Chapter Eleven: The Great Pyramid

About three months had passed since I left Faron's forest. During that time, I had to travel around the shore of a huge sea known as the Mediterranean, and after I had reached the desert I still had to head further south if I was to find the next light spirit. Traveling the desert was very harsh though. Most of the time, I saw nothing but sand for miles. I did manage to bring some water with me, but at this rate it would be gone soon.

But it wasn't all bad. At nighttime the night sky was usually clear, and as I traveled I'd often gaze at the stars just like I used to back in Lanayru Village. But every time I looked at the stars, I'd always think of Starfire, back in America. It had been so long since I had seen her. I really wanted to finish this journey as soon as I could, so I could see her again.

One day while I was traveling, a harsh sandstorm started blowing. I wasn't going to let it stop me though, so I kept moving. But the wind was blowing so hard, the sand particles in it felt like bee stings when I got hit by them, and I could barely see. I collapsed from exhaustion, and went unconscious.

When I woke up, I wasn't out in the desert. I was inside a small cave. But how did I get here?

"Oh, good, you're awake." said a feminine voice.

I recognized that voice from somewhere. I sat up and looked around the cave. Sitting across from where I was, was a white-haired girl wearing a white dress. It was the girl I had met on the Ocean Liner. It was Kalena.

"Hey, I remember you. You helped me before, after I was beaten by Ghirahim." I said. "Your name is Kalena, right?"

"Right. I saw you fall unconscious in the sandstorm that blew across here earlier. I brought you here when I found you." she told me.

"What are you even doing out here?" I asked her.

"I am… on a journey of sorts." She answered. "A journey to discover what is truly important in life, if you will."

I didn't quite understand what she meant, but I was grateful that she saved my life again. I had also noticed that she had somehow refilled my water supply. She then handed me a small fruit.

"Here, you should eat this. I must've been quite some time since you've eaten anything." She said.

"Yeah… Well, I've had more important things on my mind lately." I told her as I ate the fruit.

"Like what?" she asked.

I explained everything to her. About how I met my friends back home, how Lanayru sent me on this journey across the world, and how I really missed Starfire and wanted to finish this journey as soon as possible.

"Well, fortunately for you, there happens to be a spring just south of here. It's near the Great Pyramids. Perhaps the spirit you're looking for lives there." She told me.

I was very grateful for her telling me that. But how did she know? How long had she been traveling? Before I left, she handed me a white cloak that she had with her.

"It will protect you from sand and other hazardous elements, and keep you warm at night." She told me.

I was hesitant at first, because it seemed to be the only one she had. But she told me she had no more need for it, and insisted that I take it.

"Thank you for being so nice to me. Most people just get this unwelcome feeling when around me…" I told her.

"It's no trouble. I once had a friend that had the same problem…" she said. "…I hope to be able to see him again someday."

"I know that you will." I told her.

She smiled from that comment. Afterwards, I left the cave and continued heading south, and after a few hours of traveling, I eventually reached an area of the desert that was covered in tall grass. There were three huge triangular structures far off in the distance. Those must've been the pyramids that Kalena had mentioned, so I must've been getting close.

I wandered through the tall grass for a while before coming across a freshwater spring. This had to be it; the next light spirit must be here. I walked up to the edge of the spring, and the water and rocks within it started glowing. A golden sphere rose out of the water just like the last time, but this time a golden antelope-like creature appeared with along with it, with the sphere floating between its large curved horns.

"My name is Ordona." It said. "I am one of the four light spirits of this world. I am the spirit that watches over this region."

"You know why I'm here, right?" I asked Ordona.

I assumed that since Faron had known I was coming before, that this light spirit would've known as well.

"Indeed. The trial you must pass to obtain the amethyst spirit shard is located within the largest of the Great Pyramids." He told me. "The door to the pyramid will only open before one who holds the spirit's power within him."

I already knew I had the spirit's blessing, so getting into the pyramid shouldn't be a problem. Before I left though, Ordona had one more thing to tell me.

"Be cautious, however. For the inside of the Great Pyramid is overflowing with evil power." He told me before vanishing back into the spring.

By 'evil power' I assumed that he meant that the pyramid was filled with monsters. Although I knew that a place like that would be full of ways to keep travelers from the shard, so I would need to be careful.

