Author's Note: Just a short note to let everyone know I'm sorry for the short delay in this chapter. With that said, I also wanted to thank the readers so far for giving me feedback! You're really helping me tremendously to keep my confidence in myself and my writing XD!

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Chapter 20 - Temple of Fire

Humid and sweltering, the walls were dark as pitch black night, and Link pulled his hat off for a moment in order to fan himself with it, glancing toward Zelda to see how she was fairing. Despite the fact that whey were nearing the actual volcano, they were still inside of one of the chasms, so they couldn't see the sky from where they currently were. But it wasn't dark at all, there were pits below, far below, that proved they were over lava, the glow of the molten rock casting a dim light throughout the area.

Zelda had pulled a band from her pouch and tied her hair back and off of her neck, then took a slow breath and looked back at Link. "It's...pretty warm, to say the least."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Link smiled as he headed toward her. "I think we could use a few fur coats, I mean you know, just incase there's a cool breeze."

His lighthearted joking definitely helped in the dark chasm they were moving through, heading up a slope now. "Maybe it's just because of the cave," Link suggested.

"Do you think the heat's getting trapped in here and it's cooler up ahead?"

He nodded, continuing on, "I hope so. Otherwise we might get exhausted because of the heat. Keep your mouth shut and breath through you nose."

Zelda nodded, making sure to keep her mouth shut like he'd suggested. After all, he'd lived in the desert for a long time, so he'd know what he was talking about when it came to dealing with intense heats, but somehow, Zelda could only imagine this might've been a little different from the dessert.

Eventually, as they walked along, Link saw a blue stone in the wall, glinting softly. Walking over to it, they could see it was set inside of a holder, as if there for a particular reason. Watching it, Link thought about the rocks that Kioson had asked them to look for, and while it didn't seem to be that they'd come across one just settled into the wall like this, he had to ask, "Is this one of the stones that Kioson was talking about?"

Zelda headed in behind him and took a look at the gem, and she shook her head, "This is a carved stone. I wouldn't think Goron's would eat it, but, I could be wrong."

"When are you ever wrong?" Link asked the question with a little smirk as he leaned against the wall while she knelt down to inspect it. Taking in a breath, he told her, "We should move. It's starting to get warmer."

Zelda, while listening to him, had slowly lifted her hand and touched the stone. When she did, it flashed briefly, and she sighed in a quick breath, her eyes closing. Link, seeing a smile lighting her face, narrowed his brows in confusion and knelt down next to her as she told him, "It feels like a cool breeze over my skin."

"What?" Glancing at the gem in the wall, he reached over and touched it himself. As he did, what felt like a gust of coolness washed over him, and he took a breath as his body cooled down immensely. "That was nice," he said before he let his eyes open to see her watching him with a little smile on her face.

"It's probably something set up a long time ago by the Gorons, to help keep the temperature down. I wonder how long the effect will last?"

Standing back up and helping Zelda in the process, Link shook his head unknowingly. "It will probably wear off slowly, and there's more up ahead," he motioned for her to look and see. When she turned to glance back in the direction they'd been walking, she saw another stone like the one they'd just touched a good ways up the rocky chasm, not too close, and hard to see from the distance, like a tiny sky blue dot glowing softly, but it was there nonetheless.

Link went on, "They'll come in handy. Come on."

With a nod, Zelda followed behind him, staying close as they walked, keeping her footing in check. The path wound upward along the wall, and eventually they reached a gap in the so-called road that was easily jumped over, but they could both only hope there weren't many of them, and if there were, that they weren't too big. Finally, however, they came to the edge of the tunnel, and looked ahead of themselves. Both of them were able to see up and out to the sky now, evening time, the atmosphere a dark golden yellow in tone. But that wasn't what caught their complete attention.

Ahead of them rested a broken bridge that lead to a huge platform of rock settled within the molten lava. Sitting on its top, as if embedded into the walls of the mountain itself in a baroque type of architecture completely with large columns supporting a slanted top, was the entrance to the Temple of Fire.

