[01] || [A Hilda Between Worlds] || [Open]

[lorule]

Characters: Princess Hilda and you.
Setting: Dormitories, Art Gallery, Library, the Meadow and the Observatory.
Format: Prose or action, I will follow.
Summary: Hilda wakes up in the tower, promptly chooses to deny that her world is dead and goes off to explore. The prompts include the princess (unsuccessfully) trying to get a terminal to work and encountering a shadow child, amongst other happy things.
Warning: Nothing; will edit if something comes up. The post obviously contains spoilers for A Link Between Worlds.


• Dormitory Floor 1 / Room 1-03
Room 1-03: 'Your world has been destroyed. I saved you. Let's all be happy here.'

Hilda read over and over again the letter she'd found upon sitting up. Moments ago she had been standing in the Sacred Realm. The next thing she remembered, she was waking up paralyzed in this forsaken place. This of course was more than enough to unsettle her, but this was nothing compared to the story this letter was telling her. Lorule, destroyed? Impossible. Yes, the demise of her kingdom had been set in stone long before her birth and she had herself let go of the only hope her kingdom had. Ultimately, the destruction of her world was something she knew was meant to happen.

But not so soon. With her waking up in this strange place, something was obviously wrong-- Maybe her kingdom was even more endangered than before, but destroyed? She couldn't believe it, she refused to. Fighting the nagging feeling that there may be some ounce of truth to the letter's content, she crushed the letter in her hand and got up from the bed in an instant.

Her eyes then settled to the trunk at the end of her bed. She knelt next to it and opened it, looking for its content. Her dismantled staff, clothes and nothing of much use. She grabbed the pieces of the staff and worked on putting them back together as she looked around, giving a look to the other beds in the room. Were there other peoples living here? She would find out soon enough, she figured.

Dormitory Floor 1: Now equipped with her staff, a purple and golden stick mounted with an inverted tetrahedron Triforce, Hilda left her room. Her priority was to find out more about this place; more than she had so far. This place was even more strange than she had expected. The very texture of the walls was nothing like the constructions in Lorule.

Slowly she walked through the corridor, looking from times to times at the various doors and the names written next to them. She frowned, what little she saw was unfamiliar to her. Odds were that she wouldn't find anything familiar here. Yet she decided to try and open some of the doors on her way-- Only to find them locked and frustratingly letting go of the handle. But hey, this may just have been the door to your room.


• Art Gallery (Floor 22)
The numerous figures and events depicted on these walls meant little to her-- This place would probably have been a paradise for Yuga. A particular set of painting caught her attention, however. A series of paintings depicting the history of Hyrule from the distant past. She looked at the paintings with interest; albeit their content was nothing new to her. While she had never seen these paintings before, Yuga had told her all of Hylian history, or at least all about what he had been able to learn.

Another set of painting soon caught her attention. The paintings on the opposite wall depicted a seemingly similar story, but this one had a noticeably less positive outcome. Her expression darkened upon seeing them. She set her staff against the wall and raised a hand, to touch the middle painting. Why did they have these here? Yet it was the only depicting of Lorule she had found in the entire tower. So she remained there, staring at the painting for a long while.


• Terminals (Library - Floor 03)
Now this was intriguing. Not the books, no. The books were nothing new. She had plenty of them back home, and while she would be more than happy to read some of these, something else caught her attention. Namely, that weird thing embedded into the wall that had started displaying things right as she had passed by. She had seen these things in the dormitory floor as well. Surely they held some significance, but in what way?

The best way to determinate that was to try and interact with the strange device, she figured. The thought of using the keyboard didn't cross her mind for even a second though, and she pointed at the terminal with her staff-- Obviously this object was magical in nature, maybe casting magic over it would reveal its secrets?

If the fumes elevating from the terminal as a result were anything to go by, this experiment didn't go well.


• Meadow (Floor 25)
After the sad spectacle the tower had offered to her up until now, the sight of the meadow came as a shock. Not only hadn't she expected to see such a place within this horrid tower, but she had never seen such a place at all before. Lorule was a world shrouded in darkness that prevented the simplest of flowers from existing. A land covered with dark clouds that forbade the light of the sun to ever reach it.

