"So what do I do? Just say you're released? On behalf of the Sheikah, I release you from your vow of silence!" She makes jazz hands.

The tree lets out a sigh.

"Yes, that suffices. Well, where do I start..."

"Was I right about everything?"

"The Sheikah did not admit malice towards the King and Princess when they spoke to me, but I cannot attest to their true motivations. That they intended to rob Hyrule of its power to end the threat of Calamity Ganon forever, it is true. The reason they failed—is beyond my knowledge.

"I could feel the drain of their web of creations through Hyrule when they activated, even though the four here had not yet migrated their way into my forest then. Then, one day—I cannot tell if it was weeks, or months, or years—they stopped. Not entirely, but turned down to a trickle.

"One hundred years ago, your people activated that ancient web again. You did not know what you were doing, but I kept my silence, out of my vow, and believing that the truth would out eventually to inquisitive minds. Only..."

"...Calamity Ganon came too soon, and all of our research was cut short."

"...If there are four that are still at this moment present in this forest then they aren't beasts, they're something else."

"I believe they are smaller forms of the things you call the Divine Beasts. Though the energy they draw from the world may be turned to different ends, I suspect."

"Do you mean the shrines?"

"What are shrines?"

"Those things."

He points through a gap in the tree roots. There's a small, misshapen Sheikah-looking building just visible through it, now glowing faintly blue. Cam might remember seeing some around in his travel, but they're not particularly attention-grabbing when orange in the day. He might have mistaken some of them for Guardians.

"Do they have other purposes besides shlorping magic out of the world?"

"They give me power to improve my vitality and stamina."

"So... shlorping magic out of the world and into - you personally, or does this work for anybody?"

"They have messages addressed to the hero supposed to defeat Calamity Ganon."

"The legends say they're for the chosen wielder of the sword that seals the darkness, who opposes Calamity Ganon alongside the princess! The notes from the Divine Beasts do mention them, though it wasn't too clear out of context that they're a similar thing to the Beasts. I can sort of see it now!

"Don't know how we would tell if it would work for anyone else, though. They don't open for other people. I tried! Managed to hack the doors to open, even, but the elevator didn't respond to me."

"And you didn't hack through the elevator to climb the shaft?"

"Oh, haha, sorry! That's some silly newfangled slang I was using. I didn't physically cut through the doors! Starsinter is nearly indestructible. I used my modified Sheikah Slate to override the control system and make the doors open! But the elevator turns out to have some sort of spiritual-physical interlock that must depend on the presence of the chosen hero."

"Oh. Who... chose... the hero."

"The sword that seals the darkness... I assume. Mr Deku Tree, any input here?"

"Yes and no. The sword that seals the darkness only responds to the Goddess' chosen, but it merely recognizes. For who chooses...

"Link, and Zelda, them both, are very old souls. It is told that they were favoured children of Hylia in a long-gone time, and have since incarnated and reincarnated again and again through the ages to protect the world from evil.

...Is this conjurable.

Is he conjuring for all Links and Zeldas that have ever existed, or is he doing time interval(s)?

Both!

Well, hopefully the scale models he conjured are small. All of them ever gets him three to four hundred results, more Links that Zeldas in that number, if he can tell that. They're mostly Hylian, but some aren't? Some of them resemble animals or the other humanoid species he's seen in Hyrule, others are entirely morphologically novel to him.

If he tries to pair and date them, there are nineteen sets scattered through the last 160,000 years, at irregular intervals. Zelda always comes with a Link but Link doesn't always come with a Zelda. After the nineteenth, which is just Link, there seems to be a dead zone for about 490,000 years, and then they start showing up again. This pattern seems to repeat: active periods and inactive periods of significantly varying length and density. The earliest active period is 8 sets spanning 20,000 years, a few million years ago.

...He may or may not notice that time ranges gets him around 15% fewer Links and Zeldas than "all of them ever".

"WOW there have been a lot of you what the fuck."