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.
