The Legend of Zelda

Legacy of the Sages

Chapter 4: Legacy of the Kokiri, part 4

The Ghoma's eye turned red as it raised itself up to attack. Link took that precise moment to shoot at it. The tiny bullet hit dead on and the Ghoma fell over, twitching as it lay stunned.

Link took that precise moment to strike. He quickly made several side cutting slashes, followed by a few jabs with his sword. Each strike caused the Ghoma to twitch wildly, though its eye seemed tough enough to take the ordeal.

When Link was about to make the final blow, the Ghoma's right claw came out and knocked him over backwards. Before he could get up, he was pinned by its gigantic claws. He looked up as the menacing creature began to rear its gigantic tail all the way back to the ground.

"Link, NO!!!" someone shouted.

The Ghoma's tail struck like lightning. Time seemed to stand still as one thought raced through Link's mind…

Could this be the end?

Before the Ghoma could strike, a white object came flying and ran straight into the stinger, knocking it sideways, and causing it to stick itself into the ground. The Ghoma was quickly attacked by the strange new arrival as it came up and rammed itself into the Ghoma's sensitive eye, irritating to the point that it wanted to destroy its attacker.

Link took full advantage of the distraction. He got up, and dove headlong towards the Ghoma. The white object barely got out of the way as Link drove the Kokiri Sword straight through the creature's eye. The Ghoma took one moan before crying out in a rage. Link had to let go of the Kokiri Sword as the monster wildly ran around in the room, trying to get the sword out of its eye. It finally died when it slammed its eye into one of the web-colored pillars, slamming the blade straight through its brain.

The creature made a fatal groan, and then fell, dead. Link managed to pull the Kokiri Sword out of the creature's eye just before it went up in blue flames.

Link turned around to see what had helped them. He was surprised to see a sky-blue fairy dancing around with Darin, spinning back and forth with each other.

"Darin!" the fairy said, "It's so good to see you. I missed you so much; it's great to finally see you once more!"

"Momma," Darin said, "Mom I'm glad you're alive. I thought you've been dead all these years."

"One doesn't die so easily when they get to be as old as I am," the fairy said. She stopped her spinning with Darin, and flew over to Link. Link almost backed away, afraid that the fairy might slam into him and knock him backwards.

"Hello Link," the Fairy said.

Link stood there for a moment. "You know my name?" Link asked.

"Of course I know your name," the fairy said, "Don't you recognize me? It's me, Navi!"

"Mom," Darin said, cutting in, "It's not who you think it is."

"Of course it is," she said, "It's Link, coming to see me after all these years! He's young again!"

"Mom," Darin came up in front of his mom, between her and Link. "It's not him," he said, "It's not the Link you know."

Navi paused for a moment, and then the words sunk in. "Oh," she said, almost sadly, "You're right. I forgot…he died, didn't he?"

Darin nodded. Navi went over to the small Hylian boy. Link could almost see her wings droop in sadness as she flew over to him.

"Forgive me," she said, "I had forgotten myself in the fighting. My name is Navi. I am a guardian of this temple. What is your name?"

"You had it half right the first time," Link said. He told Navi who he was, where he came from, and how he was related to Link, his ancestor, the Hero of Time. Navi took it all in, and seemed to feel better, at least a little bit.

"Oh," she said, "No wonder I recognized you. You're Link's great grandson. You know, I always thought that he and Malon would get together someday. I guess that while Link and I were together that I wanted him all to myself, so I didn't see it at the time. So, how are things at Lon Lon Ranch?"

"Really great," Link said, "Our produce rate had raised itself over the years, so that my grandfather was able to hire more hands. Their families have lived on the ranch since. I have some very good friends among them."

"I'll bet you do," Navi said, "Seeing as you are the spitting image of your great grandfather."

"Actually, mom," Darin said, "They only figured that out a few days ago. You see, his parents have grown rather attached to him, so…he doesn't know much about his ancestor or the first Link's past."

"Really?" Navi said, "Then it's time I enlightened him. Well, Link. My name is Navi. About 100 years ago, I was your great grandfather's guardian fairy during the Imprisoning War. I had fought alongside him in every battle and every enemy that Ganondorf threw at us, never giving up or giving in. After your father died, I thought that my life wouldn't have much of a purpose. Saria, as a sage and, technically, immortal, decided to have me help guard the Forest Temple. Since the curse began, I got cut off from the outside, so I never had a chance to get word out that I was still in here."

"Which made me think that she was dead," Darin said, "Oh, mom. I am so glad to see you!"

