Hey guys! Franne, again. We reached 100 reviews! :D Yaaay! My collab partners and me are so happy! Thank you all so much for your support. So, thanks to ButterflyBabyBlue, MasterShortPantsx3, ShadowNinja1011, igottawiimote, teithant and DarkTayl for reviewing! As usual, this was written by me and edited by BlueFrenchHorn97! This chapter is from Leala's POV.
BHF97 here with 2 quick notes! First of all, apologies for the delay of this chapter. The holidays have been stupidly busy for us, which means it took forever to get this up! And secondly, a very lovely reader has been so kind as to draw a picture of my OC Callia! You can find the picture on my facebook page (there's a link in my profile!) Thank you ButterflyBabyBlue!
It seems like from here onwards, the dungeons just get worse and worse. The first one we experienced, though damp and scary – was temperate, had clean water, and was lit by the bright mushrooms. The last one was hot, swelteringly moist and coated in pools of lava. And this… well this is thoroughly unenjoyable. The entire vicinity is crawling with tiny creatures that leap out of the sand and attack you. Bokoblins with electrically charged weapons roam the rooms, and we're all nervous about fighting them after what they did to Callia. That's not even mentioning the tall robotic creatures that shoot lasers if you get close enough.
But we've made it through, and find ourselves in a long narrow room. A seemingly endless collection of statues line the walls. Each one of them is modelled after the little robots we saw outside in the desert. I find myself smiling as I take in just how cute the little creatures are. I quickly snap my attention back to the present, noticing the mine cart track that runs out ahead of me. It's too dark to see where the track ends, but there's no time to hesitate.
"I hate those things…" Karane whines. "It's such a squash to fit us all in."
Moments letter, a terrified scream rips from outside. We all turn, facing towards the noise, suddenly alert. Rocks can be heard cascading downwards, smashing against each other as they crumble. I can make out muffled yelps, and words that I can't decipher. Then comes the laugh… a cruel, gut wrenching cackle that rips effortlessly through that air. As I study the expressions on my friends faces, I realise that they must know it too.
"Come on, come on!" Zurin hurries, flapping his hands as we all try and cram into the mine cart. It's an uncomfortable squash, and Pipit ends up having to sit on the edge with his legs dangling over, but we manage. The vehicle is moving far too slowly though. It trundles along the track, blissfully unaware of the fight I can hear raging outside of these walls. I can't fight the sinking feeling that it's already too late.
Eventually, the mine cart jolts to a stop on the far side of the room. We all scrabble out of the cart. Just as we're reaching back to help Pipit, a thunderous explosion sounds out. It rumbles through the whole room, knocking Bryarly clean off balance. She falls backwards onto the stone. I quickly pick her up and the lot of us dash towards the exit of the room, desperate to find out what the ruckus was about.
The temple courtyard is now quiet, but the signs of a struggle are obvious; debris from the temple entrance is scattered over the floor, and what appears to have been a mechanism made entirely out of gears lies on the far end of a narrow walkway in the centre of the courtyard. Rock dust covers the floor and parts of the path are even blackened from what I'm presuming must have been fire. Whatever happened here, it was bad.
"Well, I guess this is the end of the trail, unless you can think of any other sites Link would visit," Pipit says to Zurin. The demon was too distracted, however, by the pale stones that once formed some sort of structure but were now ruins. Between them, scrawled the tiny scorpion creatures that we saw back in the mining facility.
"Aracha!" Zurin exclaimed.
"Yeah, let's head to- wait, where?" Karane said, slightly confused by Zurin's outburst.
He shook his head in response, "Oh, no, the Aracha is not a place, but rather the name of those tiny scorpions that we saw in the mining facility. They're actually larvae of a much more dangerous type of creature known as the Thousand Year Arachnids, which I'm very surprised we didn't... run... into..."
The last few words tumbled out of the demon's mouth as he saw what the rest of us are staring at. Across the courtyard, emerging over the hill of sand and heading quickly towards the group was a huge, jet black scorpion. My eyes grow big as I watch this giant creature. Bryarly yells in fear.
"Zurin! What the hell do we do!?" I scream.
"Hit the eyes in its claws!" he yells back.
Karane dashes forward and she tries to hit one of his eyes but instead the claw grabs her and she starts screaming for help.
"Karane!" Pipit yells. Karane starts smashing the claw and it releases her. She quickly crawls back to us, but there is no time to wait and see if she is ok. We all try to hit its eyes, and even I'm having a hard time attempting to get a shot in.
