A/N: Yeah, so um, I wrote this assuming Link goes into the Shadow Temple without going to the Well first... Because I didn't go into the Well until near the end of the temple. I don't remember why, though...
"But I just walked in... How am I already at a dead end?" Link frowned at the wall. It didn't look like anything he'd seen before, especially with that strange-looking face painted on it. He looked behind him. Nope, that pit didn't look to promising. He looked back at the unsettling wall. He reached out, unsure why. Before his arm was completely outstretched, he heard a voice.
The Shadow will yield only to the one with the Eye of Truth, handed down in Kakariko Village.
Link shot his arm back and looked behind him. "Did you hear that?" he asked Navi, his only companion.
"Hear what?"
"That voice..." He trailed off, looking at the wall again. He stepped toward the wall, and without thinking, he stepped through it.
Uh, what? He reached his arm back through the wall. What was this, a doorway? But how?
"Well, now that I know I can do that," Link said to himself. Navi followed behind him silently as he walked around this new room. Some kind of bird statue waited in the center of the room. Link walked onto a circular platform towards it, and just like with the doorway, he heard a voice. Make my beak face the skull of truth. The alternative is decent into the deep darkness. Link stepped back, unsure of what to think of this. He walked all the way around the bird. There were skulls everywhere in the room. Which one was the "skull of truth?"
He investigated each of the five skulls, with Navi watching him, silent as ever. This was how it usually went. He didn't talk, so she didn't talk. Unless he needed help, then Navi would come to his aid before he could even ask. Sometimes Link wondered how she knew when he was in need of assistance before he even did.
The skulls were all the same. Link couldn't determine a difference between them. There had to be a difference though, right?
Link shrugged, and looked at Navi. "Any ideas?"
"No, sorry," She said. Link bit his lip, thinking.
"I guess I'll just choose one at random, then," he said, going back to the statue. It took quite a bit of effort to move, but he got it, making the bird's beak face the second skull from the left.
Well, that was obviously wrong, Link thought as the floor fell out from beneath him.
He sat up, shaking his head. Where was he now? He stood abruptly and looked around. This was the entrance to the temple. How did he get here? Shrugging, he pulled out his hookshot and crossed the pit, walking through the unsettling doorway again.
Link figured he'd figure out what the "skull of truth" thing was about later. He looked around at what else he could do. There was something strange about this room. The walls all had the same strange face. Were they all doorways? Link walked toward one of them, pressing his hand to it. No, this one was just a wall. He walked all the way down the side of the room. They were all just paintings on the walls. No magic doorways so far.
The last face on the wall, though, was another doorway. Link passed through it, Navi close behind.
There was a hallway, a door, and his own echoing footsteps. He felt nervous as he opened the door that led to what looked like a dead end.
As he approached the wall opposite the door, he heard that voice. For some reason, he was expecting it.
One who gains the eye of truth will be able to see what is hidden in the darkness.
"Geez, this eye of truth thing seems kind of important," Link muttered, stepping through the wall hesitantly.
"What?" Navi asked, making Link remember that she couldn't hear.
"Voices," Link said dismissively. "Nothing I can't handle."
Navi said nothing. Link thought nothing of it as he took in his new surroundings. On top of the unpleasant smell that poisoned the air, there were skulls inside slots in the walls, all seeming to stare directly at him.
"Ugh, I hate this place already," Link said, walking around the square-shaped room. He let his fingertips brush against the grimy wall, trying to locate a new doorway. He tried to ignore the voice again, but again and again it whispered, Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred... He stopped, putting his hands to his head. The voice wouldn't go away. It continued to echo, greed and hatred.
"Are you okay?" Navi asked, her voice standing out above the whispers.
"Yeah," Link lied. "I'm fine. Just a headache in the making."
Link waited in hopes of silence, but of course the voice continued to echo around his head as he continued. He passed through another wall, and the message changed. What is hidden in the darkness? They asked. Link continued on as they began to answer themselves. Tricks full of ill will. You can't see the way forward.
He walked on, eventually finding himself in front of a door. The voice silenced as he put his hand on the knob. He had a bad feeling about this, but he had to press on.
The door slammed shut behind him, locking harshly as soon as Link was out of the way. He readied his sword and examined the room from behind his shield. Six long arms waited for him in the center of the room, poking out of the ground like shaky flagpoles.
