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It started with the second ever hero, the hero of sky. He defeated the horrible god demise, the one who killed the hero’s predecessor and made the surface uninhabitable. Once his influence left the land, the Hylian people, under the protection of the goddess Hylia, moved back to the surface, leaving a portion of their brethren behind in the clouds. What everyone did not expect, however, was how drastically everything would change in the sky.
At first the two places kept in contact with each other via the Dominion Rod and the Ancient Sky Book.
The only reason the Hylians were able to live among the clouds in the first place was Hylia’s influence. So, once her temple and the majority of her people migrated to the ground below, she turned her attention solely to them; neglecting those remaining in the sky. Soon, the conditions among the clouds turned harsh and relentless. Those remaining still held onto their old homes, nonetheless, holding their pride above their general safety and wellbeing.
The weather turned cold, the air became thin as the divine goddess’ protection slowly wore off the former safe haven. Many died in the first few years, yet those remaining were more proud and even more stubborn than the initial stragglers. The sad truth of the matter was that the sacred realm had recently been sealed and Hyrule Kingdom was recently established so Hylia completely forgot about the people still remaining in the sky in the excitement.
As Hyrule grew so did the distance between the two peoples. Communication became rare as the sky people struggled to survive, but hope was not yet lost. The sky people noticed that some inhabitants were better suited for the climate than others, and thus the study of genetics was born; as well as the people forsaking the goddesses in this pursuit. The field quickly grew and not only were the genes of the surviving sky-hylians studied, but the scientists decided to take a look at the remaining loftwings and the other animals still living on the sky islands. After a few more years of research a shocking discovery was made, they could transfer, or rather give themselves, different genes that these other animals possessed.
They made the mistake of taking too much DNA from the lofwings. The experiments lasted ages and while effective, the results were not considered pleasant to look at. They looked like giant chickens with human heads. While the development was not pretty it was an effective means to combat the nasty weather and so they changed their name to the oocca.
As they played with the hands of fate the people below struggled in a great war, the Hyrule Unification War. They were oblivious to their counterpart’s struggles, too heavily engrossed in their own pursuits of science. All previous communication was lost but the now oocca did not care. They still were oblivious when the timeline spilt as the going ons of the lower world was of little concern to them. However, in one timeline, that of the adult era, they were accidently wiped out by the goddess when she called on the sacred rain.
In the child timeline they became too afraid to traverse the lands below in their current state and as such their civilization began to crumble. The once proud people’s spirits had been broken and after some time they faded away.
In the fallen timeline the oocca did not give up and sought to better their appearance. They borrowed traits from other animals and soon changed themselves into the Zonai. These people had fur all over their bodies to conserve heat; long, flat ears to better their hearing capabilities; and long, animalistic faces with snouts. They looked more Hylian than before but they were far above the Goddess’ people in evolutionary terms.
As this new goddess-lacking civilization, they thrived. They soon expanded their scientific repertoire, adding technology after they had seemingly perfected the study of Genetics. Yet they lacked the proper materials to truly progress anywhere, so they used what little they had built and traveled to the surface.
At the surface they started digging, soon running into a peculiar race, small mole-men called the Mogma. They were living deep within the ground, a vast cavern expanding under the entirety of Hyrule. There were only a few of these people, still the traveling Zonai made a deal with them. Thus, the Mogma led the Zonai around, helping them to build their excavation sites and refineries in exchange for simple statues to remember the Mogma people by. They were dying out, unused to the more moderate temperatures underneath central Hyrule after the Gorons effectively kicked them out of the Elden mountains. The Zonai honored their promise, constructing statues of their friends, leading anyone who wished to the sites.
Now with the proper materials, the Zonai built robots to help with everyday life and even recreated more floating islands, all in secret of course. They made gliders in the shape of the loftwings as the divine birds had all but disappeared. Yet despite all the success surrounding this booming, hidden civilization, they wanted more. They traveled back to the surface, this time asking the Gorons to help them build another mine and in exchange, the Gorons would gain another city to house their people. The Gorons happily agreed and soon got to work.
As time went on, the people continued to evolve until one Zonai scientist found an immense power. She had recently been studying the Hylains and found out about magic. So, she did what any scientist would do, she researched more, and performed numerous experiments, soon by combining Zonai technology and Hylian magic, she essentially invented superpowers. She shared her discovery enthusiastically and received much attention. The top Geneticists worked with her to instill these into their race as a whole, and thus what would later become known as sage abilities were born.
The Zonai don’t show themselves on the surface during Ganon’s first revial (Link to the Past) and they only went to talk to the Zora about more mines after Legend’s first journey. . The deals were accepted again. Unfortunately, soon after the mines were finished the Zora became crazy, and general chaos descended on Hyrule.
The Zonai did their best to stay out of the surface dwellers’ drama but something unthinkable happened.
The three timelines merged. It was a big and grandiose show that really confused the Zonai in particular. Why did history change? Why did the zonai on the surface or in the mines that day believe this sudden change? Where did this new bird race come from too? So, they visited the Rito in order to sort that mess out but ended up building more mines instead.
Yet soon after those were finished, Hyrule collapsed due to the new monsters and chaos that the merging timelines brought. Then and only then did Hylia take notice of the people she had forsaken in the sky. She became furious at them, demanding that they should have used their powers or technology to help their brethren. They responded lazily, saying that they were not responsible for the protection of the surface dwellers and that if she really cared she would have done something herself. This infuriated the goddess.In return of their “treachery” she sent a horrible disease to the Zonai.
This disease killed everyone except for the messengers of the goddess, who turned themselves into dragons, and those who actually cared about the remaining Hylians. Rauru was one of the few who cared as his current girlfriend was a Hylian, more importantly she was the only remaining member of the royal family. Sonia was directly blessed by Hylia as a result of her survival, this awoke powers within herself.
Together Rauru and Sonia rebuilt the Kingdom of Hyrule. Practically a millennium later, a silent hero named Link died in battle and was resurrected a hundred years later.