#hwcw

The same nightmare raced through his head yet again. A nightmare echoing with hammers, screams, and blasts. It always ended the same way, with someone screaming “Wake up!”

Beth Unico jolted awake. He looked at his right arm, and for some reason, he was surprised. He clenched and unclenched his fist, observing how the tendons interacted with each other. He shook off the dazed feeling.

He packed up his camp and looked towards Hyrule Castle. Even from the distance where he was standing, he could make out the fog of Malice surrounding the castle. He knew that spending too much time there put his health at risk, and that wasn’t even considering the Guardians.

Beth Unico headed towards the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, reviewing his plan in his head. He couldn’t let the Guardian Skywatchers or Turrets see him, as they would alert the entire castle to his position. Likewise, he couldn’t let any Stalkers see him, as it would be futile to try to run from them. He finished going through the plan in his head, loaded his weapon, and then set off at a brisk pace towards the castle.

As he sprinted through the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, multiple Guardian Stalkers patrolled the area. Ducking behind a collapsed statue, he was able to dodge their deathly gaze. After the clicking of metal talons left, he continued his dangerous path towards the castle.

Hyrule Castle was surrounded by water, making it impossible for most to enter without a paraglider. The only real entrances were the docks, which had since been rendered unusable, and the main entrance, which was guarded by Guardian Skywatchers. To an inexperienced Hylian, this would make entry impossible. However, Beth Unico had been training himself for years.

As he approached the ancient drawbridge, he drew his weapon. Built himself, it was a Guardian eye at the end of a cylinder, which was attached to a source of Ancient Energy, the energy source of all Sheikah technology. It was capable of firing a beam similar to a Guardian’s, but this particular weapon was made to stun them and wipe Beth from their memory as if he were never there.

As he sprinted onto the wood and steel of the drawbridge, a Guardian Skywatcher deviated from its patrolling route and turned towards him. Its head descended from the rest of its body, hanging from a rotating beam. The spiraling blue eye in the center of its face locked on to his running figure, and prepared to fire at him.

Without hesitation, Beth aimed and fired his weapon at the drone, hitting it square in its cylindrical face. Sparks flew, and the Skywatcher’s propellers deactivated. It fell for a moment before reactivating and continuing its route, the perpetrator erased from his memory. Beth Unico was already gone.

He pulled up along the base of a cliffside, which, according to the plans of the castle, was a blind spot to the Guardians. He drew out a clear canister of Ancient Energy and replaced the emptied one.

Beth Unico continued along the cobblestone path at a run, firing his weapon when needed. He ran into a stone entrance and, going through the architectural plan in his head, turned left.

He traveled through the castle’s halls, guided by his memory and the dim torches scattered about. Occasionally, he would hear the squeak of a Lizalfos or the grunt of a Moblin, causing him to pause, but he stayed true to his path, and sure enough, he came to a wooden door at the end of a passage.

He pulled his weapon and blasted the lock, which clattered to the floor. He broke through the door and immediately stepped into the gaze of a Guardian Skywatcher. Fortunately, he was quick on the draw, quickly disabled it, and ran across the short bridge.

As he busted open the door, a shelf collapsed from the impact, and the room was engulfed in dust. Beth blinked, rubbed the dust from his eyes, and stared at the contraptions littering the floor.

Upon the decaying carpet lay many devices, some of whose purpose could not be discerned purely from their appearance. However, he would have time to figure out the mysterious contraptions when he was out of the castle and back at Unico Manor.

He quickly, but delicately, placed the machinations into his satchel, did a cursory once-over of the ruinous room, and fled.

Upon a cliffside above the room, three Yiga Clan assassins perched, their red uniforms blending in with the sickly trees. They had seen Beth Unico enter Hyrule Castle, and despite Lord Ganon’s persistence that the castle was off-limits, they figured this was important enough. One of them drew their weapon, a wicked sickle, but another held them back. “No. We’ll continue to follow him.” They resheathed their weapons and teleported away in a burst of smoke and small red tags.

