Linkle gazes out at the stunning view from the Clifftop, her azure eyes taking in every detail. Suddenly, she then turned her gaze down the hill sensing that she was being watched. The slope curled down to the left of the cave, where she saw an old woman in a dark, tattered dress, that flowed down her ankles. Long grey hair flows beneath a dark hood that obscured her face. She grips a wooden cane, from where a lantern dangles at the end. but it emitted no glow of light.

The old woman averted her gaze from Linkle and walked back to a small campfire nestled beneath a pointed cliff, which appeared to Linkle as a glowing ball of light. Something urges Linkle to go follow the old woman.

As, she descends the slope towards the old woman's campsite, each step brings her closer to the site. Linkle gazes at the fire in front of her, mesmerized by the flickering sparks dancing in its warm glow. It is beautiful, despite the intoxicating scent of burning wood. Crouching by the flames, she reaches out with one hand to touch it. Her finger brushed against the fire, and a sharp sting blossomed on her fingertip. Startled by the sudden pain, she recoils, exclaiming, "Ah!" as she realizes she has burned herself.

The old woman sat beside the crackling fire, she watched in silence, as Linkle touched the flame. She chuckled softly, her voice rough yet comforting with a hint of caution; "Flames are beautiful, aren't they? But remember, they can be cruel as well." Linkle stood up, drawing her gaze to the old woman, beneath the tattered cloak and its shadows, cast by the flickering flames, a single right eye gleamed-a dull emerald green.

Linkle remains silent, her gaze focuses on his little burn, yet she never shifted her focus from the old woman. As the old woman chuckled again "Not much of a speaker, are you, a stranger? Well, it's rather unusual to see another soul in these parts". Finally, Linkle then moves her lips to speak; "Who are you" her voice barely above a whisper from years of disuse.

The old woman's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh so you do speak? Interesting..." She paused, a small smile creeping across her face. "But for me, I'll spare my life story. I'm just an old fool who has lived here, alone, for quite some time now". With a glint of curiosity, she tilted her head. "What brings a curious, bright-eyed young woman like yourself to a place like this?"

Linkle turns to the landscape, then glances back the cave, thoughts about the peculiar oblong tub, she awoken in, recalling the voice of the young man. She speaks again; her voice filled with curiosity: "Where are we?" The old woman nods and hums thoughtfully before replying, "Answering a question with a question-now that is fair enough." She added "As I cannot imagine our meeting to be a simple coincidence... I shall tell you. This is the Great Plateau. According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule."

The old woman rises, her cane sways gently, the lantern's soft clinks echoing as she moves. She stands, with her back to Linkle, pointing with her cane towards a temple across the plateau's great valley. The Temple of Weathered stone stands partly ruined and overgrown, its rectangular structure crowned by a tall, pointed central tower-a spire reaching towards the sky. At its base, broken columns and crumbling walls are scattered across the ground. Despite its age, the temple stands like a sentinel against time.

"That temple there...Long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the decline of the kingdom 100 years ago, it has sat abandoned ever since, in a state of decay." The old woman explains. She then turns to Linkle, who gazes at the Temple with wonderment of its strong stand for all those years.; "Yet another forgotten entity. A mere ghost of its former self, I will stay here for some time, how about you go explore... you seem to be the wandering type? I wonder where it will take you?"

The old woman settles down mumbling about how sore her back is, glad to be sitting back down.

Linkle paid no attention; her eyes still lingered about the Temple. She agrees this was the next place she wanted to see, so she ventures down another slope of the plateau. But before Linkle can go any further, the old woman calls out again.

"Wait a minute, young one!" she shouts. Linkle turns to her, retracing her steps up the hill to hear what she has to say. "Do you not have a weapon to defend yourself out here?" Linkle feels an urge to quickly touch her back, but finds it bare. A thought crosses her mind: "Why did I just check my back like that?" The impulse to check was almost instinctual. To answer the old woman's question, she shakes her head to indicate "No," she does not have a weapon.

"Well before you dash off and explore, you should at least have something to defend yourself... there are risks out here, you're welcome to my torch, but that axe over there could be useful too." the old woman said, before going back on to her business.

Linkle paused, then nodded to herself, deciding to heed the old woman's advice. She grabbed the torch that was leaning against the stone wall next to the old woman and extracted the axe lodged in a tree stump. Removing something as large as this axe from the stump might be challenging for some, but Linkle had no trouble; she lifted it effortlessly. Armed now, she set off toward the Temple.

Heading down towards the temple, she fights off a small blue slime known as a Chuchu, which explodes into Chuchu Jelly. She pockets it before passing by an old stone building that has collapsed into ruins.

Linkle stopped as she spotted a hideous red Bokoblin with its long ears and snout sniffing for any intruder that crossed its path. As she hid from it; she heard the voice of the young man again. At first, his voice was muffled, but it grew louder. "...Linkle... Linkle." the voice calls with a commanding tone, adding to the confusion and curiosity of the startled woman.

"Head for the point marked on your map in your Sheikah Slate" he said.

Linkle picks up the Sheikah Slate as instructed. The screen comes to life again, pulsing with energy and displaying faint black traces that resemble different regions on a map. A yellow arrow appears in an area, most likely indicating where she is standing. "Could that arrow be me?" she wondered. there is another yellow dot pointing to something not too far from her in the top left corner of the screen.

As Linkle focused intently on the Sheikah Slate, she failed to notice the Bokoblin, who she saw earlier had spotted her, its beady eyes locked onto her. With a primal yell, it charged at her, swinging its club. Linkle narrowly dodged the attack, feeling the rush of wind as the club whizzed past her.