The two of them looked out across the sea of lava that barred their path from it, and Zelda asked, "Was that broken bridge the only way across?" She wanted to know because the gap was too far for her to pass over with him by teleporting.

Link narrowed his brows, trying to see if there were anymore paths to take, and he spied one in the distance, a wooden and rope bridge that only appeared to still be in tact, connecting across the ways to the rocky wall. He let his eyes follow it, and noticed that the path it was connected to led directly to where they were standing.

"No, over there," he told her, reaching to take her hand and head toward the structure. Once he'd made it, he had a closer look and noticed that the bridge appeared to be fine and sturdy. So he reached for the ropes, inspecting them. They seemed to give a good bit of support, and realizing that looks could be deceiving, he glanced back at Zelda.

"I'm going to cross it first. If it's safe to pass, I'll come back to get you."

Zelda frowned at him, wanting to argue, but somehow she knew it would be pointless to, so she simply nodded her head at him. Watching him carefully, he started to cross the bridge, feeling a slight waver in the structure beneath his feet, but he continued on without fear, making sure the whole thing was sturdy enough to be crossed without a problem. The bridge itself had to be almost forty feet long or so, so it was a good ways to cross, and once he got to the middle, he looked back, giving her a nod to let her know that so far, everything was fine.

Moving on, Link nearly reached the end, standing a third of the way from it, and he looked back, calling out, "Let me come back for you. It's not going to fall. Just wait for me though incase."

Zelda smiled and replied so he could hear her, knowing he might not detect just a nod of her head from that distance, "Alright, I'm waiting, your majesty."

He'd smirked over her little joke, working his way back across the bridge, when something caught his eye on the tall rock wall behind Zelda. Narrowing his brows, he stopped, not even halfway back yet, and pulled out his bow, placing an arrow into the shooting string and pulling it back. Zelda saw this and heard the arrow whizzing through the air as she turned around to see tektites climbing down the wall behind her, and there was more than two or three this time.

"Zelda, come on!"

One of the spider-like monsters jumped from the wall and toward her, and Zelda moved out of the way quickly, onto the bridge like Link had suggested she do. As she went, she pulled out the dagger that Link had handed her before in the Goron City, just incase she needed it, and continued to move. Two of the monsters had landed where she'd been standing before, and one of them leapt high into the air, coming down toward her. An arrow knocked it back however, fired from Link's bow, and Zelda stopped for only a moment to look back when she realized something had happened.

"It's alright, keep going," Link told her when she stopped, moving in closer to her in anxiousness to get across the bridge finally.

"No, wait!," Zelda called out, and when Link was about to ask her why, he noticed why. A larger tektite had just jumped down from the wall above the bridge, moving through the air over Zelda to come down toward the wooden bridge between the two of them, separating them completely. As this happened, Link reached for his sword and shield, pulling both up to the ready as the beast faced him for a fight.

The bridge itself had shaken when the creature landed, and a rope beneath it where neither Link nor Zelda could see began to snap. Zelda simply looked ahead, seeing that Link had used his shield to knock away one of the creatures swiped legs before attacking it viciously with his sword, slicing the blade through its head, and then she glanced back to see more of the creatures following them onto the bridge.

Another snap sounded, and Zelda glanced down, having heard it that time, knowing just a split second before the rope suddenly broke what was about to happen, her eyes going wide. Link himself felt the snap just as he'd stabbed and killed the creature trying to attack them, and he felt the wooden beams beneath his feet growing lax from the relief of their strain against the now broken ropes.

As the bridge began to fall, he reached for one of the beams he'd been standing on, grabbing hold of it, trying to tell Zelda to do the same thing, but he wasn't sure if she'd heard him as his half of the bridge went careening downwards, swinging against the rocky while he hung there. Coming to a halt jerked him about, but his grip on the beam remained tight, forming a type of ladder for him to climb up to the top again. Once he'd managed to steady himself as the jolting died down, leaving the bridge to swing slowly back and forth, he looked back toward the other wall in worry. It felt like his heart had dropped into his gut.

