It's been a solid few days since the six friends arrived at the castle, and things are running quite smoothly. Andrew has gotten better at wielding his trident, practicing with some of the Hylian soldiers who use spears. Gavin loves to go out exploring, sometimes finding caves and secret passages that he adds to his catalog. John spends most of his time in the library, reading about the history of the ancient war and studying the Guardians. Julia runs around the kitchen, learning different ingredients for Hylian dishes, and creating stuff of her own. Ethan wanders the castle grounds, often stopping by the market outside the castle and stocking up on potions and weapons for the coming journey. Maria spends her time with Zelda and Impa, planning the next route and discussing theories as to why the six were sent here in the first place.

Finally, on the morning of the third day, they all wake up at the crack of dawn, ready to go on their first real mission. For the first time since they arrived, they dress in the gear they wore when they woke up in Hyrule Field. Ethan stops by Andrew's room and knocks on the door.

"Hey, you awake?" he asks.

The door opens, and he is very surprised to see Andrew almost ready to go. He has his hair pinned across the top to avoid it getting in his eyes, his small, golden hooped earrings in, and even has his trident across his back.

"I was just about to head to the meeting room. What's up?" Andrew asks, sliding his foot into his boot.

"I have a lot of equipment, and I need help carrying it all down."

"I got ya, no problem."

With that, the two carry all of the supplies to the meeting room. It's massive with an oval shaped table in the center, lined with chairs. One chandelier hangs from the top, providing light with many candles lit. The morning sun beams through the only window in the room. The king, Zelda, Impa, Link, and the two women are already there. The only ones missing by the time Ethan and Andrew arrive are John and Gavin.

"What do you have there, bro?" Julia asks, leaning forward from resting against her chair. She observes all the little knick knacks he pours onto the table.

"Everything ranging from any type of potion that can be made, herbs, bandage wraps, holsters for our weapons. You know, the normal things," Ethan says, smirking.

"I honestly was so preoccupied with planning the route that I didn't think to get supplies," Maria admits, turning over some bottles of red potion in her fingers. They're smaller than she thought they'd be. One bottle is the size of a basic shot, but then again, at least they'll be easy to carry.

Just then, the two missing boys enter the room. "Sorry we're late," John says, out of breath. "He wanted to race from the nearby Silent Princess Cavern."

The Silent Princess Cavern is a cave not too far from behind the castle that Gavin found the first day he went exploring. No one knows how it wasn't discovered until now - probably because of the tiny entrance. The entire cave is filled with silent princess flowers, flourishing because of the small holes in the ceiling letting in sunlight and how damp the cave is. It was decided by both Gavin and other speleologists that no one was allowed to pick any of the flowers, making it a silent princess oasis.

"I totally won, by the way," Gavin says, straightening his shirt.

"Psh, in your dreams," John retorts.

When the both of them sit down, the king clears his throat. "As you know, today you will take the road to our nearby research building. Zelda, Impa, and Maria have covered the plans for this task, so I am making the three of them your captains. Listen to their leadership on this one."

"Ugh, really?" Gavin groans. "My apologies. What I meant to say was, really?!"

Ethan elbows his arm, making him roll his eyes. "It's just in case we get into a pickle. We can't all be making our own plans."

Maria can't help but to smirk, making Gavin a little annoyed again. "She's always in charge."

"Well, maybe if you helped with the plans instead of wandering around," Andrew pipes in, and instantly regrets it.

"Oh, and what were you doing the past two days?"

"Training."

"Boys," Julia starts, "can we just do this as a team?"

"If we could, we wouldn't need a leader," Gavin argues.

Everyone looks at John for help, but he shakes his head. "I'm staying out of this one."

"Enough! It has already been decided," the king demands, only raising his voice a little. "Now, thanks to the courtesy of Ethan here, you have all been stocked up on supplies. There will be no need for the help of any accompanying soldiers from our ranks, since there will be so many of you-"

"Woah, wait," Andrew interrupts this time. "It's going to just be us? No army?"

"We don't think we will be in need of an army," Impa explains. "With you all, plus Link and me, the princess will surely be safe."

"Besides," Zelda says calmly, "there aren't any monster camps on the road to the research lab. It will only take a few hours to get there, and we can spend the night, then walk home in the morning."

"Waning troops away from the castle would be pointless," Maria urges.

Gavin sighs, sits back, and mumbles, "Great, we're going on this quest and we won't even have backup."

