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The waterfall twinkled in the afternoon sunlight, and so did Link's grin. "Only Zora can swim up waterfalls? Psh."

He's dressed in the Zora armour and Greaves—he has yet to find the headdress. The funny thing is, it was made in his name, for defeating a Lynel all those years ago. With a huff, he walks along the shore before hopping over a few rocks to stand before the huge waterfall.

Gritting his teeth, he dives in head—arms?—first and zipper-swims to the base of the current, then with some odd maneuver kickstarting him three feet in the air, swims up the waterfall at an incredible speed. Of course, that speed is nothing to a Zora, but to a simple Hylian...

Well, he isn't just some Hylian, Sidon. A voice in my head says. He conquered Vah Ruta, and defeated Ganon with only his two hands and the Master Sword. In fact, he didn't even have the Blade of Evil's Bane when he killed Waterblight.

"Come join me!" He yells from the top of the waterfall, then appears to cough? I can't see from here. Wordlessly and effortlessly I dash up the vertical stream, and with a flip for flourish I land on the blue tile.

"Aaaaannnnddd... 3 seconds." Link taps a black bracelet device on his wrist, making a thoughtful face. "You beat me by 15 seconds."

"That's understandable," I say, but the look in his face says otherwise. Maybe that's a bad quality to you — always having to go above and beyond — but to me, it's admirable.

Or the person bearing it is admirable, the voice in my head leers.

Shut up, I call back.

Well it's truuue.

"Well, I have all day. You think I'd die if I jumped?" His tone is nonchalant, even when talking about death. I guess that's the life of a warrior.

"Link, you weigh like two pounds."

He sighs. "Yeah, I guess you're right." With a backflip, he falls a good 70 feet before unfurling his paraglider at the last moment. How that alone didn't kill him, I don't know. I follow, but I don't have to jump, simply skidding down the waterfall, a flying blur of red.

When I step out of the unreasonably shallow waterfall basin, Link shushes me before I speak.

"Wh—''

"Shhhhhh! I'm trying to listen!"

"To what?" I find myself whispering, if only because it's funny.

"To the dumb monk. He's in my brain again, dammit," suddenly his eyes light up with childish, innocent joy. "Really?" He vibrates, practically. "My own Divine Beast?!"

He turns to me, face hardening to look more serious. "Explain?" I ask.

"The Monk said that if I do a thing, awaken some inner power or some jibjab, I get my own Divine Beast. This shouldn't take long, like, a day."

And with that, he was gone, the blue embers of the teleportation rune drifting off in the afternoon wind.

I look up at Vah Ruta, its huge stature dwarfing me in size. I sigh. These monks have me running around like a rat in a maze, but at least this time it's for something better than... than I don't even know. The last time they contacted me through telepathy, it was to unlock the full power of the Master Sword... but it looks the same and acts the same, too.

If anything, it's only heavier.

I hear a loud mechanical groan and Ruta's platform slowly glides down to me. It never did that before, on its own. It attacked Ganon independently, but even then, Mipha's... Mipha's spirit was controlling it.

Now, the monk began, you will be deprived of all senses, save for touch and sound. You will have to navigate by memory, activating two additional terminals. You may think this isn't real, but it is, I warn you. Die here, you'll be resurfaced from the illusory realm, deprived of all your senses.

Good luck.

"What the fu—''

I'm cut off by a horrible feeling, a squeezing, grinding, feeling, and all the air is knocked out of me. All I see is blackness, infinite darkness, and the freshwater smell is gone, too. My mouth feels dry, and yes, my power of speech is gone too.

Not like that's a biggie.

I remember the layout of this place pretty well — unlike the other three Divine Beasts, I had been here many times in my childhood, spending time with Mipha every free moment. I walk slowly forward until I feel something wet on my foot. Water.

From here, it gets difficult. How to activate different runes when I can't see the screen? I tap a few places, relying on the different pitch and tone of the buttons and my memory, to pull out a bomb. Crap, how do I aim?

One hour. The monk warns. Until what, I don't want to know.

