At last, it was time for ceremonial race. The contestants all jumped off a cliff, whistled for our birds (who catch us in mid-air) and proceeded to fly toward the target bird. That bird will drop a statue and whoever catches it wins the race.
Unfortunately, I had some trouble staying elevated at first. Perhaps stopping for the day after the flying tutorial yesterday wasn’t the best decision. I did eventually get the hang of it, though. I caught up to the bird and caught the statue to win. Seeing how long it took me, it was clear that the race was rigged so that it won’t end until you win. Once I did, Zelda jumped off a platform (the entire city is a floating island above the clouds) and landed on my bird.
We proceeded to a goddess statue for the rest of the ceremony. She took my bird statue and offered it to the goddess, and then played her harp. Zelda then gave me her sailcloth, which will let me fall from such great heights without getting hurt. It’s basically a parachute. She tells me how it works, and then pushes me off the high statue! There’s a whole lot of that in this town. It took me three tries, but I finally landed on the spot I was supposed to land on.
Zelda wanted to celebrate by riding our birds together. Great idea…until a strange tornado came and sent us flying. I was knocked unconscious and Toto Zelda was nowhere to be found. I had a dream of a lanky Smurf who told me I’m important to this world. I woke up in a room with Zelda’s dad. He told me Zelda is still missing.
He leaves the room and then I see that blue creature again, but now I see it’s a ghost. So I follow the lanky, ghostly, moonwalking Smurf through a door, outside, and all over town. A demonic cat tries to give me a scare, but I’m too busy to stop and pet it (or be eaten by it). I’m led to a building which opens up, with a sword inside. She tells me I’m a hero, and that Zelda is alive, and I have to take this sword, blah blah blah.
By this point, I’m really tired of the story setup and I would like to see some actual gameplay. Anyway, I pick up the sword and Zelda’s dad walks in on us. The Smurf spirit, named Fi, explains the situation. She gives me a tablet (it’s not an iPad, it’s generic) and tells me I have to place it in the altar. But I first have to smack a Quake logo with my sword to make the altar appear.
I place the tablet in and the giant goddess statue shoots out a beam of light or something, which opens a path through the clouds into the mysterious place below known as the “surface.” Oooh, scary.
The smurf Fi thing says she’ll be in my sword if I need her. Once she hops into my sword, Zelda’s dad holds my hand and tells me I need to change out of my clothes into a sturdier outfit that will last for my long journey ahead. On that note, an option came up to save my game, so I saved and quit. Will I get to go into a dungeon tomorrow? I sure hope so.
Your stamina meter is measured by what appears to be a lime. Don’t run out of lime juice or you’ll get tired and you’ll have to catch your breath! 😛
A task where you rescue a pet teaches you the controls for things like climbing. It turns out there are bird statues and you have to pray to them to save your game. After performing a few tasks, I met up with 
She told me about an upcoming ceremony and showed me her instrument. It’s a harp. Her dad showed up and it’s revealed that Zelda is jealous of the connection I have with my bird. So she nearly murders me by pushing me off a ledge.
I tried calling for my bird to catch me and save me, but my bird didn’t come. Zelda felt bad for trying to kill me, so she calls her bird instead and saves me. But after we get back on solid ground, she apologizes…but not to me, to her bird!
At any rate, my bird is nowhere to be found, so I have explore the town, asking everyone if they’ve seen my bird. This again feels like a training session, as you are shown things like how to dash into a tree, how to use your map, and eventually, how to use a sword. As is often the case in Zelda games, Nintendo has some truly frightening looking characters.
I get my first taste of combat in a journey through a cave, which leads to me my bird. Reunited at last.
Zelda teaches me the basics of riding my bird, and I practice them. I have to be prepared for a bird race in the upcoming ceremony. After I’ve had enough practice, I save my game. The ceremonial race is coming up, so check back next time!