Episode 45: The Remnants of Hyrule

From Accct Wiki

There it stood, the last remaining tower of Hyrule Castle. Its splendor stripped down to bare stone. It was once the keep of the castle and little remained to show its distinction except the size of the tower (350ft), the thickness of its walls (15ft thick at the base), and one lonely stone triangle at the top of the tower’s crumbled roof. And there it stood alone on a windswept hill, an ancient and forlorn reminder of what once was the great kingdom of Hyrule. Remnants of the rest of the castle barley showed themselves above the layer of grass that covered the hill, these remnants mainly included a few stones and gargoyles strewn about the area around the tower. A single dirt path leads from the tower’s main gateway to the street below, winding around various stones and small dips in the earth. Few travel here. When someone does come it is either for a school field trip or because they love their history. Usually people are drawn to the woods surrounding the field around the castle, most who come to this part of the countryside are usually hikers. A pay station sits at the end of the path where the path meets the road. The ranger inside of the pay station is usually vigilant about looking for taggers and other vandals trying to cause harm to the tower, so he always is seated looking at the tower keeping a wary eye out for such troublemakers. After another long day of watching the tower do nothing and staring at an empty road (with the occasional hiker asking for a map of the wilderness), dusk was fast approaching and it was time to close shop. The ranger set out about the routine duties of counting the money in the cash register and locking things up when he saw something peculiar at the tower. At the top window of the tower there was a flickering light as if someone had lit a candle. “I could have sworn that nobody came by at all today. I would have seen them!” The ranger finished locking up (he was savoring the fact that he actually had the chance to do his job so he didn’t want to throw the person or persons out too quickly) grabbed his flashlight and turned it on, for by now it was dusk, and proceeded to walk up to the gateway of the tower. He reached the gate and walked through to the stairs. The interior of the castle was much like the outside of the castle; all of the ornate furnishings and delicate paintings and tapestries were long gone. The marble flooring had turned to a dull gray color due to dust embedded into it over the centuries. All that really remained were the stairs, though even they were weathered by time. The stairs spiraled up the tower and went past door-less rooms and empty chambers. It took the ranger ten minutes to climb to the top room. As he reached the room (out of breath of course) his suspicions were confirmed, there was a light flickering. “Hey, whoever is in here you have to get out! The park is closed for the night!” the ranger yelled into the room. As he walked in he could see that nobody was there except for a small blue ball of light flitting around the room as if searching for something. Then a voice came out of nowhere and yelled: “Go away!” and the next thing that the ranger knew, he’s in his car driving down the road not knowing how he got there.

The blue ball of light flits to the ground. “What happened to the castle?” the mysterious voice asks. “I’ve only been gone for a couple years!” The little blue ball floats up and stops at about five feet in the air. The blue light becomes more intense and finally a bright flash emanates from the ball. As the brightness recedes a beautiful woman with flowing and accentuating blue robes and long cascading blue hair appears in the light’s stead. The mysterious voice speaks again (it is obviously not the young woman): “Jeez could you get any brighter Navi! Anyway, you didn’t answer my question, what happened?” Navi stated coyly: “Time, Midna…time.” A small black and white imp with green markings on her arms and yellow and red eyes appeared to Navi. “Then how do we get it back!?” There were tears in Midna’s eyes “I want to see Link again. You don’t know what it is like, he helped me in my time of need and he helped me restore my kingdom.” Navi just stared at Midna “I know what it is like,” tears welling up in her eyes as well “I also had a Link, I was given the task to help him save the world, my Link was the Hero of Time. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the Hero of Time but he destroyed Ganondorf when Hyrule was past its time of need. I was his fairy, I miss his friendship and his warm laugh and smile.” “But time happened and we have no hero to save the last remnant of the once great kingdom.” Midna walked over to the window and stared out. “It’s changed so much, I barley recognize it, all of the landmarks are gone and all of the splendor has disappeared, I miss the sacred beast….”

Navi walked over to Midna and touched her gently on the shoulder. “Come, I will show you something.” Said Navi. Light once more filled the room and then, as quickly as it had come, it vanished, along with Midna and Navi.

They arrived in a cave with a small spring at the center. There, there were various headstones lining the walls all placed in a circle around the spring, each with the epitaph side facing outwards. Wildflowers grew in front of where the actual bodies would be. The Master Sword was floating above the spring and it shone with an ambiant blue light. “I have collected these headstones to commemorate all the heroes that have saved Hyrule.” , said Navi. Midna immediately sprang into action; she frantically read each headstone to see which Link was hers. After minutes of searching there it was: “The Hero of Twilight: Link, Born: ? Died: ???? ‘He rid two lands from evil and brought peace to both. May the sacred beast live on in the afterlife watching over and protecting Hyrule and the realm of the Twilight with the goddesses in Heaven. Midna put her hand on the stone and mumbled something; it lit up with the image of Links face, as Midna saw him. “Funny,” said Navi with a small chuckle of disbelief, “he looks almost exactly the same as my Link. Midna’s eyes filled with tears again. She clenched her fists and said to Navi: “We have to find a way to get Hyrule back!” My world has been too far removed for too long. I’ve lost touch, and I promised myself that I never would….” Then she broke down. Navi looked upon Midna with tears trickling down her face and told her calmly: “Midna, it won’t be easy, and I think that we can do it, but I will need your help. There is hope yet.”