They rubbed each other's wings appreciatively. Link smiled. He knew what it was like to have someone care for you above all else, who would do everything they could to accomplish what was best for him. Though only once in his mind did he think that they went overboard, he appreciated their support nonetheless. It almost made him cry to realize that he missed his mom and dad a lot, along with everyone else on the ranch. He made a mental note; once this was over, he would go straight to Lon Lon Ranch and visit them, and never leave again.

Navi ended her embrace with Darin, and flew up on Link's shoulder. Darin followed suit, and the two of them followed Link into the next room.

With Navi being the only person ever able to be within the temple, she decided to tell them what she knew about it since her time being with the first Link. Link gained some valuable information; since Ganondorf's control of the temple, a courtyard had been blocked off, along with several rooms, and a basement that led to an area outside. While there were at least two hallways that turned around strangely like a corkscrew via magic, only one still worked. The other one was stuck permanently, its switch broken off and permanently damaged.

"There are a lot of spiders here too," she said, "I almost got caught in their webs more than once. They seem to get smarter every day, almost expecting me to miss just about every trap. I can barely keep myself alive."

"Don't worry, mom," Darin said, "Just so long as Link and I are around, you don't have to worry about any dumb old spiders getting in our way!"

"Oh, Darin," Navi said, "I almost forgotten how young you still are." She seemed to lose some of her uplift then. "At least you still have confidence," she said.

It was about then that Link heard a buzzing noise. He turned around, only to swiftly run off when he saw the herd of beetles once again, and this time they were hell-bent on killing Link.

"I thought we got rid of those things!" Darin said as he held on to Link's shoulder.

"I guess that bugs are more persistent than we give them credit for," Link shouted as he ran for his life.

"You have no idea, kid," Navi said.

As they ran, the beetles scurrying began to attract other creatures. Soon, several skulltullas and even a few dragonflies began chasing them down the halls of the temple.

Navi quickly got off of Link's shoulder, and sped over to the next turn. "Quickly," she said, "make a u-turn around this corner!"

Link did as he was told. As he ran, however, he got the vague impression that he had passed through a wall. When they stopped, he noticed that they were in a strangely lighted room, and that they did pass through a wall. Though Link wondered what magic this could be, he didn't attempt to find out as the hordes of angry beetles, insects, and spiders ran in the direction they believed that Link had turned.

The wall may have blocked them from seeing what was going on, but it didn't block sound. Link could hear the hundreds of insects that passed by, and he could hear every clicking protest that their exoskeletons made as the insects made their muscles go. Link was almost tempted to poke his head out at them to see them pass by, but he knew better than to give into that temptation.

When the noise was done, Link poked his head outside. He was amazed at the magic that made the strange illusionary wall, but he knew better than to praise such a feat. He hated to admit it, but if any one of those bugs had thought to stop, or had tried climbing on the wall while chasing after them, they would have been dead for sure.

When they left the room and the illusionary wall behind, Link realized that they were in a new room altogether. Link noticed that this one had a checkerboard floor, and that off towards the end of the room was a treasure chest!

Link immediately walked over towards it. It was then that the floor began to rumble very loudly.

"Link!" Navi shouted "Get out of the way!"

Link managed to back-flip out of the way as the entire ceiling came down, crashing into the floor directly where he stood only moments earlier. Link watched as the ceiling suddenly pulled itself back up again, as if by magic, and seemingly waited for him to try and walk underneath again.

"Link," Navi said, "Your great grandfather and I had been through here once before. There are a bunch of holes in the ceiling that you can get under without having to worry about getting squashed. I'd watch out though; the last time I had been through here there was a bunch of Skulltullas all over the place."

Link looked around. Sure enough, there were holes in the ceiling that were in the exact size and shape of the tiles on the floor. Link also spotted several big Skulltullas lurking just above where the collapsible ceiling stood. Link decided to see how effective the ceiling really was. Smirking to himself, he got out his Fairy Slingshot, took aim, and fired.

The Skulltulla, though not hurt, dropped like a stone. When it landed, it turned itself over, and hissed very angrily at Link. It scurried itself over in his direction.

Link slyly stuck his foot out directly underneath the ceiling.

He only pulled it out just in time for the ceiling to crash to the ground. Though he was alright, the gigantic spider wasn't so lucky. As the ceiling went up, Link could see a very big smear on the ground where the spider was, and bits and pieces of it were stuck to the dangerous trap as it reset itself.

"You know," Darin said, "You can get rather mean sometimes."

"I just don't like spiders," Link said. Before the ceiling could reach the top, he ran over to where the first hole was, and then stood in the center of the tile, waiting to see if the ceiling would fall. When nothing happened, he stuck out his right toe.

The ceiling fell once again. Link took advantage of it, and shot two more Skulltullas from their hiding spots. One fell over on its back with a squelch, and stopped moving. The other was swinging back and forth from the force of the blow, and was about to right itself when the ceiling came up and crushed it.

