Fan Fiction Friday: The Era Without A Hero – Part 46

||  Part Forty-Five  ||  Part Forty-Seven  ||

Part Forty-Six

The streets were in chaos as the sound of another bomb exploding shook the ground. Thick black smoke billowed high into the air.

Zelda was followed closely by Yoon, Lindsey, Rassa, and Sagesse as they rushed out of the Temple of Time. There were several groups of soldiers already enroute to where the attack was commencing.

“Have you heard anything, Captain?” Sagesse called out to one of the men.

“Negative, m’lord. We were in the training yard and told to respond to the East Gate.”

As they hurried through the city, they passed people fleeing. The frightened looks on their faces and the panic driving them reminded Zelda of the night of Adok’s assault.

Was this him?

Her thoughts were interrupted as they reached the main street that led to the East Gate. At its end, amid the smoke and haze created by the bombings, combat had broken out.

Hylian soldiers were engaged with poorly armed Zora. The Zora, with makeshift spears, pots and potlids as armor, were fueled by a look of indignation. They attacked without hesitation. Some had swords and others were relying on a mob force, suffocating soldiers as they overwhelmed them.

“What in the name of Hylia?” Rassa stammered.

“Group three, move two blocks north to cut them off!” A familiar and commanding voice suddenly came from a few feet ahead of the group.

“Impa!” Zelda exclaimed.

The commander turned her head with a look of confusion, anger, and surprise. She gave another quick order to one of her men, then jogged over to Zelda and the others.

“Your Grace? What are you doing here?”

“A discussion for another time,” Rassa interjected. “What is going on here?”

Impa turned and looked down, even more surprised by Rassa’s presence than Zelda’s. As she began to attempt an answer, Lindsey leapt forward from the group and raised her hand to the sky.

Another explosion erupted, but the blast was absorbed by the barrier of magic suddenly summoned by the young Sheikah girl. As she pulled her hand back, she winced in pain.

“Bomb arrows!” a soldier somewhere far off yelled.

“Impa, we don’t have time for shocking reunions. Focus. What happened?” Rassa chided.

“Yes, master,” Impa nodded. “All we have been able to figure out was that the first bomb went off just south of the gate and they have been setting them off all along the city’s eastern wall. The forces all seem to be from the refugee camp outside the city. They’re not trained or well-armed, save for the explosives. If we had more soldiers, we could quell it quicker, but as it stands, we’re outnumbered.”

“What sparked the uprising?” Sagesse asked.

“We don’t know yet.”

“Take cover! Volley incoming!” Somebody shouted just before another explosion.

The group hurried off the main street as a series of explosions went off.

“We have to seal off the rest of the city,” Rassa said.

“I’ve already ordered a perimeter. But it won’t do much good unless we can push them back to where their bomb arrows won’t reach,” Impa replied.

“Lindsey, Yoon, head up the walls and flank them from the North,” Rassa commanded.

Impa looked as if she was going to object, but a quick glance from Rassa and the duo went off without another word.

“What can I do?” Zelda asked.

“Stay put and out of harm’s way,” Impa said.

Zelda’s shoulders slumped. Rassa, noticing the disappointment placed a hand on her arm and smiled.

“Sometimes the wisest action you can take, is to take none at all. If you got involved in this battle, it would look poorly on the Hylian people as a whole and possibly further the divide between groups.”

Zelda nodded.

“Impa,” Rassa turned her attention to the Hylian General. “Sagesse and I can attempt to form a shield from the edge of the battle. That would contain any more explosions from hitting the city.”

“Do it. I’m going to head into the–“

There came another explosion that made everybody flinch. Impa however, seemed to have been distracted by something else in the moment. A sudden flutter of a cloak around the corner.

Without any more directions, she raced out of their shelter and after the corner of phantom fabric she had seen.

Sagesse, acting according to Rassa’s plan, departed as well. He rushed out across the street and into some apartments, disappearing in the ascending stairwell.