Maria scoffs, "Gavin, stop being so annoying."

"I'm not being annoying, I'm being rational. If what we discussed earlier was true, and Calamity Ganon is on the rise... I've never seen the guy, but he sounds like a big deal. Don't you think we should, I don't know, be prepared?"

The room is silent for a few, long moments. At the mention of the Calamity, Zelda's face drops into sadness and Impa becomes concerned. Link's expression also noticeably changes, and he looks down at his hands. The king stands and points a finger at Gavin. "You, sir, are out of line. The only reason I haven't kicked you out yet, is because you're one of the ancient heroes. If you stick to our plan, this quest will be over without a scratch on your tunic."

Gavin opens his mouth, but sees Maria out of the corner of his eye. She holds up her hands to signal him to calm down and shut up, so he sighs and slumps back in his chair. Julia uncrosses her legs and clears her throat, folding her hands on the table. "Now that we have that settled, I think it's time we get going. I, personally, would love to get there before the sun boils over the sky."

So, each of them start fastening the rest of their equipment and weapons to their belts. Julia has a few small chains around her waist that hold her potions and herbs. Her quiver is at the side of her thicker belt, and her soldier's bow is across her back. Maria's Sheikah daggers are both on the right side of her waist along with a map and potions. Ethan carries most of the remaining potions and medical stuff, and an axe on his back. Gavin clips his potions to his boot buckles and slings a rope around his waist. He also puts his fire rod on his belt. Andrew makes sure his trident is secure on his back before placing some potions into the bags attached to his hip. John finds it better to put his potions on a sash across his chest, the same one his sword is connected to across his back.

Link, Impa, and Zelda also get some potions. In fact, each of them gets a variety. Julia carries stamina potion, Link electricity resisting, John sneaky, Andrew hasty, Ethan tough, Maria fireproof (never know when you might need it), Impa chilly, Gavin mighty, and Zelda spicy. Along with those, each person carries one heart potion (except Ethan, he carries three).

Impa also carries the broken shards of the Sheikah Slate and the miniature Guardian at her side.

In about an hour's time, the nine are ready for their first mission to the tech lab. They exit out the west gate of the castle, and start their journey on foot.

The first part of the journey isn't filled with too much commotion. Just small talks about what everyone has been up to around the castle since they've been here, and what they learned. Julia tells Andrew all about her newfound knowledge of cuisine while he tells her how well he has improved with his spear skills. Meanwhile, John talks with Ethan and Gavin about how massive the library is, and how cool he thinks the Guardians are. He makes sure Link, Impa, and Zelda are far in front of the group when he adds, "I can't believe they don't know the Guardians will turn on them. I mean, they should know what the Calamity is capable of."

"I think telling them too much would be complete chaos. Plus, we need to keep up the act that we are all from different worlds," Ethan adds.

"That's only going to raise more questions," Gavin points out. "We call each other 'bro' and 'sis' all the time. Wouldn't that be weird?"

"Eh, just say it's part of the ancient dialect," Ethan answers.

"The only things we have to prove we are from different worlds are our stories," John argues. "It makes no sense as to why they trust us. I mean, I came across hundreds of stories in the library talking about the Hero of Lorule, the Hero of Winds, and the Hero of Tracks just to name a few."

"What's your point?" Gavin asks.

"Any crazy group could have memorized the tales and made up that story in order to get close to the princess and king. Why do they trust us so easily? Like, what if it was the Yiga Clan who made disguises, and made up this grand story just to assassinate the princess?"

The two other boys pause, but then Ethan responds with an unconcerned tone, "The Yiga Clan isn't that smart, first of all. Second, they wouldn't have matching tunics with all of the different games' symbols on them." He gestures to the wind wakers on his sleeves. "You worry too much."

"That's John for ya," Gavin says.

"Come on," John presses. "Just a few hours ago, you were arguing with the king about safety. Now you're not batting an eye when I come up with a logical argument about safety?"

"Yeah, because it's your argument."

Maria pauses in her steps as they reach the man-made canyons that were created to dig up old Guardians. She looks at her map, knowing this part can be a little bit of a maze. But, that's not what makes her stop in her tracks. There are many Guardians lying around, all hollowed out shells of the machines they used to be. As her friends all stop talking, the eerie silence combined with the wind whistling through the hollow metal makes her shiver.

