Fan Fiction Friday: The Dawn That Follows Twilight – Chapter 2

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Chapter Two

LOG ENTRY 482
DATE: 23RD CYCLE OF DIN
WEATHER: SANDY

Reached Mirror Chamber. Found Mirror Destroyed. Non-Issue. Auru touched large rock and hand was damaged. Wound treated. Strange children appeared. Name is Skorn. Stupid Name is Noted by Traveling Party. Informed of Echos of Twilight and Echo Tower. Situation Uncertain. Nothing more to Report.

~ Ashei

“So… what is it?” asks Luda, daughter of Kakariko shaman, Renado as she sits on the banks of Zora’s Domain. Her feet are bare, splashing in the crisp clear waters that periodically splash against her perch. Below her, the crown prince of the Zora people, Ralis lurks in the waters, eying a submerged structure within the water below with wariness.

“I do not know for certain. It appears to be a temple of some sort,” Ralis explains, shifting his gaze to look up to his recent new friend. Since his close experience with death in the wake of the freezing of Zora’s Domain and his mother’s execution, Ralis had grown close with Luda and Renado as friends that see past his position as prince. “What is strange though is it seems to not entirely exist. It’s walls seem to fade in and out of existence. As if it is only there in part,” Ralis continues as a Zora footman swims towards the pair.

“Prince Ralis, report! One of the guards has gotten a spear stuck within the structure. He stuck it through as the walls faded, but as they returned, they solidified around the spear and the grip seems to have taken on new qualities,” the guard declares.

“New qualities?” Ralis asks, curious.

“It is likely best you view that for yourself sir,” the guard explains. Ralis furrows his brow and looks to Luda.

“I’ll be back shortly,” he assures her, getting a nod in return.

“I’ll be keeping an eye out for my father. Getting to Zora’s Domain isn’t as hard as it used to be, but it’s still not exactly a short journey on foot,” she smiles. Ralis offers a slight smile in return before diving below the surface after the footman. The strange temple below comes into view just a short distance below. As Ralis explained, the structure seems to only partially manifest and pulsates with veins of magenta and seafoam-coloured magic around it. Gushes of ephemeral steam burst intermittently from panels along its side and large industrial gears rotate within, protected by sheets of glass. The structures reminded Ralsei of the haphazard ways some of the buildings in Kakariko were built, like a mess of metal parts interacting in a completely disorganized manner.

Ralis swims towards the lodged spear and gazes upon it shoved directly into a wall within the structure. Like the structure, it has taken on the same veins of magic lines and pulsates with an eerie feeling. “It’s… become one with it?” Ralis asks as the footman non-verbally advises not to touch the spear. The footman shows Ralis his palm, revealing signs of the infection that’d been spreading across Hyrule.

“Evidently sir. And not just that, there’s something on it. It spreads the illness, though, in a very non-contagious manner. It has not spread at all beyond where myself and the other guard made contact with it. It also… has an eye,” he explains before losing his sense of chivalry as he shudders.

“An… eye?” Ralis asks, confounded at the idea. As if to answer him, right at the base of the spear’s prongs, an eyeball suddenly opens up, glaring right at him. The eyeball is gross, its vitreous a sickly yellowish-orange color that fades to red at the edges and it’s pupils a piercing emerald green. Ralis grimaces as it looks at him. “I… See,”

“It is concerning to say the least sir. We’ve yet to find anything else of note,” the footman concludes, offering a salute.

“Thank you for your hard work. Make sure to see that your hand is treated as best as we can manage. It’s not spreading now, but that could always change,” Ralis dismisses the footman and returns to the surface.

As the banks, the princes comes across Luda as well as Renado who seems to have just recently arrived.

“It’s good to see you again my child. Luda has informed me what has happened,” Renado greets Ralis, remaining standing as Luda sits back on the bank.

“We have even more concerns even now. There is a spear that’s developed… an eyeball on it. Given that, I don’t think it’s safe to try entering the structure when it’s walls are fading away. I’m beginning to believe the only option is that we’ll need to enter the structure, but there isn’t any discernible entrance anywhere,” Ralis informs the two, shaking his head in frustration.

“This situation bodes unwell, but I believe I may have some insight towards this,” Renado acknowledges as he reaches into his satchel. From it, he removes some sort of carved whistle. On it’s sides it depicts an industrial landscapes on one end and on the other, stylized depictions of Zoras. “This was an old relic I discovered on a journey in my youth. I’d always meant to return it here, but the opportunity never arose to leave Kakariko. When Luda’s letter mentioned mechanical structures in Zora’s Domain though, I realized it had to have some connection. It seems fate has seen fit to align us with a solution,” Renado explains of the whistle, offering it out to Luda. Ralis surfaces from the water to look at it over her shoulder.

“I know nothing of any relic like this. Whistles and woodwind instruments aren’t exactly the best things for us given our aquatic nature,” Ralis ponders.

“Then let me try it!” Luda smiles up and puts her lips on the whistle and blows. A mechanism inside the whistle begins to move and a short little song plays from the whistle. Ralis seems to recognize the song, perking up.

“I know that song, my… my mother used to sing that to me when I was still a little tadpole,” Ralis gets emotional for a moment as he remembers his perished mother. He cannot think for long as shortly after, the ground begins to shake beneath them. Many of the nearby guards draw their weapons as the quake startles them from their tasks. Bubbles begin to furiously form besides the trio from under the water and the shaking intensifies.

With a humongous splash, from the waters of the domain suddenly emerges a giant turtle; it’s forceful entrance throwing several people backwards. As the water settles, the group gets a better look at the creature, its eyes old and withered and its joints covered in moss, mold, and barnacles. The poor thing seems barely able to open its eyes there’s so much built-up residue on its eyelids. Atop its back, the perished remains of two palm trees flop about. The group gazes in awe at the creature, its staggering age apparent.

With a slow crane of its neck, it turns to Luda. It begins to speak, but its language is completely alien to them, sounding like a foreign tongue. The three’s eyes widen as they hear the creature speak. It analyzes their confused looks and seems to adjust. “You have summoned me, yes?” it asks, its language shifting to Hylian. “It has been so long since I last awoke. Not since a hero’s age I do not think,” the turtle chuckles, moving with such slowness of that of an ancient being.

“Who… are you?” Luda asks, more fascinated than frightened with the creature.

“… I don’t think I remember. But I know what I do and that’s what’s important. You wish to go to the temple, yes?” it asks, thinking long and hard about its response. The group look about at each other confused before nodding to the creature. “Then climb aboard and we shall be off!”

Emily Curtis is a Senior Editor for Zelda Dungeon. With a fondness of dark storylines and games with heavy narrative elements, she is often attracted to the more grim entries of the Legend of Zelda series, such as Twilight Princess and Majora’s Mask. This story marks her first attempt at writing fan fiction for the Zelda series, though she is plenty experienced with the world of writing fiction, having composed numerous award-winning short stories and fan content for the Persona and Danganronpa series of video games. If you enjoy bizarre rambling and weird games, you can watch her stream on Twitch as her alter ego Bianca Duba.

Emi Curtis

Emi Curtis is an associate editor with Zelda Dungeon, having originally joined the team in late 2020. She is a freelance artist, programmer, and streamer with a healthy love of both the creative and analytical. She can frequently be found playing RPGs and Adventure games, her favorite of which being The Wind Waker. She is also quite fond of playing Zelda Randomizers. Currently, she hosts a tabletop RPG series on Twitch and operates a freelance illustration business. She can be found on Twitter and Twitch as her VTuber alter-ego Gwen Myoty, creating nerdy artwork, dungeon mastering tabletop games, and playing RPGs.