Chapter 8: Barrier

The walls of the underground chamber that Link found himself in were made from a type of hard stone, which seemed to react something like metal when struck, but felt rough to the touch, like regular stone. That strange material remained the same, as Link proceeded through a single hallway into a large room full of stairs. All that way, the floor was covered in sand, and as the stairs continued downward, the sand on the floor seemed to thin out, so Link grabbed a fist full of it. He suspected that there might be some traps nearby, and if so, the sand might help to reveal them. Swiftly, he tossed a few grains of sand back and forth across the room, and when he was satisfied, he proceeded down the stairs, continuing to use the sand to feel out the layout of the room. However, as he continued through the next hallway, he noticed something odd. One of the sand grains that he'd thrown had disappeared from the air. Quickly, he grabbed a piece of broken rock from the floor at his feet, and threw it at the very spot where the sand grain had been before. When it hit that spot, the rock vanished too, reappearing at once on the floor a few yards away.

"I see." Link muttered to himself, fascinated by what had just happened in front of him, "A spell of accelerated time. If I go through there, I could have a heart attack, or one of my organs could be aged beyond the others, but how far does this spell extend?"

At once, Link began throwing sand grains again. There was definitely an invisible bubble of accelerated time in the air in front of him; probably created by the spell of a very powerful creature. It was about two feet across, and was sticking out of the wall to the left. Link was able to determine that by where the sand grains experienced the accelerated time effect, and where they continued like normal. Armed with that knowledge, he was able to avoid the bubble by clinging to the right-hand wall.

The next odd thing that Link found was a bubble of slowed time. He discovered it because the sand grains he was throwing seemed to stop in mid-air, as soon as they entered the effected area. That was easier to chart, because the frozen sand grains outlined the contours of the bubble pretty well when they were thrown, but that could probably have killed him if he'd entered it too, and that one covered most of the hallway, leaving only a few feet on the ground in normal time. He was eventually able to crawl under it, however, and proceed into the next room.

The next room was an incredible sight, however. All of the walls, and the floor and ceiling were made of metal, and the walls seemed to have panels on them, designed to be opened and closed. In the center of the room was a kind of metal lever attached to a pedestal on the floor. On the pedestal, however, were written some words, in hylian.

"Be quick of wit, quick of foot, quick of mind and eye. Within this chamber, kill no time, or else, your time may die. Let your past, your present, and your future work as one, or by the endlessness of time itself, you'll find yourself undone."

"A grim warning," Link thought to himself, as he examined his surroundings a bit more carefully. On the far wall, across from the hallway that Link had entered by were what seemed to be a series of clocks, with their three hands each in different positions. From left to right, the first clock had an inscription under it in hylian, which read "things done." The second had a similar label, reading "things being done." The last had a label reading "things postponed."

Link knew what the labeled were meant to signify at once; the actions of his past, present and future. Somehow, that puzzle revolved around the significance of the clocks, and his own actions at three different times.

Contemplating the puzzle, Link walked up to the first clock; the one labeled "things done," and examined it, feeling the hands on the clock with his own hands. They didn't move by any mechanism that he could see, but they could, he discovered, be moved manually. That, then, must have been part of the puzzle; a combination lock of some kind, perhaps; with three different combinations to be entered. However, if it was really that easy, he thought, then why the emphasis on time?

Again, Link found his attention returning to the lever in the center of the room. Somehow, he knew that it factored into the puzzle as well, and its dire warning about being swift of mind and eye... Obviously, it was the key to that puzzle. There were no other apparent doors out of that room. Link knew that if he wanted to progress further into that place, then, he needed to solve the puzzle somehow, and if he wanted to solve it, then he needed to pull that lever, no matter how much danger it would put him in.

So, with only a moment's hesitation, Link reached out and grabbed the lever in both hands, and was a bit startled by how cool and smooth it was to the touch, as he pulled it into position.

Suddenly, a wall of stone came down over the entrance that Link had come in by, sealing him in, and the panels on the walls to each side of the room opened as one, to reveal a glowing blue aura of magical energy, which started seeping into the room. Somehow, an automated spell was being cast on that room, and Link soon discovered a part of its effects, as he turned to look at the clocks, and discovered that standing before the second and third clocks were two people who looked exactly like himself, and both were staring at him in amazement!

"Quickly!" the one in front of the second clock yelled to him, "Get to the first clock and move the hands!"

