Link's POV
Goddess knows how long I've been here. It feels like days but it's probably only been a couple of hours. I'm resting with my back against the wall and a small fire crackling by my feet. I don't sense any danger around and am glad I can take a break. Three Dead Hands, three creepy ugly Dead Hands I had to fight, first thing I get in here, in a row. Not to mention those other hands that creep along the ceiling and floors.
I remember being told about those types of monsters. I think the hands that crawl along the ceiling are called wallmasters and the ones on the floor are called floormasters. Wallmasters are much easier to kill as long as you don't get caught in their grip. The floormasters on the other hand, don't go down with splitting into three smaller hands and having to kill them quickly, otherwise the smaller hands will grow back into its original size. I'm starting to guess that everything down here is dead, well living dead.
My body is trembling from all that has so far happened and my back is hurting worse than before now that the flesh has indeed been reopened. My temple has been cut open and I watched as blood runs down my face like crimson tears. I swallow trying to moisten my dry throat but the saliva gets stuck making me swallow several times more just to get it to go down. I decide to look at my supplies that are in my pouch in the low light of the burning fire.
Inside I find: A lantern, a sleeping bag, a bow with ten arrows, three bottles of red potion, and one bottle with a fairy.
I quickly grab one of the bottles holding the red potion and drink it. It kills my thirst and heals my bloody body. The feeling of my wounds sealing themselves shut was a bit painful but afterwards it was utter bliss.
I breathe a sigh of relief and slowly become tired. I know I should be going now but I can't fight the urge to sleep. I take out the sleeping bag and lay it out. I crawl in it and quickly enter the loving void of sleep.
I must have been out for only a few minutes when I suddenly wake. I hear some kind of moaning and it's only getting louder. Whatever is making the noise is getting closer and my instincts tell me to get ready for a fight.
I latch onto my swords hilt and my shield and stand in a ready position. I see a large shadow of the creature dance on the wall as it grows nearer and its moaning grows even louder. Something about whatever's coming my way makes my skin crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I didn't feel this much fear facing the other enemies so why should I now?
Finally it came into view and I could swear I felt my heart stop. It was walking so slowly, almost like it was dragging its feet. I could already smell its rotting flesh. The smell was more putrid than the Dead Hand's. Already I can tell it's a walking corpse and I also learned about these things long ago. Their called Redeads and are blind. Well most are blind. Only the tribal Redeads could see with their red eyes. As far as I could tell, this was a normal Redead.
Suddenly the Redead stops and just stands there, still moaning which really gives me the creeps. I suppress a shiver to pass through my body and focus on my new enemy. I don't remember much about this foe, but I do remember they latch on to you and suck your life-force away.
I slowly walk up to it, not allowing any noise to pass from my cautious steps. I stand in front of it and look at its rotting face. It too did not have any eyes. Another shiver crept up on me and this time I could not stop it. It raked through my body and even forces a small sound out. Big mistake!
The Redead shoots its head up at me and lets out an ear shattering scream. I was paralyzed in place. Fear took control of my body, leaving me motionless in place as the Redead took a step and latched onto me. My eyes widen as it starts to suck the life out of me. Its legs are wrapped around my waist from behind and its arms are on my shoulders. The feeling of its attack horrifies me. It's so utterly painful and it feels as if my soul is being ripped apart from it stealing my life away
I struggle against its iron grip and break free. I remember I have my sword in hand and go in for an attack. It screams again that awful scream and once again I am paralyzed with fear. It latches on to me once more. I can feel it moving against me and ripping apart the skin on my head and neck. It purred and moaned in pure pleasure. I felt sick and dizzy. I start feeling blood drip down my from the wounds it inflicted from its teeth.
I begin to panic. It felt so gross. I could feel its bones under its decaying skin and it was painful. I struggle and break free, running a good distance away from it, enough for it to think I'm not around anymore. I watch it from a safe distance. It turns around and stands still again like nothing happened.
My hair was matting from the slowly drying blood that cascades down my head. My body has already become weak again from the Redead sucking the life out of me. I calm myself before thinking of a plan.
I come up with two options: Leave my stuff here, tiptoe my way around the Redead, and come back later, if I can. Or, I can quickly strike the enemy, risk my life, and gain the upper hand.
