Chapter Two:
Unknowable
There was one other thing that disturbed me. I still hadn't found Impa. My insides tightened sickeningly. It could be that she was still alive and somewhere inside the rest of the temple. Impa had to know this place better than me. She was supposed to be my guide. So if this was the end of the temple then she was probably waiting for me down the hole I was currently staring at. In fact, that made the most sense. My mentor probably wanted me to navigate the entire thing by myself, as some kind of test.
Some test this was. Part of me was almost angry at her for it, leaving me in this kind of a place by myself. I never wanted to see this temple again, once we were finished.
Speaking of completing the temple, I felt even more nervous about this hole. If this was the end … then there was something other than Impa waiting for me there. Each temple housed a type of evil guardian. It seemed they acted as anchors for the curses to the temples. Each time I killed the guardian, the curse would be lifted. These creatures waited at the end of each temple. They were never the same.
I really didn't want to see this guardian. I really didn't want to be there at all. I didn't want to go down that hole and face the unknowable and disturbing thing that guarded the Shadow Temple.
I tried to not let my reluctance show on my face. I didn't want Navi to know that I was fighting the impulse to turn around and walk away. Maybe even use the Ocarina of Time to warp me out of this dark rotting pit forever. I longed to feel the sun on my skin, the warm caress of the soft breeze and fresh air. It was so cold here. Nothing life-threatening, but it was always cool enough to a barely uncomfortable degree. Like that one itch you can never scratch and rid yourself of. It was there all the time.
The truth was that I was tired. This place had me on edge constantly, even before I stepped foot into it. The energy it had been radiating had brushed roughly against my nerves. That had only been a small taste of the real thing. It had been so hard to sleep and rest, because I was always too afraid to. Even if Navi told me she would keep watch for me, even when I did sleep, it didn't seem to relieve my exhaustion.
It sank deep into my bones, and soon it seemed like I would wake up each time even more tired than I had been before. The adrenaline in my system kept me wired and shaky after battles, adding to the total of my worn out self.
I didn't feel brave staring down that dark hole. I was completely intimidated just by staring down at its depth and darkness. I wanted to give up right there. Despite everything I had been through to come this far. This was the second to last temple. My mission was almost complete, and yet …
I wanted to throw down the Master Sword and run … to anywhere, as long as it wasn't here.
But I wouldn't.
I didn't have a choice.
This was never about what I wanted. I was going down that hole whether I wanted to or not. Whether I felt brave or rested enough. Not only to break the curse, but, most of all, to save Impa. If she was down there with the guardian she would need help. And I wasn't doing it because she was the Sage of Shadow. I was doing it because she was my mentor, my friend, and I couldn't leave her alone here. And, of course, Navi would kill me on the spot if I tried running. That little fairy possessed a fierce attitude.
I closed my eyes.
Breathed in.
Breathed out.
Pulling together what courage and strength I had left, I opened my eyes and stared at the hole and then to Navi. My fairy had remained silent for the long moment I had paused at the hole. I couldn't see her face and she didn't say anything until I finally looked at her.
"Ready when you are," she said in such a calm voice it amazed me.
Was she afraid at all? Or was the little fairy just hiding it well? Did fairies know fear like mortals did? Did this temple affect her at all? Was she simply immune to this place? Despite the flood of questions, her confidence brought a smile to my face, and I nodded, feeling slightly braver.
I unclipped my two hookshots from my belt. One of them was the longshot, which could reach farther than my regular hookshot, but I still kept my old one. I found having both of them was a very useful thing for tasks like this. Of course, I wasn't going to simply jump down a hole that's bottom was questionable. I didn't know what was down there yet, so it was best to descend as slowly as possible.
That's where my hookshots came in.
I aimed one of them at the wall of the vertical tunnel. There was a little red dot, created by a little gem inside the point of the hook that generated a laser. I pressed a button on the handle and the hook shot out of it and imbedded itself into the dark earth. I had been preparing myself to be yanked forward, rushing forward with the pull of the chain; I flew down, straight for the wall. I bent my legs and my feet slammed into the wall.
This part was more difficult than usual due to the type of boots I had on. I had discovered the hover boots during my exploration of the temple. I often found ancient treasures from ages passed in the temples, adding them to my arsenal. The hover boots had come in the form of slipper-like boots. They attached to my original shoes, covering the soles of them with wing-like flaps that came out at both sides near my heels. I found it odd that they fit my boots perfectly …
The hover boots did exactly what the title said: they hovered, but only for a few seconds. Yet the extra seconds were often all that I needed to grab onto a near-by ledge, aim my hookshot, things that kept me from falling into bottomless pits.
A side affect of using the boots is that they lacked friction, traction, the ability to grip the ground. It was similar to walking on ice, which made gripping the side of the wall extremely difficult.
I let my boots hover for a moment underneath me and then attempted to jam the toe of my boots into the wall. I grunted a few times, one boot slipping a few times, making my heart leap in my chest and start thumping against my ribs. But I eventually got my boot to stick.
I paused there against the wall, listening to my heartbeat and panting.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
Navi hovered above me, providing light. When I finally caught my breath, I leaned back, holding with one hand to the hookshot in the wall, and held the other hookshot in my right hand, twisting to aim down at the other side of the tunnel. At that moment my boots slipped against, both of them. I let out a yell as my support fell again, but they stopped for the hover boots provided a replacement for it, hovering for a few moments. I slammed my feet against the force that kept me afloat and shoved my toes into the wall again. They stuck once more.
Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.
I huffed against the wall; my forehead pressed against the dirt and sharply inhaled the scent of earth and rot. I coughed on it, but clung to the wall, trembling.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
I closed my eyes and wished I hadn't started this climb down. It was already too late to run.
I wanted to stay there. Right in that spot, but my arms and legs were getting tired. They started shaking a little. Instead, I forced myself to twist around again, aiming with the extra hookshot at the lower wall on the other side.
I was about to press the button when I fell. I first had the sickening lurch in my gut. This time I didn't fall because of my boots. This time I fell almost face forward, and since my boots were not underneath me they could not provide the extra support showed previously. My hookshot had come lose out of the wall because the earth was too soft to hold me.
The adrenaline hit my system so fast it made it seem like I was falling forever. I twisted so slowly to watch Navi disappear into a pin prick of blue light to nothing. The loss of her light plunged me into a darkness that made my fall seem like an eternity. It seemed as if I had lost all of my senses, all sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. Everything except for the overwhelming fear that swallowed me whole just as the shadows had when I fell.
It could be that it wasn't too far of a drop, and perhaps I would survive it. Or it could land me on hard sharp rocks that broke and shredded my body into ragged pieces. I could live or I could die. There was no way to know until I hit the bottom. My fate was left unknowable to me. It was almost torturous. The long wait. The uncertainty of my continued life. Not knowing what was going to happen to me. That's what I hated the most about this place. It contained so many unknowns, so many uncertainties. So much helplessness. Always trying to be prepared for what came next. Always trying to be on guard. Trying not to die.
Oh gods, I didn't want to die.