#v ; crown me the king of errors [post calamity]

[desertforged]

@topaz-adorned liked for a post-calamity starter

He'd always liked the Faron region, the warm breeze, bright greens, and rain - even the thunderstorm had always been welcome to a young man raised in the harsh desert. He'd longed for the familiar comfort of the rainforest and its ruins, the rivers and towering trees. One hundred years trapped in a prison with the Calamity wearing his body and soul down, with only a Princess who would never understand his pain, he yearned for the respite of what had always been his favorite getaway.

For the first time since he woke in that ruined castle, exhausted and weak, Ganon felt life finding its way back to him as he walked barefoot off the road, following a creek deep into the ruins of an ancient tribe. Scarred skin took in the gentle rain that fell as he approached what, at first, seemed like just another stone dragon's head among the ruins. With the sun already set, it was hard to tell the difference between stone and scale, right up until he was mere feet away.

He tilted his head, approaching the head - he could feel breath, hear a heartbeat, and he reached out hesitantly, lightly resting his hand against the dragon's nose. Ganon let his gaze take in the dragon's features. "You remind me of someone I once knew..."

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@puxrlunae [continued from]

It was a miracle he came out of it alive when the Princess and her Knight finally ended the Calamity's rage and Ta'ariq found himself free. All those years trapped in the castle, engulfed in centuries of anger, hatred, and worse, and he was finally free of it with Zelda's final seal on the Calamity.

His only thought once he was out of that castle was to find his husband. He traveled Hyrule, tracing back paths they'd taken together, searching, asking, begging for some hint of where Amaron would have gone.

Of course, he'd find him at the beginning - those ruins where they'd first spoken of the cycle and how Ta'ariq wanted to break it.

As Amaron ran to him, Ta'ariq held his arms out, catching the man he loved, the sudden weight knocking him back til they fell into the sand. He brought his hands to his husband's face as he laid on his back, tears gathering in tired eyes. "Amaron, ne t'sorra - I've found you. I've looked all over for you."

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open ;;

It seemed an easy place to settle out of sight, just to the northeast of the Gerudo Highlands - close enough to the desert that he could occasionally climb up the mountains to check on things there, yet far enough from the Labyrinth he'd been raised in. Few seemed to make the trip out to Satori Mountain and he'd had little reason not to make a home at the mountain's base, near Rutile Lake.

He could hunt there. Up the mountain, a naturally growing garden provided vegetables. Occasionally, even, he spotted those strange blue creatures that seemed to make a home up near the summit, able to scare them with an arrow to have them drop rupees he would then collect.

He was tracking one now, hoping to get a few more rupees so the next time he went to the Outskirt Stable, he could afford Beedle's wares. Arrow nocked and held loosely, Ganon lightly stepped through the woods, listening for movement.

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starter for @unblemisheddesertflower

He had thought, for certain, that refuge amongst the Gerudo would be impossible for him - especially after the last one hundred years, after the Calamity, and the death of the Gerudo Champion. If there had been any truth at all in what his late mothers had told him, the Gerudo would sooner destroy him than allow another Ganondorf into their tribe.

And yet.

The young Chief had allowed him in. He wasn't quite sure why - he had been dead on his feet exhausted by the time he knelt before her, and he hadn't dared ask her to repeat herself. He'd expected imprisonment, yet received a guest room. He'd expected punishment, but none had come (yet).

Ganon, for the last several days, said little to anyone, straying from his room only for meals. Still recovering from the last century, he appeared numb, distant, and nothing like the brash, headstrong youth he'd once been. He found himself wondering if that part of him would ever return.

Those were the kind of thoughts running through Ganon's mind as he slipped out of his room in the middle of the night, wandering to the throne room to look out upon the sleeping town. As he entered, he saw the young Chief seated on her throne.

"Can you not sleep, either, cousin Chief?"

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ooc ; for interested mutuals, like this post for a post-calamity starter because I wanna play with that verse a bit. As usual, multis and sideblogs, please reply with which blog/muse to direct the starter to.

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@lunarisdeus sent: ❛ There’s still good in you, I can see it. ❜

"You must be looking quite deeply to see that."

Ganon's words were soft. An automatic response to deflect and protect himself. Good? In the one who carried the Triforce of Power? In the one who'd destroyed Hyrule and tormented the spirits of the Champions sent to stop him? Even if he had once had good in him, it had been smothered by the Calamity that had possessed him for a hundred years.

"If there is any good in me, it's only a small ember - the last remaining spark of it. No one else would be able to see it, perhaps, except you."

[desertforged]

Although he still refuses to go far into the desert, Ganon has found himself back in the Canyon. Making use of old scaffolding and excavation sites from decades ago, when the Shiekah worked with locals and Hylians to dig out the Divine Beast Vah Nabooris, Ganon had made a small camp along the ridges. And while he occasionally drew the attention of monsters, he had drawn the attention of a small desert cat -

- a very young, very hungry desert cat; a kitten, really. Ganon had spent hours gaining the little thing's trust, offering food, water, and shade of the tent he'd set up. Night was falling before the kitten finally settled against his chest, sated with seared meat, purring away as he gently stroked her rusty red and brown-striped fur.

"You will be needing a name, ki'tavi. So affectionate now that you're fed." Gsnon kept his voice soft so as not to wake the kitten. "I will give you a good name. As soon as I think of one."

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"Somehow, I don't think a simple 'sorry for the Calamity, I was possessed' is going to be enough for Hyrule."