"Let's see how it takes one of these!" Zurin shouted, igniting the air around him and hurling the fire at the beast's larger claw. I stare at Zurin in silence as the creature lets out a screech and recoils. Where the hell did he learn to do that? Moments later, the beast opens the claw wide to grab its attacker. Pipit is still close to the monster, and takes the chance to swipe at its exposed eye a few times before the creature uses its tail to bat him aside. The blow looked strong but Pipit mostly blocked it with his own sword. Zurin keeps hitting the larger claw with his fireballs; some hit the eye but most glance off the strong exoskeleton.
Eventually the larger claw takes too much damage and is destroyed thanks to Zurin's magic and Pipit and Karane's swordplay. Me and Bryarly get the hang of the arachnids attack patterns and team up to destroy the smaller claw. The creature isn't done yet however. Letting out an ear-splitting shriek, it exposes its centre eye.
"Good work everyone! The Arachnid might attempt to charge now, so stay back and use arrows!" Zurin yells.
Everyone with the right equipment readies bows and slingshots while Zurin readies his fire. Unfortunately the beast is quicker without the encumbrance of its claws, so the shots either miss or just glance the well-guarded eye.
"Blast! Someone needs to get one good thrust into the eye with their sword to kill- whoa!" Zurin flinches as the beast makes a sudden charge for him. With no sword or shield to take the blow, he's trampled by the monsters' many legs. Though he gets no deep cuts, his head hits the floor hard and Zurin is out cold.
"Zurin!" I yell, dashing towards him. I kneel down beside him, and I try to see what damage the scorpion has done to him.
The rest of my group stays focused on the beast. I sometimes quickly glance between them and Zurin to know what's going on. I see Pipit race forward and stab it in its eye. I realise that I need to help them too, because I'm the best in combat. I decide to race forward too, and I do the same thing as Pipit, while avoiding its charges. We repeat this process a few times, and it screeches loud in defeat. It dissolves into a large purple cloud and I realise that the battle is over. We run back over to Zurin, who is still lying on the ground.
"How is he?" Karane asks. Right at that moment, he opens his eyes.
"What was that?" Bryarly asks out loud.
"A Thousand Year Arachnid," Zurin croaks.
"Will we encounter more? Are they common?" Pipit asks.
"I don't know. What I do know is that one of them probably guarded the mine facility," Zurin answers.
"Wait. It was gone when we were in that large room. Do you mean Link defeated it all by himself?" Bryarly asks with disbelief.
She's probably right. Poor Link. I know Link was strong, but if he has to fight more like this one, or even harder ones... I shiver, as does Bryarly. How did he manage to stay alive?
"Zurin," I say, steering the conversation around. "What the hell was that?"
"Pardon?" he asks, pushing himself up from the ground and straightening his cowl.
"The flames you shot at that thing! Why didn't you tell us you were a fire sorcerer?"
"Oh…" he mumbles, looking down. "I didn't think it was particularly relevant. I mean… I wasn't looking to battle monsters when I agreed to travel with you…"
"You never thought to mention it!?" Bryarly exclaims, clearly shocked.
"Look, lay off him, ok? He just saved us with the fire!" Pipit cuts in. "What's our next course of action, Zurin?"
The demon gets back on his feet, a bit sore from being trampled. "Well, I don't know any other places Zelda would have visited. It would be a good idea for the rest of you to return to the sky for now; see if you can find out about Link. With any luck, he's as stumped as we are. As for myself, I'm going to do a bit of scouting around on the surface, retracing my steps," the demon concludes, looking west towards the woods of Faron. "I'll start back at the forest near the Sealed Grounds. If I find anything over the next few days, I'll let you know. Until then, farewell!" The demon waves goodbye, disappearing into thin air.
"Should we go back to Skyloft then?" I ask.
"Yeah I suppose so," Pipit replies.
"And we can see if Callia has got better," Karane says.
"Let's go," Bryarly concludes.
As we touch down at the lumpy pumpkin, the sun is just setting over the Sky. It feels good to be back in the windy world I call home. I feel safer with the clouds beneath than above me. I give my feathered friend a small pat, watching as she takes off into the sky again. I turn, to find Callia and Fledge stood in the restaurant gardens with Kina. The three of them appear to be harvesting pumpkins.
"Hi Callia!" I say, happy to see her again. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yes! It's still a bit painful, but I can handle it!" she smiles.
We fill her in on what's happened in our absence. I tell her about the mining facility, and hearing the battle happening outside. Pipit, in his typical nature, goes into elaborate detail as he tells the story of the arachnid. He gesticulates wildly with his hands and mimes stabbing the beast in the eye. We all laugh and giggle as we watch him, chipping in our own bits of information. Half way through, Kina vanishes inside to make a fresh batch of soup. We then tell Callia and Fledge all about Zurin's fire abilities, and how he's going to try and find the next location for us. Eventually, Kina calls us all in for dinner.