She walked in and looked around, having a hard time hiding her amazement at what she was seeing. So this was what a normal world looked like? She couldn't figure how or why this place existed within the tower, but at the moment it didn't matter. Of all the things she had seen in the tower, this one was of nature to appease her. She slowly kept moving in, kneeling down at times to look at flower-- She would probably stay here for a long while.


• Shadow Children (Observatory - Floor 45)
After quite a while spent exploring the tower, she decided to take a rest at the observatory, looking through the glass to see if she could perceive anything through the thick fog. Obviously she couldn't, but the sight was somewhat similar to that of Lorule. Empty and without hope. In fact, much of the tower reminded her of her Kingdom; the monsters roaming around, the feeling of oppression, the destruction. And one more thing was about to remind her of her lost Kingdom:

"Why did you survive?"

She turned as soon as she heard the familiar voice, there was no mistaking who it was and yet— This couldn't be.

"Ravi-?"

But upon seeing where the voice came from, she backed down in disgust. A black creature, pale imitation of a human being with only its white teeth as distinct feature. This creature certainly not who she thought it had been, and the words he further uttered only confirmed this to her. She scowled at the being and tightened her grip on her staff.

"Why do you use this voice?!"

She brandished her staff to cast a spell on the creature, to trap him in a barrier and leave him here-- But the spell failed. And even though she decided to leave rather than face the creature one more second; it followed her of course.

Comments

[athousandcurses]

A sharp, pained expression crossed Grainne's face briefly. She really should talk to them to find out more about this place, but Hilda's words reverberated painfully after her last encounter with Diarmuid in more ways than one. She chose to address Hilda's question instead of commenting on things that were too painful to face. It seemed like the easiest thing to focus on, even when it did involve her death.

"They call us Heroic Spirits... people who have died and then were chosen to sit on the Throne of Heroes. Not all of us are true heroes, because I have never done anything worthy of being called to it. We wait until we are summoned by magi to fight and serve them in a repeating war for an item of great power that's supposed to grant a wish. I was summoned by mistake to fight in the last one."

[lorule]

The fact that she was dead did not really surprise her, as sad as it was. To be a spirit, you had to be born one or become one, and few were the ways to become a spirit. However, the 'repeating war for an item of great power that's supposed to grant a wish' story sounded awfully familiar to Hilda. This was identical to the story of the Triforce— Down to heroes fighting to protect it, even if in her world the heroes in questions were alive.

Hilda did not insist when she saw her pained expression. She knew better than to press on painful topics, and instead focused on her status as "hero." This felt somewhat ironical, meeting someone who could be a hero when she could no longer ask help for Lorule. She had known two heroes; one fitted the archetype of the hero, whereas the other had been heroic in his own special ways. She looked at the flowers a little bit before replying.

"Before waking up in this forsaken place, I had a hero to my side. Undoubtedly he was the one born with the Spirit of the Hero, but he never thought of himself as one. And because of my own folly, he believed himself a coward." she paused before continuing "Yet in the end, he saved me. Not from some ferocious beast or wicked wizard, but from the darkness that lurks within my own heart."

"Heroic spirits manifest in a variety of ways. I have just met you, but I wouldn't be so quick to say you are not a true hero. True heroes rarely see themselves as such and history scarcely pay them the tribute they deserve."

[athousandcurses]

Even for the short time they were talking, Grainne started to feel a rapport with this woman. Hilda's hero seemed very nostalgic to her, and she sighed softly.

"He sounds like a good man, your hero. Saving someone is the highest of heroic acts, even if it is from themselves." She spoke softly, then shook her head. "But I cannot be called a hero because I've only ever committed selfish acts in life. I'm afraid history only remembers me for that. I ruined a man once because of... my own darkness. He had been a true hero. I should say he still is, since he is here now..."

The flowers are forgotten entirely as she continued her last thought."I think that is the hardest part in being here. Seeing the people you never thought you'd see again."

[lorule]

"He was greater than he thought. Or that I thought. But now that I am here... I regret that nobody ever told him such words. Not even I." She said and pondered on Grainne's word. She had a hard time imagining why anyone would be summoned as a heroic spirit unless they were one, even if she had not the beginning of an idea as to what the rules were in Grainne's world.

