fifth dream 🌱 wake up

[multidisciplinary]

Sender: Zelda
To: Everyone
Subject: Passive dream recording (and optional log prompt)
Warnings: Some gruesome imagery (mostly in linked image). Final boss Calamity Ganon is kind of nightmare fuel.



It's dark in this dream, the specific sort of dark that one sees when they close their eyes. Zelda is asleep—dreaming, it seems, of being asleep. It's such a deep sleep that her body feels both heavy and weightless at the same time, as though she's floating on her back in a pool of tranquil water.

"Save her, Link. Save the princess..."

"Good luck, little guy! And give my regards to the princess."

Zelda stirs. The darkness lightens just slightly as she tries to open her eyes, but her eyelids feel so heavy that they fall shut again. She's too tired to wake up. She's only just fallen asleep.

"Your job is far from finished, you know. The princess has been waiting an awful long time."

The voices sound muffled and far away, as though she's hearing them from under the water. She tries to lift her head so the water can drain out of her ears. She recognizes these voices—Mipha, Daruk, and Revali, Champions of Hyrule. It's been so long since she's heard their voices. But who are they talking to?

"Both you and the princess... I know you have suffered much regarding what happened to us Champions. But this is how things had to happen. No one need carry the blame. So please, make it clear so she understands that. Tell her to shed any worries. And let her know... I couldn't be more proud of her."

Urbosa. Zelda tries again to lift her head above water, but the weight of her waterlogged hair pulls her back down again. It's too hard to wake up. She's been awake for so long, decades upon decades, struggling all alone. The last of her strength is just about spent. All she wants to do is rest.

"Open your eyes..."

That... that's her voice. Zelda's voice. But how?

"Please, wake up..."

Zelda can hear the exhaustion in her voice, exhaustion that runs bone deep and permeates every part of her body. It's the same exhaustion she feels right now, that she doesn't want to wake up from.

But she has to wake up. She can't sleep now. She has to maintain the seal holding back Calamity Ganon. Just a little bit longer. Every day, every minute she holds the seal is another minute for Link to free the Divine Beasts so they can finally beat the Calamity once and for all.

With excruciating difficulty, Zelda forces her tired eyes open and the darkness of the dream finally gives way.

At first, everything just looks lumpy and indistinguishable, lit with a murky reddish glowing light. Zelda blinks and rubs her eyes to bring them into focus.

A gruesome face stares quietly back at her, rising and falling as it drags in slow, ragged breaths through a mouth with jagged teeth growing out at all different angles. Its two glowing eyes staring vacantly through Zelda, as though the monster is in some kind of daze. A low, rumbling growl comes from somewhere in the monster's throat as Calamity Ganon begins to stir.


[ Optional log option ]

[ Following the dream, Zelda is making a midnight trip to the Observatory. She's looking frazzled and out of sorts, and for once, the Sheikah Slate is conspicuously missing from its usual place on her hip. The dream sits ill in her mind. It didn't feel like a dream at all, nor was it a memory. She can't shake this terrible feeling that something might be wrong with the seal, the prison in which her real body and Calamity Ganon are trapped within. The princess won't be able to rest until she looks for herself. ]

Comments

[luciing]

[ As she stumbles back from the telescope, he's there to catch and support her. With both hands upon her shoulders, he keeps her from falling.

Her reaction is telling, no doubt a confirmation of her fears. He won't ask after the details, instead allowing her to process the vision without interruption. Far be it from him to demand the details, much less have her to recount the horror that it is when she may not be ready to divulge. Besides, it hadn't been too long ago he had entered her knight's nightmare. If the telescope showed anything like it had been in the young knight's dream, then Somnus can imagine the destruction itself.

While different modes of corruption, her Star is also plagued by a blight of darkness. There is no question. She, too, must somehow return to her world to save it, and she must prevent its spread to other realms. ]

Sit.

[ He instructs her, gently, and if she's amenable to it, he will guide her to whatever reading bench is nearby. ]

[multidisciplinary]

[ If not for the coldness of his touch, Zelda probably wouldn't have even noticed that Somnus caught her. She's only vaguely aware of the command to sit, to which she nods her consent vacantly and allows him to guide to a nearby bench.

It takes her a minute to gather herself enough to speak. For awhile, she sits with her hand pressed flat against her sternum, concentrating only on the rise and fall of her chest. Once her breathing is regular again, she turns her attention outward again. The tumultuous vision of Hyrule fills her mind, but she tries to ground herself in the reality of the now—the Dream Observatory, abuzz with activity, and Somnus's steadying presence. ]

It is... as I felt in my dream, I believe. [ The words come out slowly as Zelda parses out what she observed. ] I fear that my seal is about to break.