Where was she? He couldn't see her hanging on the other side, and his eyes searched frantically. "Zelda!!"

"I'm up here," she spoke from just above him, and Link turned his head to look up quickly. She was standing above the newly broken bridge on the surface of the rocky platform where the steps leading up into the temple was located. Hanging there still, seeing her staring down at him, he wasn't exactly sure what to say, and she simply reached down and told him, "Climb up so I can reach you."

Just a few moments later, Link had taken her hand, and she helped to pull him up completely, coming to rest on his knees next to her. While she'd been about to remark that it was a good thing she'd heard the ropes snapping when she did, she was interrupted, as well as startled, by suddenly being pulled into Link's side.

He hugged her tightly. For a moment there, when he didn't spy her on the other side of the snapped bridge, he honestly thought he might've lost her. Zelda grew quiet as he did so, getting the feeling she might've actually scared him for once and that he needed to just hug her for a moment, finally lifting her head back to look at his face, and she smiled up at him. "I'm sorry Link."

"No, it's alright," he grumbled, "I just...," with a deep breath he shook his head.

"You just got a little scared?"

"Yeah," he admitted, "I did." Pushing himself up to stand, helping Zelda up as well, he figured out on his own what she'd done, and told her, "I almost forgot you could teleport. I'm just glad you were close enough to make it across."

"Well, I was going to say it was a good thing I heard the ropes snapping, otherwise I wouldn't have done so in time." She shook her head, looking over at the broken bridge, sighing out in addition, "I guess there's no going back now."

"No," Link shook his head. "Only one way to go."

With those words, they both looked up at the entrance to the Fire Temple. The stairs leading up into the arched door looked somewhat narrow, another of those blue crystals they'd spotted sitting in the wall next to it, and they wondered what exactly could await them inside of the belly of that place. The only good news was that Link had been right, and the heat wasn't so bad under the opening of the volcano.

"Let's go destroy that orb," Link started, "and get out of here."

---

All things being equal, the inside of the Temple located so close to the Goron City was just as inhospitable as the Gorons had been welcoming. The cooling gems they'd found were much less plentiful inside, and while the heat wasn't as bad inside of the Temple, it still had Link and Zelda sweltering. While it had seemed rather quiet to the two companions at first when they'd entered, that fact soon proved to them both that the term 'quiet before the storm' bore weight.

It shocked the both of them how much more fierce inside of the temple the monsters they ran into were than those they'd come across thus far in their journeys. The closer they got, it seemed the more difficult things became. Both of them knew it was due to the fact that the evil infesting the Temple had been there for a while now with nothing to oppose it, festering, which made it so much more difficult to take it down.

Not only were there monsters, but there were also traps, and having to watch their steps, one was set off by enemies approaching them that imprisoned Zelda inside of a cage of spikes, closing in on her. The time happened upon them when she was a big too magically exhausted to teleport through the bars, and the release lever was a good distance away from them. To top it off, enemies barred Link's path, making the call a close one.

Zelda had watched him as the walls continued to slowly close in on her, witnessing firsthand the extent of her friends determination and strength as he took his enemies down with a ferocity she was happy wasn't directed at herself. Seeing this skill, despite the fact that her life was currently threatened, gave her the strongest of hopes that they would both live past the dangers this Temple posed to them and emerge victorious in the end.

Link had finally reached the lever with his enemies defeated, pulling it down, which opened the bars, and Zelda pushed herself out of harms way before the spiked walls, which didn't stop closing in on her, could kill her. Smiling in relief as he saw she was fine, pushing herself back up to grumble while straightening her skirts out, they headed onward.

Through the next corridor was a long hallway that led to what appeared to be a locked room, sealed with magic from the looks of it, and before it stood a statue with an eye settled atop it, turning slowly in circles. Both Link and Zelda watched it spin past their direction and around the other way, unseeing the two there just out of it's sight, and Link looked over at her.

"Do you think it's watching for someone else to see?"

Shaking her head, Zelda told him, "It's hard to say. But the door on the other looks as if it may be sealed with magic perhaps. I'd have to get closer to be able to tell."