I decide to go with option one since I really can't handle another attack from the monster if option two failed. I check my pockets and see I have one bottle of potion with me that was wrapped inside my tattered blanket. I frown a little when I see a bit of blood has gotten on the material. Oh well, definitely will clean it later.
I grab my lamp, take a couple deep breaths and advance quietly forward. I tiptoe slowly to ensure no sound is made while I sneak past the Redead. I hold back my shudders when I hear its moaning once again and focus on taking quiet steps.
I get by the Redead fairly quick and hurry forward with my hand on the hilt of my sword. I also light my lamp now that I am out of range of the monster.
A mile or two away from the Redead, the path I've been taking cuts off into a dead end. I hear loud drips of water that I heard a while ago back at the entrance. I must be going the right way even if this is a dead end.
I look around and bite my lip, thinking hard about where to go and what to do. I look up at the low ceiling. My eyes widen and I smile at what I find. A lever is hanging down from the ceiling just low enough for me to grasp it.
I grab the lever and pull on it hard. The ground begins to shake and a secret passageway opens up from the ground. I let go of the lever and proceed forward.
I think an hour passed, by the time I got to another room. I check my map and confirm my location. A grin spreads wide on my face when I see I'm getting closer to the end of the catacombs.
The room I'm in is a bit darker than anywhere else I've been. Not even my lamp could fully penetrate through the darkness; it only left my surroundings in shadows.
I lift my lamp up to eye leve and look around as best as I can. I can hear something in this room, so I stay on guard. I take a few cautious steps forward and almost jump out of my skin. Well… found my new enemy. I back up quickly, attach the lamp to my belt, unsheathe my sword, and raise my shield.
The creature is a dirty cream color, and has no hands or feet. In fact, it doesn't even have a face, only a large circular mouth. Master told me about these things and said they were extinct because they got on his 'bad side.' I guess he accidentally left one hanging around. He called them Like Likes. I wonder why though?
I run at it and do a jump attack, thinking I'll slice it in half easily. I was proven wrong. It opens its large mouth and sucks me in, chews on me, then spits me out. I land on my ribs with a loud crack when I hit the ground. I feel intense pain instantly and hold back my scream. I can already tell my ribs have cracked from impact. Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I listen to my foe slowly come closer to me. I push up, off the ground and turn to face it. The adrenaline nulls the pain enough for me to fight and stay alive.
My grip tightens on my sword and then I realize, as I'm trying to grab for my shield, it's not with me anymore. I know I had it before the Like Like tried eating me. I check to make sure nothing else was gone when I saw my pockets are empty. My blanket was gone…
I widen my eyes then narrow them at the Like Like, a fire burning in them. That bastard took my blanket! I don't care too much for my other stuff, but he or she or whatever that thing really is took something personal from me and I am pissed!
The fire that is burning in my eyes start to engulf my body in the same burning passion. I feel a crackling energy start to form in the air and time slows then came to a stop. I breathe deeply in fury and feel the fiery energy intensify. I devilish smirk full of hate forms on my lips. I raise my hand then slam it on the ground with my palm lying flat on the cold surface. A fire, no, an inferno erupts from my body, surrounding me in its ring, and then it spreads out, hitting its target, setting it aflame.
I stand straight up, my anger dying down a bit but the hatred I felt towards the monster was still evident in my eyes. I watch with great delight, the Like Like burn, squeal, and then die. I step on the corpse of the Like Like then I start cutting it open with my blade. I quickly find my shield and potion, putting them back in their rightful places. I dig deeper into the rotting corpse of my dead enemy and find my blanket. The juices of the Like Like drip from the material as I pull it out of its body. I fan it out a bit, to rid what I can of the juices, fold it back up carefully, and place it back in my pocket.
I sigh in relief that my blanket was alright. I wouldn't be so careless with an enemy like that again.
I cross the room and find a large chest sitting atop of a platform. There are no stairs leading up to it and I estimate it to be about several stories up. I rest my head on the cool cobblestone wall and close my eyes. A headache was coming on. How was I supposed to get all the way up there?
I open my eyes, lift my head from the wall, turn around, and survey the room carefully. I remember how dark it is and remember that my lantern was probably somewhere on the ground now that the Like Like's body disintegrated into purple smoke. I search for it and find it in a dark corner, its light almost complete out. It's out of oil.