That time, Link began to understand a part of his predicament. Those were images of himself at different points in time. Each might even be him at a different time. He'd have to play his part if he wanted to proceed, so he rushed to the first clock and grabbed its hands. However, something else had changed, because all the clocks were moving as if a mechanism had activated them. The clock hands could still be set manually; they were just continuing to tick off time once that had been done.

Feeling totally lost, Link yelled to the other two over the din of the many mechanisms that had just turned on in the room, "What time should I set it to?"

"I don't know!" the Link in the center yelled back, then turning to the last, yelled, "You've been at this the longest! What time should we set them to?"

"Let's all try setting them to the same time! Eight hundred hours!" he replied, loud enough so that both could hear. At once, all three did that, but nothing happened.

"It didn't work!" Link exclaimed, but suddenly, he looked over at the Link in front of the third clock, and watched in horror as a great, black void appeared behind him, and he was swept into it, helpless as it swallowed him whole. Just a moment later, however, something had changed. Link was in front of the center clock, and the Link who'd been in front of the center clock was standing before the last. Furthermore, another Link had appeared behind the lever in the center of the room.

"Quickly!" the Links in front of the last two clocks yelled, "Get to the first clock and move the hands!"

The new Link seemed a bit disoriented, but he moved quickly, and was soon standing in front of the first clock.

"What time should I set it to?" he yelled to them when he was in position.

"Setting it to the same time didn't work," the last Link yelled, "But I think I know why. There are three of us to represent past, present and future, and the time on the clock has to be the same for all three times."

Then, turning to the middle Link, the last Link asked, "Do you remember how long I was in front of the middle clock?"

"Not precisely." Link replied from the middle clock, "Something like two hundred and twenty two seconds."

"Time it." The last Link replied with disappointment, "It's been one hundred and two seconds since I moved to this position. When you get to this position, memorize how long it took. Tell your past self to set the time to eight hundred, your present self to set their time to eight hundred plus however long the time shift takes, and add another time shift time to that yourself. I'm done for, but you're the Link that'll really make the difference."

As he said that, another time shift occurred, and the last Link was swallowed up by the black void again. Then, Link found himself in the last position, with another Link next to him at the second clock, and another new Link appearing behind the lever at the center of the room.

"Quickly!" the Links in front of the last two clocks yelled, "Get to the first clock and move the hands!"

The new Link seemed a bit disoriented, but moved quickly, and was soon standing in front of the first clock.

"What time should I set it to?" he yelled to them when he was in position.

That time, however, Link was ready.

"The one in front of the first clock has to set it to eight hundred hours. The one in front of the second should set it to eight hundred hours, three minutes and forty-two seconds. Leave the rest to me."

So, with a fresh purpose in their minds, the three Links arranged the hands of the clocks just so, and at once, Link heard a massive, gong-like sound from the ceiling of the room, and the entire wall in front of them slid up into the ceiling, as the panels on the walls closed with a clang. Then, as quickly as they could, the three Links leapt forward...

Suddenly Link was alone again, in a hallway with a big, iron door at the end. The entire room that had housed the time puzzle seemed to have vanished, as though it had been moved completely out of his time continuum, and Link was very relieved by that. He'd had more than enough of time locks and puzzles for one day.

Most people would have spent hours trying to get over what had just happened. After all, it wasn't every day that a person narrowly escaped a temporal incongruity, and Link's head was spinning from the very fact of having had to think about time as he knew it so differently. Still, he had a job to do, and as far as he knew, time was of the essence.

Nevertheless, Link hardly felt up to his full strength, and he'd hoped not to be faced with any more puzzles or foes until after he'd had some time to rest. Because of that, the sight that greeted him when he entered the last room of the time dungeon was less than a welcome one.

The room was circular in shape, and made completely from what seemed to be sheet metal. At the very center of it was a beautiful woman with a royal air around her, dressed in a magnificent gown, which was obviously a relic of ages past. Both of her eyes were open, and she seemed to be staring directly at Link, but she didn't look as if she was able to move a muscle. Her entire body was completely still, and as Link noticed that, he realized that she would have seemed to be staring at anyone who stepped through that door. However, it wasn't her that struck fear into Link's heart, because there were two others in the room with her. One was what seemed to be a man, but instead of skin, the surface of his body seemed to be made of a cloth-like substance, with swirls of color and texture pulsing back and forth across it. The other was a person who Link had plenty of reason to be concerned about. He was a red-haired man, dressed in black robes, with pitch black armor underneath them.

"My powers aren't sufficient to draw her out of it directly." the man with the mesmerizing skin said, "But as far as I can tell, she's moved herself into a position halfway between our time continuum and the next. In other words, we can see her, frozen in time, but we can't touch her, or affect her in any way."

