Tales From Hyrule-Day 2 Pt. 1

Day 2, Part 1

After a much needed break, I re-ascended the tower to find the old man. He was at the top, waiting for me as if he knew I’d be there right at that moment.

“Are you ready to learn that trick now?” he asked wryly.

I nodded, doing my best to hide my annoyance at his tone. He beamed at me, then pointed to the Sheika slate on my hip. “Take that out and open the scope.”

Confused as to what he was talking about, I drew the tablet from its pouch and poked around to find the scope he was referencing. Suddenly it popped up, and the world around me was magnified intensely. Now that I had found the scope, the stranger instructed me on how to use it. With the magnification of the landscape, I was able to see landmarks across the plateau and beyond. Soon it was clear that I would be able to see the remaining shrines using this tool. As soon as I spotted one, I marked it on my map and bid farewell to the old man. The sooner I could gather the treasure and get off this plateau, the better.

The shrine was located in a strange stone maze. At first, I was eager to attempt this one since it was close to the tower and seemed relatively easy to get to. My eagerness soon evaporated when I came across the monsters in the maze.

Along with skeletal bokoblins, each section of the labyrinth housed huge metal creatures that walked on spindly tentacles. Any time I got near one, it would target me with a red dot and blast laser beams at me. After one such attack, I realized I was completely outmatched and began putting my free climbing skills to the test as I skittered up the stone walls to escape. Sliding my Sheika slate into the door and descending into the temple below was a huge relief.

After the injuries and acrobatics I had gone through to get there, I thought completing the shrine would be nothing. Once again, I was mistaken. I had gained the ability to pause time with this new rune and I thought I had the hang of it once I was able to slip past a rolling boulder without being crushed. But one of its brethren stopped me in my tracks just seconds later. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t seem to figure out how to move the thing out of my way.

Pacing around with mounting frustration, I spotted a large, two handed ax off in the corner. How had I missed that? Shaking off my confusion, I grabbed the ax. If it was here, it had to be useful. The Shekia slate beeped as I reopened the runes tab to see if I had missed something obvious like the ax. Reading the description again, I noticed a sentence I hadn’t take much note of previously: “making good use of the stored energy can move even the largest of objects”.

It took me another moment of puzzling to connect the dots, but once I had, I felt like an idiot. Shaking off my self-deprecation, I got to work. The boulder was frozen in time and I bludgeoned it relentlessly until the spell ran out. I watched in amazement as the obstacle flew out of my way, revealing the path to the end of the shrine.

I listened to the same speech I had heard before, and then the treasure floated towards my chest. The elevator couldn’t rise fast enough as I exited the shrine. One treasure was now under my belt, but I still had three to go before that damnable old man would hand over the key to my freedom.