Worlds Apart
Part I
By Miss Lydia

Chapter 8


"Come ON, you guys! Let's go!"

Gordon yawned loudly. "What's with you?" he asked.

"It's never too early to get some stuff done," Lydia replied.

Link rolled over in his bed. "I know you're upset about the Zoras, but could it at least wait until sunrise?"

Lydia frowned. "There's no time for sunrise! We have to go!"

".....We really can't wait until sunrise?"

"Get up, Long Ears. Don't make me ask again."

Link rubbed his eyes as Lydia turned and ran outside. "Be out in five minutes!" she yelled on her way out.

Gordon threw his covers off and looked at Link. "This is so unlike her," he said. "She's always the late sleeper. I mean, she considers 9:00 early."

Link yawned. "Yeah, but you have to look at it from a different perspective here," he said. "Do you realize how guilty she feels about the Zoras' disappearance? She obviously wants this problem solved as soon as possible so her conscience can stop chewing on her."

"Yeah, I understand that," Gordon replied, "but anyone's conscience can wait until sunrise."

"The first place we should check out is the domain." Lydia said.

The trio was already in the air on their way south. Lydia was giving the battle commands.

"We'll check out the domain," she continued, "and then look in the surrounding areas."

"Yeah," Link agreed. "Any clue would be useful at this point."

"What do we expect to find?" Gordon asked.

"Who knows?" Link replied. "Footprints, magic trails, whatever. I'm ready to expect the unexpected."

"We'll just do what all those detectives do in the movies," Lydia said. "They always catch the bad guy, after all. And so will we!"

When they touched down on the natural bridges, Link pulled his Ocarina out and reopened the domain. The waterfall parted and they jumped in. The domain was just as they had left it – as dry as the Haunted Wasteland.

"Hey," Gordon asked, "when we came here, did we check the whole place for Zoras?"

Link thought for a second. "No," he finally said, "I don't think we did. The whole shock of the water being gone kinda made us move quickly. So we'll split up and look around."

"Okay."

"I'll go this way, Gordon will go that way, and Lydia will go.......," Link stopped midsentence. Lydia wasn't where she had been standing a second ago. He turned around in time to see her shadow retreating up the stairway to King Zora's room. Gordon gave Link a look that pretty much said "That figures", and they ran after her.

When they caught up, she was standing where the fat king had been sitting. "Even the King's gone," she said. "Ganondorf must be pretty powerful to be able to move that guy."

"Good thing he did," Gordon said. "Look there." He pointed in Lydia's direction.

"Hey..." Link said. "I didn't know that was there."

Lydia turned around. There was an opening in the wall behind her. The fat king had been blocking it completely when he was sitting there. "Yeah, I saw that," she said. "I wonder where it goes."

Link thought for a moment. "Maybe it goes to Zora's Fountain," he said. "I've heard that's where all the water in Hyrule comes from, but I've never seen it. It's supposed to be in this area somewhere."

"Only one way to find out," Gordon said. He climbed up to where Lydia was standing and walked through the opening. Lydia and Link followed. It lead through a short tunnel, with light visible at the end. The light was much brighter outside the tunnel.

Link squinted in the sunlight. "This must be Zora's Fountain," he said. "Except..."

They were standing at another lake that was possibly deeper than Lake Hylia. Only it was completely dry. The fountain was basically a huge hole in the ground.

"I see what you mean," Lydia said. "The fountain is dry, too."

"Oh....I get it now," Link said.

"What?"

"Ganondorf didn't dry up Zora's Domain. He went after Zora's Fountain. Do you remember what I said back there?"

"Um...all the water comes from here?"

"Right. All the water in Hyrule flows from this fountain. If the fountain is dry, there soon won't be a drop of water in the whole kingdom."

"We gotta fix this!" Gordon exclaimed. "We can't let it happen! We need to restore the fountain."

Lydia's spirits fell. "But...how could we possibly do that? I don't think we ever could produce enough water. It...It seems so hopeless."