"That may work to our advantage." Ganon replied with a mere, satisfied nod, "All I need from you is to make certain that he doesn't aquire the..."

Then, Ganon's eyes turned to the room's entrance, and his fiery gaze stared into Link's soul. The Hero of Time felt more than a little vulnerable under the gaze of the king of evil, because he knew what would happen next.

Or rather, he thought he knew. He'd expected Ganondorf to retreat via teleportation, ordering his servant to kill Link, but something had changed in Ganondorf's soul since their last encounter, because instead of trying to destroy his ancient enemy, Ganondorf stretched out his hand behind him, positioning it inside the chest of the woman, and Link watched in surprise as it passed through her, as if she were merely an illusion.

"Our game is finished, Hero of Time." Ganondorf said calmly, "I can't rouse the sage of time from her self-imposed sleep, and neither can you. So, I suggest that you step into this chamber, where we can have a little talk."

Link's eyes darted back and forth from Ganondorf to his servant, and back to him again at first. If he'd had his old arsenal, he might have felt better about engaging them in battle, but even then, both of them at once would have been a risky gamble. For the moment, he decided not to throw the first blow.

Slowly, Link inched into the chamber, and flinched at the sound of the door slamming shut behind him, but it really didn't change much about his situation. He hadn't seriously considered the idea of escaping anyway.

"What's your angle, Ganondorf?" Link asked, as he walked a bit closer to the two, praying for his courage not to fail him, "The last time we met, you absolutely refused to talk. You seemed to think it was your sworn duty to bring the world to an end."

"Indeed." Ganondorf replied with a calm smile, however, "Those were my sentiments, at the time. I think that some part of that dangerous desire still lingers in my heart, but there are other things, which I want even more."

As Ganondorf said that, there were three bursts of flame very nearby, and Link soon found that three chairs had appeared in their place. Ganondorf grabbed one of the chairs and sat almost at once. His servant, however, and of course, Link himself, seemed to prefer standing.

"I confess, Hero of Time." Ganon began, looking contemplative, almost to the point of wistfulness, "I was most surprised to find you here; even more surprised, once I learned about your intentions. The fact that you continued to struggle on, even after the destruction of the time guard puzzled me enormously, and it nagged at the back of my mind during our last encounter. You're not an irrational man, Hero of Time. You know you can't save these people. What are you trying to accomplish?"

For a few moments, Link said nothing, but just when it seemed as though Ganondorf was about to lose interest and give up on him completely, Link asked, "Why listen to me now?"

"Don't play the idiot with me, Hero of Time." Ganondorf rebuked him, "I ask now, because I realize that you're not a threat to me. To one like you, I'd think that would be perfectly obvious."

Link nodded, however, trying to stop himself from worrying. It was obvious, but the question hadn't been an attempt at faking stupidity, as Ganondorf had suspected. In fact, it had accomplished its purpose quite well. It had proven to Link that Ganondorf's wits had, if anything, sharpened with age. His ability to recognize when Link was faking proved that. That was when he knew that he'd have to be very careful around that man.

Quickly, Link shuffled through his options in his head. He could always try to run, but Ganondorf would probably just be there when he got back. He could say nothing, of course, but it was already becoming plain that if he tried to lie to Ganondorf, the king of thieves would see right through it. Besides, too many of Ganondorf's life decisions had been based on poorly-founded assumptions and misinformation. As dangerous as it was, Link had to hope that for once, the truth could set the king of evil free.

"Alright." Link said at last, "It's against my better judgment, but here's the truth. When we left the isle of the time guard, I learned from the time guard itself, that there were seven in the great sea who held the secret to repairing it."

"And all this time, you've been able to convince the people of Isle Prime that you were their savior?" Ganondorf asked, with something that seemed half like scorn, and half like admiration, "Very slick of you, Hero of Time. They won't be expecting a thing. Unless, of course, you planned on informing them of your impending betrayal beforehand."

Link's face contorted at once, however, into an expression of distain, as he spat out, "I don't see it as betrayal. I see it as salvation; salvation for all of them; even you!"

"Salvation for me, eh?" Ganondorf replied, with a clear smirk on his face, "Well, I suppose now, you expect me to help you with your plan, considering how it's better for either of us than this drenched, dismal eventuality. Don't be such a fool."

At that moment, every muscle in Link's body tightened, as he prepared for an attack, but Ganondorf, it seemed, had noticed that, and smiled in genuine-looking amusement at that point, saying "I said, don't be a fool. That means try to understand my position."

