The Legend of Zelda

Secrets of the Lost Woods

Chapter 7: Nature that Corrupts, Part 1


Link and Saria were both baffled at the sight of the tremendous fortress. Ancient, worn down, and very big, the giant wooden structure stood like a mighty sentinel in the huge clearing. Link had never seen a castle before, but based on the stories he had been told he was sure to mistake this mighty structure as one, for it was complete with ramparts, portcullis, and other bits and pieces of architecture that, though wooden, made it look all the more like a tremendous castle-like structure.

The darkness was foreboding. Even though the mighty structure was in the middle of a clearing, the branches of the grove spread over the mighty fortress and covered it up like a tremendous, dark roof, choking out the sunlight and blotting out anything save the firelight. Link felt himself shiver. He wasn't scared of the dark, but even in this foreboding place he could not help but feel afraid.

"What is this place?" Link asked.

"I...I think I heard stories of this back when I was younger," Saria said, "Mother once told me that the Skull Kids often visited in a great house far to the east, and that I was never to venture too far, or I would become their prisoner. I always thought she was just making fun to get me to sleep, but…now I guess she was right."

As they stared on, darkness seemed to settle in further. Link glanced and suddenly saw that the green fog was encircling the firelight, choking it and attempting to put it out. The light continued its flickering dance, however, and cast aside the dark fog. Link quickly reached down and grabbed another stick from the burning limbs.

"Here," Link said, "Take my torch. You may need it."

Saria was rather hesitant when Link offered her the burning limb, but took it anyway, carefully keeping the flames away from her skin. The two of them slowly began to explore the clearing to see if they could get inside. They were careful to keep away from the huge "waterfall" of fog that poured out of the great structure, knowing full well that death awaited them if they came too close.

As they continued to search for a way in, Saria suddenly squealed. Link turned around and quickly went to her side, preparing to draw his sword if there was danger. However, he saw that Saria was simply startled, and he could see why.

There, lying in the dirt, was the dead body of a strange, humanoid-like creature, its body covered in dead leaves. What was left of its skin was shriveled up like dead bark; its bones, which looked like the inside of dead tree limbs, were sticking out at odd angles from beneath its bark-like skin. Clutched in its hand was a long staff-like object, which was carved so that it was in the shape of a lever.

Link would have bent down on one knee if it weren't for the deadly fog. He simply gazed down in sorrow at the body, which was no bigger than that of a child. Save for its black, skull-like face, it may as well have been a young Hylian for all he knew. He could not help but feel sorry for the dead, and felt rage at whomever, or whatever, was causing this deadly fog.

"Who do you think it was?" Link asked as he gazed down at the body.

"A Skull Kid, by the looks of him," Saria said, "You can tell; his body is covered in leaves and his face is completely black. They usually wear masks to cover it."

Link gazed down further at the body. There was barely the stink of rotting leaves, but nothing else. The Skull Kid could have died months earlier for all he knew; it would explain how his bones could be seen so easily. There was no mistaking the source of the death, however. The hand clutching the throat of the creature indicated that it choked to death; very likely on the beginning forms of the fog before it made its way to the Kokiri Forest. It would mean that whatever had caused all of this trouble had started just about at the time when Saria first woke up…

"Look!" Saria said, pointing to a row of stairs nearby. They blended in so well with a group of bushes and smaller trees that they would have been completely lost from view had Saria not seen them.

"That must be the way up," Link said, "Let's get going."

The two friends followed the flight of stairs, leaving the dead body alone in the gloom.


The climb up the great stairs took much longer than Link had thought. He was already tired from the long walk over to the grove, and the climb wasn't helping his sore muscles. As they made their way up, he was glad that they had finally made it out of the reach of the fog below, which lapped at the sides of the great stairs like a deadly ocean of green.

Finally, they reached the end of the stairs. Link could not help but groan when he saw that the ending of the stairs was all that there was. There was a large gap between the stairs and the beginning of the great fortress in front of them. A great door, like a drawbridge, stood agape, hanging barely and looking as if it had been in disrepair for many a year. Fog poured out from within as if there was a chamber full of the stuff inside.

It was a given. There was no real way that the two of them could get inside; not with the drawbridge in its current situation anyway. Link could see right away that they had to find a new way inside, though it would probably take weeks to find a way in.

