(A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been a while. I was busy finishing my fanfiction, Soul Chess, which is now 100% written. So now, as a means of furthering my skills as a writer, I felt that this fanfic in particular would yield the most results for me regarding how well I am as a writer. Since the last update I wrote out and entire script for the series so updates will be swift so long as college and other things don't get in my way. I estimate 30 chapters to this saga, but we'll see what happens. Regardless of what happens it will not drag on forever like Soul Chess did. Anyway, please enjoy the chapter I have worked up for you. I hope to have another one out later this week as this fic has now become my man fanfiction project).
Disclaimer: Legend of Zelda is the proud owned property of Nintendo
Fissure Caves
Link and his companions walked about the caves, but unfortunately were having no luck finding the Earth Temple and unfortunately Link was getting no resonance from his sword. Following Trixie's advice of the legendary right handed method had kept the group from getting lost, but unfortunately it had sucked up a lot of time and the group was now setting up camp, using an arrow planted in the ground from Link's quiver, to use as a marker so they knew which path to go down next.
Unfortunately, since Din hadn't counted on a fourth member joining the group, there weren't enough sleeping bags.
"Th-that's okay. I've been sleeping in the woods for days now. I don't need one," Nayru said politely. Link suggested that Nayru use his. "Oh, I couldn't possibly impose on you, Sir Link."
"Well the offer stands if you change your mind."
"Thank you," Nayru smiled.
As Link lay on the ground, head resting against a stone, Trixie was busy brushing her hair inside the tent, while Din took Nayru down a pathway into another clearing within the cave maze and lightly pushed her against the wall.
"Okay, I'm not buying it."
"Whatever do you mean? Have I done something wrong?" Nayru asked.
"That! That whole innocent cutesy thing," Din said, folding her arms, "I'm not falling for it!"
"I don't understand…this is…how I behave normally."
"Oh come on!" Din lamented. "Trixie is a princess and even she isn't as pampered as you!"
Nayru curtsied. "It would be unladylike of me to act any other way."
"So you're celibate?" Din asked.
Nayru blushed. "W-well no, but…" She blushed harder.
"So you're innocent then?" Din teased.
Nayru's blush remained. "U-union is such a sacred thing. I-I promised I wouldn't give myself up to anyone, but the man I fell in love with."
"Wow, you are such a tradionalist."
"Is it wrong to be?" Nayru asked, hinting anger.
"Aha! I knew it! You're getting angry," Din pointed with her finger.
"I am simply tired of this inane prodding, Din. I don't understand what I've done to offend you."
Din shrugged. "Nothing really, but I was just worried was all."
Nayru smiled. "You and Miss Trixie have warm feelings for Sir Link. I can tell. It's okay to admit to being a little jealous Din."
"J-jealous? Of you? Why would I be jealous of a pampered prude like you?"
"Your reaction betrays your words," Nayru said both seriously and whimsically.
Din folded her arms and rubbed her shoulder.
"Sir Link is a fine man, but I'd feel bad for Zelda if I came in between them."
"Ha! Didn't you hear tunic boy before? He and Zelda are just friends. If you like him, snag him. If you don't, I'll take him first."
"You shouldn't do that!" Nayru said, getting upset and raising her voice. "Princess Zelda and Sir Link belong together!"
Din pushed a finger against Nayru's forehead. "You'd better erase whatever primitive notions you have of love and romance between knights and damsels out of your head and wake up to reality. Link and Zelda aren't going steady so he's fair game. It's not stopping me and it shouldn't stop you either, but be warned if you do decided to go after him, cause I'm not your only competition." Din then gasped realizing she left Trixie and Link alone at the campsite. She rushed back to it only to relax to find that they were nowhere near each other and in relaxing positions.
Nayru studied Din's odd behavior and let what she said sink in. She meandered on back to the campsite and sat down on the rock Link was resting against and took out her lyre. She began playing on it. The music was so soothing that Din and Trixie both began falling asleep, though that was Nayru's aim. As a bard she could play melodies that could affect specific genders and species in different ways. In this particular instance her melody was meant to affect anything that was not full-blood Hylian.
