[FFML] [Zelda] Kamen Riders Hylia - Prologue

[Timothy Miller]

I was hoping to get the first full chapter or two together, but life hasn't
cooperated and there's a hard cut-off for the FFML, so I can at least toss
out a teaser of sorts. Hopefully I'll get my writing legs back under me,
and start writing enough of this series to actually post - probably on
Archive Of Our Own, down the line.

Acknowledgements:
The Legend of Zelda is created by and property of Nintendo Co., Ltd. While
the versions of Link, Zelda, Impa, and other recurring characters as
written in this story are NOT taken from a specific Zelda title, the
setting of Hyrule, its native races and powers, and relics such as the
Triforce are all creations of Nintendo's writers, designers, and
programmers.

The Kamen Rider franchise is created by and property of Ishimori
Productions, in association with Toei. Again, there are no specific
characters from Kamen Rider who will appear in the course of this series,
but I'm drawing on themes common to the franchise (and possibly beyond it),
so credit is due to Ishimori Pro and Toei. (That said, the Kamen Rider
angle doesn't really appear until the first proper chapter.)

-----

KAMEN RIDERS HYLIA
Chapter 0: "Recurrent Nightmare"

    The battle raged, outside and inside.


    Outside the citadel, machines and men clashed against monsters. The
knights of Hyrule brandished blades and shields, weapons and armor alike
reflecting the flaring light of the Sheikah-built Guardians, as they fought
alongside Gorons, Zora, Rito, even Gerudo - warriors from all the races of
Hyrule, brought together to face a common foe. But as many and myriad as
Hyrule’s defenders were, their foes seemed even moreso: the imp-like
Bokoblins, the tall and lanky Moblins who commanded them, the hunched
Lizalfos that scurried about, sometimes hiding, more often pouncing
whenever they saw an opening. Weapons clashed; screams of pain resounded,
whether the wholesome voices of Hyrule’s people or the animal shrieks of
the monsters.


    Within the citadel, the battle was no less fierce, for all that only
three people were engaged in the fight. On one side, a princess and her
solitary chosen warrior - Princess Zelda herself, and the knight known as
Link - brought bow and sword alike to bear against their enemy. On the
other, the fiery-maned monster known only as Ganon kept both the princess
and the knight on their guard.


    Whether inside the citadel or outside, every combatant knew that if
they gave any ground, it was over.


    Ganon snarled, then roared, thrusting his trident in three quick
strikes, all three turned aside by Link’s shield. Then it was Link’s turn,
a loud yell heralding the Master Sword’s gleaming swipe through the air,
diving into the opening left by Ganon’s onslaught. The bestial man howled
in fury, barely blocking the sword’s blade with the shaft of his trident -
but it was enough of an opening for Zelda to draw back her bowstring, and
loose an arrow of pure Light at the incarnation of darkness. The arrow
struck, and Ganon fell back a step; Link pushed into the gap, slashing at
Ganon’s chest as if drawing a line to connect with the new arrow wound.


    They were only the newest of many injuries on Ganon’s body, marked by
blood and burns thanks to the divinely empowered weapons. But even as Ganon
staggered, his body seemed to surge, a guttural rumble filling the chamber
as though it rose from the bowels of the earth itself. Link hurriedly
shored up his guard, sidestepping to interpose himself between Ganon and
Zelda. “Sages!” he called out, trusting the Sheikah arts to carry his words
to the races’ representatives. The Divine Beasts had already done their
work, reducing Ganon from the great Dark Beast to this nearly-humanoid
form; however, the Sages themselves still had to close the seal so that
Zelda could -


    Everything seemed to happen in the same instant. With Princess Zelda
acting as a focal point, the Sages’ seal began to take form; Zelda herself
unleashed her own power, an additional seal flaring into a cage to bind
Ganon’s spirit even as his body was confined. But Ganon lashed out one last
time even as his body and magic and spirit were chained and caged, dark
power thundering through his body - and out through his trident, finding
the one chink in Link’s defenses and splitting it like the Duelling Peaks
themselves.


    “NO!!!!!”


    It was a scream of agony from Link’s lips, a scream of horror from
Zelda’s, a scream of rage from Ganon’s. But horror didn’t stop the
Princess; rather, her power redoubled in intensity, and the golden power of
Hylia’s descendants blazed forth, overwhelming the Sages’ seal and smashing
into the King of Evil.


    Ganon fell to his knees, smoke wafting from his body, the stink of
scorched flesh and hair filling the chamber he would have called his throne
room. His body was intact for the moment, but Hylia’s power and the spell
of the Sages were already at work. There was a loud clatter as the Master
Sword fell to the floor, followed by the thump of Link’s body and the clang
of his shield. Zelda’s footfalls were almost drowned out as she ran across
to Link, gathering his body up in her arms.