I don't even think the Forest has weeks, Link thought. At this rate, the whole place will die within a fortnight. I don't even think there's any chance it will recover from this gaping wound.

"We're probably going to have to turn back," Saria said, "There doesn't look like a way in."

"Don't be so sure," Link said, "I've heard about Castles. Save for a couple of smaller gates that are usually kept hidden, there's only one real entrance. It might take us a long time to find another way in."

Saria looked downhearted. It seemed almost as if a bit of hopelessness descended upon the two friends. However, she suddenly noticed something interesting on the drawbridge.

"Those ropes keeping the drawbridge together look as if they are made of vines," she said, "Take a look. Do you see?"

Link looked over where she was pointing. Sure enough, the "ropes" keeping the whole thing together as best as they could were, in fact, vines. It didn't take long for Link to see where Saria was going.

"I suppose that a bit of magic might fix this thing," Link commented with a smile.

"That's just what I was thinking," Saria said. She stood forward. "Give me room. I've been charging my mana ever since I saw these trees. Their defenses were thick, but their life forces are strong enough that they could lend me the extra energy that I could use. It's time I used them."

Saria stood still on the edge of the stairway, giving Link her torch as she concentrated on her goal. Closing her eyes, she relaxed and brought her hands together. Clasping them above her heart, she slowly put forth the energy needed through her body. Her hands began to grow bright green, forming two spheres of green light that shone throughout the forest gloom.

She suddenly opened her hands and pointed one at the drawbridge. A beam of light shot through the gloom and struck the door, sending life into the great structure. Suddenly, vines began to shoot out of their respective places, launching themselves off towards the slots in the wall and reaching deep into where the vines were supposed to go. Suddenly, there was a clanking sound; like the clanking of chains and gears. The drawbridge began to right itself, closing the gaps and denying the fog an access point out of the structure. There was a sudden clamping sound, and the doorway shut, completely unmoving in the darkness.

Saria allowed the last of the energy she had in her to return to her body, and then sighed. As she gazed at her work proudly, Link and Saria both realized that there was still something wrong.

"Well, the drawbridge is working," Link said, "But I think it's still shut."

"Do you think there's any way we can get it open?" Saria asked.

"We could try getting the plants to lower it down for us," Link queried.

Saria nodded in agreement. She began to concentrate again and summoned more of her green magic into her hands. This time, she stood in a strange stance, her right leg brought back a foot or two and her left hand reaching forward. Flashing her fingers about, she began to weave energy back and forth across towards the drawbridge. As she did, her hands continued to glow, sending out sparkles that went in a weaving motion towards the wooden planks of the drawbridge and back again.

Finally, she stopped. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her hands and turned to her friend.

"I can't get through," she said glumly, "There seems to be a barrier on the other side…probably the fog. Anyway, it's not working. We'll have to do it manually."

Link groaned. How the heck were they going to open a stupid drawbridge door? As he gazed hopelessly on over at the other side, his eyes began to wander around towards the end of the stairway where they stood. Suddenly, he spotted something rather odd.

"Hang on a sec," Link said as Saria was just about to go back downstairs, "I found something."

Saria approached the strange groove cut into the wood, which in turn had a strange object poking out. Link couldn't exactly tell what it was, only that it could fit a stick of some sort.

Saria's eyes gleamed. "I'll be right back," she said. Without another word, she dashed back downstairs and towards the fog below. When she came back up again, she was clutching the strange stick that was held in the dead Skull Kid's hands just a few moments earlier.

"What are you going to do with that?" Link asked as she approached.

"If you take a good look at the base of this thing, you'll find out!"

Link took a look. While one end of the stick was polished with a handle-like grip, the other end had a series of carved grooves along it. One of these grooves happened to cut in deeper than the others, as if it was meant to hold something.

"It's a lever!" Saria said excitedly, "You can use it to lower the drawbridge! Mother told me about how they work when I was younger. You just put the stick in here…"

She shoved the stick into the wedge. There was a strange clicking sound.

"…turn it a bit here…"

As she spun the stick a bit, there was a clanking sound. Saria experimentally pulled on it and smiled to see that it had locked in place.

"Now, you just push hard enough…"

With a mighty heave, Saria pushed down on the lever. There were several clanking and grinding sounds as she did, but it seemed to get the job done. There was finally a very loud crunching noise, as if something deep inside whatever mechanism she was working had managed to give way and began moving along slowly.

