After leaving the gates, Terrance started running down the path towards Hyrule Castle as fast as fast as he could. As rabid Zelda fan as he was, he didn't remember any mention of Purah exploring the ruins of Hyrule castle much less getting ambushed while doing so in any cannon lore. However, given that he, someone not originally a part of the timeline now been shoved into the balance, there was a chance that things would go wrong and Purah could get hurt or worse.
Looking around with his magic sense, Terrance couldn't see any monster or people around, so he started to activate his Gate of Blade Works. He had spent sometime in the evenings training some of his new abilites, trying to get a better grasp on what powers he had at his disposal.
[Trace On] said Terrance, as he spoke, he felt a warm yet also cool energy pass through his body, as it did, he focused it on the channels leading to his lungs and down to his legs. Once he felt enough of it saturate those areas, he said "[Reinforce]."
As he did, he felt a significant change occur within his lungs and legs, he felt like his breathing which would usually become more labored after this much running, become more normal, as though he was only moving at a light jog, and his legs felt lighter, more powerful, with a small push, he was launched forward.
Sage, how long can I keep this up? and how long will it take for me to arrive at the castle? Thought Terrance.
[Answer: at Host's level of proficiency, Host can only maintain this state for 30 minutes before needing to take 10 minutes to regenerate energy: (Mystery) and stamina. More recovery time will likely be required if Host engages in conflict with a group of monsters.
With Host's current speed and the total distance calculated by cross referencing the map with collected data, the time needed to reach the Host's destination is 1.5 days]
1.5 days, is that with rests included or if I run continually? Thought Terrance.
[Answer: it is with one 3-hour rest accounted for. Due to adaptations Host's body has undergone from incorporating the blessings and powers granted by the three Golden Goddesses, Host requires a significantly reduced amount of rest to maintain functionality compared to a normal person.]
Good to know... Thought Terrance as he continued to empower his lungs and legs while running.
Thanks to the range of his Magic Sense, Terrance was able to avoid most of the monster camps, only having to stop on occasion to rest and catch his breath. Slowly, he started to correct his use of [Reinforce] asking Great Sage to help monitor his output and tell him where he was wasting or not using enough power. While he could likely have Great Sage do all the balancing for him, he wanted to learn to do it himself. These powers were cheats, plain and simple, but he felt that he had to put work in to master them himself or he might develop the habit of being lazy and relying Great Sage to do everything for him.
As he got closer to the castle, Terrance started to hug the edges of forests and ruined buildings, he could frequently heard the whirring and alarms of Guardians nearby. Soon, it was dark, and undead started to pull themselves out of the ground, Terrance paid them little mind as he ran, sometimes kicking the skulls in of whatever skeleton rose up in his way. The ones that approached him as he was resting became targets as he practiced the ability to launch things from his reality marble/gate at high speeds he had learned when taking down the guardian he had faced previously.
After resting, Terrance quietly scaled the rocky clif around the castle, then the walls on top of them. Once her reached the top, he carefully peaked his head over the side to look around. Not seeing any Guardians or monsters, he hopped over the half wall and started to sneak around.
Walking around the ramparts Terrance came across the remains of both soldiers and monsters that had been taken out by the Guardians. Evidently Guardians attacked anything that they came across, not caring if they were technically on the same side or not. The soldiers's remains had rusted and rotted equipment, most of which wasn't welorth taking even as scrap. There were a few interesting finds though as he found a Soldier's halberd and claymore among the remains, he also found his first boomerang from a dead lizalfos. It was the two pronged variant.
Strangely unlike most monsters, these ones had left physical corpses after their death, which unsettled Terrance. Every time she saw one he shot it with his bow to make sure it wouldn't raise up as a zombie or something.
Slowly he continued towards the Castle, weary of Guardians and ducking for cover as he heard them approach, as he approached the main grounds of the castle, he came across a few turrets, which fortunately were simple enough to avoid if he was careful as they moved in a predicable pattern making it easy to avoid their scope of view, which thanks to Magic Sense, he was able to visualize.
Soon he was inside the castle. Looking around he carefully creeped around looking for Purah. As he explored he found the remains of Yiga members and a few Sheikah warriors. He placed the warriors into his gate, he would take any momentos to their families before cremating them and stashing the ashes where any possible corruption would be unable to affect anyone.
Tracing the trails left behind, Terrance followed an overlooked corridor, hidden by a cabinet that had been pushed in front of it. The corridor obviously designed for servants to allow them to perform their duties while being unseen by the nobility. There was a thick layer of dust only disturbed fairly recently, leaving a clear trail to follow.
Going down the hall, Terrance passed many doors, all locked, and continued following the trail. Finally stopping at the door at the end of the hallway.
Walking over to it he leaned over and held an ear to the door, he could sense a humanoid life sign in there, but since he wasnt sure who it was, his minimal hasn't assigned any danger level to them yet.
Focusing he pushed his magic out and focused on pushing it through the door, so he could sense what was ont he other side.