Nayru's intentions were pure, but she wanted to still speak with Link one on one without dragging him away from the campsite.
"That was a lovely melody," Link told Nayru.
"Thank you," she smiled, taking the compliment. "Zelda told me she once gave you an ocarina. Is that true?"
Link pulled out a blue ocarina from his pocket. It was a replica of the fabled Ocarina of Time that was kept locked in the Royal Family Vault. Zelda had given Link the ocarina for his birthday, having had one of the guards deliver it to his home, before Link joined the Royal Guard.
"Oh, you actually have it. Do you play?"
Link nodded and began to play the Song of Time that was supposed to have been played by the Hero of Time in ancient Hylian lore.
"Oh I think I know that song. It's a little hard to play on the lyre. Tell me, does this sound familiar?" Nayru played a 5/8 note string on her lyre. Link repeated it on his Ocarina. It was an old favorite of the Bard's college: the Serenade of Water.
"You're really good at that," Nayru complimented, putting her lyre back down.
Link changed the subject. "So you're Zelda's pen pal?"
"Well I used to live in Hyrule's Market District, but then I moved away to the college. I'm nobility. Zelda and I were good friends growing up in town. I was a frail girl when I was little so I didn't go to public school, else we would've met around the same time you and Princess Zelda did."
"Do you like being a bard?"
"Well I like being both a bard and a mage. It's tough learning both crafts, but I'm used to it by now. If you've got the aptitude, don't let anything stop you. That's their creed."
"I noticed you and Din talking earlier."
"Oh…that. That was nothing. Actually…is there something going on between you and her? She seems rather attached to you."
"Nothing serious," Link told her, which was sort of true. He and Din were interrupted when they had been fooling around before anything interesting happened.
"Din seems to think I'm competition," Nayru said, "I think you'd be a perfect match with Princess Zelda."
"Zelda…" Link trailed off.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"No, it's okay."
Nayru slumped off of the rock and sat down next to Link with her hands folded across her stomach. "Link…can I ask you a personal question?"
"I swear the old hag was dead when I arrived!"
Nayru looked to the side feeling like she just walked into something she didn't want to know about. "…NOT that type of personal question. I was going to ask if you think I'm attractive." Nayru sat up and put her hands on her knees to wait for Link's answer.
"Well you're very cute."
Nayru flushed. No boy had ever called her cute before. It was always 'nerd' or 'babe' or 'ice queen' all of which she regarded with a sense of shyness, especially the second one since she was a girl looking for love, not lust.
Nayru bit her lip and then came out with. "I lied earlier about not wanting to impose. The truth is…this is my first night in these woods. Yesterday I was in a village the northwest of here and before that I was in Kakariko Village. I'm…actually really scared of nature at night."
"I'll protect you."
Nayru thought her heart was going to stop for a moment. "Th-that's so sweet of you Li—no bad Nayru, he's Zelda's sweetheart, not yours."
"I'm a knight. It's my duty to protect others."
Nayru felt a little more relaxed. "D-don't confuse me like that. I…I'm not used to such chivalry."
"It's not chivalry to do the right thing."
"You're so sweet, Sir Link."
"You don't have to be so formal."
"B-but you're a knight. I-I know I'm a noble, b-but it wouldn't be right if…"
"It's because we're friends."
"O-oh…stop that. You're really going to give me a heart attack," Nayru told him.
"You're so cute when you're embarrassed."
"You're doing that on purpose!"
Link sat up and looked at her. "And if I am?"
"Th-that's wrong. You shouldn't play with a girl's heart like that."
"Who says I'm playing? Aren't I allowed to like you?"
"A-as a friend?"
"That's up to you," Link told her.
"I-I see." Nayru's heart was beating a mile a minute. She was so embarrassed. She'd only just met Link and here she was having unclean thoughts about him despite her thoughts that he and Zelda made such a cute couple.
"So…do you want my sleeping bag?"
"Y-yes, thank you."