Beth Unico was retracing his steps throughout the castle, but he was careless this time around. He took his time, distracted by the contraptions in his bag. As he sprinted down the stone path to the entrance, he made the fatal error of not disabling one of the Guardian Turrets. As he disappeared from its gaze, the Turret did not have enough time to fire off a beam, but instead, it sent out a signal to the rest of the castle that there was an intruder.

Beth Unico sprinted down the path and rounded a corner.

An entire battalion’s worth of Guardian Stalkers were waiting for him. He estimated that there were about 20 advancing towards him, their long metal legs pulling their heavy bodies towards him.

He fired his weapon three times, trying desperately to fight back, but he needed to reload. He pulled back around the corner, trying for some shelter, and behind him, a force similar in size advanced. He pulled out a larger canister of Ancient Energy and fired off as many shots as he could. However, no matter how many times he shot, the Guardians continued advancing. As a desperate last attempt, he pulled out his shield, cornered. As the Guardians charged up their attack, he braced himself.

The first three beams tore through his shield, and the rest hit his arm. He didn’t feel anything at first, and then the pain reached him.

He knew he should run, but he couldn’t think. He could see the Guardians surrounding him, their purple glows blurring together, and then he heard a deep laugh, and he fell into blackness.

Next->

When Marilyn awoke, there was a steaming plate of food waiting for her. She sadly ate it and considered her options.

I’ve already tried casting Stasis and Recall on the door, that didn’t work. I could try climbing out through the vents… No, they’re too small. What can I do…

After finishing her food, she went over to the desk and rummaged through the drawers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fruitful, other than some pieces of drawing paper, but it did have some pretty rocks in it.

Wait a minute. That’s amber. Why does amber seem important to me?

Oh! Xauren crushed a piece of amber before using his magic!

She grabbed the amber and walked over to a small plant she had in her room. She crushed it, ignoring the pain as it shattered into sharp pebbles, and then reached out and pushed on the plant with her magic.

Her time magic put it into Stasis temporarily, but other than that, nothing happened.

Marilyn frowned, then got another piece of amber and tried again. This time, she threw it at the stone base of the plant.

The amber shattered on the pot, and there was a flash of energy. Marilyn went to jump into the plant, but she just ran into the wall and fell. When she got back up, rubbing her head, the plant was larger, which seemed to be something, but a larger plant wouldn’t help her.

She started to rummage through the drawers again, looking for more amber, when there was another flash. She startled, and then was thrilled to see Xauren.

“Hylia above! This is where you’ve been! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Xauren, you need to get me out of here! You were right. Beth Unico is not who he seems. He trapped me in here and sealed the door. Come on, let’s go.”

Xauren hesitated.

“What? Is there an issue?”

“Listen, if I get you out of here, the Duke will come after me. I can’t risk that.”

“Wait, what are you saying?”

“I’m sorry, Marilyn.”

With that, there was another flash of energy, and Xauren was gone.

“What? No! Don’t leave me!”

She ran over to the overgrown plant and tried to jump into it after him. She only knocked it over, and she started to scream again. She tore up the plant, threw the branches all over her prison, and then collapsed into a puddle of helplessness.

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As Marilyn stared at the massive machine, the rings started to activate. She wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but certain gems on the rings that she hadn’t noticed before were lighting up, casting a dim golden light around the giant cavern.

The rings began to turn.

She looked around the cavern, but she couldn’t see any reason as to why this was happening. The rings started to orbit around the center, accelerating quickly, and the gemstone in the center started to glow, gradually getting brighter.

As the massive rings started to blur together from their speed, the wind blowing off of it was strong enough to make Marilyn struggle to keep her footing.

I-I need to stop this somehow! I need to do something!

She concentrated on the outermost ring as best she could and tried to cast Stasis.