"Then I'll go first, and see what I can tell about it."

Zelda nodded in order to let him go on ahead first, fisting her hands in quiet wait while wondering about Link always going first it seemed, even if she wasn't as physically strong as he was. Link, on the other hand, watched the eye turning slowly, moved closer when the back of it was facing him, and when it turned away from the sealed door ahead of it, he moved toward the door quickly. Reaching, he took the knobs into his hands and tried to turn them, but they wouldn't budge. There was a symbol on the door however, and Link recognized it, the same symbol as on the back of the amulet that Zelda wore, that he himself had worn for ten years, but he didn't have time to consider it when he heard his name.

"Link, watch out! It sees you!"

As he'd grabbed the knobs, the eye had sensed his presence and turned much more quickly than it normally would have. Hearing those words, Link looked back to see the eye staring directly at him now, followed by the sound of something flaring up. Link didn't wait around to find out what it was, jumping out of the way as the eye shot a powerful beam of energy at him which slammed into the door, yet didn't mar it due to the magical energy binding it shut. The eye followed him as he landed, then rolled out of the way before another shot could hit him, moving toward the entrance where Zelda waited until he'd managed to get out of the way of the beam's line of sight.

"Okay, that was annoyed," he sighed as he stood up straight and reached over for her hand. While he did this, he pulled his shield off and onto his other arm, adding, "Pull out your amulet. There's a crest on that door, the symbol of your family."

Hearing the words, Zelda reached up to her collar and found the chain of her amulet around her neck, tugging it out to rest against her chest. "Do you think it will open the seal?"

"I'm not sure, but it's worth a shot. Come on, while it's turned away from us."

Once he'd told her that, he moved onto the room with her, holding onto her hand, his shield up just incase they were spotted since the beams the eye shot tended to move pretty swiftly, and he worked his way around the statue once again. Zelda pulled her amulet off on the way there, and once they made it to the door, she looked it over while Link watched the eye.

"If it gets too close to seeing us, I'll distract it."

"Okay," Zelda replied, and she pressed her fingers against the door, drawing them down, finding and indentation. The shape seemed to be just right, and as she lifted her amulet off of her neck in order to fit the back of it into the beveled area, she told him so. "I think it's a key after all."

"The eye's coming back," Link warned her as she figured it out.

She'd just placed the amulet into the indentation and removed her hands. "It's breaking the seal now," she replied, hearing the whir of magical energies as if they were dying away.

"Tell it to break it faster," Link replied, backing up to the door as the eye turned again, looking straight at them once more.

Zelda took the knob in her hand as she pulled her amulet from the lock and opened it just as the whirring started, about to inform him that she'd gotten it when she was surprised as Link suddenly pushed her through the door and into the next room. A beam of energy shot through the area they'd been standing in right after he'd done so and blew a small chunk out of the floor.

Landing on Zelda's back, pushing himself up, Link peered around the new room they were in, in order to spot danger they might've jumped into headfirst, but as he looked at the large room, a few columns settled around a baroque architecture that matched the rest of the Temple, he realized the room seemed to be bereft of any type of life for the time being. It was then that he looked back down at Zelda and asked, "Are you okay?"

Nodding her head, Zelda looked up herself to inspect their new surroundings. Pushing himself up as she did so, Link reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet. Thanking him, Zelda pulled her amulet up and placed it back around her neck to rest against her chest, and as she lifted her head up again, she heard Link's voice.

"Look up there."

Turning, she looked in the direction he was pointing, able to see a large, blackened orb settled atop a pedestal raised above the room on a column out of their reach. It looked like a giant marble, though it seemed to somehow be transparent, flashing taking place inside of it as if there might have been clouds of lightening and fire there.

"That's the orb," Zelda pointed out aloud, "but how do we reach it?" With curiosity in mind, she began stepping forward. Link took her hand to stop her though, and she didn't bother to look back at him, simply stepping back when he'd done so. She'd gotten a bad feeling in that moment, and she shook her head. It was in that moment that Link spoke what she'd been thinking of.