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CALAMITY'S DEFEAT ; BOTW and beyond

100 years ago, the Champions faced Ganon, as controlled by his mothers' black magic and the corrupt Triforce of Power. His malice spread to all the Sheikah Tech as he raged from his mothers' betrayal, unleashing the corruption that began destroying Hyrule.

Able to use the malice the spread through Hyrule as a pathway, Ganon aimed his wrath at Hyrule Castle, where his mothers had told him kings over centuries had oppressed his people, withholding resources from the desert dwelling Gerudo, leaving them to survive as only a small clan now.

Seeing through the malice, Ganon was able to see each Champion fall, one by one, until only Link and the Princess remained. He witnessed Link's fall and the part of him that was still himself felt the loss. The one person who could stop him, gone. He went into a full blind rage after that.

It was only when the Princess came to face him, her power unlocked, that he realized there was still a chance. He attacked and was caught in the light and time magic Zelda ensnared him in.

For the next one hundred years, he and Zelda were locked in a strange limbo that connected them and let them talk. Ganon"s rage slowly subsided, but he could not stop the Calamity, as it was now out of his control. Zelda assured him that Link would return to free her and, in doing so, free him.

The final battle occurred and with Zelda's final Seal of the Calamity, Ganon was freed. He woke on the floor of the destroyed throne room of Castle Hyrule, exhausted and weakened, but himself once more.

Zelda and Link returned to the castle, as Zelda predicted that was where Ganon would be, but he'd disappeared by the time they arrived. He could not stay there - sensing more than just the corruption he'd left behind.

Ganon has been on the move for the last five years, avoiding both the castle and the desert. He keeps away from larger settlements and uses his middle name, Ta'ariq, when he stays anywhere.

When the Upheaval happens, he senses the same thing he'd felt at the castle - a much older hatred than the Calamity he wrought.

[desertforged]

"I miss the sun and the heat of the desert, but I am certain the Gerudo would never forgive me."

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@query-bot asked: Where do you see yourself in five years?

"If I am lucky, perhaps I will have my own place to live, away from the past that still yet haunts me. Some place quiet, where I am left to live my days as I choose - uninfluenced by my mothers' old teachings, allowed to be who and what I wish to be. I would have a small home, somewhere in the Faron region, surrounded by lush greens and warm rains."

"And perhaps, in time, I might find someone to share that with."

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The walls seemed higher as he crossed the threshold into the Labyrinth he'd once called home - strange that he was no longer the little boy who'd run its halls and counted each step, memorized each turn and pathway, and yet the Labyrinth was still so formidable in its height. A hundred years ago, he'd finally left its cage and now, Ganon, returned to it, tired and resigned to spending the rest of his days amongst the ancient carvings and daunting turns.

If it would keep him from allowing that presence beneath the ruins of Hyrule Castle to claim him, so be it.

He would not be used again.

[desertforged]

"As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?"

He drops the scroll from his hands and lets it fall unfurling to the table, standing up and leaving the small shop that sold stories and tales. It hit a little too close to home - though the Calamity was gone from him, he had still been that monster, that ravenous boar that had destroyed Hyrule. His name was still spat out with vitriol, whispered with fear.

It didn't matter what he wanted - just as before the Calamity. He had been born to this fate. Chained to it by mothers who sought vengeance for transgressions in past lives.

To so many, all Ganon would ever be was that rage and hatred filled beast.

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@topaz-adorned sent: “ i don’t know what the future holds. all i know is that i hope you’re in it. “

"No one ever knows what the future holds - only possibilities of what could be." Ta'ariq reached for Bussaba's hand, tangling their fingers together and bringing them up to his lips, dropping a light kiss against her knuckles. "In every future I've imagined since I was freed from the Calamity, I have known that I would be in your future. That is everything I have ever wanted for us."

Even when they were young, sneaking away to spend time hunting, exploring, falling in love, he always wanted to be in her future.

"You know I love you with everything I have, right, Chabah?"

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@lunarisdeus sent: ❛ You shouldn’t be out here by yourself. ❜ 

"And why not?" Ganon peeked an eye open to look up at the Deity as he laid in the field of grass. He was tired of hiding away, like some scared child - he'd been in hiding too long. "Afraid some Hylian with a magic sword is going to find me and take me away from you, si'vahi?"

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@flamboycnt asked: he dared followed the gerudo as the calamity was sealed away - a relief for ghirahim , and truly he means no harm towards the other as he's sure to follow close by and until they're safely away from the castle to show himself . " what do you mean to do now ? please , do not worry about my presence or curiosity . i simply want to know . . . how do you plan to handle this defeat ? " if it could even be considered that . - for post-calamity :]

Ganon said nothing as he moved , walking as quickly as he could for how exhausted and wounded as he was. Lingering malice seeped into wounds, burning, cauterizing, healing in its own strange way. Ganon pulled the tattered remains of his robe around his body, hiding the malice as he crested the hill on the south eastern side of Hyrule Castle. Only when he reached the top did he acknowledge Ghirahim's presence and questions.

"What do I mean to do?" he repeated, reaching up to tear the skull mask from his face, grimacing as it ripped a sizable bit of skin from his cheek, which more malice moved to cover. "I have no plan - the Calamity was what I was created to unleash. I have done that duty and it nearly destroyed me. My only choice is to get as far from that damn castle as possible, return to the desert, and regain my strength. We will discuss handling this once I've healed."