The Run. (Zelda: BotW. Speedrun Perspective.)

The Run. (Zelda: BotW. Speedrun Perspective.)

…

Commissioned by Citino

Wordcount: 2500

…

Paya:

My grandmother long told me all the stories of the Kingdom of Hyrule, before Calamity Ganon brought ruin upon the great kingdom. The Sheikah tribe had been secret defenders and caretakers of lost knowledge, coming to the aid of the Royal Family when required, and thus we knew more of the great, terrible power that Calamity Ganon wielded. 

Grandmother intended for me to learn of great, grand past and draw strength, but all her stories granted me were sleepless, fearful nights.

Calamity Ganon destroyed a great, mighty civilization and all its nights in less than a year’s time. The ancient machines and powers of our ancestors were captured and controlled by its will. The monsters that were once hunted down and brought to heel by soldiers suddenly began to return to life as every few nights the moon turned the color of Blood. 

After seeing the measly villages that dot the map, filled with merely few dozens of peoples, how could I not feel fear? A greater, stronger kingdom perished before Ganon was sealed away, yet his the mere aftershocks of his power and presence ensure that a whole civilization remains broken for all time. 

Quietly, I kept my fears to myself, even as they caused me heartache and trepidation. 

It would not do for the future leader of the Sheikah, one of the few who knew the complete truth of history, to pass on her fear to the rest of the village. 

For all my life, I feared the day that grandmother would pass on and I would have to guide the Hero of Hyrule towards defeating Calamity Ganon.

Then, on the very day he awoke… in less than an hour’s time… he defeated what I feared and rendered all my fears irrelevant and coming to the village with Princess Zelda in tow.

So, though all I’d prepared for my life had been dashed, I gladly accepted the cost of all my fears being utterly overcome.

Now… if only I could be rid of my oh-so-foolish crush on my savior!

…

Makeela:

Never did I think that a man could inspire the whole of the Gerudo to utter madness. 

Nor did I ever believe that I could enjoy seeing all my subjects run about headless and utterly bewildered.

The Gerudo are a proud people who have struck out against all their foes since time immemorial. While the other races were content with the lands they were left, hiding behind the skill of the leaders and great warriors, we continued to build our armies, seek out resources, and expand the reach of our influence. Slowly, surely, and perhaps over the course of my lifetime, we would have taken the fight to Calamity Ganon.

The causalities would have been immense, especially against the wretched Guardians and other relics brought to life and corrupted, but the Gerudo would not permit its greatest error to befoul the world forevermore. 

Even if it cost us all but our children and their caretakers, we would have marched to war against the Calamity.

All those plans were utterly dashed in a blink of an eye, with the Hero of Hyrule rising from his imposed slumber healed of wounds and filled with fury at the destruction of his homeland. The last remnant of the heroes of yore arose, wielded all he could find on his journey straight to the castle, and vanquished Ganon with pure skill and martial strength alone. The death of the creature heralded the end of the Blood Moons, making it so strength no longer had to be dearly husbanded. And in the same stroke, he rid the Divine Beasts of their corruption, solving every problematic terror that plagued Hyrule for years. 

He rid my nation of the foe we intended to slay, of the monsters we could not kill, and removed the blight upon our honor when our Divine Beast fell to Calamity Ganon and caused the end of Kingdom of Hyrule.

So, how could I not enjoy the distress and confusion that coursed through my city now?

The drinks flowed like water as various warriors and other Gerudo debated and argued over the next step of the nation. The children told each other the tales of their mothers and teachers, while they ran about with gifts from the fathers, who they could finally visit with their mothers. The merchants quibbled over the future of weaponry, of our vaunted arrows and swords, and groaned over old trade routes to secure fresh produce beyond the dessert.

Nary a day since his awakening, Link utterly changed the whole of my people.

Once again we were free to become vaunted merchants with able warriors instead of a people devoting everything to assembling an army against a Calamity to rid us of our shame.

Hmmm.