Link swiftly ran over to the nearest empty tile, and barely made it as the ceiling came down. He kept going until he got to his goal; the treasure chest. He came up to the big, decoratively styled wooden chest, and then opened it. He reached inside and pulled out a rather strange looking tool.

"Cool!" Darin said, "That could come in handy!"

"What is it?" Link asked.

"It's a Sling," Navi said, "They are pretty useful, because if someone is skilled enough with them they can shoot Deku Baba Nuts in far off distances. It's a great tool. It doesn't have as far of a range as a slingshot, though, and I'm not sure what good it will do on the armor of those spiders."

"Well," Link said, "We'll have to find out sooner or later." He hooked the sling, which was made of animal hide and very tough leaves, with a green jewel in the cup-like edge that held the Baba Nuts, onto his belt. He wanted to make sure he could reach it and the Deku Baba Nuts at the same time, so he made sure to hook it on the bag of nuts that he had gotten earlier.

He quickly and nimbly made it to the other holes, and finally made it to the door at the end of the hall. He walked inside, and drew his sword, preparing himself for anything.

As he walked in, he heard a squelching noise. He turned around and was almost caught off guard by another Ghoma, its tremendous body surprisingly stealthy for such a large animal. The Ghoma, smaller than the first one, didn't even have time to attack, because Link had taken the opportunity to stab the creature in the eye, piercing and blinding it. The Ghoma hissed, and began to feel itself away from the threat that Link posed, unknowingly going through the door to the checker-boarded room. Link wisely closed the door as the ceiling began to fall on its latest victim. He winced when he heard a tremendous squelch sound on the other side.

"Gross," Darin said.

"Do me a favor and don't open that," Navi said as Link was about to reach for the door, "I think I might be sick."

Link suddenly heard a crying noise. He turned around. There wasn't anybody there. He looked around, though the sound of crying was still audible, as if someone was trapped or lonely. He turned around to see a rather strange painting of a ghost on the wall towards the left of the door. Link looked up at the painting, and almost thought he could see real tears on the ghost's eyes.

Suddenly, there was a scream. From out of the painting came a very scary and very mad sky blue ghost, its hands clutching a very old torch. Link jumped aside as the ghost blindly rushed forward, and crashed into a barred door on the other side of the room.

The ghost made a sound that almost seemed like a cough, and then moaned.

"What's the point?" the ghost said in a female voice, "Why do I even care anymore? Oh, sisters, what have I done to deserve this? I am so sorry."

The ghost continued crying. Link was almost about to come up and pat its back, when Navi stopped him.

"That's a Poe, Link," Navi said, "Angry spirits that hate the world. Your great grandfather used to hunt these ghosts down a lot, though I have to say that I recognize this one."

Link looked over at the Poe. The Poe, realizing that it was being watched, straightened up and turned to face Link.

"Go ahead," she said, "Kill me now! End it, as it should have been ended. I cannot last anymore like this. More than two hundred years of death, and not a paradise after life to show for it. How can anyone last in such an existence?" She cried again, and Link could see strange-looking tears going down her face.

"Please," Link said sympathetically, "Can you tell me why you are like this?"

The Poe sobbed a little, and regained enough composure to start talking again. "Long ago," she said, "The forest had experienced a great battle. During the first Hyrulian Civil War, an evil army tried to conquer these lands, though the Hylian King's army did their best to prevent it from happening. I and my four sisters were refugees coming from conquered lands, when the evil army came and slaughtered us all in our sleep. My sisters were expecting mothers too, and when the darkness claimed them, the power of this forest changed us into wandering spirits, to forevermore be trapped in a state of undeath. Though they grieved for their lost ones, they vowed to take their vengeance on the world. Only I was wise enough to resist such evil, but it pained me when, 100 years ago, my sisters sided with an evil ghost, and were killed when a hero in green came to save this temple. I was the only Poe sister left, though I took no part in the fighting. Now my spirit wanders this temple, watches its curse, and begs for eternal rest…"

They couldn't get much more out of the Poe from there, because she started crying again. Link felt his heart gave out to her, and truly believed that she was telling the truth.

Navi, however, wasn't so sure. "How do we know you aren't working with whatever force is causing this curse?" she asked.

The ghost stopped sobbing for a second. "When my sisters died, and when the darkness left, I was forced to wander these halls. Saria came to me once, and after hearing my story, took pity on me, though she admitted that she could not kill me due to restrictions as a sage. She did give me instructions to guard the passage to where the phantom made its lair. I now hold the torch whose light was the combined power of the four torches, and only I can open it once again."

"Can you open it now?" Link asked hopefully.

