After digging and working with the entire crew until sunset, going through three different time malfunctions, nearly the entire temple had been uncovered. Link sat down in the dirt with Colin and Eagus while Shad and Hena drove into town to buy all of their employees Burger King for all their hard work. Link sighed as Eagus and Colin began laughing about something.
"There's no way that happened!" Colin said in shock.
"It really did!" Eagus replied with a grin on his face.
"What did I miss?" Link asked.
"Just one of Eagus' stories about how he gets all the ladies! Man I wish I had your life!" Colin said in awe.
"Well, considering we work the same job, you've got half of it!" He said with a laugh that set Colin off again. Link grinned and shook his head at the pair. He looked up at the sky.
Twilight was nearing. What could he have seen last night? He thought of what Colin had told him about the three interconnected worlds. One being their earth, another Hyrule… So what could the third be? They hadn't found any remains of a third civilization, but perhaps it had been even less conspicuous than Hyrule throughout the ages? Link looked over at the temple which was now standing in the crater they had dug out. What more was there to the legend of the Temple of Time?
Link stood up and walked towards its entrance. He took out a dusting brush from his kit and dusted off the grand doors. He examined the intricately designed handles. Whorls and spirals forming into leaves and people had been carved into them with such precision Link wondered if magic had gone into its designing. With a gloved hand he reached for the handles to open the door.
"Hey Link! Come and eat!" Colin called from behind him. Link turned his head back. Sure enough, Hena and Shad had returned with the burgers. Link looked at the door again and turned around, joining the rest of the crew for dinner.
"So… This book says that when the Temple of Time was constructed, it was meant as a gateway?" Zelda's father asked her as she finished explaining her findings.
"Yes," Zelda said as she nodded.
"A gateway to where?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well it could lead to any of the Four Worlds."
"And this has to do with the Hero of Time, how?" Her father asked in a testy voice.
"You said so yourself that the Hero of Time does not come from Hyrule, so what if he is of the earth?" Zelda asked.
"Nonsense!"
"But why?!" Zelda pleaded.
"Hyrule's fate resting in the hands of a human? That's madness!" Her father barked.
"We are nothing more than humans, too, father," Zelda said utterly calm.
"We are Hylians!"
"There is no difference!"
"If that is what you believe then perhaps I will send you to earth!" Her father said, getting louder with each word.
"You would have no objections from me! Maybe I'd come back with the Hero of Time!" Zelda said, equally as loud and frustrated. Her father looked at her sadly, feeling guilty for raising his voice.
"You said the Temple of Time is the gateway between the Four Worlds?" He reiterated, sounding tired from his outburst.
"Yes." Zelda replied curtly.
"So why do you think he is of the earth? Why not the Twilight Realm? Or the Otherworld?"
"Father please… Now you're just looking for a way out. You know why he cannot be of the Twilight Realm or the Otherworld! First of all, the Princess of the Twilight Realm has been missing for years, and second we are at war with the Twili because of Zant… Also, the Mirror of Twilight is missing so that would do us no good anyways. But the Otherworld? Really, father? Why would you even ask?" Zelda asked him with a frown.
He creased his brows and rested his face in his hands. "A human… It can't be so." Her father mumbled more to himself than her.
"Father, it is the only option," She said as rested her hand on his.
"I know, Zelda… But there are billions of humans living on the earth. How are we to find just one?" He asked her.
"Perhaps he is feeling the same pull that I am."
"What does that mean?" Her father asked looking into her blue eyes. She looked at the glowing Triforce on her right hand.
"I can feel his power through the Triforce."
"So you knew the whole time that he was of the earth?"
"Only after I began to research the Four Worlds did it start to come together."
"And here I was being a fool," he said.
"No father, you had every right to question it."
"We need to find him."
"I know," Zelda said. "And we will."
Link stretched as he lay in his cot. Now that all of the workers had finally arrived at the site, it was too noisy to sleep. He sat up and picked up his shirt from the ground and walked outside his tent, still wearing his khakis.
"Looking good!" Eagus called from beside the fire.
"Yeah, muscle man!" Colin said. "Someone's been working out!" He said with a high-pitched whistle. Link smiled and shook his head before putting his green shirt back on.
"Come join us!" Eagus said.
"No that's okay, I'm gonna go for a walk," Link said.
"By yourself in the woods?" Colin asked with a pout. Link just shook his head and continued on his way. He began to make his way to the temple, ignoring the raucous laughter coming from the campsite.
Something about the temple was calling to him. He had felt it earlier when he first uncovered the handles, but now it was growing, like something inside of him had ignited. As he reached it, he looked into the sky like he so often did.
That was when it appeared again.
"Father, I think we need to retrieve the Hero of Time from earth." Zelda stated.
"But how? I know you can 'feel the pull' of him…but where would we even begin to look?" He asked her.
"Well, in "The Rising of the Temple," it is said that there is a portal to link Hyrule and earth together. Hyrule's portal is in the Temple of Time and earth's was put in a replica of the temple. Wherever that may be on earth that is where I would have to start, although it has been inactive for hundreds of years."
"I cannot send you alone."
"Then send my guards with me!"
"I do not want to risk losing you! That would be the end of the line!"
"Father I am eighteen and quite capable of this!"
"I won't allow it," he said as he rose from her bed and exited her chambers.
"Then with or without your help, I will do it," she said into the emptiness of her room.