Nayru took Link's sleeping bag while Link stayed against the rock. After a short while, he hadn't fallen asleep and Din came out of the tent. "Hey, tunic boy, there's room for two, you coming in?" Link raised an eyebrow. "Oh please, I'm not that foolish, just thought you might like to have something to sleep in. Not to mention," Din forcefully shuddered, "It's awfully cold all alone in my bag."
"Well we can't have that," Link joked.
Din laughed. "I heard you and Nayru talking to each other. I was pretending to sleep. Her little sleep spell didn't knock me out cause I'm half-Hyliain," she beeped Link's nose. "You're such a player, tunic boy, but I don't care. You can be however you want, so long as I get a piece of you."
Din brought Link into the tent with her and let him squeeze inside of her sleeping bag with him before clinging to him. "Mmmm, like I thought you're very warm. Goodnight, Link."
"Night, Din."
The Next Morning
At the break of dawn, Link and his companions continued through the maze of caves and eventually they were able to find the right spot. The entrance that led to the Earth Temple couldn't have been more obvious considering that in its particular part of the cave maze there were large pillars carved to look like what appeared to be a cross between a Wolfos and an Armos. On the back wall above the entrance there were glowing, green runes arranged in a half-circular pattern with one big rune in the center of the circle.
The entrance itself was just some stairs descending downward with the only light shining in being the sunlight itself. Din made some flame with her hand.
"We should be able to navigate like this," she said. The others agreed and proceeded downward into the dark cave, rustling and awakening the Stalfos and Armos that lurked within and lighting the torches so that they could find their way out later.
Eventually the group reached a rather large room, but it was surprisingly well lit with green flame adorned torches all around the upper sides of the room. There was a gray, cubic rock formation in the center.
"Jeez how far down have we come that this room can stretch on this tall?" Din questioned looking up at the ceiling.
Trixie was already on the other side of the room. The door was locked tighter than the royal family vault. "Yeah there's no getting through here," she remarked.
"You think it has something to do with that rock formation?" Din questioned.
"That's not a rock formation," Nayru stated as she stepped forward and brought out her harp. She yanked on one particular string so harshly that Din and Link had to cover their ears from being in such close proximity to the grating noise.
Suddenly one of the rocks obtained a pair of glowing, green eyes and the formation began to gather together in a gigantic hominid mass forming a golem of rock. The golem beat its chest and roared.
"Well," Din said, twirling her hammer, "This shouldn't be that hard. Yo, tunic boy. You got some explosives? Cause that could help real well with this."
With his massive fist the golem struck forward at Din, but it missed. With her hammer, Din smashed the hand into dust after striking it a few times. Link plucked a bomb out of his satchel and rolled it in between the golem's feet. The rocks cracked from the impact so Link plucked a bomb out and chucked it at the large body, cracking it further.
"Might want to leave this to me Link," Din said, stretching her legs, "I think I've got the best shot at a quick and easy finish."
The Golem tried to bring its fist down upon Din. The half-gerudo dodged and with a few strikes of her hammer turned the fist to dust. The golem stomped with its foot and created a quake. Everyone except for Trixie was disoriented.
"Whoa!" Din exclaimed. "Like that I can't get close."
Link called for Trixie with a wave of his hand and a battle cry. "Right, got it Link." The princess of the sky fairies lifted Link up off his feet and carried him into the air to which Link began unloading his arsenal of bombs upon the golem, dealing significant damage, but not enough to destroy the whole creature and now Link was out of bombs. However, the golem was thoroughly cracked.
Trixie dropped Link down who tried a strike with his sword, but it didn't even scratch the cracked being. Link was flung away by the Golem and somersaulted backwards while in the air to reach a safe landing.
"I got it!" Din exclaimed and then called to Trixie. "Hey Princess do to me what you did to tunic boy!"
Trixie got Din's idea, but rather than carry the woman she concocted a whirlwind beneath Din's feet and sent the hammer-wielding thief airborne. Spinning forward with her hammer in both hands Din flipped through the air and brought the Megaton hammer down on the Golem's skull, shattering it. Din then fell from the air. Link caught her as she fell.
