[FFML] [Zelda] Kamen Riders Hylia - Prologue

[Grant Chen]

Just wanted to say I love the idea. I'm a Zelda fan and a Rider fan, and
using the bike as the common point is really cool.

On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 7:27 PM Timothy Miller <terumiya at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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