Perhaps his actions are worthy enough to allow him to visit the village without disguising himself.

Well, if not, then I shall provide for him the finest disguise to wear as we dine and speak of his actions with the new Queen of Hyrule. 

I must merely hope that he does not disappoint me with his presence, after his actions entranced me so much.

…

Sidon:

Dear sister, I must apologize for I have stumbled upon your diary and your secrets as father dictated that you should be granted rest. I know not if you can read my words, but if you can… you must know that I wholeheartedly support your earnest desires towards the Hyrulian named Link!

Not only did he free the Divine Beast from Calamity Ganon’s influence, but his first act after was to visit our kingdom and right the wrongs between our people.

Oh, dear sister, I am sure that you would chastise many of those who believed that those of Hyrule were at fault for your passing, but I remember you better!

They remember your kindness and compassion, but they forget that you were always willing to aid others. The very model of a Princess, the very person I strove to this to be alike, is you in your efforts to help all those ask! 

I tried telling them all this many times over, but it was not until I entered your room for the first time after your passing that I gained what I needed to support my word’s and Link’s insistence, since even after he defeated Ganon the people did not want to accept him because of their fondness of you.

Having him wear the suit you created, and presenting your diary for the people to see with their own eyes your affection and desire to help, was the only way to ensure our people’s renewed, better relations with Hyrule.

So, please, rest easy from now on.

Your little brother shall do his utmost to make a world as happy as you wanted it to be and let your feelings for the Hero of Hyrule be known to all!

Eh?

Why is the Divine Beast heading my way?

…

Purah:

…

Never did it come to mind that Calamity Ganon could be defeated through martial skill alone! Granted, according to my research in the ruinous wake Link left behind in his assault, he had at his disposal several, powerful assets from the Sheikah Slate intended to assist whomsoever left the Shrine of Restoration… but to think that was all he needed tin order to utterly destroy Calamity Ganon was beyond all my calculations and estimates.

Naturally, his martial skill is well recorded. He held the line along against hundreds of Guardians. With the Master Sword, he’d slain them permanently and ensured Hyrule’s troubles did not spill out and destroy those who were fleeing from Calamity Ganon. However, I had believed that he’d have need of the Master Sword to defeat the monstrous creature that arose, but no… all he’d required was his own innate skills, his creativity, and the Sheikah Slate!

Not that its abilities weren’t amazing, but no one could have envisioned how he’d use them.

He retrieved weapons straight from the hands of his foes and dispatched them with such ease that he went without armor. Relying entirely on speed, he ran across the lands practically unhindered by the elements, as he surmounted obstacle after obstacle in order to carve Calamity Ganon out of his unassailable castle. Through the use of Stasis, a wind glider, and his own immense strength and precision, he utilized logs and other large objects to propel himself high into the air through inertia and cover vast distances with ease, bypassing the majority of defenses and patrols created by the Calamity which would have destroyed entire armies with ease. 

Impossible, some would say, but I would correct the word into “improbable.”

Link’s presence of mind, his complete remembrance of what occurred a hundred years ago (despite the fears of the Shrine of Restoration taking his memories), and his retaining of all his strength combined with the powers of the Sheikah Slate is an incredibly improbable set of occurrences. What if he had awoken and not had the Sheikah Slate? What would have occurred if the Rejuvenation Shrine had robbed him of his memories?  Would he have destroyed Ganon with the aid of the Divine Beasts as the Sheikah intended or would he have simply grown stronger on his own, until he could storm the castle by himself?

Ah, there are so many questions, yet I must stay at my lab to analyze what has become of Hyrule. 

The numerous towers that have arisen from the ground, obviously of Sheikah construction, were of the highest priority. Numerous shrines have come forth from the ground, too. They have at their entrances podiums obviously meant to use the Sheikah Slate as a means to access them. Now that the Calamity has disappeared, the Guardians once again function as they are intended to, so what can be done to prevent them from becoming monsters? The whole of Hyrule begs to be investigated, so that the kingdom can once again flourish.