“Take my hand,” Rassa said, extending her open hand to Zelda.

Zelda did as she was asked, then followed cue in bowing her head. She raised her other hand to her chest and balled it up into a fist.

“Goddesses of the world, hear our prayer. We ask for strength in this time of trouble. Provide us with added wisdom and courage, also, so that we may better protect those who need it.”

Their prayer completed, Rassa extended her hands outward, and two glowing balls of energy appeared in her palms. She took the balls of magic and pressed them together in her hands. She sat down and began to meditate with her hands firmly together. A glowing blue light then ascended from the ground all around, creating a wall of magic.

Zelda was somewhat awestruck as the barrier passed out of the area they were in and joined up with what was presumably Sagesse’s barrier.

It wasn’t long before a volley of arrows came flying in and exploded high in the air where they had formed their barrier. A few minutes passed before another volley came in, but the second wave provided fewer explosions.

“They might be running out, or the girls have made it in on the North,” Rassa said. “Can you climb up the ladder over there to the second floor and have a look?”

Zelda, pleased to be able to be involved in any way, rushed over to the ladder. She scurried up it and over to a broken window where she could see part of the city wall. A thick layer of smoke hung over the entirety of the roofs and devastated buildings, however, there was still a line of sight to the gate.

Hyrulean forces seemed to have gathered there, with several bands of Zora captured and sitting in the street. It also looked as though they had succeeded in pushing the Zora out of the city and beyond the wall. Soldiers lined the parapets with arrows at the ready, at least where bombs hadn’t destroyed the walls.

“It looks like they’ve pushed the Zora back or captured enough to slow the attack,” she called down to the elder Sheikah.

Zelda looked back to the captured Zora then recoiled as she watched the blade of one of the soldiers cleave into the neck of the prisoner. Three more soldiers followed suit. Hacking violently at the prisoners.

She began to extend her hand, hoping to conjure some sort of magic to make the attack stop, but suddenly a hooded figure dashed out of the shadows and eliminated the soldiers before any more Zora could be slaughtered. The hooded figure began engaging the Hyrulean forces, freeing the captured Zora. As soon as they seemed to be free, the figure vanished into the streets.

Zelda turned to see if she could find the person. She looked for a few moments when she saw Sagesse emerge on a rooftop not far away. Her panic grew deeper though when she noticed him backing away from the doorway with his hands raised. The same gray hood and cloak emerged from the doorway next, then drew a sword on the Sage.

“Rassa!” Zelda exclaimed.

She hurried back down the ladder and into the small room they’d hidden in. Rassa, still in her meditative stance, opened an eye.

“Has something happened? I feel like the barrier is weaker.”

“Somebody has Lord Sagesse at sword point on a nearby rooftop!”

Rassa furrowed her brow, “Hurry, you must go!”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” she said, quickly pulling something out of her pocket, “take this.”

Zelda took a small blue stone on a cord from Rassa’s hand.

“I can communicate with you through this. It’s a gossip stone, or part of one at least. Now hurry!”

She slipped the stone around her neck and began racing her way through the city. She dashed down an alleyway and across the next street. Several soldiers emerged from a building and gave chase, ordering her to stop. Zelda’s response was to drop a Deku Nut as she dove over a crate and onto another street.

 

David Wayne Nystrom is a Staff Writer for Zelda Dungeon. This story is an imagining of the final days in Hyrule prior to the Great Flood talked about in the opening cinematic of The Wind Waker. The story is getting an audio version in podcast form set to begin releasing in early 2022 and there’s a complete soundtrack for the first volume here. Head over to erawithoutahero.wordpress.com or follow the story account on Twitter @ZeldaTEWAH where you can keep up on information regarding the future of the podcast, soundtrack, and other TEWAH news that will be coming soon! David’s top three Zelda games are Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword. He’s also an avid Smash Bros. fan. Every Era Has Heroes…