Link knew exactly what to say. He leaned over to Lydia and said, "Hey, if we don't fix this problem, Lake Hylia will also dry up, you know."

Lydia's eyes widened. She smacked her fist into her palm. "We certainly can't let that happen!" she shouted. "Not to my beautiful Lake Hylia! No SIR! Come on boys, let's get to the bottom of this!" With that, she ran ahead toward the empty fountain.

Gordon turned to Link. "Man, you're good."

Link smiled in triumph.

"I don't see anything!" Gordon shouted.

"Me either!" Lydia shouted back.

"Same down here!" Link yelled.

Gordon and Lydia were flying around the west side of the fountain looking for anything unusual, besides the huge dry hole. Link was at the bottom of the empty fountain, also looking for anything weird.

As Link made his way back out, Lydia and Gordon landed near the shore.

"The only unusual thing I see," Gordon started, "is that huge hole in the wall over there."

Lydia looked at the east side of the fountain. There was indeed a gigantic opening in that wall. Very wide, but not very high.

She looked down at Link, who was still working on climbing out of the fountain. "Hey, Link!" she shouted, and pointed toward the hole. "What's that over there?"

Link looked where she was pointing. He looked back and yelled "I have no idea!"

"Then I guess it's worth checking out. Ray Wing!"

Lydia took off toward the opening, picking up Link on the way. Gordon followed close behind. They landed just inside the opening and cautiously advanced in.

The environment changed suddenly, and Lydia was naturally the first to complain.

"Oh, my GOD, it is so COLD in here!!!" she yelled as loudly as she could.

Link's wide eyes suddenly darted toward the ceiling. He quickly shoved Lydia aside as a giant icicle dropped where she had been standing.

Lydia scratched the back of her head. "I guess I should be more careful."

Gordon looked at the ceiling. There were dozens of those big icicles all over the place. "Looks like any major thing will jostle them all down," he said.

"You two had better be careful with those spells," Link said. "Don't use anything too big or we'll get rained on." He glanced at Lydia. "And no more screaming."

Lydia blushed a bit. "Sorry."

The three walked quietly through the cold cave, huddled close together for extra warmth. It was the only place Link could think of that had snow and ice in it. He hated being cold, but this was almost too much.

After about ten minutes of walking, they came to a very large room with a high ceiling. Lydia's quiet complaining ceased as she looked around. It was a very bland, boring, cold room. But there was one thing that caught everyone's eye. There was a red glowing ball hovering at the middle of the ceiling.

Link stared at it. "What the heck is that thing?"

Lydia walked a little closer the middle of the room. "It's magic, whatever it is. And who's the only other character in this land that can use magic besides us?"

"Ganondorf," Gordon said.

"Right. That has to be his doing."

"Should we try and destroy it?"

"No.... We should wait until we're sure of what it is before doing something like that."

Link put his hand on Lydia's shoulder. "How unusually cautious of you," he said. "I'm impressed. I thought for sure you'd throw a fireball."

Lydia smirked. "Har har. Let's keep going."

They left the room with the red ball and went through another chilly tunnel. At the end of this one was another room, about half the size of the last one. At the far end was something that obviously was man-made. It was a wall of tall, thin ice spikes going from wall to wall and to the ceiling of the room. On the other side of it were some familiar faces.

"It's the Zoras!" Link shouted.

"Is that what happened, then?" Lydia asked.

The shivering Zora King looked at her. "Yes, it's all that Gerudo thief's doing. We naturally put up a fight when he worked magic on the fountain. He put us in here to keep us out of the way. We are absolutely freezing, and we need to get to water. We've been dry too long."

"Alright, we're gonna bust you all out of there," Lydia said. "All of you go and stand over on that side."

The Zoras all moved to the left side of the icy cell and Gordon moved to the right side.

"Damu Brass!"

The right side of the spike wall was completely blown away, and the Zoras started pouring out.

"Come on," Link said. "Let's lead them out of here before they freeze to death."

