In the morning, after carefully leaving Zelda's room together without raising attention to themselves, Link and her headed for the Isle of the Goddess, ruby tablet in hand. Fi had suggested earlier that it would open another hole in the light barrier, but had neglected to mention what the surface area would be like. Link assumed it would be forested, but Zelda had made him second-guess.
"Faron was a lot like Skyloft. The new region can't be that much different."
"I read about a volcano somewhere, I think. It's a great big hill of earth that explodes with lava."
"Explodes?" Link asked incredulously as they climbed the stairs, the Goddess statue looming ahead of them. "…what's lava?"
"Well, it spits it out from the top. Lava is like molten rock. It's thicker than water and will catch you on fire if you touch it," she explained, and Link shuddered.
"That sounds awful. How do you know that?"
"I'm not sure if I read it in some of the ancient texts, or if it's from all those memories I received at the Skyview spring. I just… know it."
Link watched her curiously then as they entered the statue, her face dimming as the shadows overtook them. He wished she could tell him what the memories were, exactly, but clearly she was still confused and trying to make sense of them herself. He was still curious, but focused on the task at hand instead. He drew his sword as they reached the floating crest, and waited for it to charge with the blue light once again. The energy surged through his body, and he jabbed it forwards, sending a bolt of hot, electric blue light towards the crest. It spun upon impact, finally stopping and emitting a familiar light.
The altar with the emerald tablet already inside it rose up from the floor, and Link exchanged looks with Zelda before placing the ruby tablet on top of the first piece of stone. After a moment, Fi swung out of his sword, which he then sheathed.
"Master, Honourable Zelda; I can confirm that a new path to the surface has appeared. My projections conclude that it will take you to the Eldin region, an area of high temperatures and frequent underground activity. I highly recommend you equip a shield that is not flammable."
She disappeared once she'd finished speaking, leaving Link and Zelda in silence as the stone altar returned back into the floor, the crest fading in colour.
"Link," Zelda said after a pause, moving towards him. "These memories… I think they're mine. It's got to be a past-life thing. I'm.. really beginning to think that I have a connection, to the Goddess, Hylia." "Hylia?" Link repeated, stepping closer and closing the distance between the two of them. Zelda nodded.
"Yes. She's not one of the three, you know… Farore, Din, and Nayru. She's separate, but still one of the ancient gods. She was the key to sealing away the evil power that swept the surface in an attempt to take control over the sacred power they created, the Triforce."
Link watched her in surprise, not sure how to take all of this new information. The Triforce, he mused, the word seeming familiar.
"Why would you have a connection to her?" he asked, and Zelda looked at him, her gaze lifting from the floor.
"I'm not sure," she admitted, crossing her arms, "but I think she's trying to tell me something. I'll probably have a better idea of all of this after I receive more memories from the Earth Spring. At least, that's what I think is going to happen there."
Link was quiet, his mind reeling. Memories from the goddess. He let his eyes shut for a moment, picturing the big statue that they were currently inside of. She did bear a sort of resemblance, but nonetheless, the idea of Hylia being a past life seemed strange. After all, she wasn't a mortal, and Zelda was quite obviously human, lacking of any godly powers. Still, though… His eyes flicked open, and a twinge of jealousy hit him then, catching him off guard. He hadn't received any ancient memories at the Skyview Spring. Just an old piece of rock, opening the next path. It was clear to him, now, that his sole purpose so far was to protect her, to escort her. Her, and no one else.
"You keep doing your Goddess thing," he finally said, leaning down to giver her a soft kiss on the cheek. "I'll protect you."
Her hand came up, cupping the side of his face, and she went up on her toes to press her lips softly to his. Their eyes fell shut.
"Thank you," Zelda said when she finally pulled away, her hand sliding down to Link's chest, lingering where his heart would be. She pressed the palm of her hand against the fabric there, smiling slightly to herself and then looking back up at him.
"You're in the memories. Well, it's not you, but… it is you," she said, her hand dropping as she tried to make sense of it. "The chosen hero. That's you. You're… a hero," her eyes shut tight, and after a moment she pressed her hand to her head, swaying a little bit. "Ouch."
"Hey," Link said worriedly, putting a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she replied after a moment, looking at him with a nervous smile. "Just a headache. There's a lot of knowledge in my head right now. I don't really know how to process it, I guess, if that makes any sense. It's confusing."
"Don't worry about it. You know what's really good for headaches?" Link asked, and Zelda looked at him in confusion.
"A hot or cold towel, right? Or lots of water?" she asked, and Link's straight face broke slightly, a smile cracking on his lips as he watched her in amusement. It took her a moment to understand what he meant, and her face flushed red, her eyes darting away from his.