I chuck the bomb, hearing a deafening screech. I wonder if my hearing is enhanced much. With a poof noise, the malice disappears.

Or it's supposed to, at least.

With the whole blind thing I don't know.

I step slowly forward, probably looking like an idiot, arms outstretched before me. My fingers brush cold stone, and I walk past the wall more surely. I can do this, even without sight. I walk directly into a waist-height stone. Keep my arms lower, so I don't do that again.

First pedestal.

Fifty minutes.

Fuck.

I briskly turn around, a panic alarm in my brain going off. I panic differently than others — it puts my fight instinct in overdrive, and I get a rush of determination. For me, determination is the nectar of the Goddess.

With a heavy breath, I turn and jog away from the first terminal, all the pieces of Vah Ruta falling in place. I can... I can't see, but I have a holographic image of Ruta in my mind, and I know where I am.

Two terminals down.

Here's where it gets difficult — I have to swim, and time things. Timing things without sight, I don't know if I can do.

Twenty minutes.

What? I open my mouth to speak to the monk, but nothing comes out. Right, mute.

It can't have taken me a full twenty minutes. Not twenty. I've been here so many times, I can't believe simply having my sight gone slowed me down this much. With a grit of my teeth, I listen closely for the grinding noise of the water paddle thing, and hop on when I think it's safe, almost missing.

I stand, and the third terminal clicks and chirps, alerting me of its location.

Funny, it mov—

With a silent groan, I feel a bone-jarring whack to my kidney, sending me flying off the platform. This wasn't the agreement! I stand, listening for the mechanical whirrs of my attacker, but I hear nothing.

Two minutes.

Another whack, one that I'm prepared for a bit. I grab the weapon and swing it around, and my opponent shrieks. It sounds like Waterblight Ganon did, three lifetimes ago.

Fifty-nine seconds and counting.

I jump up, somehow dodging another blow, and practice the same maneuver. Waterblight, I think it is, shrieks again and smacks me on the chest, and I topple to the floor, feeling lightheaded and out of breath. A singing pain suddenly exploded in my chest and stomach, making me keel over.

Three, two, one...

Trial failed.

It's been a day, and I'm not worried. Link is always overly cocky when it comes to mission durations. I was initially heading to my room, but I saw the familiar blue tunic and messy blond hair from afar.

I jog over, a smile on my face, a congratulations and applause ready. Link never gives up on anything, much less a quest from the monks. He looks up at me, wet tear lines on his cheeks visible in the moonlight.

There's something very wrong. Link hasn't cried once in all my memories. Ever. Not when he broke various bones at once from a Lynel, not when his own father died, not when he recalled Mipha, staring at her statue that day. Never.

"Link? What happened?"

He opens his mouth as if to speak, but all that comes out os a strangled breath and a shaky sob. He motions to his eyes and makes an x with his fingers, and repeats the same gesture with his mouth and nose. Tapping his left ear, he makes an almost x, as if to signify he's almost deaf.

Making an odd gesture with his hand, he realizes I don't speak sign language. How a blind person can use sign language, I wonder. I guess it's sort of built into him like an instinct. Handing me the sheikah slate, he raises his hands with a huff and starts signing.

"The monks made me blind," the slate hums in a mechanical voice, and I blink as I wonder how it does that. I was pointing it at Link but how the machine interpreted sign so well left me dumbfounded. "They... they told me to go into Ruta, and took away my sight. I had to unlock all the terminals without it, but... but I died, or I ran out of time, or, or, some fucked up shit happened, and now I'm here, useless and practically dead. This is worse than death — I can't hear or see, smell or speak at all. Fuck."

The way his face got angry at the end made me think he would've yelled, but the slate said everything in a monotone and expressionless voice.

"You can't see?"

"Of course not, you idiot, or else I wouldn't be sitting here crying, looking like a stupid child." He would've yelled that too. "Help me get back to the castle, please. Just click on the teleportation icon and tap 'Saas Ko'sah shrine'."

He blinked angrily at the ground, beautiful, sightless eyes dripping tears. I do as told and hand him the slate.

"Goodbye" he mouths before trailing off in a cloud of blue.