The peace that had reigned was shattered in an instant. The arrival of Flaxel was only the first warning, and moments later, more patrols appeared in the distance. The soldiers advanced slowly, almost dragging their feet, and the sounds of their footsteps resembled battle-weary groans. As more soldiers from the battlefield arrived at the base, those already present stood frozen, watching with growing horror. The soldiers looked as if they had come from a nightmare: their faces were pale and contorted, their wounds poorly tended, and their armor stained with blood and dirt. Some supported their comrades, who could barely stand, while others stared blankly, as if their spirits still wandered the battlefield.
Yunobo clenched his fists, and Link noticed that he was eager to tell everyone about their adventure in the Fire Temple where he and Link had fought fierce battles. But he could see that there was no time for that. They needed to prepare to head into the depths before the situation worsened.
"I suppose... we'll be leaving soon, right, Link?" Yunobo murmured, his voice barely a whisper. Uncertainty and fear were reflected in his eyes, and for the first time, the stories he had longed to tell seemed to shrink in the face of the grim reality surrounding them.
Link felt the tremor in Yunobo's voice and, placing a firm hand on his shoulder, gave him a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, Yunobo," Link replied in a low, comforting tone, even though his own fear pounded in his chest. "I'll go let Mineru know to start getting ready. I promise there'll be time to hear your stories afterward. We'll leave as soon as she confirms she's at the designated meeting point."
Yunobo nodded, but his eyes remained fixed on the harrowing sight of the wounded. A dark thought lingered in his mind: what if this journey was their last?
Link stood and hurried over to Purah, who was speaking with the exhausted captains of various patrols, while Paya, Yona, and the healers worked to bring the injured to the infirmary.
The scene, chilling from afar, was even worse up close. The screams of the wounded echoed in his head; the stench of blood and grime was overwhelming. He couldn't let them keep sacrificing themselves for him. He had to face the enemy.
He took several strides, carefully avoiding the injured lying on the ground waiting for a stretcher. He patted Purah on the shoulder to get her attention. When she turned around, he whispered something to her, and she simply nodded in response. He returned to where the others were sitting and motioned for them to gather at Purah's lab.
With a determined expression, Link pulled out his Purah Pad and searched for Mineru's contact. He pressed the call button, and almost instantly, the image of the construct appeared on the screen in Purah's lab. Despite all the time they had spent together, the mechanical resonance of her voice, created by complex mechanisms, never failed to make him jump slightly.
"Hello, Link," Mineru greeted, her voice echoing with a metallic, distant, and almost spectral quality. "How are things? Are you ready to descend?"
"Hello, Mineru. Not yet. I'm waiting for instructions from Purah, but I wanted to give you a heads-up to start getting ready," Link replied, striving to keep his tone calm. "Can you give me an update on the situation below?"
Mineru tilted her head slightly, a gesture Link recognized as a nod. With precise movements, she activated a screen behind her, revealing a graph that fluctuated. The line, usually stable, rippled in erratic patterns.
"Of course, Link. However, I must express a concern," she said, her mechanical voice sounding deeper than usual. "This morning, everything seemed normal in the depths, but as the day progressed, some areas have become… strangely empty. Specifically, the lairs that housed the replicas of the temple bosses: Marbled Gohma, Colgera, Mucktorok, and the Queen Gibdo. They are completely deserted."
Link felt a chill run down his spine but tried to stay calm as he listened.
"And around the Demon King's lair? Any signs of movement?" he asked.
Mineru shook her head slightly, her bright, yet emotionless eyes reflecting the descending graph on the screen behind her.
"That's the strange part, Link. There's no significant activity in the lair or its surroundings. It seems as though the enemy is vacating their positions, but they aren't regrouping as one would expect. Something… is brewing in the shadows."
Suddenly, the screen behind Mineru flickered and trembled, the image distorting and crackling. The construct's metallic face turned sharply, alert, while the erratic flashes cast irregular shadows across her metal form. She touched the screen, tapping it lightly, and checked the connections in vain, her movements becoming quicker and more frantic than usual. Without warning, Mineru's image also flickered and then vanished. Link stood frozen, uncertain if this was a technical failure or a harbinger of something far more sinister.
Before he could react, darkness engulfed him completely. The lights in the lab went out all at once, plunging him into an abyssal blackness. Panic surged inside him, cold and suffocating. He blinked, straining to adjust his eyes, but it was no use; there was no trace of light, as if he had suddenly become trapped in a void.
"What is this? Am I… blind?" Link whispered, struggling to keep his composure. The oppressive silence and utter darkness disoriented him, a weight settling on his chest—a dense, stifling pressure as if the air itself was suffused with an invisible, malevolent presence.
Quickly, he rummaged through his pouch and pulled out a sunset firefly, releasing a faint glow that provided a fragile glimpse of his surroundings. The tiny creature emitted a soft, flickering light, just enough for him to regain some orientation. "Alright… at least I have this. Stay calm, Link. You're not alone… not really…" he reassured himself, though the fear continued to creep, coiling in his thoughts.