"This is too easy."

"Well I'm not staying behind for you to inspect," Zelda informed him. "Not this time."

"Fair enough," Link responded, taking a step forward, "but you're staying where I can see you all the same."

"Deal," she told him, a small smile lining her lips.

Link returned the little smile when he heard a sudden shriek signaling that they really weren't alone, the smile fading into a more serious expression as he drew his sword and shield without thought. As he'd done that, he and Zelda both looked up to where the sound had come from. The ceiling was somewhat dark, making it hard to see. But something had started moving about, and Link stepped forward as his eyes caught sight of movement, a shadow looming overhead of them both.

It was then that an eye opened, and a shrill roar sounded as the creature pushed itself away from the roof and down toward them swiftly, apparently fairly agile for it's large size. Both of them jumped out of the way as the monster landed close to them, spreading a massive pair of wings that looked as if they could belong to a bat. Two legs were attached to the bottom of an ovular body, a long tail whipping behind it. It's red skin looked somewhat scaley and it had one large crimson eye along with a fanged mouth of teeth drooling saliva beneath it. The legs looked as if they might have served as arms as well due to the toes, which looked more like fingers, long with sharp talons on the end of each, as well as opposing thumbs.

As it leered toward them menacingly, Link shook his head slowly. "So this is what was hiding?" The creature lashed it's tail about behind itself before it let another loud shriek and lifted its wings, taking to the air quickly.

Zelda lifted her arm as the wind gusted past them due to the monster taking flight, then lowered it slowly, replying, "Oh! His breath," she cringed, "it smells like sulfur."

"So I noticed," Link replied, his tone a bit bland, and then had a thought. Sulfur? Glancing to the side, he spoke, "Zelda, don't let it get over you, stick close to the columns."

Zelda had already come to the same conclusion. This creature probably had fire breathing abilities, and if she were near a column where it couldn't fly close to, she'd be safer, looking over to see Link having freed his bow, aiming and shooting at the monsters back. The arrows managed to pierce the body as the creature turned to fly in the opposite direction toward them, shrilling down at the ground, a line of fire shooting out of its mouth and across the floor quickly, causing Link to jump to dodge it.

In doing so, he had an idea about how to get the creature to land - shoot for it's eye. If it couldn't see, it probably wouldn't fly. Moving off toward the center of the room to stand on a design plastered across the floor of the Triforce, he narrowed his brows while the Cygon turned in mid flight after attacking him.

The line of fire it had released down onto Link shot past the position behind the column where Zelda was standing, and she spotted the creature flying past her in the process. As the flames it left upon the floor died away, smaller fires started drifting through the air emerging from it, and slowly they began to lumber toward her. The flames appeared to have menacing faces leering out from inside of them down at her, and Zelda narrowed her brows and lifted her hands.

Her palms began to glow green, and as the flames neared her, a barrier light up which was surrounding her body, causing them to disperse in form against the magic she was using. Once they were taken care of, weakening the shield she'd put up just a bit, she turned and looked over to see that Link had just taken aim at the monster with an arrow as it was nearing him, letting go of the weapon, the shooting string propelling it forward. As the monster flew toward him, his pace fast, it was about to unleash more fire down upon the young Hylian when the pointed tip of the arrow embedded itself directly into the top of the creatures eye.

The piercing pain the monster felt stopped the line of fire from rushing Link and he jumped out of the way, allowing it's body to crash into the floor where he'd been standing. Turning in the air, Link came down behind the Cygon as it lay upon the floor in a heap, stunned from the pain and being temporarily blinded, wasting no time and rushing the now vulnerable monster. Lifting his sword, he tore through the monsters body with a yell of exertion, swiping his blade back the opposite way after the first strike to do it even more damage than the first blow had dealt it alone.

The monster became angry as he was wounded, and thrashed it's tail at Link. He turned as it whipped at him, the appendage slamming into Link's Hylian shield, which protected his body, but the force sent him flying away while his opponent worked it's own way back to it's feet. Rolling toward the column that Zelda was faithfully stationed behind like he'd instructed her, Link came to a stop on his back. Zelda moved from her position and toward him, taking his shoulders and helping him to sit up while he shook his head before they both watched the monster as it moved, standing back up.