The three walked back the way they came. The huge Zora group followed close behind, eager to get to warmer temperatures. They passed through the room with the red ball. The Zoras looked at the ball very curiously. The king tapped Lydia's shoulder.

"Do you know what that is up there?" he asked her.

"Do you?"

"Ganondorf put that there."

"Then I'll bet that's what dried the fountain. We'll have to destroy it."

Link spoke up. "Let's get the Zora's out. First things first."

"Let me test something." Lydia said.

She was standing near the shore of the empty fountain. Link and Gordon stood near the Zoras, who were busy warming themselves in the sun. She reached out and snapped her fingers.

"Aqua Create."

A column of water suddenly rose up out of nowhere in the empty fountain. When it fell again, there was a puddle in the bottom of the hole. Everyone watched as the puddle dried up again in seconds.

"So that red thing is what dried the fountain," Lydia said. "Okay, then, be right back! Ray Wing!"

She flew off, speeding back into the Ice Cavern.

Link crossed his arms. "I wonder what she'll do?"

"She'll probably use a weak spell to shatter the ball. She knows better than to use big spells in there."

As Gordon finished speaking, a huge explosion from inside the cavern shook the ground. Everyone dropped down as thick smoke began to pour out of the entrance and rise into the air.

Link and Gordon stared at the Cavern as they stood up again. The Zoras did the same.

"At least," Gordon said, "I thought she knew better..."

"Do you think she's okay?" Link asked.

"I dunno....."

At that moment, Lydia came flying out through the smoke. She had her arm held up above her, holding a force field over her head. The force field had several large pieces of ice sitting on it. When she landed, she put her hand down and dropped the barrier. What remained of the giant icicles fell and clattered around her. She looked up, her face smoky and dirty from the explosion.

She smiled. "Got it."

Link shook his head. "You're unbelievable."

"Sorry, I had to. Weak spells didn't do anything to it, so I had to go all out."

"You could've gotten yourself hurt."

Lydia shrugged. "Zora's Fountain is a little more important right now," she said. "Besides, it's not like you care."

"I...uh..."

"Speaking of the fountain," Gordon broke in, "If you destroyed that red ball, why isn't anything happening?"

Sure enough, the fountain was still dry. The magic that was keeping it dry was gone, but the fountain stayed dry.

Lydia snapped her fingers. "Aqua Create."

The column of water reappeared and made another puddle in the bottom of the fountain. The puddle stayed this time, but it wasn't enough to save Hyrule from the dryness that was coming.

Lydia cast the spell over and over but still produced very little. "There's no way the fountain can be refilled this way," she said. "I'd need a super magic amplifier to fix it this way. But at least the water isn't disappearing anymore."

"Hyrule will still dry up," Link said urgently, "if we don't find a way to fix the fountain quickly."

"Our magic alone obviously isn't enough to do it," Gordon said. "We'll have to find another way."

Link looked at the Zoras. "Zora's Domain is as dry as a bone," he said to them. "I think you should go to Lake Hylia for now. Since all the water in Hyrule flows there, that's where the last water will be, even if Hyrule dries up."

King Zora stepped foreward. "Thank you all so much for what you've done," he said. "Is there any way we can repay you?"

"Um, no, I don't think that's—".

Lydia excitedly jumped forward. "I know! I know!" she shouted, waving her arm. "You wouldn't happen to have the Spirutal Stone of Water, by any chance, do you? Do ya do ya do ya do ya?"

The fat king chuckled. "What an energetic young lady you are," he said, "Yes, we have it. However, I'm afraid we can't give it to you."

"Why not?" Gordon asked him.

"Please don't get me wrong. We really appreciate your effort to save our lives. But unless Zora's Fountain is restored to its original state, we will die eventually."

"And if we can restore the fountain...?"

"Then I will give you the stone you seek."

Lydia looked at Link. "Looks like we've got yet another big task in front of us."

Link sighed. "I knew it couldn't be this easy."

"…..This was easy?"