Shadowess: I am SOO sorry for such a late update! I hit a major writers' block and only managed to get out of it recently. This chapter is dedicated to Ray Rune and Blue Fire Lily.
Disclaimer: I do not not own anything in relation to Legend of Zelda.
Chapter IV: The Forest Temple, Part 1
With a gasp awake, Link shot up to a sitting position. He had just been in a foggy area with a warrior spirit but, he apparently had not moved from when that wolf of light pounced on him. He looked around and saw Nyx sitting beside him.
Nyx watched his facial expression change from twists of shock and caution to one of confusion and mild relief. "You were only out for a few minutes." She answered his unasked question.
The entire time that she sat there, she looked at their surroundings yet did not move from her spot. Each time she would glance at Link's unconscious form, she would think of Darren. The air never moved enough to touch her skin but apparently enough to stir the mist faintly.
It was almost hypnotic to watch the mist with only the faint sounds of their breathing to travel through the air.
Link nodded and stood up, allowing the newfound knowledge that he was taught to sink in entirely. "Alright. We should continue on."
Nyx stood up as well. "If you don't mind my asking, but what happened? The wolf leaped on to you and you fell unconscious."
"I was in a space where thick cloud mist surrounded everything, with the Castle off in the distance." He looked up to the unseen tree branches above them. "A warrior with undead red eyes approached me and taught me a technique that he called the 'Ending Blow'. It felt like I was actually fighting him." He rubbed his shoulder. "I can still feel the stiffness in my shoulder from when he knocked me back when I did it wrong the first time."
"Then that wolf must know you need different battle skills somehow..."
"The Goddesses must have sent him." Link smiled up to the unseen sky. "Well, now we should keep going on to the Forest Temple."
They walked on down through the tunnel that was set before them. It was dark for a moment before the path before them showed a wooden walkway with two creatures guarding a doorway that was sealed with a giant spiders' web.
"The Forest Temple must be up there." Link nodded to the situation ahead of them.
Nyx nodded. She didn't know where but somewhere, she would find the reason as to why she was here, and why she was the 'Missing Piece'. Maybe she could find something to ease the pain of her loss…
"Well, why don't you show off that new move you leaned?" Nyx crossed her arms, giving a small smirk his way.
"Very well. You get to see what I can do with the sword." He grinned at her before taking both sword and shield in hand. Nyx followed behind him down the path.
The two creatures saw Link and raised their weapons. Nyx watched as he charged at the two, taking them both on at once. She caught a glimpse of his eyes and saw the same fierceness as when he battled as a wolf.
One of the creatures were knocked down and instantly disintegrated in to a green stain. The other fell on to its stomach, wriggling in pain. Link leaped up and drove his sword down in to the creature's chest, killing it instantly. It dissolved like the others. He put his sword and shield away and looked to Nyx for her reaction.
"Now you'll get a blue ribbon if you can do that blind folded. That was quickly done." She gave a small laugh. She was impressed, but she had also never seen anyone battle with a sword against two creatures.
"I don't think I'd want to do that blind folded anyway." Link rubbed the back of his head. He looked at the web that covered the entrance.
"What do we do about this? I've never seen a web this large and thick before." Nyx looked over the sticky silk.
Link looked over the web before pulling out his lantern. "We should burn it." He lit it and held the exposed flame to the webbing. A flicker of fire touched the silk, making it combust and disappear in a flash. A dark rocky corridor was presented to them. "Let's go."
Together they walked through the darkness with only the lantern to light their way. Nyx pulled out the slingshot and another pebble, holding it ready. Wings flapped ahead of them. From above, a Keese flew straight down at them. Nyx fired and hit it, making it cry out in pain and fall to their feet, but not without its tail scratching Nyx's arm, only adding to the ones she already had.
"You alright?" Link asked, noticing the wound.
"Ya, I'm alright." Nyx looked at her arm. "Just a scratch."
Nothing else jumped out from the darkness. The atmosphere seemed to change as they ventured further. It started to become dank and murky. The humidity rose up only enough to be tolerable for a tropical area. They moved past a few small boulders and entered a moderately large chamber.
A light mist covered the dark area with only a few spots of lights peeking though the tree branches above. Scratching and clicking echoed through the air from their left. Deku Baba sprouts sat in the ground ahead of them, just past a couple of totem poles. Vines were along the walls and further up ahead, leading to a door.
Skulls with legs were scattered on the vines beyond reach. Nyx looked at them, recognizing photographs of them in Darren's book. They were like spiders, but she couldn't recall the name. She took out the slingshot and pulled back a pebble, aiming for the skull. The pebble flew and hit the target. With a high-pitch screech, it fell to the ground in a puff of smoke instead of dissolving in to a stain on the ground.