"Oh, well, fancy meeting you here," she chuckled. Link just smiled nervously and let Din get to her feet.
A treasure chest magically appeared in the center of the room. Link approached the chest and opened it. Inside was a pair of heavy Iron Boots. The poor guy could barely hold the up, much less hoist them above his head.
"Whoa those look heavy? Can you even wear them?" Trixie asked.
Link tried on the boots, but found that he couldn't even take a single step forward in them. They were too heavy for his feet.
"Let me try," Din requested earnestly. Unfortunately as it turned out she had even more trouble than Link as she wobbled back and forth in place while trying to move. She lost her balance and banged her back against the treasure chest. "Dammit, these things are ridiculously heavy."
"Why can't you move in them?" Link asked.
Din stepped out of the boots. "Power bracelets don't increase your leg strength, only your arms. I'd need power anklets to wear boots that heavy or you'd have to be used to moving in heavy armor, though I doubt anklets are made or found anywhere in Hyrule."
"So what do we do with them?" Naryu asked.
Link wordlessly just stepped forward and put them in his bag of unlimited space.
"I guess we could take them with us for now," Trixie noted. "They might come in handy at some point." Link agreed.
The door to the room opened magically and the group was allowed to proceed. Inside the room there was a giant switch, bigger than the golem's fist from earlier and a door with a magic barrier preventing the others from proceeding forward. The switch was also very heavy. No matter how many times Link jumped on it, it didn't even budge.
"Stand back," Din said and prepared her hammer. She swung at the switch overhead, but it barely budged and then just returned to its neutral position.
"Damn this is a pretty heavy switch."
Nayru had an idea, "Sir Link, if you were to wear those boots from earlier and land from higher up, "She pointed to the high rising ceiling, "Gravity might be able to do the rest."
"Then Trixie can levitate me with her magic," Link stated.
"I could launch you into the air myself. Wearing those boots is one thing, but lifting them wouldn't be a problem."
"I have faith in Trixie's magic," Link stated.
"Fine, it was just a suggestion," Din told him.
Link nodded to Trixie who forced a gusting whirlwind underneath Link after he had positioned himself in the center of the switch and put on those ridiculously heavy iron boots.
Trixie then cancelled her spell and Link fell from the air onto the switch. The switch slammed down about three-quarters of the way before popping back out into its upright position.
"Higher!" Link exclaimed.
"You could get hurt," Trixie told him.
"I'll manage," Link responded.
Trixie sighed at Link's recklessness, but did as he suggested. She whipped up another levitating gale and lifted Link as high into the air as she could. Link was almost touching the ceiling now. She then dispelled her spell and Link slammed down onto the switch, feeling slightly disoriented from the impact, but the switch was pressed in all the way and the glowing barrier disintegrated, allowing Link and the others to proceed onward.
Strangely enough the barrier was blocking a long upward staircase and when the group exited the staircase they were now outside. The area was rectangular shaped, almost square, and there were grass and flowers set up in this boxy area. Four trees with pink petals were positioned in rather strange locations around the area as if to be the corners of an arena within the meadow. At the far end of the clearing there was a large stone altar where there sat a statue of Emerald and his namesake's gem gripped tightly in the statue's talons. The sun was shining over head. The stone "walls" around this spot of the caves from earlier reached high into the air, but the open area was wide enough for Argant to land.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Din exclaimed. "We could've just flown to this spot?"
"Oh if you had I would not have appeared," responded a disembodied voice. A gentle wind blew, as the petals began to blow and finally a figure stood before the group. It was a woman with green hair styled in pigtails, wearing a black cloak over regal looking leather armor, complete with fingerless gloves. The cloak had a green emerald embedded in it acting as a pin to the armor. A sword was planted firmly in the ground in front of her, stretching about half her body length, which was about a head shorter than Link. The blade had an intricate dark blue handle and its guard was curved at the tips. The woman had green eyes and was wearing a silver circlet with a jade lodestone embedded at the center front of the accessory. "My name is Farore I am the champion of the long since extinct Kokiri people. My essence is tethered to this temple by the will of the Great Deku Tree who now watches over the Deku Children, who inherited the forest from us."
