacred technique he had dubbed Revali’s Gale.

And he wound up.... that ball of holy light.... He even deigned to speed its conjuring with a forceful, “Hahhhh—!”

And then—fwooosh!—he speared the glowing sphere toward me where it entered my chest—and I was barely phased this time.

But its power manifested, and it caught me a bit off guard, as I was lifted off my feet! And that without the overpowering effect of the first time a Champion did this to me.... And the gale hurled me into the air, thrusting me into a backflip! But I came swiftly back down, released from Revali’s charm and left to the mercies of gravity, and landed firmly on two feet and one palm, and I looked up—

And LINK’S EYES.

The look on his face was just....

Revali enjoyed that, didn’t he? Tossing me up into the air like a sack of flour for a lark, just to see if I could land on my feet like a cat.

He was.... prideful to the last, as my form started to twinkle and sparkle away.... and as I could see it starting to happen....

I didn’t remember his words, just condescending words of encouragement, of direction. Of what I had to do. I had to defeat Calamity Ganon. I had to save Zelda.

And his last words.... “The Princess has been waiting an awfully long time.”

And I was gone.

And then that BOSS MUSIC—uh, music that is boss, not music for a boss.

That rugged, churning music started which heralded when a Divine Beast was on the move.... And Vah Medoh arced gracefully through the air and swooped down toward Rito Village. Its claws extended massively, and it clamped onto the jutting beak of the central rock spire, as if it had been a gigantic perch. Dust and rubble exploded from beneath the ponderous, clenching digits, but the Beak of the Crane held firm.

At rest from the air at last, Vah Medoh stood erect, its wings spread in enormous splendour, its head pointed toward the castle, and from the tip of its beak—the laser!

It blasted toward the castle with a fury that convincingly belied its intangibility.

All the same.... dreadful things waited on the other side of that beam....

Revali’s spirit stood high up on Vah Medoh’s form.

And here, only now, when he was alone, did Revali admit to himself that Link did get to the Divine Beast without his help. And he defeated Ganon’s demonic apparition. Link did do something he couldn’t.

And he brought himself to finally admit that.... “I was wrong about...”

—I just.... waited to hear this—

“... how lucky you would be.”

No credit!

Still he gives me no credit!

And.... a part of me laughed inside, in resignation.

That was all right.

He addressed Vah Medoh.

“This will be the perfect vantage point from which to deliver your final strike against Calamity Ganon.”

The laser’s gleam melted into the brilliant sunset sky.

“We have been artfully patient for the past 100 years,” he went on. And his voice simpered just the tiniest bit as he added, “You won’t suffer a feather to wait just a few more moments.”

I came back down on Revali’s Landing.

It was still sunset.

A muffled something sounded in my ears....

And then....

“Link... Link.”

I could hear it clearly. It was the Princess’ voice.

“Thanks to you, all of the Divine Beasts have returned to us and the spirits of the four Champions have been set free. We will all be awaiting your clash with Ganon at Hyrule Castle.”

So that was it, then. It was done.

“Free the Divine Beasts,” Impa had said so long ago....

It was done.

....

I took a pictograph.