    “Princess … ?” Link’s eyes fluttered open, blinking. “Did we … is it
over?” he gasped.


    Zelda nodded fervently. “Yes - we did it, Link. Just … stay with me,
you have to pull through. Your arm -”


    “It’s fine,” Link panted. “Nothing … nothing hurts now. We did it …” He
struggled to keep his eyes open, fumbling to grasp Zelda’s hand with a hand
that wasn’t there any more.


    Then he went limp.


    Zelda eased the hero’s body down, then picked up the Master Sword, with
Link’s severed hand still locked about the hilt. “Why,” she hissed, her
gaze glinting gold as she stared at the crippled - defeated - Ganon. “Why
do you always do this. Every lifetime. Every reincarnation. WHY?!?”


    “Heh. Heh …. Princess of Hylia’s blood, how little you know …” Ganon’s
own eyes burned redly behind yellow irises. “Thus it has been, for ages
long past. Thus shall it ever be. Bound we are, accursed from ancient
times, forever to re-enact this fate. I came closer than most … yet even at
the end, I fall once more. Would you curse me, curse my name? No less have
I cursed you both, forever and beyond.”


    Zelda’s hand clenched tighter around Link’s warm, firm hand and the
hilt of the sword within it. She knew there was no time - Link’s life could
possibly still be saved, if she didn’t dawdle. Maybe help was already on
the way. But she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Ganon’s. “We are cursed,
you say?” she whispered bitterly.


    “**Then let the curse be broken.**”


    Golden light filled the torchlit room -

---

    With a loud gasp, Princess Zelda sat bolt upright in her bed, high in a
tower of Hyrule Castle, the moon shining silver in the night sky beyond her
window. For a moment, she simply stayed where she was, shivering violently
as the cold seeped through her sweaty nightgown.


    “Your Highness …” A familiar form faded out of the shadows, wrapping a
shawl around Zelda’s shoulders. “Was it the nightmare again?”


    “Impa …” Zelda closed her eyes, tugging the shawl closer about her
frame. “Yes. Clearer than ever. I could smell the torches, the blood … it’s
not just a dream, is it?”


    “Likely not,” admitted the Sheikah leader, stepping back from Zelda’s
bed. “We always hope that the cycle’s finally been broken, but we always
keep watch … and the signs are gathering. Monsters are becoming common
again, villages being raided. And the heretics …”


    Zelda shivered again, remembering the stories she’d heard in her
father’s court. Renegade Sheikah who refused to renounce the old ways,
supposedly going so far as to help the monsters who had plagued Hyrule’s
people since ancient times. “So the King of Evil - ?”


    “Not yet, we think,” Impa said softly. “But probably not much longer.”
She reached out, her hand resting on Zelda’s shoulder as lightly as a
sparrow, yet as strong as a falcon. “I need you to come to Kakariko with me
tomorrow. Can you sleep some more? I’ll be here, as always.”


    “Give me a little bit,” Zelda whispered. “That nightmare …. I can still
feel it. The fire, the blood …” She squeezed her eyes shut, then laid down,
the shawl still wrapped about her shoulders. “Do you know what happened
after that battle? Did the hero survive?”


    Despite herself, Impa smiled as she tucked the covers around Zelda’s
form, much as she’d done when the princess was an infant. “Oh, yes. He
lived for many years, even though he could no longer wield the Master
Sword. He even oversaw the enshrouding of the Divine Beasts, and became
King himself in time …”


-----


Author's Notes:


As both a Zelda fan and a Kamen Rider fan, there was a combination of cool
stuff in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which made me sit up and
take notice. The Ancient Armor set, the Master Cycle Zero (yeah, I went for
the expansion pass), the Divine Beast masks ... just the fact that magitech
was so strongly an element in BotW got my brain working, and when I
completed the Champion's Ballad and could roar around Hyrule on an ancient
Sheikatech motorcycle in full armor? Yeah. :D


Not that the Ancient Armor is what the Riders of this series will be
sporting, exactly. It'll be close, but not quite. Look forward to the
description when somebody transforms.


Anyway. While I'm more explicit about the time in the first chapter, this
is set at a time not presently covered in the official timeline of Zelda
games. Yes, Sheikah technology is going to play a major role; technically
the good guys will be violating an old royal edict by using it, but it's
either that, or let the heretic Sheikah (not yet known as the Yiga Clan)
run rampant and unchallenged.


I'll see if I can get Chapter 1 posted before the list shuts down, but if
anyone has feedback to give on the prologue, I'd be glad to see what you
have to say!


Timothy Miller

terumiya at gmail.com
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