There are so many Guardians, a lot more than there were in the game. Most of them have four or less limbs, only a select few having all appendages accounted for. The little, white Guardian makes a beeping noise and rushes to Zelda's side, standing behind her in fear. The princess picks it up, and holds it to her chest in a comforting manner. "It's okay, little one," she consoles.

Gavin gathers the courage to approach one of the Guardians, its dead eye looking right at him. "This is crazy, seeing it so up close." He reaches out his hand and brushes it against the machine, making dust fall off.

"Gavin, wait-" John yells, but is cut off by the loud noise of a horn.

Everyone spins on their heels to look behind them. From the path they came on, tons of monsters are running at them. One moblin in the front of the group raises a horn and blows into it once more, alerting all of the nearby monsters to join in.

"And whose idea was it to not bring an army?!" Gavin asks sarcastically. John grabs his wrist and pulls him away from the Guardian, and the two of them bring up the rear as everyone starts running.

"We need higher ground!" Maria insists, trying to look at her map while she runs. "At the next branch, take a left!"

Gavin unsheathes his fire rod and looks over his shoulder a few times while he runs. He makes sure to stay in the back of the group so he can blast fire at the monsters. Unfortunately, the canyon forces everyone to run in a straight line. One bokoblin notches an arrow, aiming it right for Gavin's back. He sees it, but can't dodge effectively. Instead, he blasts a fireball at it, but that only turns the regular arrow into a fire arrow.

Gavin's eyes widen before squeezing shut, and he braces for impact, but his brother has his back. John swiftly takes out his sword, and in one fluid swoop, he knocks the arrow away.

"How did I...?" John is forced out of his shock when a moblin chucks a bokoblin at the brothers. He lifts his sword and stabs it in the chest before it can even land. Gavin regains his stance and blasts fire at the moblin, making it topple and block the other monsters for a few seconds.

"Everyone keep running! We can handle this," John yells.

"What?" Maria instantly turns to protest, but Ethan is having none of that.

"Move, they'll be fine!" He directs her back to the path, and she understands it's the right choice. Cursing under her breath, she runs back to the front of the group to lead the way.

As she runs, Julia surveys the sides of the canyon and smirks. "Hey, Gavin, cover me!"

He looks over his shoulder and sees her whip out her stamina potion. In one gulp, she feels energy surging through her fingers and she starts to climb the side of the canyon. "You're crazy!" he yells, but does what she says. He looks for any enemy that is aiming toward her, and takes them out before they get the chance to shoot her down.

While he does that, John parries away a few arrows with his shield, and finds openings to attack. One group of bokoblins is really getting on his nerves, so he rushes up to them and performs a spin attack. Most of them only get knocked over, so he takes this time to finish them off. While he is turned, a moblin swings its club and gets him right in the back, knocking the wind out of him.

"Hey!" Gavin tries to run over to him, but the monsters are getting overwhelmingly close. The fire from his rod is only inches away from his skin, but he keeps fighting. Suddenly, a few moblins fall over right before they swing down to attack him, arrows lodged in their heads. Gavin looks up to see Julia made it to the top of the ledge and is notching a few more arrows to help them out. "Much obliged, Julia!"

She gives him a small salute and turns to help John. The brothers are doing much better now that their archer is taking out any stray enemies that approach while their backs are turned. Together, they make sure no monster makes it past them, which gives the others some breathing room.

Maria tries her best to hold up the map against the wind, but running while reading directions is proving difficult. A moblin jumps down the canyon and lands right in front of her, and she almost falls while trying to halt her footsteps. Yelling, skidding in the dirt, and fumbling for her knives while holding the map, she almost runs into the monster. Quickly, Impa uses an ancient Sheikah technique to sneakily teleport right in front of her and stab the monster before it can hurt her.

Before she can thank her for the rescue, Impa's red eyes scan the lip of the canyon. "They're avoiding John and Gavin by taking the high ground. At this rate, we'll be surrounded."

Link pushes Zelda behind him as more enemies fall into their path. He looks at Andrew who nods, and the two clean up the road while the rest think of a strategy. "We should take the west route," Maria suggests. "Then, they won't be able to jump down the canyon once we reach the break in the road here. At this point, we'll turn right and head up the middle path."

"That's the best plan," Zelda agrees worriedly. The little Guardian in her arms beeps a few times, but no one pays it any mind. They're too focused on the new route they have to take.

"And, it's the widest area. We can all travel as a group," Ethan points out.