Saria and Link hadn't asked themselves what would happen once the drawbridge went down. It all happened so fast, that neither of them were completely sure of what all took place, even when it was all over. However, there was no denying the nearly fatal error that had happened the moment that Saria chose to push down and open the gates.

The huge boards of the drawbridge swung down fast. As it crashed at the edge of the stairs, huge, billowing clouds of green fog suddenly poured forth from the inside of the fortress. Though most of it went over the sides, it certainly wasn't enough to stop the monstrous and deadly gas from tumbling over their heads.

Link felt time slow to a standstill. Saria was standing dumbstruck at the wall of sickly green that was heading their way. For a moment, Link could not help but feel sorry for her, and anger suddenly filled deep in his heart; anger in the Goddesses for the fact that, once again, they were going to deny him everything.

And yet, the anger died away. He didn't care about the foul hatred inside of him. He wanted more than ever to protect his friend…his best friend…his only friend.

"SARIA!!"

Link rushed forward, his hands ablaze with fire as he made his way up and got in front of the Kokiri girl. Before she could even protest, Link raised his left fist and prepared to strike the ground.

"Din's FIRE!!"

His shout echoed throughout the whole forest. In an instant, a mighty dome of flames suddenly erupted from his hands, spreading out and extending its fiery rage. And yet, the flames did not lick the wood of the stairs, nor did they engulf Saria, who passed through them, alive and unharmed, though a little scared. More could be said about the fog, however, for it was being pushed aside; the flames either dissipating it or knocking it back down towards the ground. Link felt his magic slowly give way as he lost energy. Breaking the connection, he sent the dome flying further, moving aside all the fog and sending it well away from him and Saria.

When it was finally over, Link kneeled down tiredly, gazing at his hands in amazement at his accomplishment. He felt Saria's hand touch his shoulder. Standing up, he looked over at the Kokiri girl, whose eyes were wide in astonishment.

"You've saved my life," was the first thing she said.

Link smiled. "Now that's one step closer to being even with you," he said.

Saria broke from her stupor and smiled. "That was pretty amazing," she said, "I didn't know fire magic could do that. Either you were very angry or…"

Her voice trailed off as she glanced into the darkened halls of the fortress. Link turned around to look himself, and was rather shocked by what he saw. The corpses of at least a dozen Skull Kids, each trying to reach for either the door or their throats, were lying down on the floor. Their bodies indicated that they were under post-mortem for at least a few weeks, but it was still a terrible sight to behold.

As the two of them just stared, Link felt Saria's body press against his. It was obvious that she was more scared about seeing death than he was. Link had seen it so often though that he felt like he could stare it into the face easily. Knowing well that Saria needed comfort, Link put an arm around her shoulder and held tightly, reminding her that she wasn't alone in this gloomy forest.

After a few minutes, Link broke the silence. "We're going to have to get in there," he said.

Saria looked up past his shoulder and nodded. She clasped his hand. "I'm ready."

Hand in hand, the two friends slowly walked across the rickety drawbridge and into the depths of the giant, deadly, death-infested fortress. The forest didn't even send its goodbyes in any shape or form as the two of them entered inside, as if knowing full-well that they were as dead as it was going to be. As they entered, all was silent and still on the outside of the fortress, as if the forest and its inhabitants were holding their breath and praying to whatever deity they worshipped for their success on their mission.


Far away from the Kokiri Forest, where life was trying to prevail against the crushing darkness, a different kind of dark veil had begun to descend upon the land. Villages burned with fury as the human race attempted to wipe out the rest of the Hylians showing up within their lands. One village in particular was proving itself to be a very big thorn in the side of Ganondorf's greatest weapons.

The Drake watched as magical fires began to weave their way around this village. Off in the distance, the Snake cast powerful flames of emerald green using his spear, letting them writhe and boil as they surrounded the village and trapped the defenders inside. Some of the defenders launched salvos of arrows, spears, even garden utensils; whatever they could get their hands on. Many of the defenders were clinging tightly to their loved ones. The unmistakable sign of pointed ears could be seen on the heads of some of the villagers.

"This incursion has gone long unnoticed," The Drake hissed, "Ganondorf will be pleased that even more of these monsters' numbers are dwindling…though he'll be less than pleased to hear of your failure."