"This can't be real... What is this place? Why does everything feel... so hostile, so... dark?"
A sudden noise shattered the stillness—a soft, echoing drip, like a single drop of water hitting the ground. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from. He looked down and felt his heart pound in his chest as he noticed a pool of inky black water at his feet, so dark it seemed to devour the light of the firefly. He watched as a ripple expanded across the surface, and in that instant, an overwhelming sense of being watched seized him—something lurking in the shadows, an unseen gaze boring into him. It was a tear of darkness.
A thought flashed through his mind, one he wanted to dismiss but couldn't deny. The chilling realization crept over him: "I'm… I'm inside his mind. Inside the Demon King's memory."
Slowly, the image before Link sharpened, and what he saw chilled him to the bone. He was hovering above Gerudo Town. Below, the Queen Gibdo and her swarms were attacking mercilessly. The streets—once filled with laughter and friendly greetings—were now buried under a storm of sand and terror. Link strained his eyes, searching for any trace of the townspeople, but the vision dissolved into a swirling tempest of sand.
Suddenly, he found himself above Zora's Domain. The once-crystalline waters had turned black and polluted again. Mucktorok leapt with savage force, muddying the elegant structures with destruction and filth. Link tried to see more, to catch any sign of someone defending their home, but the image vanished again.
Cold enveloped him abruptly: now he was overlooking Rito Village. An icy wind lashed the huts, freezing them instantly, leaving everything it touched encased in a deadly layer of frost. High above the village, Colgera created frigid blasts that tore through every structure. Link felt a lump form in his throat, unable to scream, paralyzed by the weight of helplessness.
Finally, Link hovered over Goron City. The marbled-rock roast once again on the Goron spit-roasters, while the Marbled Gohma rampaged through the streets, destroying everything in its path. Visions of shattered pots and scattered wares flooded his sight. The city, always warm and secure, now lay in ruin, a desolate battlefield. Link felt his body tremble; his friends—all of them—seemed trapped in an unending nightmare.
But nothing could have prepared him for the final vision.
He found himself in Hateno Village, walking as though truly there, weighed down by overwhelming destruction. The streets were empty, the people likely in hiding, but flames consumed the village. The school Zelda had built, her dream brought to life, burned endlessly. There was no one to save it, no one to douse the fire. Cirelle's garden, a corner of peace and toil, lay shattered and completely destroyed.
The vision led Link deeper into Hateno; every familiar place reduced to ashes and ruins.
Link felt the vision pulling him toward something even more terrifying. "What is this?" he thought, fear seizing him. Before him lay the wreckage of what had been Zelda's and his home. Their house—the first place where Zelda had found peace after her century-long confinement fighting to hold back the Calamity. The beams were charred, the walls collapsed, and the ground was littered with scorched debris. Off to one side, ashes of what must have been Zelda's notes and research lay scattered. Amid the rubble, Link saw something that made his heart shatter: Kass's gifted painting—the image of Zelda, himself, and the four Champions—destroyed and blackened beyond recognition. Their memories, the testament of their hard-earned peace and precious years together, reduced to ashes in an instant.
Then, he heard a dark, mocking laughter that wrapped around him like a shadow.
"Enjoying the show, Link?" the Demon King's voice resonated with searing contempt. "Behold true power, not the pitiful games of a swordsman with which you've deluded yourself."
Link tried to step back, but his body refused to obey. "This can't be real," he thought, desperation clawing at the corners of his mind. "This… this is a lie…"
"No… it's not real," he murmured, clinging desperately to the hope that this was another cruel manipulation.
"Are you certain?" the Demon King's voice roared, each word imbued with a menace that sent chills down his spine. "You know it's a memory. Didn't you recognize the echo of the Tear resonating through every fragment? This isn't some cheap parlor trick or flimsy science. This is pure magic… limitless power."
Link's anger erupted, and he screamed, the vision dissolving around him, leaving him once more enveloped in impenetrable darkness. "Nooo!" His voice turned raw, cracking with fury, as he realized he had fallen to his knees. "What have you done? How dare you? They were innocent people; with their families, their lives, everything they had worked so hard to build—you've stolen it all."
The sinister laughter of the Demon King echoed again. "Do you now see the extent of true power? What I can do with a mere flick of my fingers? All of Hyrule is already under my yoke, just one word from me, and my servants will sow chaos and terror everywhere! When I'm done with you, all of Hyrule will kneel before me."
Link heard the fall of the Demon King's Tear—dark as the abyss—hit the ground again, its echo reverberating through his soul.
In that moment, Link snapped out of the trance, gasping for breath, the weight of loss and despair still pressing on his chest. "I can't let this happen," he thought, the residual terror burning in his veins. "I won't… This cannot be the end."
But he knew all too well that the nightmare had only just begun.