Link approached one cautiously, keeping his shield between its hand and his face. When he got close enough, it knocked his shield away and grabbed him, holding him there.
He yelped, automatically grabbing the disembodied arm in attempt to get it off him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something coming out of the ground...
"The Dead Hand," Navi whispered.
Great, now I know what it's called, Link thought, struggling as the thing slowly approached him. But how do I escape it?
Using his sword, he attempted to cut the hand off. After a few tries, it backed away, pulling itself into the ground. Link backed away, his eyes locked on the white and bloody creature that approached him. He silently scolded himself as he backed into one of the other arms, once again caught in its grasp.
The Dead Hand, as Navi had called it, continued slowly making its way toward him. He quickened his escape, this time, but the Dead Hand was now less than an arm's length away from Link. It bent over to look at Link, and Link edged away from it.
It opened its mouth, but not before Link attacked in an almost desperate fashion. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but something about the thing just creeped him out.
After Link slashed at it a few times, it backed away and back into the ground. Link backed the other way, his eyes wide.
"What's wrong?" Navi asked, at Link's side as always.
Link frowned. Did Navi see nothing wrong with that monster?
"Well," he started, watching the ground in case the Dead Hand rose again. He hadn't felt this way in any other temple so far, so it was difficult to explain. "I guess it's just a lot of fear. I've never seen anything like that thing before, and now I'm locked in this room until I defeat it." His eyes widened slightly when he saw the hands he earlier cut rising back out of the ground. "It seems impossible."
"Nothing's impossible," Navi reminded him.
"I know."
Link stepped forward again, wondering how he could get the monster out of the ground without being touched by those hands. He walked in circles around the room, avoiding the hands that reached out to him. The smell of blood was beginning to make him feel sick. He leaned against a wall, watching the hands reach out into empty air.
"I can't do this," Link muttered. "I can't lure it out unless it grabs me. I can't... I can't let it get me though."
Navi flew across the room, perhaps examining the scene. When she flew back over to Link, she said, "Just try one more time."
Link shook his head immediately. "I can't."
"Please?"
Link took a deep breath, and almost gagged at the staleness of the air. He felt himself go pale as he stepped toward one of the arms, watching as it reached out toward him. He didn't back away from it, instead, he held his sword tightly and waited. It felt like forever before the Dead Hand rose...
When he cut himself free of the hand's grip, he turned to face the bloody creature that now threatened him. Perhaps it wouldn't look so threatening if it weren't for all that blood...
Link stepped backward, away from the circle of arms. The Dead Hand continued to follow him, lowering his head and opening his mouth. Before Link had a chance to attack it, a hand stretched toward him and knocked his sword away. Fantastic, Link thought as a hand caught his ankle in a painful grip. His sword was out of reach, he couldn't move, and that thing was still headed toward him.
He reached behind him, pulling the first weapon he could from his pack. He aimed the hookshot at the Dead Hand, which was almost close enough to bite Link. The chain caught it on the side of its face, and with a pained cry, it once again hid under the ground. Next, Link aimed the hookshot at the hand that was grabbing him. It let go, and joined the Dead Hand in hiding underground.
Sword in hand, Link once again retreated to the wall. "Happy?" he asked Navi.
"No; you haven't beaten it yet."
Link groaned. "It's not as easy as I make it look, okay?"
Before Navi could say anything else, he stepped away from the wall and back towards the hands. One more time, surely one more time would destroy the thing.
Bravely, he let a hand capture him. Navi stayed close by as Link watched the Dead Hand with wide eyes. When it got close enough, he cut himself free, and attacked the monster's face as it reached out to him. It took a few shots, but eventually the thing collapsed at Link's feet.
"Good riddance," he murmured as he stepped away from it and towards the chest that had appeared. He didn't look away from the Dead hand until its corpse faded away.
Inside the chest was a new pair of boots. Link surveyed them before putting them in his pack.
"They look useful," he told Navi as he left the room, "But before I use them, I think I need to find something in Kakariko Village."
A/n: K: Aw yiss. My second Loz fanfiction. I was thinking about doing one about Dark Link in the Water Temple, but that seems kind of overused. Anyway, I hope you liked this one :D