"Good work, old boy!" Shad said to me in his usual cheery voice. "I'd say we're one step closer to discovering the true history of the Hero of Time!"

I nodded back at him. Not that there was a 'truth' or 'secret' story behind the Hero, but it was still fun to travel all over Hyrule, trying to discover some things that people wouldn't know or have forgotten about the Hero.

I already had some inside knowledge; the guy trained me after all.

Well his spirit did at least…

The Hero's Shade had taught me many things during my adventures, moves that had saved my life in battle, more times than I can count.

But when we weren't training, we talked.

I asked him lots of things, like what his name was before he became the Hero's Shade (it was Link, big surprise) why he wandered the mists in the ruins of old Hyrule, and… How he died…

I guess there is some truth to the rumors about the lost woods. If you stay there too long, you waste away slowly, lost in time until your body fades away and you become a Stafos. The hero passed from this world, filled with regret, and was only able to find peace when he completed his training with me.

But Shad knows nothing about this.

I actually knew a lot of things about everything. Exploring the whole of Hyrule will do that for you. But Shad was adorable when he was hell bent on discovering secrets from the past, so I traveled with him, mostly for something to do.

Exploring is something we both love though, and since Hyrule is once again at peace (for now) there's not much for people like us to do.

I suppose I could go back to the farm, and I guess Shad could go work at a… library or something (I don't know, he likes books okay?). But we'd both be miserable.

I shook my head; I always seemed to get lost in my thoughts for too long.

Shad looked over at me and gave me a smile. He was use to me having my heads in the clouds.

I allowed my gaze to search around the eerie graveyard we were standing in. Of course we ended up at the creepiest part of Hyrule, which is the graveyard in Kakoriko Village.

Telma told us about a rumor she heard from some old friend, something about the Hero's weapons being hidden here.

I already had his bow, which I have to admit is pretty awesome. It's perfectly crafted and it fits my hand like a glove, but it would be interesting to see what else my ancestor used in his battles.

And if there is a chance he left his stuff here before he went on his journey to the Lost Woods, I'm willing to dig up a few graves to find them.

I yelped as my foot caught on a well hidden gravestone, almost falling flat on my face, but I somehow managed to save myself.

Damn my clumsiness.

There could be a glowing arrow pointing to a rock and I would still find some way to trip over it. I don't know how I ended up being one of the best swordsmen in Hyrule.

In all honesty, I'm not sure how I survived the battle against Ganondorf…

He must have been laughing at me in his head the whole fucking time as I stumbled around the battlefield.

I think my balance issues have something to do with how I'm always shifting from my wolf form to my human form; my center of gravity is always off. It's harder than it looks to continually change your form from beast to man. At points I forgot which one I was, which can be embarrassing when you growl like a dog in mid conversation with someone.

Shad came to stand next to me, checking to make sure I was okay before leaning down to examine the grave stone. "This is interesting," he said quietly, and if I didn't have my wolf hearing I might not have been able to hear him.

I knelt down beside him and gave him a look that said, "What is it?"

"The words on this stone are in Ancient Hyrulian," he brushed away some of the foliage covering the words so he could read better. "Aha! I think we've struck gold, Old Boy. It's says the name 'Dampe' here."

I leaned in closer to the stone. It looked pretty old. It was slanted slightly to the left, probably because the ground had sunk in; there was foliage and moss clinging to the areas where cracks had appeared. I began reading just barely able to make out the words. "Here lies Dampe the Grave keeper." The rest was blurred.

What the hell does a grave keeper do? Make sure the dead people don't wake up and crawl out of their graves?

But Telma had said that Dampe was the guy who the Hero of Time intrusted his weapons to, so we had found our first clue.

"Good show, this must be it then." Shad wrote something down quickly in his journal and then motioned for me to continue with the exploration of the grave.

Together we moved the slab of rock that had been covering the grave of interest, hoping we would find a clue hidden underneath.