It reached up with one of it's hand-feet, and grabbed the arrow sticking out of it's eye in an attempt to remove it. As it did so, Zelda looked at Link as she heard him asking, "Hey, are you alright?"

"You're the one taking the beating here," she informed him, helping him to stand up, "I'm fine. Here," reaching to her belt, she pulled her vial of potion out, putting it into his pouch. "I know yours is almost gone."

With a sigh, Link didn't have time to argue because the beast had just gotten the arrow freed from it's eye, which meant he'd be ready to fight again. "I'm giving it back after this fight, I just need one more shot at him," Link called back to her as he took off and sheathed his sword because their enemy was taking flight again.

Zelda watched him running back into the fight as she backed away toward the column once more, somehow knowing that the monster might be attacking with its fiery breath again wile trying to make this as easy on Link as possible by not giving him too much to worry about if she threw herself directly into the fray. As she found the column, something laying on the floor caught her attention, two of Link's arrows, and she glanced over at Link, more specifically his quiver, in order to see that these were the only arrows he had.

Gasping, she called his name, but a resounding roar from the monster drowned out her voice. Link had already pulled his bow from his back, ready to use it without the knowledge that his arrows had fallen from his quiver, moving across the floor to try and draw any fire it created away from Zelda, and seeing this, Zelda went for the arrows, grabbing them herself so that she could return them to him.

Coming to a stop as the monster let forth another line of fire behind him which he'd managed to dodge, Link spun around from a roll he'd performed and stood up, reaching to his quiver to grab one of his last two arrows. His brows narrowed however when his hand grasped at nothing but air. He must have lost them, and that's when he glanced up and saw Zelda with the arrows in her hand, heading toward him. What's more, the line of fire Link had evaded had birthed more of the floating fires which rose up, and drifted slowly toward him.

The last thing Link noticed amongst all of this was the monster heading in behind Zelda, turning its wings as if ready to swoop in on her.

H had to come up with something fast to keep this from going badly. Pulling his shield out, Link held it before himself and rushed headfirst into the flames trying to hunt him down, their bodies dispersing away as his shield hit them, and then he lowered his arm, grabbing his bow in the same hand his shield was on in order to hold onto it before he unsheathed his blade with his opposite hand.

Zelda, seeing him coming toward her, then noticed the shadow of the Cygon engulfing her, and she looked back just in time to see the clawed hands of the creature above her, reaching out. As it was lowering to the perfect height, Link jumped for it, careening toward it's body with his sword above his head, the tip pointed toward the monster, which he slammed into it's skin near the mouth, making it screech and drift back from Zelda who'd ducked in order to keep from being grabbed by the claws.

Hearing the monster scream, Zelda lifted her head, just as Link's bow fell before her. Turning, she looked up to see the creature righting itself in the air as Link hung onto his weapon, the Master Sword still embedded in the Cygon's side, using one of the monster's two limbs to try and keep his footing. As this happened, she glanced back toward Link's bow and grabbed it since she had his arrows anyway, and then stood up.

Link struggled to keep his balance, pulling his sword out of the creature and swiftly pusheing himself up so that he was on top of it's head. Once he'd done so, he lifted his sword and prepared to jab it downward into the single eye that was leering at him, blind the monster completely, when suddenly the monster took off.

Link lost his footing and fell, yelling instinctively as he did so, but he didn't find himself slamming into the floor like he thought he might've. Instead, he felt the creature grabbing him in its claws while he fell through the air, and it shrieked as it flew across the room, over Zelda's head with a gust of wind that blew her hair and skirt back as she watched with worry.

The Cygon headed directly toward a wall, holding its foot before itself, the same one with Link in it. With a good bit of force, it slammed Link into the wall.