After about an hour of traveling, I stood before the Great Pyramid. It certainly was a lot bigger up close than it had been in the distance. I searched around it for a door of some sort. Eventually I came across a part of the wall that had an odd symbol carved into it. It was a symbol of a sphere within a horizontally curved pattern that resembled Ordona's horns. I assumed that this was Ordona's symbol, so this must've been the entrance.

Ordona had said that it would only open before one with the spirit's power, so I placed my hand on the symbol and went into spirit mode. The sphere glowed with a purple light, followed by the curved pattern, which glowed with a golden light. I took a step back and the door slowly opened, leaving a lot of dust in the air afterwards. I was about to head inside, but stopped as I suddenly heard someone slowly clapping behind me.

"Well done. It seems that the pyramid deems you worthy enough to enter." A familiar voice said to me.

I quickly turned around to see Ghirahim a few feet in front of me. This was the third time he had just suddenly shown up! Why was he following me?!

"Ghirahim. What are you doing here?" I asked, readying myself in case he tried anything.

"I'm merely here to inform you about just what you'll be getting yourself into when you go in there." He answered.

"I already know. The inside of this pyramid is filled with evil power. Monsters and traps and such, but it's nothing I can't handle." I told him as I wheeled back around, prepared to enter the pyramid.

"Ah, yes, this pyramid is chock-full of them. But I assure you… monsters and traps will be the least of your worries." He told me.

When I heard that, I turned to face him again to ask him what he meant by that, but he was already gone. If the monsters and traps were the least of my worries, then what was the thing to worry about? I didn't know, but I didn't want to waste time trying to figure it out. I stared into the entrance of the pyramid. It was dark inside, even darker than the Woods of Despair had been. Nonetheless, I took a deep breath, and entered the pyramid.

It was really dusty and hard to breathe inside, by I kept going, descending deeper into the pyramid. I soon reached a large room filled with unlit torches. It did not seem like anything was here, but when I made it to the center, all of the torches suddenly lit up and the doorway behind me closed shut. From out of the sand beneath me rose eight green cactus-like creatures that moved above the sand in a spinning motion. One of them got close, attaching itself to my leg and digging its needles into it. I really hurt, as if it was trying to suck my blood or something.

I quickly forced it off and stabbed it with my sword. The other vampiric cactuses were surrounding me in a circular formation and inching closer. It was at that moment that I remembered a move that would work here. I waited until the right moment, and when they were all close I used a spinning attack to hit all seven of them at once. Once they had all fallen apart, the doorways behind me and ahead of me opened up. I picked the cactus needles out of my leg and continued on.

A few of the halls I traveled through had traps such as spiked floors and statues that fired lasers of some sort, but I managed to get through them. When I reached the next room, I expected some hideous monster to ambush me. But there was nothing in this room except for several torches, and a giant statue of a snake. But it wasn't a snake like Lanayru, this snake looked very ominous. It was colored black and had five red eyes, one of which was on its forehead. It was just a statue, but there was just something about that creature that felt… familiar.

I took a few more steps into the room, and I felt an unfriendly presence in the air. Suddenly everything around me went dark. I looked around seeing if I could find what caused it, but I saw nothing. Then after I took a few more steps, I heard something breathing heavily. It sounded huge, but I still couldn't see anything. Then I heard a deep roar from behind me. When I turned around, I saw five giant red eyes staring at me, the same ones that the statue had! I gasped, and then I felt a horrible burn in my left arm where my birthmark was. As I clutched it in pain, the red eyes came closer. I tried to draw my sword, but the beast was already upon me. It opened its mouth full of razor sharp teeth attempting to devour me. I closed my eyes, thinking this might be it for me.

But when I opened my eyes again, the beast was gone, and I was back in the room I had been in before everything went dark. It was as if nothing had even happened. Was it all just an illusion? One thing was different though. There was now a large treasure chest in front of me. When I opened it up, I found a wooden bow and a quiver full of up to thirty arrows. This would certainly be useful later on, so I took it with me and kept going. Still I wondered… what had I just seen? And what exactly was that a statue of?

