Chapter 10

The Life of the Afterlife

I now have to go to the Dragon, which was southwest of me. I have been enjoying the journey, but I can't wait for this to be over. I guess you never get used to something like this. The nights were becoming colder too, and I hope I can complete the Triforce before winter…

Should I stop somewhere and buy a shield? Perhaps there is a village nearby; I took the map out and saw one east of the temple. I decided to go there first.

This whistle defeated Digdogger; I wonder what else it can do. Well, I'm sure it will come in handy later. I placed it to my lips to play a song, when I thought I heard something else… I stopped playing and turned to see a tornado rushing right to me!

I tried to move out of the way, but it was too late! I was lifted into the air and it felt like the sudden gust changed direction and flew away.

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It wasn't very long until the gust vanished, and I stood safely on the ground… What was that? Where am I? I found myself standing in front of a temple. Dead trees littered the ground around me, and I didn't take that as a good sign… I think I've been here before. Is that Dragon? Did the whistle do this? I approached the entrance with caution; my last visit wasn't pleasant.

I got an eerie feeling when I walked into the dark room, and the few lights there were was from the two bubbles moving about the room. There was enough light to see the vires flying near the ceiling. I pointed my sword towards them and summoned a beam. It struck one of the demon-like bat creatures, but the others saw me and flew to attack. I began shooting more beams as they became closer, and then, I struck close up and the vire fell backwards into another one, which caused it to divide into two keese!

I was much occupied with attacking, and when I noticed the bubble coming right for me, I wasn't prepared. If only I had my shield! The flaming skull crashed into me, causing me to drop my sword, and like before, I couldn't wield it.

I ran from the vires, but they pursued. They were catching up to me, and I need my sword! I ran back to it; perhaps I can use it now. I rolled to the ground and successfully took up my weapon. Defeating the rest of the vires was easy.

After avoiding the bubble one last time, I was ready for the next room! Standing behind the door was a dark hallway and a pols voice; a strange creature that looked kind of like a rabbit. It was tall, and looked down, threating me. I approached with my blade, and slashed out… But if it hurt the pols voice, it didn't show it. I took a step back and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Behind the pols voice was a ghini.

The ghini flew a bit closer and smiled mischievously. The pols voice scrunched down, ready to attack me, but before it could, the ghini behind it let out a high pitch scream! Probably trying to scare me, but the pols voice jumped and cowered into a ball. I took the opportunity to attack it, and the ghini hesitated when the monster dropped down. I brought my sword up, but the ghost shrieked and flew through the nearby wall.

I just shrugged and walked to the end of the hallway. As I walked, I saw a bit more light shining in… It led me outside in a graveyard. Tomb after tomb was lined up in a neat row. The sun was beginning its rise once more, and its lonely first rays of light shone down on the passing. I slowly made my way down one of the rows, when, suddenly…

"EEEEEEEEEEEEKK!" I jumped and instantly slashed my sword at the yelling ghini. The ghost stuck out its tongue and vanished, and I felt myself falling from the surprise. I slammed into a tomb behind me, and I noticed the gravestone shifted a bit. Still in a sitting position, I looked down at the base of the rock… It was hollow… Is that a staircase?

I stood up and pushed against it until there was enough room for me to go down. I couldn't see a thing and I was starting to think that this was a bad idea. I slowly walked down the tomb… The sound of my footsteps was echoing loudly in the dark, empty chamber.

"WHO GOES?" A loud ghostly voice asked. "Uhh…" Fear struck me; I've done it now! I held very still, trying not to run quickly out; he might kill me if I make an effort to escape. Just then fire came from nowhere and lit two torches to the side of the chamber. "WHO GOES?" The voice asked again.

"L-Link… A-and I didn't mean to b-bother you, sir." A transparent form of a wrinkled man dressed in a robe with old runes printed on it appeared before me. He brushed his black hair off of his shoulder, and it was so long it touched the floor. "LINK YOU SAY? WHY ARE YOU HERE? ARE YOU HERE TO STEAL MY TREASURE?"

"No! I didn't even know you were guarding treasure!"

"LIAR!"

I panicked. "Please, trust me! I'm here to fight the monster at the end of the temple to find a Triforce shard!"

"TRIFORCE? IS THE MONSTER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT GOHMA? …GOHMA HAS BEEN TROUBLE RECENTLY… ACTING LIKE IT OWNS THE PLACE… LINK, YOU WILL BE DOING US A FAVOR BY DEFEATING IT, SO I WILL LET YOU GO, THIS TIME!"