When Ganondorf had said that, however, Link actually did consider his position, and all at once, he knew with absolute certainty that Ganondorf wouldn't attack him; not yet.

"I'm leaving this island, and I'm taking G'nigh with me," Ganondorf said, motioning to his servant as he got to his feet, "If you can restore the sage of time to consciousness, you have my blessing in doing so."

"You're hoping I'll fix the time guard." Link noted aloud, eager to get everything out in the open, "Because then, you'll try to claim it for yourself; rewrite history, so that you can take over Hyrule."

Ganondorf just gave Link a short nod, as the three chairs vanished from the room in more bursts of flame.

"I thought I'd give you fair warning, Hero of Time." Ganondorf continued with a confident smile, "G'nigh is more powerful than you are, and there are others in his class and stronger, who are just as loyal to me; over half a dozen, in fact. I hold absolute power over their lives, and don't think we won't attack you all at once if it'll win us this prize. I'm subsidizing your quest to save your people, and trumping your search for salvation. From this moment on, Hero of Time, you should know that I'm the only one who'll reap the rewards, or lack thereof, of whatever you and your little band attempt. This plan of mine is an unbreakable barrier that prevents you from undermining my will. That having been said, good luck."

Then, Ganondorf folded his arms, and so did his companion. G'nigh just smiled at Link as he did so, but Ganondorf truly laughed. He laughed long and loud. He laughed in the closest thing to joy that Link had ever seen on the face of the king of thieves, and when, moments later, he and G'nigh vanished in bursts of flame, his laughter continued to echo off the walls of the chamber, penetrating Link's very being with hopelessness and despair.

"No!" Link shouted, mostly to drown out the noise of that laughter, "No! It can't be!"

Link was horrified by what he'd just heard. It was true; Ganondorf's plan did seem unshakable. If he and his servants were really as strong as he claimed, there was no way that he could complete his mission anymore, even with the help of all seven sages. Ganondorf really had built an unbreakable barrier of force, information, and ingenious planning. How, he wondered, could he press on through that? How could he save his people at that point?

"What am I supposed to do?" he thought aloud, but there was no answer; neither from the chamber itself, nor the frozen sage of time. They didn't have any answer to give.

Less than an hour later, Link reappeared on the beach of the forested isle, and there, he found Saria and the captain both awaiting his arrival. He looked as if he'd lost track of time, though, because he was clearly surprised that the captain already had a wooden foot attached to the bottom of his leg, and had finished the process of learning how to walk on it.

"Did you find her?" Saria asked, looking a bit hopeful, though she could see that Link had returned alone.

"Yes." Link replied sadly, however, "I found the sage of time. She's frozen herself in a type of time-stasis somehow. It's going to take powerful magic to free her."

The captain looked disappointed that they'd failed to rescue the seventh sage, and so did Saria, at first, but the sage of forest noticed something else. There was a great despair lining Link's words, which threatened to very nearly consume them all. Saria didn't know what he'd faced on the isle of time, but she could tell that she had to do something to try to cheer Link up, or his worry alone might cause them to fail.

"I wish there was a wind tonight." she muttered sadly.

However, the moment that he heard that, the captain began to cheer up, looking pleased to be able to be useful again, and said, "I can make the wind blow. Why? Do you think it'll help our mission?"

Saria was pleasantly surprised to hear that, however, and she smiled as she replied, "Definitely. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like a wind from the west, please."

The captain, however, just grinned as he pulled out the Wind Waker; the magical instrument used by the King of Hyrule to conduct musical symphonies at one time, and he began to play a musical spell with it. At once, a powerful wind rose up from the west, and Saria clapped her hands in delight at the amazing miracle that the captain had just performed.

"Good! Good!" she exclaimed with a great, big grin.

"So, when should we leave?" the captain asked, sounding eager, but not impatient, "It's not going to be easy, but I think I'm ready to keep going."

"Maybe," Link replied, although he still looked badly depressed, "but I'm not. I think we should wait until tomorrow. I have a lot of thinking to do."

Under normal circumstances, the captain might have questioned that, but he was still too concerned with the state of his foot to be bothered too much by it, so he simply nodded, and stepped back into the woods.

Saria, in turn, walked off into a different area of the woods, and began picking a few seeds out of fruits and nuts. She had a plan for the best medicine of all for Link, and she could only hope that it would work.

