Though my eyes were wide open as I fell, I could hardly see a thing. I was too distracted by how inevitable my near death was- and with this brat, no less! Voices yelled and screamed in my head, and I might have been screaming out loud as well; with all of the chaos, I couldn't tell.
Few seconds seemed long and my vision became clearer. I could see the knight-wannabe below me, free-falling without panic. I could now hear that I was yelling quite loudly, which I may not have noticed had it not been for Link taking notice and looking up at me. I suppose that Link's new knight outfit was made to provide air resistance, as I suddenly began to fall faster than Link, who looked so oddly serene as we plummeted to our deaths. His carelessness in our flight caused my confusion, and my ultimate chaotic decision that he knew what he was doing. I know; strange, right?
In any case, as I fell, I grabbed on to Link's leg in fear, ruining his form and causing his fearful yelling as well, as I yelled "Link! HEEELP!"
All of our intermingled limbs were frantic and the hard ground below us grew ever so near I braced for the worst when something made us lighter. My heart practically stopped, and I felt safe, but wiggled frantically as we floated towards the ground, still in great fear. We crashed roughly but safely, and a small voice in my head noted that the cloth used to bring us to safety had a smell to it that wrung my fears out a bit.
Flat on the ground, but thankful for safety, I mumbled, "...Ugh, rough landing."
What a jerk. He's obviously done this before, I can see, so couldn't he have landed a bit less... painfully? "I think I mighta broke something. Hey, Link, seriously... Didn't anyone ever teach you how to land without crash-" My sentence was brought to an abrupt end by my sudden surprise at my surroundings, most notably these creepy mutant Loftwings trying to eat my feet. "WHOA! B-birds? TINY birds? Wh-what... ARE they?!"
Link began to chuckle as he stood, but I was too distracted by some giant rock monster in the distance just moments from noticing us and skinning us to the bone (you know, if I don't intervene and save our lives). But smug Link over there seems to know all, so I ask in a panic "And what is that thing?!"
The monster walked away without care, and I couldn't help but notice how many mutant tiny loftwings were fluttering about, and just how many trees were in this uncharted land. Surely there's a nice question to figure out what's going on, and my brain can certainly figure that one out, right? Wrong. "But... how... Wh-why... Wha-what..," was my next beautifully constructed statement, before I lost it and simply had to know, "Where am I?!" I yelled it loudly, and Link merely began to think.
Angered, scared, and with the cloth's smell still in my head, I stood and shook Link somewhat violently by the shoulders, asking "What's going on here? Ever since Zelda vanished, you've been zipping in and out of town all in a hurry!" I stopped shaking, finally piecing some words together. "So I figured I'd tail you, and you might lead me to Zelda. But this is..." too much? "... so wild. Seriously, what IS that thing over there?! And what's with all these trees? There are so many!"
Even more violently I began to shake Link once again, demanding, "Just give it to me straight! I can take it. Where are we? Is Zelda here? What's the deal with this place?! If there's supposed to be nothin' below the clouds, then what's all this?"
I ranted for a while, but didn't get the answer I expected. Well, I didn't know what I was expecting. Was it for Zelda to come running out of the trees with glee? No, in fact, I realized then that I was expecting the worst. But instead of bad news, or a joyful reunion, the kid simply smiled as though he knew and understood all of my troubles, and patted me on the arm.
The gesture confused me, but told me that things were currently alright. Then he began to explain.
"This," he said, gesturing with his arms all around him, "is the surface. Zelda is down here... I think. I need to find her by undergoing some... trials."
He continued explaining that this land is huge and full of different things, including unknown dangers. Most importantly, though, he mentioned that Zelda is lost or something, and he's using all those weird gadgets that he's carrying around, and some old lady down the road that's guiding him, to find her. All of the information was... well... a bit overwhelming.
After his explanation, it finally clicked. Zelda is fine. Everything's alright.
I hadn't noticed quite how plagued, how exhausted I was until this news hit and, without will or hesitation, I fell to my knees, my head hanging.
Ignoring the mutant Loftwings that seem to love to find a home on my face, I noted slowly, "Uhhhh... Whoa... You're kind of imploding my mind right now. But I think I get what you're saying. If I've got this right, Zelda is down here somewhere and she's... OK?" The kid nodded confidently and I smiled for the first time in a while. "She's... she's OK. Oh, wow! That's so great!" I laughed with relief, and my eyes began to water without my permission. Wiping my face, I continued. "Hearing that is such a... huge weight off my mind."
I breathed in the fresh air, and the chirping of the freaky birds lightened my spirits with the news. "You know, Link... It's sort of all right down here."
It's certainly better than the sky. That place is so tedious and boring... screw it. I like it down here. This place is mine.