I soon came into a very large sand-filled room with what looked like a gigantic shield on the wall. Beneath it there was a door that had Ordona's symbol on it. That must've been where the shard was. But when I got to the center of the room the door behind me slammed shut. I looked around cautiously, trying to find what I may have to face. Then to my surprise, the giant shield fell from the wall, and sprouted legs. It wasn't a shield at all! It was some kind of gigantic beetle! It stood up with its wings opened, bearing very sharp looking mandibles, and screeched loudly at me. I pulled out my sword and braced my shield, ready for battle.

I attempted to strike first, but the monster's armor was too strong, and my sword just bounced off. It counter-attacked using a headbutt and knocked me down. It then tried to stab me with its mandibles while I was down, but I quickly rolled out of the way and got back up. How was I going to damage this thing if my sword couldn't cut it? The beetle opened up its wings again, and it was then that I noticed a small red spot inbetween its wings that looked like a weak point. Unfortunately, the beetle closed its wings almost as quickly as it had opened them. I had to find a way to force its wings open.

The beetle tried headbutting me again, but this time I was ready for it. I countered by bashing my shield into its head, causing it to stumble. When it did stumble, I noticed that its wings opened slightly. Maybe if I put some more force into my attack, I could get it to open them all the way, and I knew just how to do that. I went into spirit mode, and when the beetle tried attacking again, I rammed my shield into it. This time, my counterattack had a greater effect. It not only forced the monster's wings open, but it had also stunned it. This gave me enough time to climb onto its back and fiercely slash at its weak spot.

After a few hits, the beetle got up and shook me off. I would've thought that attack would finish it off, but it instead just seemed to make it madder. It opened up its wings again, but this time it flew into the air, out of my reach. How was I going to attack it now? The answer wasn't that hard to figure out though, because I saw that on its stomach was another red spot. If I could hit it with a projectile weapon maybe I could get it back down here, but my boomerang couldn't reach that far. Then I remembered the bow I had picked up earlier. That would probably work. The monster's weak spot was covered by its legs though, so I had to wait for just the right time.

I pulled out my bow and set an arrow onto it. I pulled back on it and aimed up towards the beetle, waiting for the right time to fire. The beetle stopped in midair and tried dropping some weird goop on me. Fortunately it missed, and I noticed that the beetles weak spot was now uncovered. Reacting quickly, I fired an arrow at it. It hit right on target, and the beetle screeched as it plummeted down to the ground onto its backside. While it was stunned, I climbed onto it once again and thrust my sword into its weak spot.

It shook me off again, but fortunately my attack had worked. The beetle let out a final screech, then curled up and died. Afterwards, the door I came from opened, and the symbol on the other door was glowing, which I'm pretty sure meant that I could open it now. When I approached the door, it opened up automatically for me.

The inside of it looked almost exactly the same as the room that had housed the emerald spirit shard, except this time the pedestal in the center was a purplish color. Just like the last time, I went into spirit mode and thrust my sword into the pedestal. The blue light from my sword once again surged into the patterns throughout the room and gathered into the rectangular section of the floor in front of me. A stone tablet bearing Ordona's symbol rose up from the floor, and embedded within it was the amethyst spirit shard.

I went up to the tablet and carefully pulled the shard out. Like the other ones, it started glowing, and I could feel that same mysterious power within it. I now had only one more shard to find.

When I exited the pyramid, I heard the voice of Ordona calling to me.

"You have done well, chosen one." Ordona said. "There is now but one last trial for you to undertake."

"Right. So where can I find the next shard?" I asked him.

"The final shard and the light spirit who guards it can be found in an area far to the east of here, beyond the Himalayan Mountains, and across the sea beyond that. Be warned that the path to the final trial will be very treacherous." He told me.

It sounded scary, but I assured him that I wasn't going to let up now. Not when I was so close.

"Lanayru certainly made a wise decision when he bestowed the spirit's blessing upon you, child." Ordona said. "Now go. May fortune be with you on your quest."

With my compass, I pinpointed which direction was east and started off once again. From what Ordona said, the way to the next shard must be very long and dangerous. But I only needed one more shard, and then I could reform the spirit key. And most of all, once this was all done, I could finally go back home to my friends. I couldn't help but wondered what they've all been doing while I've been gone.