"Why did the Kokiri go extinct?" Link asked.
"The Kokiri were a race of children. As such reproduction was next to impossible and so during the comings and goings of many generations eventually war and strife took its toll on the forest and we were unable to survive."
"But you're an adult," Link pointed out.
"In times long since passed, there was a Kokiri named Saira, who was deemed the Sage of the Forest. As such she had permission to leave the forest if she wished. However, doing so removed her childhood immortality and she was able to age and grow old. She mated with a Hylian whom she shared a special bond with and through that I was born.
"However, in leaving the forest, a few of the other Kokiri believed that they too could do the same, not realizing that she had such a blessing and many died. Panic swept through the forest and soon creatures from the Lost Woods and parasites that had made their homes in the dead husk of the forest guardian, the Great Deku Tree, began to overrun the forest.
"To protect the forest, my mother let out all of her sagely power to produce a Deku Saproling, but in doing so, because she had left the forest once before, she died for the forest. My father and I then fought side by side and we cleansed the forest of its would-be destroyers. After that, he left the forest, to where I knew not, but I stayed. The forest had been my home since I was a little girl and someone had to protect the Deku Sapling in case those creatures came back.
"Because of my Kokiri Blood my body aged twice as much as the average Kokiri and then halted. I outlived my father and the Deku tree began to grow under my watchful eye. I became not only its guardian, but the guardian of all life in the forest. As generations passed further, the old Deku tree withered away, but unfortunately the new one did not seem to be growing any time soon. The forest had been tainted by the creatures that had overrun it generations ago and the fairies who had lost their Kokiri companions were migrating north to what is now known as the pixie forest. A disease ate through the forest that I was not affected by because of my Hylian blood, but I watched each and every other Kokiri die and the Deku Children become the new people of the forest.
"When the age of the dragons finally came, as the last Kokiri, I swore allegiance to the element of the earth and the Deku Sapling that had yet to fully sprout. And now, for generations, I have been the protector of these uprooted caves of Emerald's power, the remains of what used to be the Kokiri forest. This spot, this very spot that I stand in was my mother's sacred haven in a place known as the Sacred Meadow. The temple you just traveled through is a reconstructed land of the old Lost Woods, the new one now residing beyond the Ebony Woods and leading to the Haunted Meadows. Does that satisfy your thirst for knowledge, Hero of Fate?"
Link nodded.
"Good," Farore grabbed her sword with both hands and lifted it up before slamming it down towards the earth, erecting a green-tinted magical barrier that used the Sakura trees as its corners. Farore then held her blade up by her face so that her green eyes peered through the spaces between the curved points of the guard and the center. "This blade once had the power to repel evil, but over time it is simply a relic of its former self. It is the legendary blade known as the Master Sword, a blade wielded by those with extreme courage. Hero of Fate, prove your courage to me." Farore took a stance that had her body turned with her left food leading forward, knees bent, right arm tucked in at her side, left arm extended so that the blade of her sword and her finger tips met at approximately the same length, "Defeat me in combat so that I may do my duty as Guardian of both the element of Earth and the Forest of Old!"
Link prepared his sword and shield as another gentle wind blew around the battlefield, knocking some petals loose from the trees. As they settled he rushed forward to meet Farore headlong into combat. The incomplete dragonforce sword met with the elder master sword as sparks flew. Link swung forward, but Farore dodged to the side and performed a mobile spin attack. Link steeled himself with his shield as her blows impacted his equipment.