"This place needs a name. Yeah, a name fitting for this rugged, adventurous wilderness. Form now on, we'll call it...Grooseland!"
Link was oddly shocked, probably by my genius naming ability.
With another carefree and delightful laugh, I stood, assessing the way forward. "So lemme see if I've got this right. The old lady living in the temple down the road form here knows where Zelda is?" He made a face that said, "It's more complicated than that", and probably was going to explain, but I ignored him. "I see... Right, Link. Thanks for getting me here. You've done a good job. You can head home. Big Groose will handle the search for Zelda from here. Yup, I'll track her down, save her, and then give her a lift back to Skyloft... Then when we get back, I'll ask her is she wants to make our whole going-out thing official, and then the two of us will get some quality time together." I was simply jovial imagining it.
"Anyway, the point is your work here is done. I got it covered from here!" Instead of seeming grateful for my appreciation and giving him the rest of the day off, he seemed confused. "Now, it's off to find that old lady you were talking about." And with that, I ran off to save the day. "Catch you later, Link!"
As I tried to figure out how to scale the vines on a wall leading to the old lady, I noticed that Link was having a conversation with the large, stone-like monster. Freak.
When I finally reached the top of the wall, I dusted off my clothes and smiled. It only took a few minutes or so. Probably a record. I jogged down the path, quite distracted by my surroundings; old, crumbling walls and trees as far as the eye can see. I mean... who would ever need that much wood?
In any case, after examining and taking in the surroundings of something actually new for the first time in far too long, I pulled open a large stone door and walked into a dimly lit room with little hesitation.
The room had a weird feel to it, like time itself had stopped as I entered. There was an empty room of light just across from me, and between us, some stairs and a platform and other pointless things. A strange creature sat at the top of the steps to my right, in front of a door that looked like it couldn't be opened.
"Hey! You must be the grannie that I've heard so much about," I yelled as I jogged up the steps and in front of her. "Well, fear no more. I'm here to save the day. You see, you will no longer live with worry that your mission of finding dear Zelda will not be completed; I am of the most reliable to get the job done!" If that doesn't get her to trust me, I don't know what will.
There was a strange silence as Grannie slowly looked up at me, her long braid swaying to a beat that I could hear, despite the aforementioned silence. After long seconds and possibly even a minute of her scrutinizing me with her eyes, she spoke. "You will not save her."
"Exactly! I mean, loo... Wait, what? Trust me, I can do it! She'll be fine. Just tell me what I have to do. I could-"
"You are not the one who will save her. It has not been foretold-"
"Huh? You gotta be kidding me, Grannie! You're messing with me. Say it again, I dare you!"
"I only speak the truth. You are not the one who will save her," she repeated with a calm weariness. "The spirit maiden, your Zelda, can only be saved by another. It has been his fate to do this thing, and in doing so save us. As it was decided long before you were brought crying into this world.
"Shut it, Grannie!" I yelled back. Nothing she just said made sense. 'Spirit maiden'? 'Fate'? The only thing she said right was 'your Zelda'. "You obviously don't know me well, 'cause if you did, you'd know that if anyone's gonna save Zelda, it's Groose! How could it not be me? Plus, if it ain't me, why would I even be here? Pffft. If I'm not up to the job of being the hero, just who is?"
She couldn't have an answer. No one else was there. A noise far behind me suddenly caught my attention. "Huh?" I turned as Link walked up beside Grannie, facing me.
"...Oh, now I getcha. Link, Grannie here has been trying to tell me that you're gonna be the big hero who rescues Zelda. What a joke! Look, all I've heard so far is a bunch of babbling about destiny, but that's a load of garbage. I know you, and you're no hero, shrimp!"
Neither of them said a word, but it was theirs against mine. In anger, I ran out of the old building into unknown territory, yelling as I did. If they wouldn't help me, I'd find her myself!
Despite everything that's going on, what with the "you can't save Zelda" thing and the possibility of being lost and things of that nature, all of that was wiped from my mind when I walked outside. This was because of nothing other than the overwhelming environment of this area.
It's astonishing- simply beautiful. In the distance, there's nothing but trees, which actually look cool in large numbers with the misty air. That's not even the coolest thing though; the giant spiraling crater not mere meters from my feet would beg to differ. It's filled with wind and, at the bottom, a weird rock that doesn't fit right. Admittedly, the area feels familiarly eerie, kind of like the statue way up who knows where.
How odd.
My fascinated thoughts were suddenly cut short and scattered by an immense shaking of the whole area. Because I almost fell into the crater, I stepped far back, almost to the wall of the temple structure. It was terrifying. Not a moment passed before link and Grannie came flying out the door as if they could do something about this hideous moving of something that was certainly supposed to be still.