It took a bit but soon, he was able to pick out the shape of a woman, sitting with her legs held close to her chest, arms wrapped around them and her head resting on her knees.
Carefully he knocked. This was going to scare her but that was unavoidable. "Ms. Purah, are you in there?"
He could sense as he head snapped up fully alert.
"Fuck off, you Yiga traitorous scum. Go suck off Gannon with the rest of your lackeys." He heard her say.
"Ms. Purah I was sent by Lady Impa to find you." He said.
"Oh yeah? Like I'd fall for that. You didn't even say the safeword." Said Purah.
"The what?" Asked Terrance.
"The safeword, the one used to prove you are not some Yiga member trying to pretend one of us." Said Purah. "If you were sent by my sister, you should have known we do that and said it first."
"I would not know, I am not part of the clan, I was just recently accepted into the village and was sent to try and find you. The rest of the warriors are occupied with a Bokoblin horde nearing the village but your situation was time sensitive so I was sent out to scout. Please open the door."
"No not until I am sure your not going to drag me off to some Yiga hideout and be forced to work for you. If I so much as see that door move I will blast you with my hand cannon."
From what he could see, purah absolutely did not have anything of the sort on her and amwas bluffing her ass off to try and get him to back down.
"Ms. Purah, please. Your sister is desperate to know if you are safe. I could see the worry in her eyes when she asked me to come here. I cannot leave you here, not when I know you are alive. Please, if I were a member of the Yiga, wouldn't I have just cut the door down at this point?"
"No you sadistic freaks would revel in tricking me into opening it myself just to be ambushed as soon as I open the door." She said.
"Well then I apologize." Terrance said before he lined his foot up with the latch of the door and kicked heel first into it.
The rotting wood gave way under his kick and the door slammed open to show Purah, her face half frozen in shock, looking up at him from where she was sitting on the ground. Looking at her, he immediately noticed something was wrong, her left foot was covered in bandages and a makeshift splint, she clearly hadn't been able to move much due the the injury.
"Ms. Purah, you are injured. How did this happen? I didn't see any signs of a fight in the hall back that way." Asked Terrance.
Purah tensed, but after Hmhe didn't make any move to attack her she relaxed slightly even as her hand lowered to rest in a dagger on her waist. " I tried to exit through the door behind me, but was you can see... There was a ton of rubble there, and some of the damned rocks fell and crushed my foot."
Terrance tried to be as unthreatening as possible as he slowly walked over to Purah to take a look. Her foot was definitely broken, she had done a good job to prevent any further damage to the appendage, but with how limited her supplies were and her lack of companions to help her it was clear why she hadn't been able to move much less escape the castle in the time since her team was ambushed.
"I swear upon the name of the Goddess Hylia and the Three Golden Goddess that I will take you to your sister." Said Terrance.
"Golden Goddesses? Who are they?" Asked Purah, slightly confused.
"What do you mean, who are they? The three original goddesses of Hyrule? Din, Nayru and Farore? The once who created the land plants and people?" Asked Terrance, his confusion. Of all the people of Hyrule, the Hylian Royal family, and by proxy the Sheikah should know about the golden Goddesses. The fact that Purah shows no signs of recognition was worrying.
"I'm sorry but I have no idea who you are talking about, if this is some kind of cult thing, I apologize but I am not interested." Said Purah.
Terrance frowned, "No, it's fine I just thought people of the Sheikah tribe would know about them, after all they were often the record keepers of Hyrule's history including creation mythos."
"Ah, maybe some do, but I mainly focus on the technology aspect of our history. Mythology... You would have better luck with someone else maybe my sister would know someone.." said Purah, now confused.
"Anyways, I swear that I mean you no harm, please allow me to assist you in escaping this castle." Said Terrance.
With a sigh, Purah held out a hand for Terrance to take to help her up. "It seems like I have no choice. I was about to run out of rations anyway and with this injury it's not like I could have fought back."
Taking her hand, Terrance helped her up and supported her as he helped her limp along the hallway, looking for anything he could use to cobble together a crutch.
It took a while to reach the door he had entered the hallway through. Sitting Purah down, he went out to check for monsters. While his minimap didn't show any signs of life/unlife on the other side, it wasn't like he could say so without sounding crazy.
Unfortunately the path Terrance had taken to reach Purah had been long and winding with many stairs along the way. With her condition it was unlikely she would be able to make it that far without a monster noticing them. Fighting while trying to protect her would be a difficult task as she wouldn't be able to flee or dodge stray attacks.
Moving slowly, they crept down the corridors, trying to find a safe room closer to the exit Purah could wait in until Terrance has scouted/cleared the path. Luckily, they came across materials that allowed them to make a crutch for Purah to use. After a while they found a broom closet, the cleaning supplies dusty and dried out, but spacious enough for the two of them to sit and rest.
After sitting for a few minutes to calm his nerves, Terrance left Purah to secure a safe route for Purah out of the castle, preferably one without much open space to be spotted by Guardians.
-to be continued.