"If he is here and is still a hero, then does it not mean he was not ruined?" This sounded logical enough, however that would be all she'd say on this. She decided against insisting. If she had been the one confessing her mistakes, she knew how infuriated she would feel at people showering her with sympathy.

"Is it really? It may be hard, but—" she paused "I think the prospect of never seeing them again is perhaps even worse..."

To have and face Princess Zelda, even one from another world, had certainly not been easy. And she wasn't looking forward to the day when she'd found out Hilda was the one who had plotted to get the Triforce, even if this had been with good intentions. But she'd take that any day over the possibility of never seeing certain people again.

[athousandcurses]

A hand reached out to take Hilda's, clasping it firmly if she allowed it. "You may get a chance yet. I heard that there may be a way to return home, but... I am not informed on what such matters mean. If you get the chance, tell your hero everything, and do not spare him even the painful things. It may bring you closer... and you may be able to change your fate."

Grainne let go then, falling into a sad silence for a long time. She had brought about Diarmuid's ruin, that much is certain, but she blamed Fionn as much as she blamed herself. Would things have turned out differently if she had married Fionn? Would he have let her go if she tried to divorce him then? Snorting, Grainne dismissed the what-ifs and maudlin thoughts, shaking her head. "He had died because of me."

[lorule]

Hilda got surprised when Grainne took her hand, but returned a somewhat sad smile at her words. Change her fate... Unless she found in the tower something comparable to the Triforce, there was little to no chance for her fate to be changed. Without the golden power, Lorule was condemned to fade into nothingness and no one could do anything about it. Yet she remained silent regarding this. The thought that she could see her hero and her land once again was a comforting one, at the very least. Few people so far had mentioned this was even a possibility, even though she had never ceased to believe it.

"If there is a way for us to go back where we belong... Then I shall do anything in my power to see it accomplished. Not only to see him again, but for my people as well." Which meant very little if she was on her own to do that, but surely she could find help. Maybe she could even ask Grainne herself... That and she mentioned earlier a fight against those in charge.

But her thoughts were cut short as Grainne mentioned her hero had died because of her. Hilda couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of guilt she'd have felt if Ravio, or even Link, had died by her fault. She was about to utter a 'I'm sorry' but chose to look down instead. Such words would mean nothing and probably serve only to make her feel guilt even further.

In spite of appearances, Hilda wasn't quite the greatest at reassuring people.

[athousandcurses]

A handful of flowers appeared by Hilda's side. "That's all anyone could ask of you. I wish you all the luck to help you see through to your goals. If you are willing to do anything for your people, it is a lesson I wish many leaders in my first life had learned before sorrow struck our land." Grainne smiles, holding up the flower braid for Hilda to copy if she wanted. The pain is an old and familiar one, and Grainne had long become familiar with it. There was no need for comfort. At least, not yet.

"If there is someone I know you can trust to learn more about this Tower from, it is him. I can't approach him myself, but maybe you could."

[lorule]

Hilda smiled and looked at the flowers, before taking them and trying to do a garland of her own. "This is nothing to be praised. The duty of a princess to her people is both a sacred and natural one."

She continued working on the braid a moment, silently. Even though she really wanted to find a way to go back to her world or save it from its destruction-- She had no clue where to even begin. Maybe asking him as she suggested would help, but even then she didn't want to depend entirely on those who fought before. Finally, she looked up at Grainne.

"Lady Grainne, would I be to find a way to attain these goals, may I count on your assistance?" She asked this on a solemn tone and took a pause before continuing. "I alone will not be capable to accomplish anything, and I have no intent to rely solely on the heroes who have fought so far." Not out of mistrust, but if what Grainne had said was true, they had shortened this lifespan of the tower and with what little she knew, this didn't sound like that of a great thing. "I know you would not count yourself amongst heroes, but surely it was fate that we would meet here today."

[athousandcurses]

Despite being born a princess, Grainne can't honestly say she ever felt the same way, though she tried to be a dutiful daughter. She had been one of ten daughters born to Cormac and far down on the list of his heirs, behind her brothers and most of her sisters. Sometimes she had gotten lost in the shuffle until she came of age to marry, and then... well, maybe what had happened was why she reacted so strongly against Fionn that fateful day.