Link looked at her, then to the vines. "Well, you know how to take care of Walltula's quickly."
Ah yes, that's what it was called. She nodded to him then shot down the second Walltula on the vine. Link walked forward towards the tall poles, taking care of the Deku Baba via beheading. Nyx approached the vine wall. Above, there was a ledge that seemed strong enough to hold a load. Maybe something was up there.
Giving an experimental tug on the vine, she heaved herself up a foot off the ground. The vines were thick enough to hold her weight. She started to climb, with her body as close to the vines to keep her weight distributed to prevent her from falling back. Once she reached the ledge, she pulled herself on to it.
Link finally noticed that she wasn't behind him and looked around. "Nyx?"
"I'm up here!" she called down to him. At her feet was a chest that stood half-way up to her knees. "There's a chest up here. How do I open it?" Chests usually needed keys or some kind of combination code.
"Just lift up the lid. If it doesn't open, give it a kick at the lock."
Nyx knelt down and lifted the moss covered lid of the chest. She reached in and pulled out a palm sized yellow rupee. Not a rupee from India but a jewel that sparkled. She pocketed it and stood back up. "Okay, I'm coming back down."
"What did you find?" Link asked her as she slowly descended down the vines.
"It's a yellow rupee." Nyx released the vines when she was a few feet from the ground. She pulled out the rupee and handed it to him.
"Not bad. I have lots of rupees so you should keep this one. Whatever you find, you keep alright?" Link handed it back to her.
"What is this one worth?" Nyx asked.
"It's worth ten green rupees. You don't have rupees where you're from?" he asked.
"No. We have dollars and cents with coins and paper bills." Nyx said. She patted her back pocket and frowned. "I don't have my wallet or else I'd be able to show you."
"That's okay."
In the brief silence, a light cry from an animal was heard. It was familiar to the cry of the monkey they had encountered not too long ago. They both went forward to another set of totem poles. Another Deku Baba sprouted up but it was not alone. A purple-blue goblin came up with a club in its hand. Just beyond them was a hanging vine wall with a Walltula's clinging to the greens, and a wooden cage just behind the vine.
"You free the monkey and deal with those Walltula's. I'll handle these two." Link pulled his sword out at ready.
Nyx paused, noting his stance. Not very many people were left-handed, and Link apparently was. It was just another thing that reminded her of Darren…
Nyx looked up at Darren as they wrote on their homework before class. She was sitting beside him on his left, and he held his pen mirror to her.
"You're left-handed." She stated.
"That I am." He smiled at her. "I'm a lefty at almost everything."
"Well I'm right-handed at almost everything." She returned the smile.
"Hey, that makes you normal and me abnormal." He nudged her arm with his elbow.
"I could probably teach myself to be left-handed."
"I bet you could." Darren stretched his arms out in front of him, twirling the pen with his fingers. "Hey, you know that in most of the Zelda games that Link is left-handed? It's more noted that in his cartoon that he is right-handed."
"Another way that you idolize him, huh?" Nyx laughed lightly.
"Pretty much." He poked her with the pen. "I could probably mirror your moves if I wanted to with all the karate and cool stuff you do. We should try that one day!"
Nyx smiled and spun her pen in her fingers. "We should."
Mentally shaking that momentary flash out of her mind, she continued on to her task. Pulling out her slingshot, she killed the two Walltula's that threatened to jump out since they were so close to the ground. Once their smoke vanished in to the air, she went up to the cage where the monkey cried to be released from its prison.
Nyx looked all over the cage for a latch but couldn't find it. She would have to break the cage open. Taking hold of the top ledge, she readied herself. She didn't know how sturdy or what kind of wood was used to make this cage.
"Okay, you stay back and stay still." She told the monkey. To her surprise, it listened, taking cower in to a corner opposite of her. She took a breath and gave a forceful kick against two of the bars. They snapped, and her ankle stung for a moment.
Nyx pulled away the broken bars, giving enough space for the monkey to escape. The monkey climbed quickly up the hanging vine.
"That's the same monkey who stole your lantern earlier." Midna's voice resonated to her ears, making her turn to see her transparent shadow by Link. "Seems like she wants you to help with something. Maybe it has something to do with this temple." She disappeared back down in to Link's shadow.
Link grabbed the vine and pulled on it, finding no leeway in its structure. "Let's go up."
They climbed, with some difficulty at first since there was no solid hold to support the vines near the bottom, but they managed to reach the top of the wooden structure. The monkey jumped up and down at a round rock with a red swirl pattern on it. It almost seemed like a blockade.
"I think she wants to get through…" Nyx pondered. But there was no way through that she could see. It wasn't like they had any explosives or tools to get through that anyway. The monkey pushed on the rock, crying out to the two of them.