Grunting as he hit, his shield falling to the floor, some of the debris of the wall falling away and over him, Link managed to open his eyes and stare into the singular orb the beast possessed. Pain wracked his limbs and his head, but he knew he couldn't give up. After all, he had the perfect opportunity right now. Link went to lift his sword and take advantage of it, ready to stab it in the eye if he could just muster the strength and speed. But he suddenly stopped as the creature squeezed him, though it wasn't due to the pain that had caused him completely.

An odd pain had began surging through his body in the tight situation he'd been caught in. It was as if the evil the monster possessed could be felt now that Link was so close to it, as if he could taste the malevolence on his tongue, but that wasn't the only thing. Spikes of pain seemed to rip through his mind, glimpses and visions of someone he'd never seen before with his own two eyes yet, and he heard a voice.

So you're the one...

In his head, he could see flashes of a black stallion, the rider upon his back wielding a broadsword with a slightly rounded tip.

The savior of Hyrule?

More flashes ensued the words, ripping through Link again as he grunted, warring with the pain he felt, the face of the evil he fought now on the tip of his brain, and somehow, Link knew exactly whom it was.

Ganondorf.

He cringed as the painful glimpses that shot through his mind seemed to paralyze him, the creature holding him captive opening it's mouth which began to glow as if to char Link to ashes right then and there. Still, he could hear that voice.

You're not truly capable of winning this, you know that. Your very quest to find me will be that which allows me to raze Hyrule from this realm and erect a new existence for my own.

Link didn't understand what he meant by that completely, grunting as he fought with the dark images, just as the breath of fire was about to incinerate him.

Suddenly the creature shrieked jolted, turning it's head before the fire could burn Link to ashes, shooting off toward a corner of the ceiling that brought down debris while it turned to look back. Beyond it's flapping wings, and through his somewhat blurred vision as the images in his head suddenly broke away, Link could see Zelda standing on the floor below them both. She'd landed an arrow directly in the monster's back, and was now pulling the second arrow up.

With the creatures distraction, Link took only a moment before he reacted and brought up his sword. With a grunt of force, he stabbed it into the creatures mouth, using all of his strength left to hold the creature's face toward Zelda.

"Do it!," he yelled to her, "aim for the eye!"

Zelda hadn't worried with the first shot. The creature's body was blocking Link so there was no way she could hit him. But she had a good chance now to end this with his help, and she took in a breath. Link had stabbed his sword into the monster's mouth to hold it still just long enough for her to get the second shot off, and she steadied her fingers while stretching the shooting string back, energy flowing from her and into the wooden weapon before she released it, letting the arrow fly.

Cutting through the air, the arrow spun as it headed on a direct course toward the Cygon, then slammed directly into its target. The monster's eye was once again blinded completely, and the grip it held on Link loosened, letting him slip down the wall and hit the floor. Rolling to his arms and knees with a pant of breath, he found his shield near himself, and he wasn't deaf to the sounds the creature made as it screamed in anguish as he reached for it to replace on his back once again along with his sword.

The monster crashed into a column, breaking the structure to bits before it hit the ground, bringing chunks of marble down onto itself in the process before it's body stilled. Finally, it's screams died away, the crashing noises having drawn Link's attention, turning his head to look behind himself at the body now.

Zelda had rushed over to Link and knelt down in the meantime. Feeling her placing her hand on his upper arm and one on his back, he shook his head in order to reassure her as he pushed himself to his knees and breathed out, "I'm fine."

He granted her a little smile to prove it, and aside from the dirt and dust covering him now, she could see he wasn't really much worse for the wear, though she got the feeling he'd be a good bit sore later. She didn't have time to comment to him though, hearing a loud whir sounding from the body of the monster they'd just slain together, and both of them glanced over, watching as it began to disperse away, leaving in its place a bright light that just drifted where it was, completely unmoving.

Both of them stood up, watching the floating light quietly. Out of curiosity, Link walked toward the light slowly. Zelda followed him, just as curious as he was, and she watched as he reached out, touching the glowing orb.