"I am... genuinely sorry, Lady Hilda, but I-- I'm afraid I would only be a disappointment as a fighter. My skills are specific to the war I was summoned for, and even there I failed." She honestly seemed distressed. "The last thing I remember of the world I came from, my body was dissolving around me, unable to even protect my Master. I don't know how I can be of use here, aside from making armor or... more mundane things that I did in life."

[lorule]

Hilda moved to take Grainne's hands in her owns the moment her words appeared to distress her. She shook her head and smiled slightly.

"You may not see how, but I believe you could be of great help. My own past is riddled with mistakes and failures I would rather forget. I even gave in to despair once. Yet I cannot stand watching and doing nothing while my people may be suffering. I will fight, and this even if I am alone."

She looked down for an instant, before looking back up at her.

"I have learnt that fighting involves more than just holding weapons or using magic. Please, let me be judge of whether or not you are worthy of the title that was cast upon you."

[athousandcurses]

As much as she wants to protest, Grainne found it hard to argue with Hilda, even stilled from doing so by her hands. It would mean facing her weaknesses again, possibly being a burden to Hilda, but how could she say no when Hilda admitted to such things herself, and yet still continued on for the sake of her people and all of the others counting on her? Diarmuid... would not say no.

"All right... I will fight with you, Lady Hilda. Not for myself, but because of your passion for your people. I will try to be worthy of your faith in me."

[lorule]

Hilda probably would not have insisted further -at least for today- if Grainne had protested. She direly needed help and the urgency she felt due to her being new didn't help, but she knew better than to push her luck too far. She was smiled and nodded however when Grainne agreed.

"Thank you." her words were spoken with sincerity and she looked back at the flowers "I cannot promise anything I will attempt will be fruitful, but I do hope this will help you find confidence in your skills."

Even if their worlds were possibly radically different, there had to be a reason why she had been chosen as a hero. Ravio didn't display heroic qualities people expected from him, but he revealed himself to be heroic all the same, in a different way.

[athousandcurses]

"I suppose as long as we don't give up... something should come of it." Grainne wasn't as sure of her words as she appeared on the surface, it was something someone said to her once. "What will you do now?"

[lorule]

What will she do now? That was a good question, one she didn't forcefully have the answer to. All she knew was that she would do whatever was in her power to save her people, and to do this first she needed to know more about this tower.

"I'm going to keep looking for information. I need full knowledge of this place before attempting anything." she said "I may ask the man you told me to approach earlier. If he is so knowledgeable about this place, what he has to say may be precious."

[athousandcurses]

"I have several names." Grainne shifted on her knees, settling more comfortably into the grass and stretched out her legs. It gave her some time to think before she had to give the names, another sad look passing across her features.

"The first one, the man I told you about is called Diarmuid Ua Duibhne. You can trust his word, if anyone's. The second is Waver Velvet, although... he goes by Lord El-melloi II now. The third is one that was given to me by Assassin, whose name is Enoch. I do not know him or how good his word is, but he has apparently been here for a very long time and knows more than most."

[lorule]

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, Lord El-melloi II and Enoch. She repeated these names to herself in a murmur— She would make certain not to forget them. Meeting them would not be easy, but they all lived in the same place. Surely their path would cross, sooner or later.

"These names will be of a precious help to me." She said and tried to finish a crown of flowers-- The result was, probably interesting for those interesting in strange shapes, if only a bit sad. Her skills still... Left much to be desired, to say the least. She frowned and left the failed garland fall to the ground. "As soon as I will have the information I need, I shall contact you."

[athousandcurses]

"I will await, Lady Hilda." Grainne spoke quietly, picking up the garland and fitting the flowers into a more round shape. "I wish you luck in your endeavors."

[lorule]

"Thank you. I wish you all the same." She smiled a bit as she saw her pick up the Garland, and then turned away "Fare well."

And with that said, Hilda would walk away for a little while; before tapping her staff on the ground and disappearing altogether. Disappearing too fast for her to have simply walked out of the floor. But if Grainne could sense such things, it was obviously magic.