I place it on my belt and look around the room as best as I can in the darkness. I then hear rats squeaking and ready my blade. Demonic rats were not creatures you could mess with. I learned that the hard way.
I turn every which way and find the creatures. They were much bigger than the rats in the dungeon and…they could fly?
My jaw falls to the floor when I see the large rats unfurl their skinny, ugly bat-like wings and slowly fly towards me. What kind of hell am I in? There are all sorts of enemies, living and undead, chests popping up here and there, multiple floors, and insane puzzles. What is this place? It's just like one of those temple or dungeon places that the chosen hero of the past, in the mortal realm had to go through to save the world. But Master said those were just stories. Mere fairytales you tell to small children to entertain them and bless them with good dreams. Were they actually real?
I was pulled out of my thoughts by a sudden sting on my shoulder. One of the flying demonic rats had bit me. Not good. These rats had venomous bites. Hopefully it's not too serious.
I raise my shield and deflect one of the rats' attacks. I slash at it while it was vulnerable, quickly killing it, and raising my blade to the others. They hiss, seeing there fallen comrade and fly right at me. I attack full force, slaying ever demonic rat that came close.
Eventually they were all dead and the poison from the bite on my shoulder was starting to attack my system. I check to see how serious the bite was. It was small, which I was lucky for, but the venom was just as powerful as a regular sized bite. I was also fortunate that it was the only wound I received while fighting the rats.
I was starting to feel nauseous and dizzy. My head is pounding and the adrenaline in my body is waning. The pain from my cracked ribs is awakening with fervor. I look at my wound again and see it's turning an unhealthy shade of black and purple. I have no choice; I already have to use my potion.
I shakily take it out of my pocket and fumble with the cork. Once the bottle was open, I carefully drink the potion, not wanting to fully upset my stomach and lose the healing essence.
No more was in the bottle after a few swallows and already I feel my body being to mend itself back together. The healing came with a hot flash of pain, especially when I felt my ribs seal their cracks. But just as quickly as it came, the pain was gone is replaced with a new sensation of bliss and relaxation.
I take a few more moments then look around the room once again for a way up to the platform with the chest. This time I see a stairwell leading up to the chest. It was transparent and seemed to be made of crystal with a web design.
I climb the stairs and open the chest, taking out the new item. I raise a brow in question. Why in the entire demon realm, did I need this? In my hands, I held an ancient looking instrument called an ocarina. It was blue with seven holes and the crest of the Triforce was embroidered at the base of the mouthpiece.
I shake my head thinking this item is useless. I keep it anyways. I mean I did fight and bleed for it, so why not? I turn to leave but stop in my place when something starts to form on the wall. I watch the wall intently and see gold glowing and carving into the cobblestone. When the gold dissipates, I walk up to the wall and stare at what is written. It looks like notes to a song. I look back at the ocarina in hand and decide to give it a try.
I put my mouth on the mouthpiece, position my hands firmly over the holes and try playing the song. The first attempt at playing the odd tune sounded horrible and could possibly make someone's ears bleed or at least deafen them. I tried several more times, each time getting more use to playing the ancient instrument. Finally I succeed in playing it. I know I played it right because more gold fire carved away at the wall, revealing a message after it once again disappeared.
The message said: "The rising sun will eventually set. A newborn life will fade. From sun to moon, moon to sun…give peaceful rest to the living dead."
This message actually seemed familiar and something inside me tells me I can use this song against those vile Redeads.
I leave the room and head back to where I snuck past that one Redead and where my stuff is. All too quickly I'm back and see the monster in front of me. I take out the ocarina and play the song and hear the awful moaning I usually hear from the Redead cease. I look at my enemy and see it's frozen. This is my chance.
I put away the instrument and attack swiftly. I never stopped swinging my sword until the walking corpse was dead, truly dead. I watch with triumph as my foe falls in a heap on the ground and slowly disappears.
I walk back to where I left my stuff and gather everything up. I am exhausted and would love to sleep again, but I can't waste any more time. I push forward, constantly looking at my map now.
I've already run into several traps, dead ends, and an ambush of enemies. I have found one enemy I can tolerate the most. There walking skeletons with a sword and a shield. I prefer them to the rest of the enemies because they aren't hard to kill and at least they use a sword to fight with and nothing else.
