The Legend of Zelda: Rise of a Fallen Hero

Chapter 27: Mount Lanayru

"You will join us?" Link asked Mipha "Thanks"

"I will do it to honor the Hylian Champion I once loved" she replied

"Loved?" Link asked "That explains a lot"

"Well, where do we go now?" Mipha asked

"We regroup with Revali, Urbosa, Midna, Zelda, Ilia, and the others" Link replied

"Zelda?" Mipha asked "You mean she is alive?"

"Yup" Link said "And we will all meet up and- er- we, uh, don't really have a plan..."

"What do you mean?" Mipha asked

"Well you see" Link said "All we gotta do now is find the goron champion, and then take back Hyrule somehow. The plan has a big gap in between finding the goron champion and taking back Hyrule..."

"Okay" Mipha said 

A Cold voice suddenly appeared in Link's head.

'Go to Mount Lanayru' the voice said 'free the dragon of Nayru from the darkness'

"What was that?" Link said "What was what?" Mipha asked

"That voice!" Link replied "It said something about the dragon of Nayru on Mount Lanayru!"

"You mean Naydra?" Mipha asked "My mother and I would swim out to the Lanayru Promenade to see the Ice Dragon Naydra, before she passed away"

"What happened to her?" Link asked

"You already know, don't you?" Mipha replied "Didn't I- Oh wait, that was the old Link.... Well, she died during the Hyrule Civil War"

"Oh" Link said "Based on what Zelda has told me about that time in history, I think I'm gonna change the subject"

"Let's get going then to Mount Lanayru" Mipha smiled

Link and Mipha headed down to Zora's Domain and King Dorephan's throne room

"Well, I'm surprised" King Dorephan said when they arrived "You got a word out of her! My daughter's been hiding away by the East Reservoir for years"

"Hello sister!" Sidon smiled as he walked by

"I am joining Link and Zelda on their quest" Mipha told her father "First we are heading to Mount Lanayru to see Farosh"

"What!?" King Dorephan yelped "You can't! You can't help the hylians!"

"They aren't bad" Mipha said

"Link wasn't bad" King Dorephan claimed "But the others were! I don't care how many peace treaties they made, their Civil War took away my wife and your mother!"

"War is war" Mipha said "Hyrule is a land of blood and tears, and nothing will change that"

"It's true" Link agreed "We just have to learn to live with it"

"I-" King Dorephan looked over at Sidon, who was nodding his head

"You can go" King Dorephan sighed

Link and Mipha walked away

"You did what you had to, father" Sidon said

Link and Mipha found Epona at the place where the Zora's River flowed into Lanayru Wetlands, and boarded her

Epona rode southeast to Lanayru Road, and rode east through the road until reaching the Lanayru Promenade

"The Lanayru Promenade fills me with questions" Mipha told Link 

"Yeah" Link agreed

"It looks like ruins of some ancient people, older than even the Zonai Ruins" Mipha continued "The Zora scientist compared  the Zonai Ruins to these, and found they were different materials and that these were far older"

"How old?" Link asked "These look similar to the Forgotten Temple me and Zelda found"

"Older than the days of the Ancient Sheikah" Mipha said 

"Oooh" Link said "Zelda loves science, so I bet these would interest her. But there are more important matters now"

Link and Mipha tried to stay calm as Epona rode through the patch of grass between Lanayru Promenade and Naydra Snowfield, where a fierce Blue-Maned Lynel stared them down, and fired ice arrows.

They narrowly avoided the arrows as they rode into the snowy areas of Lanayru, where the figure of Mount Lanayru loomed over them.

It's gonna be cold here Link thought as he put on his Snowquill Tunic over his Green Tunic

"Zoras don't mind cold" Mipha explained "I should be alright"

Link and Mipha had to get off Epona because the ground was too rocky, and they began scaling the paths and cliffs of Walnot Mountain, Madorna Mountain, and lastly the peak of Mount Lanayru.

Along the way, Ice-Breath Lizalfos attacked them, and pretty blue crystals were visible, and other chunks of Luminous Stone acted as a light in the dark night.

The pair found a cave, killed the Grizzlemaw Bear inside, and cooked its meat over a fire under the shelter of the cave since a snowstorm was raging outside.

"Rough storm" Mipha chuckled "I've only been on Mount Lanayru once before, it was around 17 or 18 years ago when I was grabbing some chunks of those big pretty crystals to add to my Zora Armor I was making for L- er-"

"What's Zora Armor?" Link asked

"Well-" Mipha began "Oh hey the storm has cleared!"

Link and Mipha climbed up to an area near the peak of Mount Lanayru, and found the Spring of Wisdom, where the magic of the Goddesses preserved the sacred waters so they would not freeze.

Link walked up to the Goddess Statue

"Hero of the land" the Goddess Statue spoke "You have come to free the dragon Naydra, who is corrupted by the malice of the King of Evil"

Naydra was curled up on Mount Lanayru, in a purple color, with creepy eyes of malice all over its body

"Free it by destroying the eyes of malice" the Goddess Statue went silent as Link drew his Royal Bow

Link aimed and fired an arrow at the first of three eyes of malice, and wind arose as the Dragon began flying and circling around the mountain's peak.

Link used his paraglider to fly up in the air with the wind, and he aimed at the second eye of malice, destroying it.

"The Dragon is moving!" Mipha called out to Link as Naydra began flying down the mountain

Link rode with the wind, and destroyed the third eye of malice, freeing Naydra

Naydra was freed, and flew around.

Link fired a fourth arrow, this time at Naydra's body, and a scale fell off of it

Link collected the Scale of Naydra, and placed it in the Spring of Wisdom's waters

"You have done well young hero" the Goddess Statue spoke "Return to Necluda, and find the Eastern Palace Compound. Meet the elder who hides there....."

The statue went silent, and Link and Mipha traveled down Mount Lanayru until they reached the Naydra Snowfield and boarded Epona.

There was another tense moment as they rode past the Lynel, and they crossed through Lanayru Promenade and Lanayru Road a second time.

They returned to Zora's Domain

"Find the Goron Champion as soon as you finish your business in Necluda" Mipha said to Link "His name is Daruk, and he lives in Goron City on Death Mountain. I will regroup with the others after that"

Mipha dove into the waters beneath Zora's Domain and swam back to the East Reservoir as Link rode Epona out of the Lanayru Province, and headed south for Necluda.