Later that evening, as the last few traces of sunlight begin to vanish from the sky, I find myself alone in my room with Callia and Bryarly. Callia sits cross legged on her bed, stitching a patch to fix her trousers after her encounter earlier. Underneath the skirt of her white night dress, I can see the thick bandage wrapped around her shin, though she's too proud to mention it. She smiles happily to herself, humming a little tune as she sews. I frown; this is a little too chirpy – even for Callia. What kind of painkillers did Kina give her? I glance over to Bryarly, but she's studying Callia with the same confused expression.
"Hey Callia?" Bryarly asks.
"Yeah?" she replies.
"Err, I don't really know, but you are acting kind of weird..." she says, hesitating a little. I nod in agreement.
"How do you mean?" she asks.
"I don't know..." Bryarly mumbles, her eyes narrowed to just slits. "Just... odd."
Callia laughs nervously, not daring to make eye contact with Bryarly because she knows Bryarly will break her. "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."
"Callia," she says sharply, giving her a stern look.
"You know," Callia mumbles, "I really think that you were close to Link this time."
"Don't change the subject!"
I, irritated by Callia's ignorance, jump to my feet. "Right! I'll be going then." I never was good at these kinds of situations.
"Where?" Callia and Bryarly both ask, a bit surprised by my sudden intervention.
"Err, I'll just go see how Karane's doing. She was grabbed by the Arachnid thing after all..." I say and I close the door behind me. I just hope that they'll buy my bluff. Truth is, I hate situations like that. Why do you think I always spend my time sword training? Or flying? It because, as much as I love my friends, they irritate me sometimes. I've always felt more comfortable around boys, because they don't lie and cover up their secrets the same way that girls do. As much as I love Callia, I didn't want to sit around and listen to that.
"I-"
"Callia..."
"No, I just-"
"Callia!"
I sigh and I walk towards the bench in the hallway Karane's sitting on, combing her hair.
"So? How are you now?" I ask.
"Good. I got a lot of bruises and scratches, but nothing serious. Pipit's really concerned though..." she giggles.
"Really? Hmm... how strange..." I say, exaggerating.
Callia, Bryarly and I are the only ones that know that Karane's got a tiny secret crush on Pipit. The last few days weren't exactly the right moment to talk about it. Especially since we were all together. Karane laughs and pokes me softly. I smile at her and laugh too.
Later the day, the restaurant has gone quiet and everyone is digging into bowls of warm soup as Bryarly and Callia stand at the counter slicing a loaf of crusty bread. They are trying to whisper to each other, but I can still hear clearly what they are saying.
"You have to tell them!" Bryarly exclaims.
"Not a chance!" Callia retorts.
"I'm telling them!"
"No you're not!" Callia cut in.
"Oh yes I am," Bryarly smirks.
"You are most definitely NOT telling them!"
"Tell us what?" I shout over from the table. I raise one coy eyebrow, to make them clear I'm intrigued.
"Well-" Bryarly begins.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing!" Callia cuts her off.
Bryarly's about to open her mouth to protest, when suddenly a loud chiming noise can be heard. We all frown, glancing around, trying to find the source of the noise. Kina pauses, resting her tray on her hip as she gives me a curious glance. Only then do I realise realize that the noise is coming from my pouch. I start rummaging through my pocket, producing the gossip stone that Zurin gave me. I frown, closing it in my palm and holding the little blue stone to me lips. "Zurin?" I say.
"Good to hear from you," comes his voice. It sounds crystal clear, almost as though he were standing right next to us.
"What's up?" Pipit asks, perching himself on the edge of one of the tables.
"There's been an... event down here in the Sealed Grounds," he says. "You might want to get down here as soon as possible."
"You'll have to wait till morning," Fledge says. "It's still dark up here, there's no way that we can fly."
"So be it," Zurin sighs "I'll meet you at the back entrance of the Sealed Temple first thing tomorrow."
"What could be wrong?" Callia whispers, sitting up in her bed. Night time has fully fallen over Skyloft now, and Bryarly, Callia and I are sat in our room. Apparently, I'm not the only one who can't sleep right now.
"What if it's Link? What if there is something very wrong with him?" I ask.
"Let's just hope that's not the case," Bryarly sighs, sounding a bit grumpy.
The next morning, we get ready as soon as possible. We hop on our birds and fly towards the green column of light. It's quicker the second time that we dive down into Faron woods. I guess we're kind of getting used to all the travelling between here and the sky. It's nice to be back in the pleasant warmth of Faron woofs, though I don't have the time to admire my surroundings, as the rest of the group are in a hurry to meet up with Zurin.