"Let's go before we are overwhelmed," Impa says. The others agree with her and start leading the charge once more.

Link and Andrew stay in the front this time, still dealing with the monsters. Occasionally, Maria yells directions to them so they go down the correct tunnel. Andrew, for one, is relieved he spent two days relentlessly training with a spear, as this is now becoming more natural to him. He uses two hands to stab upward into monsters below their ribs, easily piercing their hearts. It's the quickest way to get them to disintegrate, which then allows him to regain his stance and focus on more enemies. Though, he can't rely on that move alone. He uses his trident to trip some enemies, then finishes them off when they fall. Since his weapon is so long in this narrow road, he makes sure to give Link some distance so he doesn't hit him.

Link is using his royal guard sword which matches his uniform. Sometimes he wears armor, but he knew this mission would take place in the man-made canyon, and he didn't want to get stuck through some narrow passages. He uses his short stature to his advantage, weaving around monsters who don't have any sense of balance. Expertly, he kicks off the walls and gains height, swiping his sword in the face of his enemies. He wastes no time before collecting himself after each kill, moving on to the next monster.

A few bokoblins are starting to be kicked and thrown down the canyon against their will. The moblins are trying to make them land right on top of Zelda and the other navigators. Ethan sees this and takes his axe into both hands. Lunging with his right foot, he yells, "Watch out!" and swings his axe horizontally right above Impa's and Zelda's heads. He catches the bokoblin right in the stomach, both it and his weapon getting lodged into the wall right next to him.

"Awe, come on!" he yells, taking a moment to grip the handle. His sweaty hands and thumping heart aren't helping the situation, and he isn't able to loosen the weapon. It's really jammed in there.

"That's what you get for almost decapitating us!" Impa yells. She grabs his wrist and pulls him along before a bokoblin can land on him. "Forget about it, let's go!"

"You can at least say 'thank you'!" he yells back.

The bokoblin falls on the dirt and stands up woozily. It shakes its head and notices the axe sticking out of the wall. It tries to pull it out, but has no luck, and ends up falling backward from the attempt.

John parries an attack with his shield and takes the opportunity to stab the moblin in the gut. He doesn't get a clean cut, though, and is forced to slice his blade through its abdomen. The weird angle twists his wrist awkwardly, but the pain is nothing he can't handle. He probably just pulled the muscle. John shakes it off and spins his sword in his hand to regain his confidence. "They just keep coming..." he says a little breathlessly.

"We need to catch up with the others." For once, Gavin agrees with his brother. He sees the literal army of monsters pursuing them behind the current ones they're attacking, and his heart drops. "That's got to be at least one hundred moblins."

"Yeahhh... time to go!" John nudges his brother and the two of them start running. Julia sees them out of the corner of her eye and follows them, shooting down monsters as quickly as she can load her bow.

Unfortunately, they seem to have caught on to her antics. Three moblins run up to her position, and they're so close that she just stabs them with her arrows. Mumbling curses to herself, she looks over her shoulder and sees about ten more of them on her tail.

Somehow, one of them got in front of her. She doesn't have time to think about how it did, she doesn't have time to react to it at all. Julia gasps once she faces forward again, trying to shield her chest with her bow. It only works a bit, as she gets hit. The force of the blow sends her flying, and everything seems to go in slow motion. Her back makes contact with the other side of the canyon, smacking against the wall. The wind gets pushed out of her lungs as she falls. Using what little state of mind she has left, she grabs an arrow and stabs it into the wall behind her, slowing her fall. Beyond all luck, it doesn't break, but it's only able to slow her down enough to not die on contact with the ground.

She lands on something metallic which scrapes her side so badly that it starts gushing blood. Biting her lip, she screams in pain and backs against the wall.

First rule of immense pain: do not pass out. Julia refuses to look at her wound as she uses both hands to try and hold it together. Instead, she focuses on controlling her ragged panting, pleading her eyes to stay open as long as possible. If she freaks out, her brain will become more foggy, and her vision will fade. It's already bad from the shock of the fall. By the time John and Gavin get to her, she's seeing four of each of them.

"Julia!" Gavin yells. He kneels beside her and reaches for his healing potion. Quickly, he uncorks it and tilts her head back, making her drink the whole thing. "You're not going out on our second battle. Come on, now," he jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

"'Course not," she manages to say with a smile. Her hands drop as the wound closes, and she feels so much better. Leaning her head back for a moment, she realizes she isn't resting against a wall, but rather the body of a Guardian. That must have been what she landed on.