"Th-that's- forget it, Link!" she stammered, walking away quickly. Link laughed, putting his hands up behind his head and following along behind her as she stormed out of the Goddess statue. He pondered a little bit about what she'd said about him being in the memories. Not him, but him… it was confusing, but he understood. He'd had dreams where people were switched. Cawlin would be Strich, and Strich would be Cawlin, or someone he'd never seen before was his mother, or he was someone completely different himself. If this really was a deal of past-lives, him and Zelda had been connected before. He watched her walking ahead of him as they hit the light, heading through the Isle of the Goddess towards the stairs. Was that why the two of them had always been fascinated with each other? Was that why he went straight for her the first time he saw her, and introduced himself?
He paused, stopping at the archway at the entrance to the Isle of the Goddess. He looked back towards the statue, and saw the great white stone circle on the ground where they'd first been introduced to their birds. He could see it then, playing out right in front of him. Him, as a little kid, in a white shirt that was too big for him and even scruffier blonde hair, watching Zelda from across the stone circle. He was entranced that day, hardly 10 years old, and she was beautiful. Younger, but with the longest hair of any girl there, and more importantly, she was staring straight back at him. It had always been a fond memory of his- meeting his bird, meeting her. He'd gotten praise from everyone after the crimson loftwing had appeared. Everyone had been surprised that the colouring still existed, and he remembered hopping straight onto its back and soaring off, to the utter panic of all parents in the vicinity. They weren't expecting him to know what to do straight away, and come back, and land.
That had gone far in impressing Zelda, as well. She had quite a connection with her bird, too, equally as pretty as her, but… nothing quite what Link and his red one had. And afterwards, at the "party", so-to-speak, that happened afterwards, he'd gone straight for her, and they'd talked and played and were friends as if they'd known each other forever. She'd always been familiar for him. It was starting to make sense now.
A yell broke through his thoughts. "Sleepyhead!"
He turned in surprise, only to see Zelda at the very bottom of the stairs, her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the side, staring at him expectantly. The faintest blush still remained on her face, and he felt suddenly swept away.
"What are you doing?"
"Day-dreaming," he replied quickly, jogging down the steps towards her, nearly running into her as he swept her up in a tight hug. It was more impulse than anything, but she returned it, holding him tighter than he'd expected.
"I needed that," she muttered.
"I was just remembering when we first met."
"I think about that day a lot."
He could feel her smile, then, her cheek pushing into his, and he let his eyes fall shut for a moment. He wanted this to last forever, but they had to go to Eldin, and time was moving fast. She seemed to have the same thoughts.
"We should go," she said, pulling away, and Link nodded, his shoulders drooping.
"Yeah. We need new shields."
The jittery salesman at the bazaar was happy to sell two, brand new iron shields to both Link and Zelda, who promptly placed their older wooden ones in storage. They filled up on their potions, and once they were sure they'd prepared enough, the two of them headed for the dock near the waterfall.
"You ready?" Link asked, pausing at the end of the wooden platform. Zelda's blue eyes flicked up to the new, tall, red pillar of light in the sky. After contemplating whether or not they'd gotten everything together, she looked back at Link and nodded. She took his hand, and the two of them jumped off the ledge, landing softly on Link's loftwing, which seemed to have been waiting for them. It let out a cry as Link took the reigns, and as he directed it towards the new hole in the cloud barrier, Zelda's grip tightened around his waist.
As they got closer, Link felt a familiar nervousness sink into the pit of his stomach. This whole lava stuff sounded terrifying, not that he'd let Zelda know that he was scared, and a volcano that spat it up into the air… his mind was reeling. It sounded like absolute terror, but he wasn't about to stop now. He turned to Zelda as they reached the hole in the clouds, and took one of her hands. They cast nervous smiles to each other before leaping off the loftwing and plummeting down through the clouds, the cold, refreshing air whipping past their faces as they went.
Already, it looked different; rivers of what Link figured must have been lava were flowing here and there, creating a labyrinth of ground and molten earth. He pulled out the sailcloth as the ground became increasingly closer, and Zelda reached up to grab the two opposite corners from what Link was holding onto. Their legs swung forwards and their descent slowed until they hit the ground.
He surveyed their surroundings for a quick moment; just a small area, enclosed by cliff sides. It was hot, though.
"Phew," he said, wiping his forehead. "It's so warm."
Zelda nodded in agreement, pulling her sleeves up and adjusting her pink cap. The two of them moved forwards warily, and when they finally came out into a clearing where they could see a better view of the region, Zelda pointed up towards the volcano.
"The Earth Spring must be in there somewhere… or higher up, at least. We should figure out a way to get over there."
"Sounds good," Link nodded, drawing his sword and holding it out in front of him as he walked ahead of Zelda, leading the way down what seemed to be an already set path. As they turned a corner, some sort of creature seemed to pop out of the ground, and it, Link, and Zelda, all yelled out in unison.
"Ahhh! It's one of those red things! I'll teach ya to come on Mogma terri… wait, wait, ya don't look like one of those… and yer all green and pink… You're not a monster?"