[luciing]

[ He does not rush her when she sits, allowing her to gather her thoughts. When she speaks, Somnus’ brow lowers.

The greatest of terrors lie sealed beneath Lucis. Even then, their captivity was only meant to be temporary by the king who confined them, for their power was too great. Even if defeated once, they would only spawn from blight yet again— and again, and again, for the Scourge has no limits besides light. Given the chance, daemons will endlessly seep up from the ground, manifesting into their forms to further spread their scourge. Complete eradication will only come when the Chosen dispels the darkness. Yet, as the Night has already consumed his world, he knows the devastation that could come when all protective measures break.

He does not wish something similar to happen to her world. Stuck in this dream, she is powerless to stop it from happening. Either she accepts this helplessness or this galvanizes her to act. ]

Your world cannot afford you to remain asleep any longer.

[ His voice is quiet but firm. Instead of his usual, even and low tone, a thin, taught string of urgency stresses his words, and his expression hardens. What happened in his world… should not happen in others, if it can be prevented. ] We must find a means to wake.

[multidisciplinary]

[ It's rare to hear a detectable emotion in Somnus's voice, the presence of which prompts Zelda to turn to him. It seems his thoughts are along the same line as hers—it's time for this dream to end, no matter how much she wishes for it to continue. Calamity Ganon has grown in strength, just as Link said, and threatens to undo all the hard work and sacrifices she and the Champions gave on that fateful day.

Zelda gives a single nod in agreement. ]

I think that was what I was trying to do in my dream. The me of Link's time, I think she—I—was trying to wake myself.

But how am I to wake from this world? I know of no one who has woken of their own volition.

[luciing]

[ He has no immediate answer for her, as any true answer as to how to wake does not exist. Somnus's hands fold behind his back, and he turns from her, beginning to pace in front of the bench she sits upon. The observatory researchers avoid his short back to and fro, perhaps because they've seen him walk through someone earlier... or the sharpness of his frown acts as its own repellent.

Some seem content to believe that time functions differently between their waking selves and their dream selves-- that one does not impede on the march of the other, or that they never truly left their worlds. Somnus is not so easily appeased. Dreams have many wonders, but he is not so blinded to ignore the ugliness housed within, the nightmares on display every week, as well as the danger it presents to other worlds. This realm threatens the viability of at least two different worlds, now, so long as key players remain trapped within. This realm may compromise the sovereignty of worlds if nightmares bleed from one to the other.

This a vile realm. ]

There are some avenues of interest we might pursue. [ His head lifts as ideas manifest. ]

The baubles themselves hold the power to give visions or summon facsimiles of items from home realms. They may act as a substrate or conduit. There may be a few researchers who would be interested in seeing us return home, who can help. There may be magic yet to be developed that will sever a link between worlds.

[ Does he knows this for a fact? No, but that's not the point. As severe as his tone is, it seems he's attempting to not have her lose hope.

He stops pacing. Somnus faces her. ] There are possibilities, Daughter of Hyrule, and they merit pursuit.... but perhaps not at this time. For now, you must rest.

[multidisciplinary]

Rest?

[ Zelda looks at Somnus with the kind of dumbfounded expression typically reserved for completely outlandish suggestions. Which—for the anxious princess, who has as been worrying her lower lip as she watches Somnus pace—it is. ]

No, I couldn't possibly. This is much too important. There is no time for rest.

[ Anxiety fueled adrenaline is a hell of a drug. She has spent many a sleepless night like this in Hyrule, up alone in her tower working for days on end without break. ]

Perhaps we have simply not yet offered enough baubles for the wishing well to wake someone. I still have a number of them that I have not used.

[luciing]

[ Earlier, he had expected her to despair, given the bleak nature of the vision. Instead she seems invigorated, ready to take action.

…He’s certainly underestimated her resolve. And, perhaps, it is because of that resolve, rather than giving into fear and woe of her situation, that makes an her all the more remarkable. Somnus reconsiders for a moment, then speaks. ]

Perhaps…. [ A call for a pause, a motion of his hand. He can see her mind turning like the wheel of mill. ] Before wasting baubles on the same mechanisms [ The telescope and the wishing well give tried and expected results. ], it is the mechanism itself that utilizes the baubles as catalysts that we must consider.

[ He doubts building something as grand as an observatory is feasible for any two people… but perhaps there is something else they might accomplish between the two of them? Magic…? A spell—

There is one he knows of that shatters the very fabric of reality. ]