"I think it can be opened if we push on it. She seems to know what she's doing." Link said. He went up to the rock and put his hands on it. Nyx went up and placed her hands on to the smooth surface of the rock. "On three. One, two, three!"
The two of them pushed on to the rock, making it shift back and down slightly. It went in to a gutter and rolled away in to a slot in the wall. They walked in to the next chamber. Walking down the old wooden stairs, which threatened to break under each step, they surveyed the room.
Straight ahead, to the left, and to the right were doors similar to the one they just pushed. On a raised platform before them, there was a giant spider. It was larger than both Nyx and Link combined. The little monkey saw the spider and cowered in fear; scared to get hurt. The spider lurked around with its ever-glowing green eyes, large sharp fangs, and a skull-shaped thorax. It appeared very menacing.
"How do we get past the over-sized spider?" Nyx asked, catching a glimpse in to its glowing eyes.
"I'll take it down." He told her, pulling out his sword. "While I have it distracted, you look around on the lower level to see what you can find. Skulltulas are deadly if attacked head on; their weakness is from behind."
Nyx wondered for a moment on just how he knew that. Did he fight these before? It was like he had a monster dictionary in his head. Kind of like Darren each time she asked about what some creatures were that he doodled on his papers. She remembered him going on and on about all the different variations of the Darknut creature.
"Alright. Those things aren't venomous are they?" She asked. If those fangs scratched him, she would need to know if he was going to get poisoned.
"Actually, I don't know." He rubbed the back of his head.
So much for wealth of information. "Okay. Well let's not find out." Nyx made her way around the platform, looking back to see that the monkey had stayed on the rickety steps. To her right was a Deku Baba, shooting up to try and take a piece out of her body. She made a round kick on it, sending its head fly and hit against the wall.
Nyx could hear Link making his light cries of battle just above her against the creature. She could even hear the Skulltula's cries; whether they were of pain or anger, she couldn't tell. Continuing ahead, Nyx spotting something in the corner…
It looked like another spider but had only four legs. Its body was round with two shining red on the top of its bodice. Nyx raised the slingshot and loaded a pebble. It hit the creature. It screamed for a moment then fell over. It began to flash red.
"What…?" Nyx stepped a bit closer to it, stepping past a boulder. What was this thing doing? It wasn't dissolving in to the green goop like all the other creatures. Sparks started to come from the ridges of the body.
"Get away from it!" Link's voice came from above her.
Nyx ran behind the bolder just in time to get away from an explosion with the same impact as C4 in those action films. Her hands were covering her head.
"What the hell was that!?" Nyx exclaimed, looking around the boulder to see nothing but a black cloud of smoke.
"That was a Bombling." Link jumped over the edge down by her. He had defeated the spider with not a scratch on him.
"You attack it and it explodes?" Nyx ran her fingers through her hair.
"Pretty much." Link said. "Look. They re-spawn too." Another Bombling was standing in the place of the exploded one. "These guys are like double-edge swords. Watch this." He slashed at the creatures legs, causing it to crash to the ground and start to flash red like the previous monster. He picked it up and carried it over to the boulder. He dropped it down and pulled Nyx away from the boulder.
Pulling out his shield, he covered the two of them. Nyx watched from behind, watching the bomb monster explode against the stone. Hundreds of rock fragments flew into the air from the impact, with many hitting Link's wooden shield. The dust cleared, allowing Link to lower his shield.
Nyx looked at the area where the boulder was and noticed a small cavern in the wall. Inside was a small treasure chest. "You blew up the boulder, Link. You get the chest."
He nodded and went up to the chest, kicking the lid open. He pulled out a small red jewel. "It's a twenty rupee. Not bad." He smiled and pocketed it in to his wallet. Above both of them, the monkey was crying out for them. They went around and climbed up the center platform. The monkey was jumping up and down, pointing to the unlit torches.
"Maybe she wants you to light the four torches." Midna's shadow came up. "Who knows, something might happen if you do." She giggled and vanished from sight.
"Well, may as well. All the areas are too far to jump to. We don't have any rope or anything to get across either." Link shrugged, retrieving his lantern.
Nyx looked around. What good would lighting a bunch of torches do? This world was just too surreal to her liking… But then again, it was more interesting. She didn't know what to expect. Nyx was actually excited of what could happen.
Link lit the torches and the earth rumbled for a moment. Large heavy wooden stairs raised up, creating a path to get to the northern exit. How was that possible?
"Let's go." Link put the lantern away and ran up to the door, but skidding in mid step upon seeing a chest to his left. Nyx followed behind and noticed the chest as well. It was rather larger from what they have seen before. This one was a bit dusty but had no moss on it. It was relatively new compared to the others. He approached it and lifted up the lid with both hands with minor difficulty.