As his fingers reached it, it began to disperse, smaller lights of the same color forming out of it and over his gauntlets, forming silvery white metal on the backs of each of his hands, which bore the same design that his gauntlets themselves had. Once the fast moving flickers of light had ceased, the new gauntlets in place, he looked over at Zelda with a somewhat confused expression.

Zelda, seeing his expression, suggested, "It must be a part of the power this Temple held, consumed by the evil the monsters here were birthed by."

Link nodded, unable to explain it himself, but somehow he knew she was right, and that with this new enhancement, he could break even a boulder with a punch of his fist. That's when he glanced over at the alter held high off of the ground where they couldn't reach it, containing the orb of magic that Dragmire had used in order to consume the spirit essence the Temple contained within it.

"I think we have an answer to this riddle." He headed over to the column the alter was settled upon and balled up his fist. Zelda watched him pulling his arm back, and then slamming his hand into the marble in order to make it break.

Cracks began forming in the structure as his fist slammed into it, and he stepped back in order to watch. The column began to crumble with loud crashes of sound not a few moments later, tumbling down and bringing the alter, as well as the orb, with it. Once it hit the ground, the pedestal containing the orb began to fall over, tipping to it's side. The orb then landed, crushing a good bit of the floor beneath itself.

"Well," Zelda sighed out softly, "that solves one puzzle. Now I've got one to deal with."

Link looked over at her as she said that, then began to step toward the large structure, about half as tall as she was, which had grown since it was first created and absorbed all of the spirit energy surrounding it. The flashes of light contained within it still was a testament to this, and she remembered Myriad's words, that she would know how to destroy the orb when the time came. Balling her fists, she somehow knew that Myriad had been right. Somehow, somewhere inside her, she knew what she needed to do.

Slowly, she lifted her hand toward the dark orb, and heard Link's voice coming from behind her.

"Zelda..."

He'd trailed off, having spoken her name uncertainly, as if he wasn't sure touching the orb would be such a good idea. As he watched her back, he heard her saying, "It's alright, Link. Myriad was right. I know what I'm doing."

With a sigh of breath, he knew he had to trust her, and allowed her to continue, but he couldn't help his protective nature. For now, wiping a smudge of dirt from his cheek, all he could do was wait and watch. This was her show for now.

Her fingers neared the black orb, slowly, finally making contact with it, and when it did, she closed her eyes. She could feel the energy pulsing from within it, the evil the barrier was created from, as if hungry for whatever it could find to suck into itself. As she held her hand there, the amulet she wore around her neck began to glow, the stone flashing light as she kept her contact with the orb, a bright light starting to glow from beneath her fingertips sounding a low hum that began to grow in strength and volume.

Suddenly, a shockwave burst through the room from beneath her hand, which caused the walls to begin shaking. The orb started to waver, and Zelda continued concentrating on the task of destroying the orb at hand, seemingly ignoring the chaos that had begun around her.

Link watched, and he looked at the back of her left hand, seeing that the symbol of the Triforce she sported was glowing, the orb she was destroying vibrating, the sounds growing harder and louder in intensity, until it suddenly cracked once, then twice. Light started seeping from those cracks, brighter and brighter until the structure exploded, releasing that light throughout the room, growing so bright, Link had to hold up his arm to block it out.

Everything went white and faded away, and neither of them could see or hear a thing. Amidst the shaking and the chaos of the exploding orb, the loud whir of energy that had taken place suddenly drew to a high note and then the light shot upwards in a bright beam before diminishing. It left nothing behind, the spirit energy released, as well as Link and Zelda both laying unconscious on the floor.

Around them, the darkness that had engulfed the Temple of Fire began to fade away, extinguishing into nothing, the spirit essence that had been imprisoned for so long returning to flourish as it should have done so all along, ending the dark reign on Death Mountain.

The light that had shot out of the room in a beam had moved through the roof of the temple, and into the sky from the crater of the volcano like a swiftly shooting star, catching eyes from all around to notice it, most specifically a window in the Palace as Ganondorf watched it. With a soft sigh of disdain, he turned away from the window and walked on.

As it seemed, Myriad was being completely predictable.