"I can't," she said, "You need to find the great key that opens the lair for me to do that. You see, Saria gave me instructions that only one who owns the great key can continue further, and it's now being guarded by monsters. Still, I guess I can help you. Bring me the key, and I will light the torches, but in return you must heal my wandering soul."

Link nodded in agreement. He felt that it would be wise to aid the Poe in her struggle. If his ancestor did kill off her sisters, then it was the least that he could do.

The Poe opened the barred door to the next room, and Link, Darin, and Navi went inside. She remained behind, promising to meet up with them once she felt that they had completed their task. After dealing with a few more spiders, the trio managed to find their way back to where they started from; the temple's lobby.

Link quickly went back through the door that was locked, and quickly sped through to the room where they had first encountered the horde of beetles and insects that had chased them halfway around the temple. Link silently opened the door again, and was glad to see that there wasn't anyone there.

He slowly climbed up to the next floor, and was just about to make a turn when he realized that today just wasn't his day. The beetles were in the next room, and they spotted him as he turned the corner.

"RUN!" Darin shouted. Link needed no second bidding. He swiftly ran away from the room and up to the third floor as the beetles madly chased them up. Link had almost managed to give them the slip when he had to stop.

They had made it to a dead end. They were on a very narrow ledge. Ahead of them was another ledge, though it was separated from the rest of the floor by a big hole that led all the way to the bottom floor. Link took a flying leap to the other side, without anywhere else to go, and stood there in the corner.

The beetles managed to find him this time. They stood there for a moment; almost curious as to why he was just standing there, waiting for his doom. They suddenly charged, and Link ducked down, waiting for his doom at the claws and horns of a hundred mad beetles.

The beetles, however, didn't see the gap between them and the ledge that Link was standing. They rushed madly only to suddenly freefall about fifty feet to the ground. Those that landed first and survived where pummeled upon by their comrades who followed suit. The beetles couldn't jump very far, and Link almost laughed at how he had miraculously cheated death once again.

When they were gone, Link chanced a look down. The beetles were piled in a confused heap, some of them stunned, others trying to get up off of each other, and others were squished from the continuous pile of their own kind which crushed them. Link could see they were in no hurry to get organized, so he jumped to the other side of the gap and went back upstairs.

When they arrived to the top floor, Link recognized the entrance to the strangely curved hallway. He was just about to open the door when Navi stopped him.

"That Poe said you needed to get the key, right?" Navi asked.

"Right," Link said.

"Doesn't it seem strange that you can't reach it because the hallway seems to twist around when you walk in it?"

"Yeah, why?" Link asked.

"There's an enchantment that can be undone inside by hitting a specific switch," she said.

"That kind of explains why the chest is on the wall," Darin said, "but how can you switch it around?"

"Look up," Navi said.

Link looked up. There was a very strange eye that was attached just above the door. The eye looked like it was painted to metal, but, when Link looked close enough, it also looked like it was a real eye attached to the metal plate on the wall. Link assumed it was magic that did this. He got out his Fairy Slingshot and fired at the eye.

There was a clang as the nut struck metal, but the eye stayed the same. Link didn't hear any change, and wondered what he did wrong.

"Link used arrows to open it," Navi said, "I don't think that slingshot nuts will have enough power to activate the spell."

Link decided to try out his sling. He got it out, loaded a Deku Baba Nut, and swung it around. He kept close aim at the switch, and launched the nut.

There was a blinding flash. The nut struck dead center at the eye. Link was surprised to see the eye open wide, as if stunned, and then close tightly. A strange "click" sound rang through the room, which was followed by a "whoosh" that came from behind the door. Link opened it, and was surprised to see the hallway completely straight instead of curved.

He ran swiftly inside. Link took notice that some of the stairs and ledges seemed out of place again, but the ones that were before were changed into stairs that Link could use. He got down, and came up to the brightly colored chest in the room. He opened it up, and reached inside.

He pulled out a very fancy-looking key. The key was much bigger than the silver one that he had used before, and was also much heavier. Link put it in his Kokiri Bust Bag, noting that it seemed to change the weight of the bag so that it visibly hung from his hip.

"Well," Darin said, "Now what?"

"We finish what we started," Link said, and he quickly ran down the hall towards the lobby of the temple.

To be continued…

Kerian: At last, 10 entries! Phew, I'm glad that I managed to make it this far. So, how do you like the fact that Navi had a kid? More to come on Darin's origins later on, but for now I'll keep you guessing.

Come on, admit it. You actually thought that Link was going to die when the Gohma pinned him! lololol. I just love cliffhangers!

The final conclusion to this chapter comes up next, so don't turn off Internet Explorer just yet!

-Kerian