It sounds pretty dumb, but it was tradition in Old Hyrule to leave a message under a grave stone when you died. It didn't have to be anything special, just a few kind words that you would have a loved one read at your funeral. After the ceremony was over, the letter would be placed in a magical pouch that would keep it protected from the elements and time.

Sometimes it didn't even have to be a note. You'd be surprised at how many rupees I've found under graves.

But as we finally pushed the stone out of the way, we were surprised at what we saw. Under the grave stone was a large hole, big enough for someone to jump down.

By the look of the edges of it, the stone had sunk down quite a bit, it was a miracle it hadn't collapsed and buried itself.

"Well that's certainly not what I was expecting," Shad said, leaning down to look and see if he could find the bottom. He soon gave up and turned to give me another smile, "how much do I have to pay you to go down there and check it out?"

I shrugged and tried to peer down into the darkness.

Shad never complained when I didn't answer him with words. It was one of the main reasons we were best friends. He somehow understood me better than most of the people I had grown up with.

It's not that I can't talk; it's just that I'd rather listen. It sounds strange yes, but I can't count the times my mouth got me in trouble when I was younger. I have a rather… sarcastic and rude personality, and some people just didn't understand the way I talk.

So I decided to just stop talking, and amazingly, people seemed to like me better that way.

It's easier to picture me as their perfect valiant hero if I'm not cursing at them and telling them off I guess.

I pulled my lantern from where it was tied to my belt and lit it. Even when I held my lantern down into the hole, I still couldn't see anything.

"Hmm… I guess it's pretty deep in the earth then," Shad stood and motioned for me to stay put. "I'm going to find some rope. I'll be right back."

I sighed and sat back on my backside, grateful for the break. Shad was relentless in his search for the truth, and he had kept me up for half the night, talking excitedly about how close they were getting to the Hero's weapons.

A few cold raindrops hit me on the head and I looked up to glare at the sky.

I hope it understands facial expressions well enough to know that I will be pissed if it starts to rain on me.

Luckily it did understand, because it barely started to drizzle when Shad returned.

He handed me the rope he had found, "don't do anything I wouldn't do."

I tried not to think about what exactly Shad wouldn't do. I know if he did go down there with me, he would be so busy drawing and taking notes, he wouldn't even pay attention to the monsters attacking him.

I pictured Shad chasing a Keese around, pen and notebook held in the air as he continually shouted, "let me draw you! Bloody hell!"

I smiled at the thought and Shad frowned, he probably knows that I'm thinking something mean.

I tied the rope around a huge rock that was close by. I gave it a few experimental tugs just to make sure it was secure before throwing the rest of it down the hole.

Shad gave me one last scared look before I saluted him and eased myself into the ground. It's way harder than it sounds, my hands started cramping after the first few seconds.

The light from my lamp kept everything lit up around me, and when I reached around the 8 feet mark, I finally saw the floor. As soon as I was close enough I dropped down and landed on my feet.

I shook my hands to get the blood flowing back in them and looked up. Shad was waving at me, finally able to see the bottom.

I gave him thumbs up and turned to observe the area.

It was pretty damn bright for a grave eight feet under the ground, which was probably helped by the glowing rock that it appeared to be made out of some bright glowing stone. The weirdest thing was the floor; it looked like it was professionally made out of marble tiles.

This Dampe person must have been a very rich man when he was alive.

I was expecting to see a coffin made out of glass, or maybe a couple skeletons, but all I saw was a large stone door in front of me.

A violent shudder overtook me even though I wasn't cold. I could feel a prickling at the back of my neck, it's like my body thinks something bad is going to happen. And it will with just my damn luck.

I ignored the door and started exploring the room. The grave is indeed made of some weird stone, crystal maybe? It's beautiful that's for certain.

I was about to go back to the opening and tell Shad it was a dead end when a creeper voice behind me made my body seize up in terror.

"Heh, welcome to my grave, young man," it sounded very old; it made me think of the old Gorons who could barely catch their breath while talking to me.

Even with the adrenalin pumping through me, I was too scared to turn around, my body locked up, and my teeth clenched, my hands which were balled into fists were shaking.

I'm the hero damn it! Why am I freezing up? I know I've faced worse than a creepy old man's voice.

In a grave…

Eight feet underground…

"Young man..." The voice wheezed again. "You wouldn't happen to be a descendant of the hero's blood line would you?" He chuckled then, and I suddenly wasn't as scared anymore.

The guy sounded pretty harmless.

I turned toward the voice and felt my eyes widen.

The man I saw floating in front of me was hunched over. He was floating above the ground as I believe all ghosts do, he was dressed in brown clothes that looked ragged and old. In his right hand he carried a lantern, and I had to do a double take when I saw the halo above his head.

So you do get a halo when you die? This had to be some kind of joke.

Trying to keep my calm, I thought back to the question he had asked me. There was no way I was going to be able to get the information we needed unless I talked.

So a cleared my throat and replied, "Descendant of the hero's blood line?" My hand came up to cup my chin as I thought about this. "I guess so, but I don't know if I'm directly from his bloodline." Another thing for me and Shad to look into, it would be pretty cool if I was a direct descendant.

The old ghost gave his wheezing chuckle again. "You must be... You bear such a striking resemblance to him... Well the hair and eyes are a bit darker..." The ghost shrugged.

I raised an eyebrow; the amusement must have been showing on my face. "And you've met this hero?" If he's talking about the Hero of Time, then we're definitely on the right track.

"Yes I have. His name was Link, which I'm sure yours is too... He came here looking for a powerful song that would change day into night and then night into day. I talked to him... He was a cheerful fellow... He played the grave digging game with me... He was pretty lucky too... I think he called himself the Hero of Time..."

So he met the hero of time? Telma was right in pointing us in this direction then. We were finally getting somewhere.

"So you must be Dampe?" I asked him.

The ghost swirled angrily in a circle, "you stupid boy! Of course! You're in Dampé's grave aren't you?"

I sighed and leaned back to look up at Shad who was silent. He could probably hear what was going on and was writing it down or something.

"Are you here for the hero's treasure perhaps? That's what you came down here for isn't it?" I looked back at him just in time for him to fly through me. It felt like someone had splashed a bucket of ice water on me.

I glared at him as he floated around again and then came to a stop in front of me, "Hero's treasure?" I asked him trying not to sound excited as I actually was.

"Yeah, the young man asked me to watch over it until a hero of his blood line came to pick it up." He was smiling, probably proud that he was given such an important job.

My throat was already becoming sore from all the talking, but I continued talking anyway, "where is this hero's treasure then?"

He wheezed out a laugh, "I'll show you... If you beat me in a race! Or at least keep up with me..."

"Sounds like a plan, as long as you play fair and don't cheat. I can't go through walls after all." I looked back up at Shad who nodded at me.

"Good luck, old boy!"

"Don't worry!" Dampe said happily, "I won't go through the walls! Now let's go! Try to keep up!"

The doors on the other side of the room opened and he drifted over to them, motioning for me to chase after him before disappearing into the darkness.

With one last look at Shad, I turned on my heel and chased after him. I didn't want him to get too much of a head start.

As I ran through the crystal corridors, I watched as they turned from beautiful to disturbing. There was something around this grave giving off a green light, making it appear as if I was running through the belly of a beast.

Dampe remained close in front of me, taunting of course.

I tried not to let him get to me, but the way he would laugh every time he threw bits of fire from his lamp was getting old. And it really wasn't funny when one of them actually hit me, and I had to hop around to try and extinguish the flame from my boot.

As the green lights became more dark and ominous, I started to hear a deep moaning sound close by. It sounded uncomfortably familiar to the Redead Knights I fought in the Arbiter's Grounds.

Distracted by the moans, I wasn't paying close enough attention to the rocky floor and tripped, my body hit the ground hard and slid a ways away. "Damn it..."

Dampe chuckled and stopped to check on me, his laugh was pissing me off. "Well boy, are you getting up or am I leaving you down here with the Redeads?"

Usually when I glared at someone with my wolfish eyes, they run for the nearest bed to hide under, but I guess when you're dead you don't really care about getting torn to shreds by a guy who can shift forms and change into a blood thirsty animal.

"I'm coming, hold your horses..." I mumbled while getting back on my feet. I looked at my hands and cringed when I saw my fingers were bloody from scraping against the stone ground. "Ouch..."

"Come on wimp! Almost there!" He flew in a couple circles around me then took off once again.

I briefly wondered if I could tear out his soul in my wolf form like I could do to the other ghosts.

Finally after a few more turns and one almost fatal accident of falling off a ramp, we went through a door and entered a small room.

Dampe laughed and clapped his hands before gesturing toward a table across the room from me. On it were all kinds of weapons.

This is it; I've found what Shad and I have been searching for.

I walked over and quietly observed the multiple weapons laid out on display, whistling when I spotted the instrument that looked like my claw shot. It looked really fun; it was almost like my claw shot, except it had a hook thing on the end. A hook shot then?

Dampe waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention. "Look! He left a book behind as well..." He pointed to a pouch on the table where the book was no doubt in perfect condition.

"I'm sure it has all kinds of useful information. I remembered when he last came to me he said he was writing a book about his adventure…"

Shad was probably going to have a meltdown. I can see it now.

I picked up the pouch an pulled the book out, flipping through a few pages. The neat and fancy old Hyrulian writing wasn't something I was expecting to see coming from a warrior's hands, and neither was the very detailed drawing throughout the book.

Whatever, I guess we all have our talents.

I hope I never get the urge to write a book, my writing always looks like Cucco scratch.

Placing the book into one of my own pouches, I turned back to the table and sighed. How the hell was I going to carry all of this stuff with me? I frowned and began buckling things onto my belt and shoving smaller items in my pockets.

The hammer thing was a problem though. I couldn't help but envy the guy who carried something like that around, let alone used it in battle.

After I had everything relatively attached to my person, I followed Dampe to a smaller door at the other side of the room.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "You did a good job watching over these for so long."

The ghost smiled at me.

"You are welcome young man. I'm so happy one of you heroes finally showed up. Now I can finally rest in peace."

I nodded, pleased that I could help. My throat was almost raw from being used so much in the last little while.

The door opened and I peered cautiously into the dark room on the other side. With one last wave at Dampe, I walked through and scrambled for my lantern.

"You might want to take out that ocarina." I heard his wheezing laugh one more time before the door closed with a bang and left me in complete darkness.

Ocarina? What was that?

I took out a match from my pocket and scratched it against the wall to light my lamp. The area immediately lit up. It was a small space, I could barely move to the point where I wouldn't be able to stretch out my arms if I wanted to.

I put the heavy hammer down and pulled out the Hero's book. I flipped through a few pages as fast as I could. I really don't want my lamp to run out of oil when I'm stuck in such a small place.

Eventually I came across a page that had something written about the item I was seeking. It was the blue instrument thing that was resting on the table. There were all kinds of songs to play and scanned over the descriptions of them all; so I could figure out what they were used for.

I saw no songs that said "Get your ass out of claustrophobic situations."

I checked my oil levels again quickly before observing my surroundings looking for clues.

There were normal rock walls on either side of me and the door was behind me. But in front of me the rocky wall had a strange design on it, something that looked like a sun.

I scanned the book quickly and found what I was looking for. "The song of time: used for opening up doors of time, controlling time, and moving random rocks with weird designs on them."

That sounded exactly like the song I needed to play, the only problem was, I have no idea how to play this instrument.

I took it out anyway and placed it against my lips. The first few notes were horrible, it obviously hadn't been used in a very long time and it was full of dust. But after blowing some air through it a few times, I finally managed to get out a note that didn't sound like a dying monster.

It still didn't solve the problem of being able to play it. The notes were written out in front of me on the paper, but I've never played an instrument or learned how to read music.

And it was only a matter of time before my oxygen ran out.

After playing a few high notes I became frustrated and almost threw the damn thing at the wall, but just as my rage almost overtook me, something very strange happened.

I felt the air around me shift, and my mood changed instantly, calming me down.

I held the Ocarina back up to my lips and played.

It didn't sound horrible like I thought it would, a bit choppy and slightly out of tune, but for someone who's never played an instrument before, I think I did pretty well.

The last bit of oil ran out just as the old rock was surrounded by a blue light and disappeared.

I put the ocarina and book away, and debated leaving the hammer behind, but I'm sure Shad would murder me so I changed my mind.

I walked forward along the narrow path that had revealed itself behind the rock. It twisted and turned and eventually lead upwards.

When I saw the light up ahead I bolted.

Well as fast as I could go while being so weighed down by all the weapons.

I whooped and laughed as I entered the bright sunlight. Damn, I had to squint now. I rubbed my eyes as they started to water.

When I could eventually see again after the light had blinded me I observed my surroundings. I was in the grave yard area again, but I was somewhere in the very back on a hill. I think it was above the Zora's graveyard? I've never been up here before...

Shad was still sitting down by Dampe's grave. He appeared to be scribbling something in his notebook as usual.

His back was to me, so I was going to have to do something drastic.

So I grabbed a bomb out of my pocket and threw it at him.

Not anywhere near him mind you, just close enough to get his attention.

BANG.

"Bloody hell!"

Shad was on his feet in an instant, he turned to look up at me, obviously pissed off.

"You're going to pay for that one, Old Boy. Just you wait." He gathered his book up which he had dropped on the ground in his moment of terror. "How the hell did you get all the way up there?" He asked, walking over to the bottom of the large hill to glare up at me.

I smiled and shrugged, still trying not to laugh.

He still didn't look impressed.

"Well is there anything up there? Make yourself useful and check it out, will you?"

I rolled my eyes and left to find something interesting. I didn't have to go far, in the farthest part at the back of the small clearing there was some kind of cave.

"Well?" Shad called up, and I wanted so badly to say something to shut him up, but I was doing good with the 'no talking' thing, so I refrained

I went further into the entrance of the cave. There was writing on the wall, ancient Hyrulian from the looks of it.

I returned to Shad who looked a little less angry now.

"Did you see anything?"

I nodded and made a few gestures with my hands, pointing back toward Dampe's grave.

Any other person would have told me to speak, they seem to have a hard time deciphering my sign language, but Shad knew exactly what I wanted and he left to go get the rope like I asked.

Well… Signed….

He returned fairly quickly and threw the rope up to me. I helped pulled him up and he patted me roughly on the shoulder.

"I see you've found the Hero's weapons. That's excellent Link! I can't wait to get a good look at them." He tried to reach for the Hookshot on my belt, but I slapped his hand away.

I pointed to the cave and then quickly brought him to the entrance where the writing was carved into the rock.

Shad knelt down and inspected the writing, pushing his glasses up further on his face while he did so. "Shadow temple... Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred."

I frowned and gave him a look and he quickly returned it.

"Well I think we should call it quits for today, no need to venture any further down this path. What we really came here for was the weapons."

I shook my head.

This place had been mentioned in the tales of the hero. I know there's something down there, something important.

I'm not sure why I feel this way, but there was something pulling me toward the entrance, like it wanting me to explore the creepy cave,

"Let us at least go back to Kakariko to get some rest, we've been at this since sunrise." Shad was trying to pull me away from the cave, but I held my ground.

"Come on now, Old Boy. We've made such progress today, there's no need to rush into it."

Shad looked really concerned, and the thought briefly crossed my mind that he was hiding something. I hope that's not the case.

I shrugged at him and started pulling the weapons off me, making sure I only took the items I felt I was going to need.

I'm not sure how I knew what to bring, but it was almost like a voice in the back of my head telling me what to do.

I'm just happy I don't have to bring the hammer really.

Shad placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Be careful down there, Link. There are secrets that were hidden in there for a reason. You might not like what you discover."

With those last words, he walked away from me and pulled out his note book, stopping in front of the inscriptions to study them further.

I gave him once last lingering look before taking a deep breath and entering the dark passage.