Link, the Hero of Hyrule, has many questions that he must answer… but for now there was many other things that needed to be done!

Diary, I command that you remind me to question him properly once all my current works are completed!

Ah, right.

You’re unfortunately not a Sheikah Slate.

…

Zelda:

…

Link was as I remembered him. Fast, quick-witted, and capable with every weapon that finds itself in his hands. Save for the Sheikah Slate now in his hands, rather than my own. Everything about him told me that he was the same, silent guardian that was always beside me until Calamity Ganon came and brought ruin upon Hyrule. His build, his hair, and his eyes were all that remained of the time before I sealed Ganon away for a century, yet the simple addition of the Sheikah Slate to his person caused me to question every decision I made.

His acquisition of its Runes, the strategies he utilized, and the feats he was able to accomplish with a device I’d thought of as a map, a means to capture pictures, and keep notes… made me regret not giving it to him from the very beginning. Whereas he’d used it for its intended purpose by the Sheikah, I had tinkered and tampered with it to inflate my ego. It had been my source of pride. While I could not become what Hyrule needed, I used the Slate to discover and analyze the various Sheikah technologies and return them to the fold… only for them to be corrupted.

Every night, I look up at the stars as Link keeps watch and wonder what would have become of the world, if the Sheikah Slate had been his since the start.

The Shrines would have surely arisen from where they were hidden to grant him power. The observation towers which Monsters could not scale would have allowed him shelter and strategic oversight over entire regions. He’d discovered it can hold absolutely monumental amounts of materials, while I’d only attempted to input minute substances into its depths. Though I was slowly and surely discerning the nature of Sheikah technology to the benefit of Hyrule, it is without a doubt that if it were in his hands upon Ganon’s arrival, he’d have vanquished the Calamity with the same ease he’d displayed just four days hence. 

Instead of fighting against Calamity Ganon for a century, I would have merely had to aid him for only a single night against the Calamity’s true form.

No matter what I thought… no matter the path of reason I chose to take… I could only surmise that the due to my incompetence I’d doomed the Kingdom, my friends, and my family to an untimely end by choosing to keep the Sheikah Slate for myself, instead of giving it to Hero chosen by the Master Sword. 

He’d noticed all of my fears, the anguish and guilt that were threatening to consume me, and asked me of them this night. 

I hadn’t wished to tell him, but at his insistent gaze I was utterly powerless, as I always am.

When I shared with him my woes, I did not feel relief. No. All I felt was shame and the need to hide. I wished to be away from him, the young man who sacrificed himself for a princess who did nothing but try to be rid of him, and the cause of the deaths of all his fellow Knights. I was sure that he would hate me, as I wrought an unimaginable wrong upon the whole kingdom for my selfish desires… and then he merely shook his head.

I look at him from the corner of my eye now, as I pretend to be focused on something else entirely.

His words echo within me.

“Could you have called upon the bow, then?” 

It was a simple question, but opened a path for my mind that I hadn’t considered before. Would I have had the power to call upon the Divine Bow and gift it to him, so that he could slay the Calamity’s true form? If I had not known the importance of my task, been humbled by the tragedy that surrounded me, and known what to do with the Shrine and the Master Sword… could Calamity Ganon have been defeated by Link completely? 

There is a part of me that insists that the answer is yes.

That everything is my fault, that I am utterly unneeded, and that the entire tragedy was my fault… despite how Link had fervently affirmed that what had happened occurred so that everything could come to pass perfectly. 

Regardless of what might have been, Calamity Ganon fell to his strength and my own within the span of a single day after he awakened.

Yes.

We did so together. 

We freed our friends from the Sacred Beasts, liberated Hyrule, and overcame every obstacle to the Calamity’s defeat together. 

Now we walk together to return Hyrule to its former glory.

Our newest journey shall take longer than a day, and I am sure that I shall be beset many times over again by my worries and woes, but as long as he and I walked side-by-side… I knew that I had nothing to fear.