"Are you good to move?" John asks, not taking his eyes off the path they came from. He can hear monsters, but they aren't showing themselves.

Julia nods and goes to stand, but a whirring noise makes her body freeze. Gavin's eyes widen and he backs up, almost dropping his fire rod. A red laser mark targets his forehead. "J... J..." he tries to call for his brother, but words fail him at the moment.

Luckily, John looks over his shoulder to see what's going on. Without even thinking, he drops his sword and shield to grab his friends' wrists. "RUN!"

The Guardian gets up right as Julia is pulled to her feet. It glows red through its gears, six metal legs allowing it to chase after them. Its glowing blue eye switches to target John this time, who is still holding Julia's and Gavin's wrists.

Gavin looks over his shoulder and sees the machine pointing its laser at John's back, so he uses his body weight to ram right into him. All three fall over right before a beam of energy shoots out of the Guardian's eye. It whirrs as it recharges, giving them time to get back to their feet and sprint away.

"Take the left!" John yells, pointing to the west path. Now with no weapons, he leads the charge as he is able to focus all of his energy on running.

The healing potion has taken full effect at this point, and Julia is no longer in a daze. She notches one of her remaining arrows and gets the Guardian right in the eye, making it power down for a few seconds. John rounds a corner, but then both Gavin and Julia instantly run into him.

"What the-" Julia starts, but then her eyes widen when she realizes he is completely frozen.

There is an ice wizzrobe dancing right above them, and it laughs as if it was waiting for them to turn down this pathway. Instead of fear, Gavin gets wrought with anger. "It's just one thing after another! I thought this was supposed to be a no-fighting, easy mission! If that king would have just listened to me!"

He lets out a yell of pure rage and fire erupts from his rod, engulfing him. Julia backs away as much as she can, shielding herself with John's frozen body. The flames dance around Gavin in a red so bright that one might go blind if they looked down the canyon. His eyes become red with an orange outline, flames licking his face, and he lets out another scream. This time, he directs his magic at the wizzrobe. In an instant, it gets vaporized. Gavin starts panting as the fire dies down to just a flicker, all of the magic returning to the rod. He collapses to his knees and has to support his upper body with his palms. Then, he hears the sound of something metal hitting the dirt in front of him.

An ice rod. Without thinking twice, he reaches for it and straps it to the other side of his belt.

The heat of the event made the ice trapping John completely melt. Julia catches him before he falls and she laughs as he says, shivering, "W-w-what j-j-just ha-ha-ha-ha-happened?"

Now it's Julia's turn to make the boys drink their healing potions. She gives hers to Gavin while John downs his with no hesitation. "I know we should save them," she says, "but we need to go before that Gu-"

The wall next to them explodes, rubble falling in all directions. The Guardian in question emerges from around the corner, finally finding them. Julia quickly shoots it in the eye again, and the three start running.

This path is more straight, so there aren't many ways they can dodge attacks if the Guardian tries to shoot them again. Gavin decides to test out his new toy and unsheathes his ice rod, pointing it at the Guardian's legs. He chuckles as it starts sliding around, losing its targets for a few moments.

"Ugh, which way do you think they went?" Julia asks as they reach three tunnels. The one to the right is very narrow, the middle being the widest. However, the three guess the middle path was taken to avoid the moblins who are still on the edge of the canyon.

"If we take the right path, we can avoid the Guardian," Gavin suggests.

"Yeah, but we'd be up to our necks in moblins with no room to fight," she responds. "What do you think, John? ...John?"

The man in question was about to answer, but something shiny reflects the sunlight and blinds him for a moment. He holds a hand up and looks to find the item, but then almost trips over it. There is a golden, metal bracelet sticking out of the dirt, just shiny enough to glimmer in the daylight. Out of instinct, he gently picks it up and brushes some dirt away. "Huh, weird," he mumbles to himself. He puts it on, and the metal adjusts to his wrist size. Well, at least it will be some extra armor. Now that he doesn't have a weapon, he'll take what he can get. Then, he remembers Julia's question. "Maria would have picked the wide path so they can avoid the monsters."

"That's all the proof I need," Julia says. Not needing to add more to their plate, the three take the center path.

As they run, the Guardian catches up to them once more. Gavin tries the ice rod again, but this time the machine was prepared. It uses four of its legs to climb onto the wall so it can avoid the ice. It blasts another beam, narrowly missing John's head this time.