After a few minutes of rushing back and forth along the beach, planting the seeds she'd gathered, Saria turned and ran towards Link again, who was sitting in the sand, deep in thought, and obviously very depressed.

"Hey, Link!" Saria exclaimed, waving both hands to get his attention. Once she was no more than a couple of feet away from him, though, she stuck out one hand to him and giggled happily.

"Okay," she thought to herself, "time to make magic."

At once, her own natural magical aura as both a kokiri and the sage of the forest began dispensing its power onto their surroundings, shaping the seeds she'd planted into a form designed to harness the wind's power to a definite end.

Link gasped in surprise as a beautiful, harmonious woodwind music filled the entire island. It was slow music, but loud enough to be heard over the wind itself, and there was Saria, standing right in front of him; obviously the cause.

"How are you doing this?" Link asked curiously, his depression nearly forgotten.

"I don't want to tell you." Saria replied, however, with the same, whimsical expression as before, "It makes it less magical."

Of course, even if Link had known about the reeds that she'd grown in the forest, designed specifically to make different notes when wind was blown through them, and being moved back and forth by her power into a beautiful harmony, he probably wouldn't have found it any less magical. His true love was standing before him, just like she had all those years ago, with the music of the woods echoing through their surroundings, and that was the most magical thing of all.

"Shall we dance?" Saria asked, waving the hand that she'd extended towards him back and forth a bit.

At first, Link smiled, but he still seemed a bit depressed, as he got to his feet, towering over the young girl.

"I don't know if that's possible." Link said, closing both eyes, for fear of Saria's reaction, "I'm a little taller than you are now. It might be tough to dance to this music."

However, when Link opened his eyes again, there was Saria's face, gazing into them. She was standing there, at his eye level, held up by two thick, strong vines, which she'd conjured from the ground at her feet.

"I have that covered too." she explained with a great, big grin, and Link immediately hugged her in a burst of emotion, nearly catching her off balance.

"Thank you." he finally murmured to her, as he held her in his arms, "You did all this for me, didn't you?"

"I did it for us." Saria replied, however, "Now, do you want to dance or not?"

"But how?"

"Just trust me."

By then, Link was genuinely smiling again, his depression completely forgotten. He trusted Saria with all his heart, and soon, they were waltzing back and forth along the beach, spinning around, taking turns at leading, and so forth. Every time that Saria took a step, one of the vines that held her up vanished into the ground, and another appeared to support her. Then, when they spun around, both vanished as she trusted herself in Link's strong arms, and new vines appeared to catch her when he let go. Even though she was only the size of a child, and Link wasn't exactly the world's best dancer, the dance itself was poetry in motion.

That dance seemed to carry Link back to a time long ago; the last time that he and Saria had danced. He'd been nine years old, and Mido and some of his friends had been playing music of their own. It was one of the many nighttime dance meetings that the kokiri had, and although those dances usually took the form of swift, light-hearted jigs, one of Mido's friends had decided to start playing a slower tune, and soon, the others had joined in. The minute that Saria had decided she wanted to dance with Link, Mido had refused to keep playing, but all of the others had continued. That was the night when Saria taught Link what little he knew of dancing.

They'd never danced again after that; not just because of Mido's reaction, though Link would have used that as an excuse, if pressured, but because as much as they both enjoyed it, Link didn't think it had much practical purpose.

"Guess I showed you." Saria remarked snidely, as the music ended, and the vines lowered her to the ground, and then vanished again.

Link smiled as he pondered that, however. Saria had been right all along, he realized. The immortal kokiri knew the value of having fun, but Link had never suspected that those same values were just as important to mortal beings like himself; especially in times of stress. He had to admit that she'd been right all along.

"I should never have doubted you." Link replied quietly into his beloved's ear, "You're right. I'm feeling much better."

In fact, Link was feeling better than he had in weeks. For too long, even before coming to that time period, Link had occupied himself with worries and concerns. He'd spent so much time questioning himself and the world around him, and dwelling on the problems in his life, that being with someone he cared about for a few minutes to just dance and forget it all had been like coming up for air after walking around underwater for hours. His whole body felt alive again. His mind felt like it had been cleaned. Everything was much, much clearer.

However, it wasn't long before Link once again found a stray thought drifting towards the barrier that Ganondorf had put in his path, and with that single, simple thought, he realized something that he hadn't considered before.

Ever since coming to that time period, Link had felt incomplete; as if he were only half there. For a while, he'd thought that it was merely because he missed his friends and his kingdom, but just then, he'd begun to realize the real reason for those feelings. He felt like only half of him was there because it was true. