Warriors

As the sun rose slowly from the horizon, shyly spreading its light on Hyrule's beautiful fields, a horse's gallop resonated in the fresh air within the birds' incessant chirping. The chestnut mare joyfully ran across the endless plains, hooves covered in warm dew. Her rider was just as joyful, pulling the mare's reins harder, letting her know she could run as fast as she liked. Link, Hylian savior of Hyrule and Hero of Time, was finally having some brighter times again. It has been about a month or so since the last time he rode on the magical Epona through Hyrule; and both of them were overly happy to see each other again.

Link had been busy helping the Kokiri people to build extra houses in the village, for now more and more people visited the woods, and there wasn't any inn for them to sleep in. It seemed like everybody forgot the horrible years of Ganondorf's reign, finally letting smiles and laugh spread across their faces once again.

Ganondorf's reign.

But Hyrule will never completely forget.

And it must not.

How long has it been? Wondered Link as he prevented his cap from being swapped away by the powerful wind, rushing loudly in his pointed ears as Epona ran faster and faster.

At least a good 10 years.

As Epona ran up the hill going west to Gerudo Valley, Link's back was already sweating from the rising sun behind him, and he ordered his mare to slow down a bit, much to her discontentment. He made her turn right into the red, sandy path that lead to the great valley. Epona was now trotting happily, passing over the tiny wooden bridge atop a very odd-located oasis.

Link had been at the Training Grounds in the Gerudo's Fortress some time ago and the woman kindly informed him they would soon totally renew it with some harder challenges. The Hero smiled to himself without even noticing it; he longed for some boiling-hot adrenaline in his veins, his heart pounding hard in his chest, leaving him breathless yet filled with ardent energy. Oh yes, the thrill of the risk, of the battle, was really what he missed the most, now that evil seemed to be gone.

Epona now crossed the bigger bridge, hanging high above the merciless waterfalls, knowing the path just all too well. Done so many times, in the past, but still engraved deep in her memory. Soon enough, Link arrived near the imposing fortress and tied Epona to a post near the entrance of the Training Grounds. The red-haired Gerudo woman greeted him by a warm grin.

"Hey male, going to try the new grounds at last?" She asked playfully, walking up to him. Link chuckled as he petted Epona's head a bit before turning around to face her.

"Yes, indeed, I managed to get some free time." He simply answered. The guard burst out laughing.

"Free time... to train!? Looks to me like you never relax!"

Link flashed a smile and laughed too.

"I guess a relaxing life would be too boring for me... How much is it?" He asked, searching around for his rupee pouch on Epona's saddle.

"10 rupees, as always." The Gerudo replied with a smile. Link handed her the money and she opened the gate for him.

"Have fun, male, don't get knocked out so I have to go and pick you up!" She joked. Link laughed and hurried himself into the dark cave, relishing at the thoughts of the awaiting challenges ahead.

The three doors mounted by the lions' watchful gaze were still there, and Link remembered that the door right in front of him was the one containing the locked doors' maze. He wouldn't have to go there until he had at least one key. But he didn't care much about the treasure, what he craved for now was some action, some hard tasks. He wanted to exit the grounds covered in sweat, -blood, even, he actually wouldn't mind- his clothes ripped and stained. The golden-haired man smirked;

Am I becoming insane? He asked himself jokingly before entering the door on his right.

"Rah! Let the fun begin!" He cried out in anticipation.

Throughout the entire day he collected the keys to unlock the many doors of the maze, passing through some, indeed, harder challenges, to his contentment. He had to face a bunch of quite nasty Stalfos warriors, while having to fight on invisible platforms hanging magically in the air. But he put on his lens of truth to avoid falling in an endless black pit below and rose up to the challenge. He then had to collect some shiny silver rupees in a multi-stage room, like the one there was before the renovation, but this time filled with Wallmasters, Floormasters, Dinolfos, Fire Keeses, Beamos, and even spiked walls and false doors. One of the previous room had been lava-filled with an hidden switch, and Link didn't remember the last time he saw so much fire. At one time he almost passed out, the heat was piercing through him like the holy sword in the demonic beast, even tough he wore his Goron Tunic. Most of the time he had to stop for awhile and close his eyes because if not he felt they would just crack open and burn.

As he went through more and more trials, he became completely absorbed in what he was doing, forgetting the notion of time and even the pain he felt from all the sudden and hard action. He now needed only one more key to get to the treasure. He quickly reached the last room, and he was glad it wasn't 'Fire-Temple-themed'. He had burnt his left arm and shoulder really bad from the last room and unfortunately, it was the arm who held up his sword; but he wouldn't surrender. Over the years he learned that there was a time to feel pain and a time to fight. This was undoubtedly the time to fight, as two over-sized Lizalfos were leaping to him, and he began to feel his feet slightly plunging in the floor.

He was in a room filled with slow shifting sands.

Not that I plan on standing here doing nothing anyway, he thought as he dodged one of his enemy's sword attack and circled both of them, never showing his back to them, his Hylian shield raised up high.

Just looking for the perfect opportunity to strike.

He just had to make sure he was always moving, because if not the sands would engulf his feet and that would make him slower; thus more vulnerable to the reptilian beasts' attacks.

With a defiant cry he charged one of them, and their swords collided with one another in such a powerful but equal force it vibrated painfully up Link's wounded arm. The Lizalfos let out a mighty roar and pushed harder, causing Link to swiftly plant his right foot a little farther behind him so he could try to push harder. The monster let his long tongue swirl around in its open mouth, growling, showing yellowed teeth dripping with saliva. Link knew what that meant; he was calling for help.

He heard the other Lizalfos roaring behind him and he turned his upper body only just in time to block the blow with his shield, while pushing the other creature's blade with his own. Now one could easily tell he was in some kind of trouble.

Trapped!

Kicking off the sand around his feet with great agility, he swiftly turned around completely and gave the Lizalfos behind him a fatal Spin-Attack. Merely as it lay down to let out its final growl, the other leapt on Link with amazing power and speed. The Hero crashed violently on the ground, pinned down by the creature, and realized he had dropped his sword in the process. He punched the monster's head hard several times, while holding its wrist firmly so it wouldn't cut his throat in one easy swing of its crimson sword. But it was still on top of him, its awesome weight restraining Link to move his legs or body. He started to feel himself deepening in the ground.

Goddesses, the shifting sands! he thought worryingly, I have to do something fast or else I'll--

The Lizalfos dropped its shield and got a hold of Link'sthroat, and began to choke him, tightening its clawed fingers around Link's neck even more when he tried to struggle to break free.

Gurgling sounds came out of Link's mouth from deep within' his throat, attempting in vain to let some air get to his lungs. The taste of sand and blood began to mix in an horrible flavour in his mouth, meaning that soon enough the sand would completely cover him. His vision suddenly began to blur, his energy was being drained out of him... His grasp on the monster's wrist became weak. Link's eyes were bulging out of their orbits, and he would have screamed if he had enough air left. He began to choke more, this time being the sand's fault. The beast then let out a strident cry before hitting Link's face with the hilt of its sword. The Hero's shield was useless now, he couldn't lift it up anymore, in fact, it even pinned him deeper in the sand. He let out silent, choked shrieks of pain as each wave made its way through his body like a bolt tearing a immense tree in two. But as the beast was to hit him again, the courageous Hero gathered all of his power to crash his shield in the foe's side, causing several fractures on its ribs. Realizing that this was the best opportunity to finish it off, Link tried to struggle free of the sand as fast as he could. Regaining its sense, still howling in pain, the giant lizard-man turned its hideous head toward Link again, furious.

The blond man then noticed what seemed to be a moving shadow behind it, and in one swift leap it held out a dagger and was cutting the throat of the beast. The shadow hardly staying on the lizard's back as he swung and roared madly, Link managed to stand up again on the sand, grabbing his sword and giving the finishing blow, resulting in slashing the foe's chest and belly open. It fell lifeless, crashing onto Link as he had just enough time to dodge the foe's huge body.

When several seconds passed, he instantly felt his stomach turn around in his body and he threw up on his side; some sand and blood coming out. Groaning, he dropped himself on the only patch of stony ground in the room, lips trembling, an horrible taste in his mouth. The adrenaline had left his body completely and now it was taking its toll on him.

He looked around when seemingly out of nowhere, came flying a bottle of red potion. With an amazing reflex Link caught it and instantly began drinking it as fast as he could, while looking at the dark corner where it had come from.

Closing his eyes, he felt the horrible choking feeling fade away, as the bleeding claw marks on his neck, and even his left arm felt a bit better. Link reopened his eyes, now feeling a lot better, and prepared to thank the one who had helped him, but was shocked by what he saw, now sitting before him.