This chapter is about one of my least favorite parts of Skyward Sword and I think most of you who've played it will agree. If only it were so easy for Link.


She was standing in a cave. It wasn't unpleasant like she would have assumed from a cave, however it was a bit damp. She had been warned of bugs the size of her torso that lurked in cave shadows, but she hadn't seen any yet. But that could be because the weak, floating lights that lined the walls barely illuminated enough to see the path. Normally this cave was bustling with activity as people went from place to place within the region. But the people had left with the sun, leaving her alone. She didn't mind that. The peace and the silence broken only be her echoing footsteps was relaxing and she felt the tension that had built in her shoulders during that awful boat ride ease away.

She blinked as she stepped into the dry night air outside. While the earth was cloaked in shadow, the brightness of the moon and stars was enough to startle her eyes, which had grown accustomed to the dark of the cave. The whole mining facility was spread out in front of her. Lush green grass covered the ground and gleaming stone walls fanned out from the basin's center in a honeycomb pattern.

The walls formed a giant labyrinth, and she had heard tales of people getting lost in them. While she doubted that those tales were anything more than legend, she still chose the outermost path which circled around the basin as opposed to any of the crisscrossing inner walls. Just to be safe.

However, as she neared to northern edge of the loop, her foot caught on something. She staggered forward, swinging her arms wildly and leaning hard in an attempt to catch herself before she fell. It worked too well. Instead of landing on her face, she flew off the raised wall and onto the grass below. She rolled several feet before stopping on her back. The ground was soft and she was uninjured, however, there was a strange throbbing in her right hand. She glanced down, and started. She was sitting before a blue seal, raised from the ground with a white triangle in its center. She leaned down, and brushed her finger along its surface with a feather light touch. Blue petals made of light blossomed from its center until a flower had bloomed on the desert floor.

Awestruck, she touched it again. And then the world went dark.


Slowly she opened her eyes. At first nothing seemed different. The world was still cloaked in indigo and bathed in cool moonlight. But something was off. Floating lights danced in the sky, flying upward like embers, and the birdsong had been replaced by tinkling bells. She glanced down at herself and gasped. Her arms and hands looked the same, but were oddly insubstantial and seemed to flicker as if they were made of light.

The flower still glowed on the ground, but now it was surrounded by a ring of white light of the ground.

Hylia stood slowly, and cautiously looked around. There was a glowing thing on the ground a few yards ahead of her and she moved to go see what it was, but the moment she stepped out of the circle, the sky turned red, bathing the world in a harsh light. Suddenly, something moved. A giant white monster with glowing orange eyes and wielding a huge serrated blade raised its head. With heavy, clanking steps it began to walk toward her. Paralyzed by fear she watched as it approached. Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance and began to run. She tripped, and rolled straight into the glowing beam of light. It dissolved into her and instantly, the world fell silent but for the tinkling of bells once again.

'What is this place,' Hylia thought. 'Surely this must be a test of the goddesses. And that light. It looked like a tear.' Then it suddenly dawned on her.

"The goddesses' tears!" she yelled, her voice echoing oddly. She had of course read of the legendary goddess tears, capable of bringing the sick back from the jaws of death or granting amazing powers to those the goddesses favored. And now that she had touched one… but surely it couldn't be that easy. Still, it was worth a try. Her eyelids fluttered closed and as she began to chant the familiar summoning spell her palms flipped upward, waiting to catch what would come.

She slowly opened her eyes, still chanting, and was surprised at what she saw. A huge, golden tear was hovering above her outstretched hands. As she finished the chant, the tear dropped, and dissolved into her skin. A strange tingling warmth spread up her arms and filled her completely. Somehow she knew she had passed the trial. Carefully, she made her way back to the circle. The seal flared blue, shooting a beam of light high into the sky. And in a flash it was all gone.

Hylia was left kneeling in the grass, her form solid once again. Only now, there was a warmth coursing through her veins. She knew this feeling. Magic. It had to be the effect of the goddess tears.

Her hand, which had stopped throbbing, gave a particularly painful twang and she jerked it upwards to inspect for injury. However, her mouth fell open as light blossomed on it, bubbling upward like water from a spring.

The golden light fell away and in its place, emblazoned on her palm, were three triangles. With a flash of light, the lower left triangle lit up, glowing golden.

Hylia smiled. Filled with new strength and energy and her head held high, she stood, and confidently continued on the path before her.