"What's wrong?" Pipit asks.
Zurin sighs. "After you left, I travelled to the Sealed Grounds just as planned, with our friend Gorko tagging along. When we reached the temple, something horrible happened; my old master, the ultimate demon Demise, was temporarily released from his seal. The good news is that Link was here, and he placed a temporary seal on the demon. His power is incredible now, and I believe he aims to be even stronger,"
Everyone was relieved to hear this; I wasn't sure, but Bryarly seemed especially happy.
"After the battle and Link's departure, I decided it was necessary to meet with the woman living in the Sealed Temple. She wants to talk to you all," Zurin continues.
We nod and walk towards the door, and I'm kind of worried. Was something wrong? We open it, and inside, something looks different. In the middle is now standing a weird looking stone monument. We walk past it, and indeed, the old woman is waiting for us. But there is someone standing next to her. I frown as my eyes catch the ridiculous haircut, the flash of red…. No... It can't be!
"Groose?!" we all yelp.
"Y... not you too?" he wails.
"What are you doing here Groose?" I ask, stepping forward a little. "How did you get down here?"
"I jumped, how else bird brain?" he says, getting defensive.
Zurin frowns, seeming a little off put by Groose's reactions.
"Well why are you here?" Pipit asks.
"Zelda's gone, and Link's been zipping in and out of Skyloft! Then you guys all vanished, I didn't want to be left out! Everyone at the academy knows that I'm the strongest and best student there, we don't need head-in-the-clouds-dreamers like Link to mess everything up for Zelda so I came to help!" Groose scoffs.
"Excuse me," Zurin says, stepping forward "but I see no reason why you should be so rude to these people. They've done nothing to harm or offend you, they're merely here to try and help."
"Oh," Groose says, accusative. "and who might you be?"
Zurin stands a little taller, trying to appear more authoritative over Groose, despite the fact that he's shorter than him. "My name is Zurin, I'm a demon who's been assisting your friends here."
"Friends?" Groose spits, "They're not my friends. And, Zurin, I don't know why you're getting involved. You don't know Link or Zelda. Besides, aren't Demon's the bad guys in all the old legends?"
Zurin looks angry a bit but decides to stay calm and not say anything in reply. I never liked Groose. The way the mocked people, or just laughed at them...
"So anyway," Groose continues, "I fell- I mean jumped down here and Link said there was this old granny who lives in this temple who knew what we had to do to find Zelda and then she said Link had to save Zelda and not me!"
"Well Link is more Zelda's friend than you, Groose." I say. This just makes him more angry though.
"Will you shut up about that little wimpy kid!" Groose snaps.
No one talks about Link like that. "Hey! What's your problem with Link anyway!" Bryarly says, standing in front of Groose.
He looks a bit startled, but he quickly recovers and continues. "He thinks he's everything. He thinks that he's the only one that can save Zelda!"
The old lady comes, standing with us. "Come, come Groose. I told you that that's the prophecy."
He looks at her, and sighs dramatically. I roll my eyes, and I see Callia and Bryarly doing the same. Groose folds his arms. His large, yellow eyes scan us all, taking in our irritated expressions and annoyed nature. His big bulbous lips set forward in a childish pout as he turns away from us all, making for the exit. The temple doors slam shut behind him.
"Well, I knew I would never miss that guy," I mutter.
"He'll come back," the old lady sighs, shaking her head.
"I'm sorry," Callia says to her.
She smiles. "You don't have to apologise. Soon he will realise that even he can be a part in this all."
"Yeah, what are we supposed to do now?" Pipit asks.
She nods. "Ah, yes. I wanted to tell you that the young hero has left some time ago. He fought with a very strong monster, called the 'Imprisoned'. But because you are all Sky children, you will know him better as 'Demise',"
Callia nods. "Yes, long ago, he was the demon that tried to take the Triforce, but the Goddess Hylia sealed him away."
I wonder how she knew. But, again, I never paid much attention to school.
The old lady smiles approvingly. "You are well informed. As I said, luckily, the hero succeeded and sealed the monster away for now. It will come back later, but that's nothing to worry about for now."
"So, where is he now? Link?" Bryarly asks.
"The hero has set to the sky yesterday, but I am sure that he is back here in the woods right now. He needs to find the three ancient flames to make him stronger, and these can be found in every region he visited yet." the old lady says.
"So he's close?" I ask.
"Some time has passed, but I think he is still in this area, yes. You should look around the woods to see if you find any trace of him." the old lady answers. "Or you can spend some more time here, if you'd like."
"No, I don't think we need rest, thank you." Pipit says.
She nods. "Good luck. If you need something, you are all welcome here."
We thank her and head towards the green and lively woods.