I let out a sigh and turned around to leave, but my shoulders tensed up again when I heard his loud voice. "WAIT! TO AID YOU IN YOUR FIGHT WITH GOHMA, I WISH TO GIVE YOU THIS…" He presented me with a shield. "THIS IS MY TREASURE I HAVE BEEN GAURDING ALL THESE YEARS, AND I CHOOSE TO TRUST YOU WITH IT." I took the sturdy shield with caution. Its bright red cross on the dark surface reflected the only light in the room, and it was much larger than my own shield I once had.

"THIS SHIELD SAVED MY LIFE COUNTLESS TIMES WHEN I WAS LIVING, AND IT WILL DO THE SAME FOR YOU."

"What, you're giving this to me? It sounds important to you."

"LINK, I AM DEAD. I HAVE NO USE FOR SHIELDS ANYMORE. TO FIND GOHMA, GO BACK TO THE HALLWAY AND SEARCH FOR A HOLLOW WALL."

"Your shield will be in good care." I walked to the staircase and turned one last time. "Thank you, and don't worry, I will defeat Gohma." I offered a smile and returned to the surface. I still felt like I shouldn't take his prized procession… But maybe he's thinking I'll fail and he can take it back…

That thought scared me.

I calmly walked to where I saw the pols voice and began my search for the hidden pathway. I went up and down that hallway, pushed on the wall several times, and listened as I knocked on the stone… I couldn't hear it very well and I didn't have a lot of bombs left.

I took a step back and brought my new shield out in attempts not to hurt myself and ran forward. A loud clang echoed in the dark, narrow, aisle, but it didn't sound hollow. I strode over a few inches, but instead of using the shield, I struck the wall with my sword. I was able to move quicker with the sword as I covered a large space on the stone, and I smiled when, finally, the wall near the entrance echoed more than the others.

I lit the fuse on a bomb and placed it before the suspicious wall. I ran back quite a distance and waited. It exploded in a million pieces, causing the stone wall to collapse with it. The large cloud of dust started to settle down from the disturbance, but it left behind a light dusty fog that would probably take hours to finally rest on the dungeon floor. There, behind the wall, was a staircase descending in darkness.

I couldn't see or hear anything that was down there, but I knew Gohma was waiting for me. One foot after the other I paced down the steps, and as I neared closer to the end, I became anxious and nervous. I have fought quite a number of guardians by now, but that didn't seem to calm me down. I stepped off of the last stair; the room looked big enough to fight the monster guarding the shard, but I still couldn't make anything out in the blackened chamber.

I took caution as I slowly went forward. The only thing I could hear at all was the blood rushing in my ears until… I felt the tip of my boot kick something, causing it to roll forward giving off a light scraping sound that seemed so loud. I looked down at a golden rod with a pinkish orb set at the top of it.

I bent down to pick it up, and the orb sparkled a bit, even though there was no light. I stood up with the rod in my hands, and I couldn't help but marvel at the finely crafted gold handle…

But I became too distracted.

At the corner of my eye was another eye, and then it slowly closed again. Something large was in the room with me from the looks of that single big eye. I backed up to the staircase behind me. The eye opened once more, just staring ahead at me. It suddenly looked angry and moved slowly to the side before closing.

I brought my weapons out and kept watch as best I could. A small light appeared and shot straight for me. I jumped to the side and successfully dodged it. What is this thing? Is it Gohma? The eye opened and this time I didn't hesitate. I ran forward letting my sword lead, but the eye closed and I couldn't harm it!

Before it could release more missiles, I jumped back and ran next to the staircase. I avoided some the projectiles as two of them crashed into me and pushed me down… I landed hard on the stone floor, and felt pain all over from the continuous attacks of the journey. I slowly stood up, ignoring the pain for now and waited for the eye to open… I positioned an arrow on my bow and pulled back… I saw the light from my target open… I aimed the steel tip, and released.

It soared true! The monster closed the eye, but it was too late. The sharp point found its way right in the center, and I knew from the screech I heard that the battle was over. The loud sound from Gohma was followed by a thud as it fell forward. I waited a while before moving, but as the minutes rolled by, I decided it was safe to stumble blindly looking for the door. As I walked in the dark, I noticed a stab of pain in my leg, but I didn't have a potion, so before I can do anything about it, I have to find the shard.

I still couldn't see my hands in front of me as I felt the wall for the entrance. It felt like forever to find that door, but finally, I felt a different pattern than what the wall had. I moved my hand down and found the door handle.

I was blinded by the light from the Triforce piece. The golden light leaked out into the battlefield and I turned around to see Gohma still on the ground. It was like a giant crab or a spider with only a single eye. The blue color on it almost blended in with the rest of the room.

The Triforce shard hovered in the air on the pedestal in the room. I collected it and watched as it slowly melted in with the others until I only had one large Triforce piece. I'm almost done! Only two more!