"You're not a monster?" Link countered, and the creature shook its head quickly, lifting two large arms up and grinning.
"I'm a Mogma! Get it straight, bud! We burrow underground and stuff. Treasure hunters, we are. This is our land, and those red freaks have been stirring everything up!"
Link glanced over at Zelda before looking back at the Mogma.
"Bokoblins," he decided. "It must be them. Well, we're looking for the Earth Spring… do you know where it is?"
"Earth spring?" the creature repeated, looking confused. "There's been rumour of a spring of treasure behind the Earth Temple… but I don't know other than that. No Mogmas have really come out of there doing too well health-wise, if ya get my drift. S'not safe. But we're dare devils! Oh, I'm Ledd, by the way."
"Pleasure," Link said with a bored expression, while Zelda reached down to shake the Mogma's large paw.
"I'm Zelda," she said with a smile, and it nodded happily to both of them.
"G'luck. I'm lookin' for my dumb friend. He's always getting lost. Watch out for those red guys, they're nasty!"
With those last words of wisdom, the Mogma disappeared into the earth again, leaving nothing but a small dark hole to show that he had been there. Link peered into it curiously before continuing.
"The Earth Temple, Earth Spring… makes sense. We had to get through Skyview Temple before we could reach the spring."
"We had help, though," Zelda reminded him, skipping up to walk side-by-side with him. Link let out a sigh, his strange doppelganger haunting him still. Ghirahim had created him, and it was too bizarre for him to forget. The demon lord had complained about giving him too much "heart"… was it possible that Nil wanted to be on Link and Zelda's side, instead? Still, there wasn't anything they could do about it now. Ghirahim had taken off with him. He couldn't think about it too much.
"We don't need help. We'll be fine," Link said reassuringly, smiling momentarily at Zelda before pausing on the edge of a pool of lava. A bridge of bones was laid out in the lava ahead of them, and Link could feel sweat dripping down from his forehead. The heat was intense.
"I guess we'll-" he paused in surprise as Zelda took off in front of him, running over the bones and jumping nimbly in the middle, reaching the end with ease. His jaw dropped, but then he smiled, crossing his arms. She looked back at him and waved, an overwhelmed sort of smile on her face.
"Of course."
It took a while for the two of them to reach the top where the Earth Temple was, and Link's face was ashen by the time they got there, after being introduced to bomb flowers by another Mogma. They were useful and dangerous tools, and Link seemed to have gotten the hang of it. Nonetheless, his ears were ringing and he hadn't quite wiped off all of the dust and burnt dirt that had flown onto his face. However, he had been given a brilliant pair of gloves by one of the Mogmas they ran into during their travels; they had some sort of claws on them, allowing him to dig in shallow spots where rupees, bugs, or treasure might be lying.
He'd also had to face a barrage of Bokoblins inside one of the lesser craters, slashing and fighting away until he was sure he was going to fall over. He'd never seen so many in one place before.
"This is it," Zelda said, spinning at the door and looking at it with a smile. The doors were majestic; much more extravagant than the ones that had let them enter the Skyview temple. These were twice the size at least, with various engravings and gemstones set hard into the door. There were scratch marks here and there, no doubt from Mogmas trying to retrieve the metals and gems from the door, but to no avail. The entrance was built right into the volcano, about halfway up it. The entire temple must be inside the Volcano...
"You ready?" Link asked, his voice cracking slightly at the end. Zelda looked at him with an amused smile, and then lifted her gaze to the skies, which were dimming already.
"You look exhausted," she said, "and the sun is setting. We should make camp, and start again tomorrow." To prove her point, she rubbed one finger down his cheek, causing him to squint and frown. When she lifted it up in front of him, however, he was surprised to see it gray in colour. He lifted his hands to his face and attempted to rub the dirt off, but most of it stayed put.
"I give up," he sighed, and Zelda punched him in the arm.
"Don't say that!" she snapped back, and he looked at her in surprise before laughing lightly.
"I meant with the dirt on my face. Let's find a place to camp, okay?"
Using the sail cloth and a hole in the ground that gave way to a burst of air, the two of them had found a small enclosure where a Goddess Cube was. After sending it off, the spot seemed secure and hidden away, and so the two of them laid down their sleeping bag. The rocky, dry ground wasn't quite as comfortable as the tree had been in Faron, but Link folded up his hat and used it as a pillow, while Zelda seemed to be content with using his shoulder.
As tired as he was, Link found himself staying awake far longer than Zelda, his mind still tumbling over everything that had happened during the day. Tomorrow they'd have to enter another temple, and it seemed that their sole purpose was to keep trespassers and treasure-hunters away from sacred places. He wasn't sure how tough it had been for Nil to clear the way for them in the Skyview temple, but surely the Earth Temple couldn't be too much worse.
He stared upwards for a while, marvelling at the orange glow that the lava gave the night sky. Soon enough, his eyes fell shut, and he joined Zelda in a deep sleep.
