Offspring

Chapter 12: Cerebration

"I am so happy......to see that this day...has finally arrived..."

Link suddenly felt lightheaded. He had encountered many strange, supernatural phenomena during his journey so far, but this one was still a lot to process. He was unable to identify his feelings on the voice he was hearing...the voice of his deceased wife. Here she was, communicating with him from beyond, after a hundred years of silence and deprivation! But...at the same time...her gentle and loving voice, distant and abstract as it was, served as a reminder for the awful things that had occurred to put them in their current position. She was present, but...she also wasn't, and because of that distinction...it just didn't feel the same.

He took deep, gasping breaths to try and ease his airy focus. "M...Mipha?"

"Now...Ruta can be freed...of Ganon's control.........and our family...can finally live in peace..."

He was getting chills just listening to her. Since the last time he had seen her during the onset of the Great Calamity, the only record he had had of her voice was in his fragmented memories. Her live voice, however...was exactly as he had remembered it. And hearing it after so long...it just seemed to set his senses on fire.

"Mipha, I...you have no idea..." He stuttered stupidly. "...I just wish I could tell you..."

"In case you've forgotten...about Ruta..." Her ghostly words seemed to cut him off completely. "...you'll need a map...to prevent you from getting lost..."

He sighed sadly. She didn't seem to be responsive to his advances. With the current circumstances, there was only one sensible reason for that, and it was that she couldn't hear him. It must've taken a lot of her energy to speak with him as it was, being that the vessel through which her soul was attached was still under Calamity Ganon's possession. Therefore, she could most likely sense his presence, but they couldn't communicate both ways. He brought himself to accept that fact.

Despite her physical absence, Mipha's coaxing made Link ever more determined to carry out his destined task and press on within the Divine Beast. It was a necessary venture, for the sake of Mipha, his family, the Zoras, and all of Hyrule. With her by his side, as it had been in the glory days, he would be able to take on the hardship with unparalleled persistence. Ganon didn't stand a chance.

He didn't think he'd require a map, though. After all, he believed stubbornly in his memories, and in them, he had a somewhat decent image of Vah Ruta's layout. After swiftly laying waste to the eye of malice that had been blocking the entrance, he stopped at the top of the ramp and surveyed the first floor of the titanic machine, and sure enough, it looked exactly as he had pictured it from a hundred years prior. Ganon's malice had corrupted many parts of the poor structure, its presence indicated by the thick blobs of pinkish slime plaguing areas of the ground, walls, and ceiling. Some of the larger masses contained additional eyes at their epicenters.

It wasn't until he took a few steps in the direction of the arch at the opposite end of the room that he realized he had no idea what he was doing. He noticed the guidance stone sitting behind the vertical bars to his left, on the far side of the water pool, but beyond that, his knowledge of the Beast's inner workings was completely nonexistent. Without said knowledge, he'd stand no chance of dealing with Ganon's crippling veil over the device.

There was one mind out there with perfect knowledge of Vah Ruta, however, and that was Mipha. With the weakened essence of Mipha's soul looming around him, perhaps she'd be able to help him accomplish his goal. He could only hope that she knew the answers to his predicaments. After all, one could only get so far with a puzzle-solving mind like his.