Nyx looked over his shoulder and saw a bunch of dirty white cloths covering something. Link reached in and pulled out a leather rolled-up scroll. Link unrolled it, revealing an elaborate map.
"It's a map of the dudgeon." Link said, reading it. "It even has a legend of what each room is called." He looked around to the room they were presently in then looked back to the map. "We are currently in the second chamber called 'Crossroads Hub'. The one just up ahead is called the 'Wind Gorge'."
"Why would someone leave a map in a chest?" Nyx asked, looking over the map.
Link only shrugged. "Maybe in case someone needs to get through?" He tucked the map in to his belt.
Nyx sighed. What kind of person leaves chests around with maps and coins around for anyone to take?
'The Goddesses.'
Whipping her head around, Nyx looked for the source of the voice. The Goddesses? Who said that? It sounded like…
"Darren…?" Nyx whispered, slightly confused.
"Did you say something, Nyx?" Link asked, looking to the monkey who was now waiting for the two of them to open the door before them.
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing." Nyx waved it off. She got up and walked with Link to the door. It seemed like the same kind of door that they pushed to get in to there. Without words, they pushed the door open, allowing it to slide in to the secret slot in the wall.
The monkey went through with the two of them in tow. Sun shone down on them through the trees, and wind breezed through the area in gusts. A rope bridge set the path before them to another door. The area was scattered with vine and moss covered wooden platforms. Those platforms turned with each gust of wind.
The monkey started across the bridge but stopped when it was halfway across. Nyx started to go towards it but Link stopped her by her shoulder. He was looking up to another area. She followed his gaze and noticed a huge white baboon on another path. It was holding a boomerang. It threw the boomerang, sending it down towards the wooden bridge!
The ropes of the bridge snapped, being severed by the boomerang before it returned back up to the red-butted baboon. The little monkey scrambled to get back but managed to grab hold of the boards before the bridge fell. It climbed back up quickly, retreating to Nyx's heels.
The baboon spanks its own buttocks down towards them in mock and joy before fleeing in to another part of the area; out of sight.
Midna came up from the shadows as the little monkey with a bow on its head went back to the doorway. "Well, seems you can't go that way thanks to the rude baboon up there. She seems to know where she's going so it'd be good to follow her." Midna nodded to the monkey before disappearing back in to Link's shadow.
"I've seen some weird monkeys but none able to throw a boomerang." Nyx recalled a field trip to the zoo in her younger years. It was a weird enough time then but this was just really strange.
"Well, monkeys are a civilization all on their own, so they probably taught themselves a lot of things that can surprise us; hence the boomerang trick." Link said, walking with Nyx back in to the Crossroads Hub chamber.
The monkey ran across the bridge that was created with the torches and urged them to come to the west side of the center platform. They went up to her just as she jumped up, ran across a beam above their heads, only to drop down in the middle of the beam. She held on only by her feet. She clapped her hands, and urged both Link and Nyx to come towards her.
"Does she want us to jump?" Nyx asked.
"Seems like it. It's not a far drop but I think she's going to swing us across if we catch her hands." Link noticed. "Do you want me to go first?" he grinned at her.
Nyx sighed. "I'm lighter; it'll be less stress on the monkey." Nyx positioned herself to run and jump towards the monkey. She took a deep breath and ran, leaping up. The monkey grabbed hold of her wrists, swinging her through the air. Timing it, Nyx jumped and landed on the edge of the platform. The little monkey clapped with apparent happiness.
She watched Link make the approach in a run. He pushed off the edge but went too far. His arms flailed as he missed the monkey's arms. He tried to twist his body to grab hold but it was too late… The monkey grabbed him by his foot. He swung back and forth, dangling by one leg.
A smile twitched on Nyx's face. She started to chuckle, then it erupted in laughter. Link's hair was hanging, his tunic hung a bit, and he was struggling to keep everything on him. He looked so funny! She clutched her ribs and fell on her knees in laughter.
"Yeah sure, laugh at the dangling hero." Link's voice was strained as the blood rushed to his head.
Nyx's eyes began to form tears from laughing. She hadn't laughed this hard for a long while, ever since Darren decided to do a handstand in the cafeteria. But apparently her laugh was contagious since Link soon started to laugh with her.
"Are you okay, Link?" Nyx finally managed to ask after a few moments of rib-jolting laughter.
"Oh yeah, I'm just hanging around." He chuckled.
Link got down and retried to jump, succeeding in getting across. He and Nyx, in their light chuckles, continued on.
Shadowess: Okay, was the start of the temple phase by phase good or bad? If I continue with this style, then the Forest Temple will be extending in to the next 6-7 chapters. I like detail, but I know not everyone likes that much excessive description. One review required to update this story! See profile for updating information. Reviews are love but not forced!