I put my back against a nearby wall and pull out my map, again. I look it over carefully then put it away. I once again examine the area I'm in. There's supposed to be a hidden door somewhere, but where?
I get up off the wall and head all the way down the passage to another dead end. Or is it? I hear the sound of rushing water. I press my ear up against the wall and listen. It's just behind this wall. I check every wall around me and stumble when I go straight through one of them. Another door; maybe this will lead to where I need to go.
I walk in and instantly see enemies, but I also see a huge chest behind bars. The room, of course is dark and I cautiously walk up to the enemies. Suddenly, a hand wraps around my throat forcing me to stop. My eyes go wide. Damn it, not again!
It's a Dead Hand. I easily rip the hand off me and turn to look for the monster. I don't see it or hear it anywhere. Where is it?
A moan makes me snap my head to the left and right. My blood goes cold when I see more company in the room. I stop my breathing and back away slowly, never taking my eyes off of the Redeads on both sides of the room, huddled in little circles. There was possible seven Redeads in the room.
I back up into something and nearly scream, but I bite my tongue to prevent any sound from escaping my lips. I turn around and ready my sword. Well, found my missing friend.
The Dead Hand does what it always does and tries to eat me. I slash its face and repeat the process, but stay quiet enough to not attract any attention from the other occupants in the room. I kill the Dead Hand in a matter of minutes.
I pull out my ocarina and play the magical song that stuns the living corpses, the Sun's song. I hear the sound of them freezing and smile. There's too many to take out one by one so I need to try and take them all out at once. I feel something ignite within me, a warm tingling dancing on my fingertips. A smirk plays across my face and I position myself in the middle of the room, between the two Redead groups.
I feel the air around me heat up and become flammable. I do what I did before and press the palm of my hand on the ground, unleashing a roaring fire at my foes. I stand straight up afterwards and check my work. The Redeads are on fire. I can smell the scent of burning, rotting flesh. It's not a pleasant smell.
I watch them burn and wait for them to fall. They never do. The fire dies out and the Redeads still stand, and are coming towards me, their awful moans filling the room. Their shrill screams replace the moaning and paralyzed me with fear. I start to tune out on their screams as they got closer and I try to escape. One was about to grab hold of me, when I warp out of the room, and outside of the door.
I wipe the sweat beading down my forehead with the back of my hand, relieved to have warped to safety outside the room. So glad I had a warp point set up out here before I went inside. I calm my heart rate. When I recollect myself I head back into the room.
The Redeads are back where they were originally and the Dead hand was well still dead and nowhere to be seen. I play the Sun's song again then ready my sword after the walking dead freeze. I am more cautious this time. I make a mental note.
Note to self: Fire does no good against Redeads, instead just ticks them off more and puts me in more danger than needed.
Since I couldn't use fire, my only other option is to take them out one by one and constantly use my ocarina to keep them still. I nod to myself putting my plan into action. Without wasting any more time, I lunge at my foes swiftly and slaughter them all. I was attacked by two of them since my sword woke two Redeads at once from their frozen state. It wasn't easy and I did get injured but killed them after re-stunning them.
I pant, exhausted and feeling the major energy drain from using my magic. I am going to have to rest up after I get the item in the big chest.
I walk up to the bars, the chest is behind, and immediately see something that a sword could fit into. I thrust my sword into it and twist it like a key. I hear a click then take my sword back and sheath it. I see two red targets up high that I can't reach with my sword. I dig in my pouch and pull out the bow I have and ready an arrow. I point at the first target on the ceiling and let the arrow fly. I hit it perfectly and the target changes to blue. The next one is to my farthest left in a dark corner. I do the same thing and it changes to blue also.
The bars lift, allowing my access to the chest. I run up to it and fling the top open, pulling out the item inside. It was kind of heavy but once I pull it out, I see it's a large key with a red gem and onyx metal. It was in the shape of an ancient sword.
I pocket the key and set up a camping area. I set the sleeping bag on the ground and gather a few pieces of scattered wood and start a fire. Even though it was very hot down here, I needed the fire so I could see better and maybe ward off an enemies. I get inside the sleeping bag and relax a bit.
Author's Comments: Sorry it took so long. I am already almost done with the next chapter. I would have put them both together but there's already so much typed out; in fact I think this is my longest chapter so far. Well, hope you enjoyed. R&R please!