The Spider bent down on one knee and panted. By the dents on his armor, it was obvious that he had been given a beating by his leader. He stood up and kept his head bowed low, his fist to his chest in submission.

"Believe me, the boy surprised me when he gave us the slip," the Spider said, "It was not my fault, save that I was distracted by filleting a traitorous Moblin—"

"And you seemingly forgot your two comrades that could have provided easy backup," the Drake said in a tone of voice stating he wasn't impressed by the Spider's story, "Your attempts to gain prestige to the mighty Ganon are only slight. In the end, only I get the greater rewards until my second takes my place. Know this well, Spider."

The Spider didn't comment. He stood to attention as the Drake continued to survey the damage that the village was taking. The emerald flames of the Serpent had already taken their toll and had made a wall of living fire that surrounded the village. The defenders and the other villagers screamed and cried in fright; some unlucky to be burnt alive by the ever-licking flames. The Serpent strode up to the grassy hillside where the Drake and the Spider both stood, looking on at the handiwork that they had done.

"These Hylians are getting harder to spot," the Serpent said, "The fact that a place as remote as this easily had Hylians in the dozens is enough to sicken even me."

"Then I suggest that we don't give it a moment longer," the Drake said, "Spider…redeem yourself. Deal the final blow to these foul souls."

The Spider looked up in mild surprise at the statement, but paid no further heed to his emotions. Standing straighter, he pulled out his staff and began to twist it into the air. Bringing it down with his left hand, he pointed the top of the staff to the ground and raised his right hand into the air. The jewel in the center of the spider figurine on the staff suddenly glowed brightly as it absorbed the energy needed, and the Spider's right hand began to form a glowing, yellow sphere.

The emerald flames suddenly began to form several long, thin strands of flame that rose into the air and connected together under a single point. Tendrils of yellow fire began to encircle and ensnare each other, shooting out branches and spiraling until the entire shape formed a perfect spider's web. The flames above seemed to hang for a short while, causing the villagers below to gaze upward in sheer terror.

Finally, the flames cascaded to the ground. The web's surface soon spread, causing whole sheets of pure yellow flame to descend to the ground, engulfing the entire village and its occupants. The screams of the dying were soon drowned out by the roaring inferno that engulfed what was once a living community.

The Spider smiled from within his helmet. An easy example of fine, powerful magic. As he lowered his power upon the flames, he gazed pridefully at his work, gazing at the great flames that rose from the smoking village ruin.

Suddenly, and without warning, the Spider was knocked backwards by a powerful blast of fire and ice, knocking him into the ground. Though he was quick to back flip and get up, he and the other two Nightwatchers were already being set upon by a pack of powerful, flying creatures, which dove from the sky and began strafing flames and ice upon the three powerful humans.

They were powerful creatures; at least 23-25 feet long, covered in white and light blue scales. Their huge, lower legs had powerful claws that could tear any unfortunate into shreds. Their tails, which were rather stubby compared to the rest of the body, had clubs or metal spikes manually attached to the ends. Their heads were a cross between a crocodile and a powerful lizard. Their wings were primitive but large enough to carry their bulk, along with the powerful, furry riders atop their backs.

"Damn Warglin traitors," the Serpent hissed as he jabbed at an approaching drake, "They will pay dearly for this intrusion!"

The Drake launched salvos of fireballs at the lead drake rider, who flew just barely out of range and launched powerful javelins at the three humans. The other drakes swooped low and launched flame and ice attacks, just barely staying out of range of the Serpent's spear and the other weapons of the Nightriders. The three warriors were rather annoyed by the hit and run tactics of the powerful beasts.

"These little kittens just want to play," the Spider said, twirling his staff about, "Let's give them a string or two of yarn, shall we?"

He pointed the staff upwards. A blast of yellow energy shot out from the jeweled figurine. Instantly, a sickly web, its strings glowing yellow, shot out and strangled a drake and its rider, dimming to a very cold gray as the powerful beasts fell from the sky and landed with a sickening thud on the ground below. The other drakes began to circle and spread out, staying well away from the range of the magical attacks.

One drake and rider got cocky and approached very low, making as if to charge the Nightriders. The Drake stood his ground as the drake flew towards him, its Warglin rider roaring as it brought up a powerful club, making as if to swing it once the drake got close enough.

