Some parts of the land of Hyrule are rather peaceful.
It's pleasantly cool out. There is a wide open grassy field, cliffs on two sides, a patch of woods on the third, and an honestly intimidating view of high cliffs in the distance off to the right.
There's a campfire here, still burning, though no sign of whoever was using it.
All in all, not necessarily a bad place to get banished to.
Naomi knew that mission would be a bad idea. It was in Chicago. You didn't in your right mind go there, ever, because you would end up fighting thousands of insect spirits for something and you would die, covered in bugs. If you were lucky they would drain your will to live before they ate you.
Not that that shaman made them go through that. Instead it just called the magic of a swarm so big it blotted out the sun and banished her to ... somewhere. Hm.
She notices that her deck is off. She turns it on. Probably she just landed in some rich person's beautiful manicured garden arcology. She'll be able to map the sprinkler systems to the water main to find out where it ends and then she'll find her way back to Boston. Somehow.
The closest electronic device... Is not. There are no detectable interfaces within her Deck's range.
.... everything is running silent? Did she land in a high-security arcology? She better not have landed in a high-security arcology, that would be so annoying.
She does a matrix perception for hidden tech within a hundred meters.
Not within a hundred meters.
The wind and the rustling of grass die down long enough for her to faintly hear music from the direction of that little hill with the lonely tree.
... she is now pretty sure that she has no clue where she is. There are no -- untouched spaces -- on Earth, not anymore. Maybe she's hallucinating.
She walks towards the music.
It's a bit of a walk, a few hundred meters. A couple of relevant details come into view as she approaches.
There is an active volcano visible in the far distance. Surely that's some kind of AR? The person making music on an accordion-thing - no Persona - is shaped a lot like a bird. And that glowing pedestal is probably the best candidate for an access point of some kind she's seen so far.
He pauses his playing and singing. "Hello, traveller. What brings you out here?"
"We are on the Rabia Plain, out in the north of the Necluda region, of the land of Hyrule. You're lucky if you're lost- I've traveled farther than most and might be able to point the way."
Naomi recognizes precisely zero of those places. "Are there lands other than Hyrule?"
"Hyrule is a very large region... To the east is the Great Sea. In the far north, past the wastelands, the Kalvit, the tree-lands. West of Hyrule are tribal lands. The deep south is not well explored." He names some countries. None particularly familiar.
...Something descends below the layer of clouds, above the high cliffs behind them.
A great blue dragon. Its head must be the size of a car, or bigger.
'Not well explored', huh. Did she somehow land somewhere preindustrial --
She notices the dragon and panics, turning on the camouflage function on her suit and immediately dropping to the ground.
"I- Traveler?" The bird-person glances around. "Ah, interesting. If you wish to hide from Naydra's gaze I will not stop you, but I do not think you are in any danger."
Naomi doesn't say anything. Instead she periodically looks back up at the sky, waiting for the dragon to be gone.
Naydra is still there, undulating leisurely across the sky. At this pace it'll be a while.
The bird-person sighs a bit, then resumes playing his music.
"Do you know what Naydra's doing up there -- more generally do you know what area she's claimed or what she wants --"
"I don't know why she is flying here. Usually she stays... More eastward. Naydra lives at the spring of wisdom, at the peak of Mount Lanayru, and tests the merit of any who approach. If they are worthy, they may receive holy power and a holy duty. I actually know a song about it, if you want to hear it?"
" On mountain high above the land,
Dragon Naydra sleeps in wisdom's hand.
If you wish to bathe in knowledge and grace,
Ascend the peak and seek her test.
The knight, the scholar, the lord all fail,
Wisdom is greater than your mortal aims.
Naydra's sages guard the springs of power,
T'will serve Hyrule in our darkest hour. "
"...That's one verse of it, at any rate."
The birdman looks pleased and gives a little bow. "Thank you. I'm glad to know that I'm improving as a bard. I hope to live up to my teacher's skill some day."
"Do you happen to have a map of the other regions?"
Naomi is not going anywhere fucking near Mount Lanayru; for all she knows the dragon made that story specifically to tempt her to go there with -- precog powers, or something -- although she's probably screwed either way if the dragon's already paying that much attention to her.
"I don't have a map, alas. I have little need for one, as I can fly. But Mount Lanayru is to the east of here, Zora's Domain is to the north, directly south is hard mountainous terrain - I do not recommend that route - and Kakariko Village is a few miles to the west of here."
"Which is closer, Zora's Domain or Kakariko Village?" Naomi keeps a wary eye on the dragon. "Are there signs?"
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