The Forgotten Temple
The following morning, something awful happened in Clock Town. By a strange dark power, prices on goods and other such things suddenly dropped everywhere.
As panicked reports came into the office of the quirky Clock Town mayor, the mayor made changes to his large market chart that showed the state of the town's economy. "Everything's losing value at a tumbling rate!" he exclaimed, glaring at the steep downward line on the chart. "It's the end of the world!" He screamed and threw papers everywhere and sent the Cuccos in his office flying.
Time was running out. The people of Clock Town were fighting in the marketplace, grabbing, shoving, and trampling each other to hoard goods and prepare for oncoming poverty. The Clock Town guards were overwhelmed, and try as they may to stop the chaos their efforts were in vain, for they too were trampled.
Upon their eventual arrival at the Stone Temple – a towering structure in the middle of a lonely canyon – Tael spoke to Link.
"You say the goddess of Termina is Majora?" he asked. "And you say she is the one bearing vile curses upon the land? If she brought Termina into being, why would she curse it?" Link had no answer.
Tael followed Link as he rode Epona into the temple. Once inside they saw that the Stone Temple was quite empty, but it was also lit by torches holding everlasting blue flames. They went down a few halls and climbed up a number of stairs. Eventually they came to the temple sanctuary, a place scarred with cracks and holes and other signs of neglect. In the center of the room, the tall statue of a woman stood on a round platform.
And there in front of the statue floated Navi, Link's fairy friend that he had been searching for!
Link called out her name and who he was in his unrecognizable Zora form, and she turned to him at the sound of his voice.
"No!" she shrieked suddenly. "Link, is that you?! You were not supposed to come here!"
A hissing sound reached Link's ears, and the head of a giant centipede squirmed out of a hole in the floor. Epona reared in fright, and Link leaped down from her to ready himself for battle. Then, a second centipede appeared from behind the shadows. But the centipedes crawling along the sides of the room were not two. They burst through a cracked wall, emerging as two heads on one body.
Link tried to attack the centipede monster, but one of its heads twisted its neck and slammed him across the hard floor. As Link struggled to get up, the other head prepared to lunge at him with its hideous fangs.
"Farore, O' Farore!" Navi called urgently. "Save this boy! I beg you to reach through Majora's prison and lend him aid!"
Navi's prayer was answered, for as the monster began to strike a ray of green light burst from the statue of the woman. In a white flash the ray sliced the monster in half. The monster's detached heads screeched and withdrew into the shadows.
The same ray struck Link, but it shed his Zora form and returned him to his human form. At long last he was free of his curse, and he had gotten back his sword and shield, too!
As Link recovered, Navi flew to him. "Why did you come here?" she demanded. "From the looks of your cursed form and the monster that attacked you, Majora has you in her sights. And by the way, who is this fairy?"
Tael performed a fairy's bow to Navi and told her his name. Link asked her how she knew about Majora, the one he believed was wreaking havoc on Termina.
"Farore, the Goddess of Courage," Navi began, "was clawed from the heavens by Majora, the Goddess of Light and Darkness, with whom she shared power to create all living beings. Unto Hyrule Farore gave life, and unto Termina, Majora. But Majora's creatures are darker in spirit, and they have embittered and angered her, causing her blackened heart to corrupt the land. Once she destroys it, she will use Farore's power to make it anew."
Link then asked Navi what she was doing at the Stone Temple. "Majora had cursed Farore and trapped her in this statue for her purposes, then moved the statue here, the temple that her people abandoned," Navi replied. "Farore cried out to me in her imprisoned state to bring you here and free her, as your heart is close to pure and most able to withstand Termina's evils. But I didn't want to put you in danger. I wanted to do this myself and let you live like a normal boy. That's why I left that night without telling you."
When Link firmly told Navi he was worried about her, she confessed, "I thought that because I was Farore's chosen fairy, I could free her. I cannot, no matter what I try. But now that you are here, with your courage she can escape, and we can leave this world."
Link then asked Navi if they could save Termina, instead of leaving it to death at Majora's hands. Navi replied coldly, "Termina's fate is to be destroyed. Its people are nasty and without remorse. Once you free Farore, we shall return home, to Hyrule." Tael shuddered at Navi's heartless feelings for his home.
But when Link thought of home, he thought of Zelda, the young princess of Hyrule who was wise beyond her years, and who was also his best friend. "In Hyrule, there are many good people and there are a few bad people," he remembered Zelda telling him once as the two sat on a grassy hill overlooking the Hyrulian kingdom. "When I become queen, I vow to protect them all. It might sound foolish of me, but even those who are bad deserve compassion, as long as they are able to part from evil."
Link reminded himself of the spark of goodness in Termina's people, and after returning from his memories, he arose and loudly expressed his wish to save Termina from Majora's wrath.
Navi did not believe his words at first, and said with much shock in her voice, "You are willing to save a world that is putrid?!" Link answered yes, and said he wanted to do what Princess Zelda would think was right.
"The Princess?" Navi answered in dismay. She was then startled by a message from Farore. "Farore has spoken to me," she said with a gasp. "She has agreed to aid you in subduing Majora. Why, I cannot understand. She says, 'Now, Link, bow and draw me out of my dark prison.' That is her wish to you."
Link kneeled in front of the statue of the woman and opened his heart to Farore. Green light beamed from the statue and flew into his sword, making it glow and crackle in the sword's sheath like lightning. When he stood and drew the sword out, he beheld its radiance. He was holding the very power of the goddess Farore within his grasp.