"Whoa! Wh-what's with all the shaking?" I yelled to Grannie in fear, wondering had my life on this surface ended just as it had begun. "The whole ground is heaving... I thought it was supposed to be solid down here!"
Grannie apparently had more 'prophetic' things to attend to, yelling "Go quickly, Link! Check on the sealing spike at the center of the pit. There is nothing natural about these tremors! That monster could free itself at any moment! Approach the pit with caution!"
That statement baffled me; is she trying to get him murdered? There's a monster down there, and they're sending that shrimp? Though my bafflement then was nothing compared to what followed as Link complied, diving carelessly into the crater.
"What the hell, Grannie? You're just gonna kill him off like that? You wouldn't believe how sad Zelda would be if she got back and that kid wasn't around."
"Calm down, child. Link knows what he's doing." She looked at me, only now seeming to see the fear. "Everything's alright, boy."
The way she spoke reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I had no time to think, though, as Grannie ran to the edge of the pit to survey the action, and I followed with intrigue, and more fear than one could quite comprehend.
And that fear came before a black substance began to consume the ground where link stood, and I knew he was doomed. Hell... I couldn't even beat this. It's over.
A scaly monster that looked as though it had surfaced from the darkest corners of everyone's nightmares grew from ground. It had a large mouth filled with teeth which were individually bigger than me. It was terrifying, but basic, without arms nor eyes, though giant legs that could reach me eventually.
So... what now?
And suddenly, something gave me hope. I didn't know what it was about what happened that made my fear subside a bit, but it was greatly effective;... Link didn't run. He unsheathed his sword and ran at the beast. "He must not reach the temple!" yelled Grannie.
...they have hope?
Link immediately began by slashing at his hellish foe's toes, which took a beating before disintegrating. I wondered what that would help, but didn't criticize for several reasons. Link was careful as he rid the monster of all of it's white, bulbous toes, which proved helpful. The monster fell. It was almost mindless.
Link quickly, avoiding the blast from the giant's fall, moved to its head, where he used his glowing sword to drive the spike from which it had emerged back in. The monster shuddered in probable pain and I stood bewildered. He's actually doing damage?
What's going on?
Before hope could come to the surface, though, the beast turned an ominous crimson and wiggled at a quick pace up the chasm's spiral edge. I took a few steps back in fear, ready to put as much distance between me and this disgusting beast as possible. This didn't stop Link, though, and he found a quick passage up one of the wind tunnels and was in front of the monster as it got up, slashing at its toes before it could even gather its bearings, and the monster was soon down again.
Link continued battling, despite the monster having kicked him aside quite a few times. He consistently stood back up back up and shaking it off before taking down the beast again. Each time he was knocked aside, I assumed that it was over for him, as it might be for anyone, but again and again, he stood back up. Link was down to a last toe on his third try to knock the guy down when the scaly foot stepped with extra force, knocking Link off of the edge. in a panic, I began to run down and help him, but Grannie held me back with an unusual strength. Link got up feebly, stabbing the last toe with care and limping to the monster's head.
It takes quite a force to get the spike into the guy's head. Despite his obvious wracking pain, Link used every nerve in his body to send that spike through the monster's head, and I could see immeasurable pain in the both of them.
It suddenly hit me that I wasn't watching some wimpy kid fight.
I was watching a hero.
Link hunched over as the monster stood again, convulsing with a light radiating through it. He shook everything with a monstrous roar before freezing up. I was about to speak when the beast exploded into a billion scales that floated before tearing though the air to quickly return to the ground in the center of the pit.
"Now, Link!" Grannie yelled. "Strike the sealing spike with a skyward strike, and restore the seal! Quickly!"
Link used his cloth to float with obvious pain down the pit, and as Grannie and I took the long way down, he swung his sword in a fancy manner that sent the spike into the earth.
When we made it down, Link was staring at the ground, holding his sword up defensively, as if he expected the beast to return. "Nice going, Link," I said wearily.
Link snapped out of his stupor, looking at Grannie as she began to speak. "Though the Imprisoned had only just begun to awaken and break its bonds, I'm impressed you were able to restore the seal keeping it captive."
I could tell that was a lie; she wasn't even phased when the monster was destroyed. She knows more than she's letting on.
"Unfortunately, you have only succeeded in buying us a little more time in which to act. The behemoth you beat back into confinement is a horror of unspeakable power. Judging by what I saw, I would not be surprised if the seal gave way again soon. So you are left with precious little time to complete the task with which you have been entrusted. Return to the Sealed Temple, Link. There is much to discuss."
As I watched the two walk away, I could only reflect on how little I actually knew about everything. This includes the plot involving Zelda, just what that Imprisoned thing actually was, and about the boy hero who just did the impossible; he earned my respect.