We have to catch up to the others... We have to. He thinks to himself. John hears beeping, then hears it getting faster, which indicates that the Guardian is ready for another blast. He ducks without looking, but the beam hits the wall beside him, making him get pushed to the other side.

It's the strangest feeling. It's like something is pressing on his back, no, attaching itself to his back, and he can't escape it. Not only his torso, but the back of his head, neck, legs, and arms have the same sensation. Surprisingly, he can still breathe, but it doesn't feel like his chest is rising. John swivels his eyes around, then blinks. Good, he can still blink. He tries to step forward, away from the mass behind him, but no dice. Instead, he moves with it to the side. In front of him, he sees Julia and Gavin struggling to stand against the rubble from the previous blast. The Guardian looms over them. John tries once more to move toward them, but he can't stop leaning against this wall! No, wait, not against.

In. He's in the wall.

So many questions go through his mind, but those can be answered later. Now, he has to act. John walks to the side and finds an axe embedded in the wall, which looks strangely like the one Ethan had. Suddenly, he gets an idea. This will either go really well, or he will slice his stomach open. No biggie.

John focuses on his feet, and how they're the only things that don't feel connected to the wall. Closing his eyes, he turns the soles of his feet back so they are against the mass. Then, he jumps forward. Just as hoped, he emerges from the wall and also pushes the axe out with him. It lands at his feet, so he quickly picks it up and runs to the others.

At the last moment, John lunges between the Guardian and his allies. He turns the blade of the axe so it shields his face from the Guardian and it shoots at them. At the perfect time, he parries the beam back. The Guardian's entire face gets blasted, a giant hole now resting where its eye used to be. Slowly, its legs give out as the red hue dies down, and the light fades from the machine.

They know they have to quickly catch up to the others, but they're also exhausted, so they compromise by jogging. On the way, John tries to explain what happened to him. "It sounds crazy, I know."

"Actually, it sounds about right," Julia explains. "That bracelet you picked up must have been the one from Link Between Worlds!"

Gavin looks at them, confused. "So, Link can fuse into a wall in that game?"

"Yep," she confirms. "It's how he can get from Hyrule to Lorule, through fissures in the walls. Also, like, half of the puzzles revolve around that mechanic. The real question is how the bracelet ended up here."

"Well, I do represent that game," John reminds them. The upside down Triforce mark on his purple tunic suddenly makes a lot more sense. "Maybe it appeared because it's supposed to be for me?"

"Interesting..." Julia mutters, now deep in thought.

Gavin shrugs. "Maybe we should explain the theory to the others, and they'll know what happened."

Speaking of which, the three round one more corner and come across a campsite. Ethan, Andrew, Maria, Link, Impa, and Zelda are all sitting down, having a snack from fending off all those moblins.

Gavin rolls his eyes. "No, no, you all stay there. We didn't need help or anything."

"Hey, at least we waited for you," Andrew retorts.

"We stayed here to make sure you found us. We didn't know which path you would have taken, and this spot merges all three," Maria explains.

"Plus, we were hungry after fighting those moblins you left us with," Ethan jokes.

"Ha ha." John throws the axe down at his feet. "Missing something? Oh, by the way, did you guys by chance fight a Guardian? Did you kill a Guardian? Didn't think so."

"A Guardian?" Zelda asks, standing up. She looks at them worriedly.

"Yeah, one turned on and tried to disintegrate us," Gavin explains shortly. "Oh, but don't worry. We're totally fine."

"Wait, how did you kill it?" Andrew asks, now intrigued.

"Parried a beam right back at its eye," John says.

"This is very concerning..." Zelda says. "We must update Purah and Robbie immediately."

The group tidies up and breaks down their small camp, continuing their journey to the research lab. The rest of the way is completely devoid of monsters, but everyone is too relieved to ask why. Turns out, once the Guardian was killed, they all retreated under someone's order.

The person in question watches the group from atop the canyon, his dark purple cloak hiding his eyes. An orange, braided strand hangs in front of his face, and a crooked smile forms as he tilts his head. A pale hand with charcoal fingers wraps around the handle of a golden staff, the Triforce of Courage mark glowing from the back of his hand. As he looks upon the traveling group, his gaze lands on one person in particular. The one who somehow molded into a wall, and then emerged to kill the Guardian.

The man licks his front teeth with amusement. "There you are, worm."