The Drake suddenly made a death-defying back flip into the air. Time seemed to slow down as the Drake flew about 20 feet into the sky, roughly a foot or two above the Warglin and its mount. Sword drawn, he kept up his back flip motion as he extended the sword down and pointed it towards the ground. He made a slashing motion in the air as the mounted drake passed beneath him, making a slashing cut symmetrically along the drake's body.

The Drake's flip completed in the air, and time seemed to speed back up. The mounted drake suddenly flew and landed upon the ground, its rider sliced height-wise in half while its own spine suddenly buckled and released itself from the skin that it was attached to. The drake's entire back, from the back of its head down to the tip of its tail, had been sliced cleanly by the Drake's blade. It fell to the ground in a heap, dead as a doornail.

The Serpent too got his own kill. His spear launched through the sky like a missile, screaming through the smoke-filled air as it homed in on one of the individuals in the far back. Warglin and drake both were impaled by the Serpent's weapon, and they fell slowly to the ground as the drake's wings caught the updrafts made by the flames below, causing them both to glide slowly in the three Nightriders' directions.

The Warglins above took the hint and flew off, their numbers reduced in half from the powerful attacks made by the three Nightriders. They headed northwest, flying as fast and as far as they could from the powerful humans.

The Serpent reached into the depths of the corpse of the recently deceased drake and pulled out his blood-covered spear, flicking a couple of entrails off of the end before returning to the other two. The Drake wiped his bloody sword onto the ground, while the Spider began absorbing energy from a ley line nearby. The three Nightriders looked at their most recent victims and began to ponder what they were to do next.

"Where did you say the boy disappeared?" the Drake asked the Spider as he gazed at one of the corpses at his feet.

"At one of the purged villages, near the Lost Woods," the Serpent said, "That is why we did not approach. He could be anywhere in there; if he isn't dead, he and that girl could possibly be breeding more."

"Not likely," the Spider said, "I made sure that the blow I made was more than enough to be a killing blow. Hers would have been a slow death indeed if they didn't keep walking inside…why do you ask?"

The Drake smiled from within his helmet as he gazed at the three corpses. "Summon the Raven," he told the Spider, "Tell him to come quick. I want him here before these corpses decay too much. We're going to send someone in to catch our prize…one way or another."

He gazed down into the lifeless eyes of the Warglin that he had sliced in half. Its body was so cleanly cut that sowing it up wouldn't be too hard. It would do perfectly.

Warglins were amongst the great Ganon's creations, he said to himself. It would make sense that these beasts repay their master's debt in death.


The inside of the strange fortress was big. The lobby alone; the entrance leading from the drawbridge; was big enough to hold a large tree and have room to spare. Dead, skeletal bodies of Skull Kids littered the floor, most of them holding their throats in death. Some of them looked rather calm; as if they had expected their death and welcomed it with open arms. Such a sight, even if they weren't Hylian, was gruesome and saddening to behold. Link didn't know if he could take much more of it.

A small flight of stairs led up to a landing that almost stretched out from wall to wall. Other than a bunch of pots and a dead Skull Kid, there was nothing interesting save for a door that was locked by a series of vine-like bars. Link and Saria approached them and attempted to pry the bars off, but it was no use. They wouldn't budge.

Link leaned against the short railing of the landing in defeat. "Now what?" he asked, "I don't even think this would budge with my sword."

"We'll have to keep trying," Saria said, "There's got to be a way in here."

Link doubted his friend's words, but decided against voicing it. Looking around, he soon spotted something interesting about the vines. Instead of being a part of the door, they seemed to go through the wall, poking out at odd intervals as they made their way up and up towards the ceiling of the room. At the very top, a series of wooden gears connected the vines with a series of other vines, all connected to each other and obviously providing a specific function for the room.

A pair of these vines were currently connected to the drawbridge behind them.

"Do you think you can figure out how to get the door to close again?" Link asked.

Saria examined the drawbridge before replying. "Probably. We need to figure out how to get inside though. Why would we need to close us off?"

"Call it a hunch," Link said. Without another word of explanation, Link made his way down the stairs of the landing and back across the drawbridge. Saria watched him go as he confidently walked across the wooden bridge. Once he was at the landing, he grabbed the lever and tugged hard; pulling it out of the socket that kept it in place.

As he did, he heard a rumbling noise. Looking up, he saw that the gears beyond had started to move, tugging hard on the vines keeping the drawbridge in place.