In a split second, she grabbed a nearby tree branch, swinging it with all her might and smashing it into the Bokoblin's face, as she didn't have time to grab the Axe or the Torch.

The branch splintered upon impact, sending shards flying, but the force of the blow dazed the creature, momentarily stunning it. Seizing the opportunity, Linkle lunged forward and snatched up the Boko Club that had fallen nearby. With a fierce determination, she brought the club crashing down onto the Bokoblin's head. The sheer power of her attack sent the creature sprawling to the ground, where it vanished in a dramatic puff of dark purple and black smoke, leaving only the echo of battle behind.

Linkle stands there, club in hand. staring at it in confusion, trying to piece everything together. Where did she learned to fight like that? But she cannot remember. Moving forward, she thinks; "I'll figure out this more soon." she thought. She takes out the Sheikah Slate. "He told me to head to this point here? perhaps I should go, the temple can wait..."

Before Linkle sets out. She encountered another Bokoblin guarding a stone chest in one of the ruins. This time, using her axe, she swiftly defeated it.
These Bokoblins didn't seem too difficult to take down. Approaching the chest. She opens it, to discover Hylian shorts with Leather boots, longer than her current shoes. After changing into them, she found they were an improvement-much more comfortable and breezier to walk in than her worn-out trousers. The leather boots extended high enough to cover her calves.

Once she was finished changing. She followed the mark on the map. As she surveyed the area closest to her destination, she noticed something unusual in the vast valley. There was a structure resembling the design of the room where she had awoken, but it was obscured by a large rock that had likely formed over the past 100 years. This intriguing sight was in the direction of the mark on the map.

Linkle approached the strange structure. drawing closer to examine it. There, she discovered a familiar pedestal-similar to the one that had deposited the Sheikah Slate to her. Atop the pedestal rested a stone. Suddenly, with a sound resembling a ping, a mechanical voice spoke to Linkle.

"Place the Sheikah Slate in the Pedestal" It instructed. Linkle glanced around, examining the pedestal and wondering how it could speak. Linkle looks back at her Sheikah Slate and then at the pedestal. Ultimately, she decided to follow the command and placed the slate onto the pedestal.

The slate rotated sideways and locked into place, glowing with an orange hue. The mechanical voice spoke again: "Sheikah Tower activated. Please watch out for falling rocks". As it warned her, the eye emblem at the top of the tower began to glow blue. Suddenly, a loud tremor shook the ground.

"Whoa!" Linkle shouted as the earth rumbled and rocks began to fall. She was abruptly thrown back to the ground, and the force struck her head, causing her to black out.

Other towers sprang up from their locations in various regions across the land of Hyrule. Finally, once all of them had reached their peak, they stopped ascending any further. The Tower of the Great Plateau featured three antennas that jutted into the sky, emitting a wave of blue energy that glowed briefly before vanishing.

"Ugh!"

Linkle groaned as she sat up, rubbing her head, which throbbed from the sudden blackout. Fortunately, she managed to get up without too much trouble. As she gazed around, she realized she was high in the sky, atop a towering structure. The pedestal where she had placed the Sheikah Slate glowed softly, drawing her attention.

The mechanical voice spoke again with a ping: "Distilling local information." The stone above the pedestal began to glow with a blue hue. An ancient, unfamiliar language appeared on the stone, cascading down to the pedestal. At its center was a marking of an eye, which formed a tear that dropped directly onto the screen of the Sheikah Slate.

As Linkle looked into the Sheikah Slate, she noticed that what was once a blank map now revealed the entire region of the Great Plateau. "Regional map extracted." the mechanical voice announced one final time. The stone then rotated, unlocking, and handed the Sheikah Slate back to Linkle, who promptly took it and secured it back on her hip.

Linkle turned to leave when she suddenly heard the voice of the young man again, urging her to "Remember..." She glanced back at the castle she had seen from the clifftop and noticed a golden light sparking from its center. Curiosity piqued; she walked closer to the edge of the tower for a better view. The voice continued, "Try... Try to remember." Its muffled tone grew clearer as the young man revealed how long Linkle had been asleep.

"You have been asleep for the past 100 years." The ground trembled violently as Linkle steadied herself, gasping at the sight of the castle. Her heart raced as she focused on the four pillars surrounding the castle, each glowing a sinister red.

An ominous aura of black and blood red surged around the castle like a creeping fog. Yet, the voice continued to speak, a golden light illuminating the scene- "The Beast," he said.

The aura coalesced into a beast that circled the grand structure, opening its jaws to unleash an oppressive roar that echoed across the land. "When the beast regains its true power, this world shall face its end." The beast settled atop the castle before vanishing, yet the ominous aura lingered, still swirling around the fortress.

"Now then..." the voice echoed with urgency as the golden light began to fade. "You must hurry, Linkle... before it's too late."

"Ah!" Linkle gasped, her words caught in her throat as she raised her hand toward the distant castle, filled with shock and concern. But she paused, pressing her outstretched hand against her chest as she reflected on everything leading up to her awakening in the chamber-the words of the old woman and the mention of the Kingdom's fall from grace.

She couldn't understand what any of this meant...
Standing there silently, as the wind blew her bangs back slightly, she tries to comprehend. Who was that voice? why did they ask her to hurry?

Something was tugging inside her, but she couldn't understand what it was. Her mind remained blank of any memories.

As she gazed at the castle one last time, her heart beating strongly, she took a deep breath. Gradually, she began to relax and set out to find a way down from the tower.

*To be Continued*

The Great Plateau