Without skipping a beat, Farore charged in with fast stabbing strikes too fast for Link to keep up with so, again he needed to use his shield to defend himself. As Farore made one last forceful stab, which sent an impactful force against the barrier behind him, the Hero of Fate performed his rolling parry attack as he rolled along the ground and around Farore and popped up from the ground, spinning and slicing into the air as he slashed her up the side of her back. He then managed to make a few more successful strikes before Farore managed to put her blade between Link's blade and her body. Her left hand then began glowing and she created sharp stalactites out of the earth, forcing Link to keep his distance and avoid her magic prowess with the earth element. Farore then ran forward and jumped up onto one of the risen stalactites and then jumped at Link overhead with a downward thrust. The ground shook with the thunderous impact of her landing.
As Farore made to get her blade out of the ground and turned to get to Link with a wide, outward swing, the Hero of Fate dodged her fearsome swing and managed to get a few more successful strikes in on the forest guardian, injuring her casting arm. Farore then put both hands on her blade and with fearsome, powerful swings swung at the ground and created a row of stalactites, one of which caught Link from underneath and sent him flying into the air. With magnificent power and speed, Farore pushed up from a stalactite and got up over Link's head.
She rushed in at Link with magnificent power and speed. However, feeling his life threatened, Link's adrenaline boost kicked in and he got his shield up just in the nick of time to block Farore's incoming assault. She then came up from below. Link turned swiftly to block her again. Farore bounced on her highest made stalactite and then charged at Link from above, letting gravity do the rest of the work for her. However, with his heightened senses Link not only dodged her strike, but her cut her right along the throat, severing an artery. Farore reached the ground, face first, her body bleeding out like crazy as Link fell backwards onto the ground, but managed to get up. Farore's body dissipated into petals as the barrier disintegrated and her body formed again in front of Emerald's statue. However, now it was transparent.
"Well done, Hero of Fate," Farore told him. "You have proven that Hyrule is in good hands."
"Farore…"
"I am proud to have been defeated by a warrior like you. Do not despair. I am not dead. Guardians are everlasting until the day that the dragons roar no more. For my mother, for my father, for the Kokiri, for the Deku Tree of old and the one that did not grow, I will always guard this place."
Farore's body then faded into a burst of pink petals as the claws on Emerald's statue retracted, allowing Link to obtain the green gem. The blade he wielded now had evolved into the Fusion Blade. With the power of Emerald flowing through it, the sword had gained the capacity to cut solid metal.
As Link's bag shined brightly with green energy he reached into the satchel for the Iron Boots, which were now gilded gold with a greenish-turquoise color. As Link fitted them to his feet, he found that he was rather limber in these metal shoes, though not as limber as his usual footwear.
"Those boots appear to have been enchanted by Emerald's power. If you were to impact them forcefully against something, Sir Link, I bet they would react with all the force that they did as before, but now at least you can wear them normally," Nayru explained.
"You sure know a lot," Din commented.
"Well I am a scholar," Nayru curtsied.
Link was about to call for Argant when the dragon appeared of his own accord. "Master we must make great haste to Kakiriko village. It is under attack!"
"No time for rest it seems," Din glanced back at Naryu, "You coming with us?"
"Yes, of course."
"You sure, it'll be dangerous," Din told her.
"I'm not a rigid pacifist, Din," Nayru said with a frown, "Argant the Fire Dragon, please take us to Kakiriko Village."
"At once," Argant said and with that Link and his three companions set off to see what it was that was brewing trouble in one of Hyrule's major settlements.
To be continued…
(A/N: So yeah for those of you that thought that Farore was going to become Link's 5th companion, boy did I just sink that theory into the ground and I even did a semi-decent job at explaining what happened to the Kokiri. It's a bit sad, but hey it's been several generations since Ocarina of Time. For those of you who are wondering exactly when this would be taking place, I'd wager, if you look at the official Zelda timeline it would be a LONG time after Four Swords Adventures. So you'll see a couple of nods to that game, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword and some of the other games that fit to that timeline. Strangely enough the only game in that timeline I haven't played is Majora's Mask and the original Four Swords. I hope you OoT fans could discern exactly what Farore was referring to about her history. I don't know if things would work exactly like that, but hey I'm taking liberties. I am going to the lab where I'll be for the rest of the day. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and there's more on the way. Ja ne!)