Slowly, the drawbridge began to rise. Link quickly leapt onto it and ran over to the entrance to the fortress. As he did, the drawbridge began to lift up, faster and faster, causing him to lose his footing and slip on the wood before sliding all the way down and landing with a thud onto the ground. The drawbridge came to a close, its edges sealing with a great boom that echoed throughout the forest. The room had grown darker, though automatically a series of torches suddenly sprang to life once the drawbridge closed completely.

Saria quickly ran up to Link's side. "Are you alright?" she asked, helping him up to his feet.

Link instantly brought his hands to his butt and almost shouted in pain. He could feel them; splinters and scratches that ran up from his calves all the way up to his lower back. It was excruciating; like sitting on a beehive and deciding to let the bees sting you to death instead of running to water as soon as possible.

One look at Link's face told Saria that something was wrong. She tried to approach, but Link moved away in embarrassment, keeping a tight hold of his buttocks while wincing every time he moved away.

"Hold still, will you?" Saria said irritatedly, "Let me see how bad it is so I can heal it!"

"I don't-Ow-want you to-Ow-look," Link hissed between his teeth.

The two friends continued their game of cat and mouse until, finally, Saria stopped Link by reaching out with both hands and grabbing the opposite ends of his tunic. Fearing she would de-pants him, Link stood very still. Saria shifted herself behind him and looked down before gasping.

"These are really bad," she said, "You have chips of wood stuck in your legs. I'm going to have to pull them out before I heal them; otherwise, they'll get stuck in your skin and cause more damage."

Well that's not good, Link thought. Wait, what does she mean by pull—"YEOWCH!!!"

Link almost jumped to the ceiling as Saria suddenly dug her fingers into one of his cuts and pulled out a very big woodchip. Link suddenly fell onto his knees as a result not even reaching back to stop her. The pain was unbearable; like a fiery poison that refuses to go anywhere and simply eats away at the skin. It was like that for every piece of wood that she pulled out. She started her way up his legs, flicking aside blood-covered pieces of wood and splinters and gently cleaning the wounds with a piece of cloth she had in her pocket.

Then came the part that Link was fearing most. He couldn't help but cringe as Saria giggled innocently as she pulled up his tunic and had a good look at his injured hindquarters. Link's whole body flushed red, causing some extra blood to come out and cause even more pain to come as Saria continued her vigil, pulling out pieces of wood bit by bit until he was free of the stuff. After lowering his tunic back down, she worked her way up his back, lifting up his shirt and gently taking care of every single splinter down to the tiniest one. She then slowly lowered his shirt back down to cover his skin.

Link could not help but notice how gentle she worked; how smooth her skin was; how her fingers seemed to stroke him every time they would approach a piece of wood and pull it from his wounded body.

Finally, she summoned her magic and began to heal him. Link felt an icy feeling tingle throughout his cuts and lacerations, and suddenly felt as if his whole body were being washed of pain and suffering. When she was finally done, Link felt as good as new, and no longer had to deal with the painful experience he had gone through.

Nevertheless, his face was still red from when Saria managed to look at his butt.

"Better now?" the Kokiri girl asked.

Link stood up and shook himself, doing his best to do anything to get rid of his blushing. When his face finally stopped burning, he turned and nodded to his friend.

"Then we'd better get going. The drawbridge's gear mechanism got the vines blocking the door to move. Looks like your hunch was right."

Yeah, Link said to himself. I sure hope it was worth it.

The two friends walked up the stairs and approached the oak door. As if expecting them, the door suddenly opened up, allowing the two to enter inside. It quickly closed behind them, plummeting the room into darkness again.

Link quickly solved the problem by letting his hand come alight. Spotting a large basin with oil nearby, he launched an ember at the basin, causing it to go alight. The entire room soon quickly came into view, granting both friends a chance to look at a tremendously open cavern of a room. Encompassing two to three floors of the fortress alone, the room was tremendous, although Link could tell that it barely made up a fraction of the total fortress altogether.

A single spiral staircase led up to the third floor of the entire building. From what Link could see, however, there were multiple ways of moving throughout the entire fortress. However, a constant stream of green fog about Link's height steadily descended downwards, slowly moving across the room before descending to cracks in the ground below. Indeed, though the staircase was covered in the stuff, only an inch or two of the fog surrounded the majority of the room.