As she had practiced, spectral chains stretched towards the metal ring. However, the moment the chains connected, they were immediately disrupted, warping and distorting. The spectral remnants of the chains were then pulled into the core, which continued to glow brighter and brighter.

The gemstone in the core started to make a strange high-pitched humming noise, which just got louder and louder. Marilyn pressed her hands to her ears, which did nothing to dampen the noise, as it penetrated everything. She felt a tugging around her neck, and she realized with horror that her Charge Stone was being pulled towards the whirlwind.

She tried to cast Stasis again, but the same thing happened. She shot off spells again and again, trying to stop the machine, but it just made the pull around her neck stronger.

The gemstone in the center seemed to expand, and spectral runes started to float around it. It continued to get brighter and brighter, and the humming became louder and louder, and the pull around her neck became stronger and stronger…

Suddenly, the rings halted. Marilyn dropped to the ground, and the core collapsed back to its regular size, with a horrible noise that she couldn’t begin to describe, other than it sounding like something terrible dying.

As the ringing in her ears faded, she looked around dazedly.

Someone was standing right behind her.

She jolted upright and whipped around, remembered the dagger in her hand, and went for a slice right at their neck.

She was stopped mid-strike by the dagger halting midair. She tried to follow through, but a blue glow surrounded it, and it was completely stuck in place. She looked back at the perpetrator, and their arm was slightly raised with a blue glow around their hand. She also noticed a blue gem glowing in his upper arm.

It was Beth Unico, but she couldn’t see his face. His entire body was covered in Bethylium armor, and it wasn’t the same armor she had seen him wearing around the manor. This armor was fully covered with weapons, and it made him significantly taller. His helmet had no discernible emotion on it, to the point where she wondered how he could see through it.

The dagger was suddenly ripped from her hand and shot to Beth Unico’s. He gripped it, and it disintegrated into blue energy.

“Beth, I can explain—”

He spoke in a voice that was completely unfamiliar to her.

“I told you to stay out of my lab.”

His arm shot out at her, and she felt a sudden burst of energy throughout her entire body. As she looked at her hands, they glowed blue, and she screamed as she was ripped apart into blue energy.

She reformed in her room, and she collapsed, shaking.

The man she knew as Beth Unico materialized in front of her from a collection of blue strands of energy and stepped out of her room.

“Be glad I took mercy on you.”

He slammed the door shut, and Marilyn scrambled to her feet to grab the handle. However, by the time she got up, the edges of the door glowed blue, and where there was once a door, there was now a wall.

She screamed and banged on the stone wall, over and over again, before sinking to the carpeted floor.

She was trapped, with nothing but the Charge Stone hanging around her neck.

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Finally, Unico Manor was restored. It now had a full defense system, with UnicoBots surrounding the perimeter. Furthermore, it had Beth Unico defending it.

On the top turret, a platform extended, and Beth Unico stepped out onto it. He was wearing his Mark IV armor, which completely covered his body, leaving him practically impervious to damage. He extended the wings from his back and jumped.

The wings automatically adjusted to catch his fall, and then he was soaring.

He looked over the grounds at the defense systems that he designed. The UnicoBots were corruption-proof, and they would follow only his orders. It was the most perfect defense system in Hyrule.

He alighted upon a clifftop, and his helmet unfolded. He surveyed the area and nodded to himself in satisfaction.

Just then, the ground shook, and he lost his footing for a moment. He fell, but caught himself and flew back up to the cliff.

He couldn’t make out the details clearly, but there seemed to be a giant glowing monster in the middle of Hyrule Field. He re-equipped his helmet, which allowed him to focus on the action.

There appeared to be a young man riding a horse around it, and it kept on shooting at particular points on the beast. The beast itself was a colossal boar, and its flesh was made of a viscous purple and red substance, which Beth Unico recognized as Malice. Just as he realized this, the young man rode a paraglider up to its head and shot it with an arrow of pure light.

There was a flash that blinded Beth Unico for a few moments, but when the spots in his vision cleared, the beast was gone.

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