The two friends began to explore the exits of the big room. Some of the doors had fog creeping out of all corners of the cracks of the door, indicating that opening it would be instant death. Others were locked by strange locks. Each lock had a different color per corner of the room; one set of locks was green, another set was red, and a third was blue. The fourth corner of the room, however, was devoid of locks, though it consisted of only two doorways; the more glamorous of the two having carved images of ancient days long passed put upon its wood. This door was oozing with the fog, and it was unlikely that the two of them would enter it any time soon.

The other one, however, was completely free of lock or fog.

Save for a slight trickle that rippled at the very base, the door was devoid of it. Both Link and Saria approached the doorway, examining the two, palm-shaped icons on the door and reading the inscription carved beneath it.

Two palms required to open this door,

A palm of love and a palm of war,

One with Friendship's Fire burning bright,

The other, Emerald Sincerity's light

Green to the left, and red to the right,

And be wary of evil's great plight.

"What do you think it means?" Link asked.

"It's obvious, isn't it? It's asking us to put our hands to the door for it to open up."

"I got that…but I meant the extra stuff."

Saria put her hand to her chin in thought as she continued examining the script. "My guess is that we need to use a little magic to get the door to open," she said, "It's obvious who is who in this case; I use Forest Magic and you use Fire Magic. Emerald Sincerity is another name for Forest Magic. So, I guess that my palm goes on the left-hand side."

She put her left hand on the palm-symbol to the left.

"I don't know what it means about you, though," she said with a shrug, "Friendship's fire? The only kind of fire magic I've heard about is Fury magic, and that would probably be as useful as putting a torch on a pile of pine needles in the Summer Solstice."

Link gazed at the inscription. Friendship's Fire? What exactly could that mean? Sure, he could create fire magic, but how could he make fire magic without anger?

He then remembered what happened on the drawbridge; how much he wanted to protect Saria; to protect his friend, the one friend he had left in the world. It was a feeling like nothing he had ever experienced…at least, a feeling that he never thought he'd experience again after Aryll died.

He placed his hand on the carved palm to the right. Instantly, Saria began summoning her Forest Magic, causing the door's edges to glow green. Link sighed and began to focus his thoughts upon Saria, his one true friend, and of all the other thoughts he felt back outside, when they both could have faced certain death.

Instantly, his hand glowed dark orange. Instead of powerful flames that would threaten to burn through the door, a calmer, brighter flame sparked around his hand and refused to move elsewhere. Its heat was welcoming; like coming next to the fireplace after a winter's day of playing outside in the snow. The door soon began to change its color from green, to red, to a bright gold. With a rumble, the wooden doorway raised itself, beckoning for the two friends to enter inside.

"Well, you ready?" Saria asked.

Link smiled and drew his sword. "As ready as I'll ever be," he replied.

Without another word, the two friends entered into the darkness of the next room, with the door closing quickly behind them.


Kerian: Phew...I'm glad I finally finished this. It took me all night, but it's done. Turns out, though, that I am going to be making several parts to this particular dungeon. It should be interesting, given that Link's not alone in this battle.

So, the Warglins are fighting the Nightriders, the deadly fog continues its powerful grip over the Kokiri/Deku Forests, and Link gains a new power. I wonder if it foreshadows something else that happens in the future...or maybe even in the past. We'll never know unless I keep updating these stories!

Darin: You've got that right.

Kerian: At some point in time, I'm planning on creating concept art for Secrets of the Lost Woods. I already started it for Legacy of the Sages, but I have yet to post it on a website or even finish some of my work. That's probably what I need you fans for. As of today, I am looking for some good recommendations for websites that are dedicated to artwork, specifically Zelda artwork, so that I can post my art for you guys to check out. I was thinking of Deviantart, but it's a bit too...open for my taste. Whether I join it or not depends on you, my fans. If you have any good sites to recommend, either add it with your review, or send me a message through my inbox and I'll look it over.

Darin: Be sure you guys do; I'm tired of waiting for people to look at my handsome self. When are people going to adore me?!?

Kerian: Well, I guess that's it for now. However, I'd like to mention that this is a part of my constant updates that I'm planning on doing for my stories. The next one on my list is The Fallen Star; A Tale of Redwall, so you fans who enjoy it get prepared to catch a glimpse of the next chapter pretty soon. So, until next time, me, out!

-Kerian and Darin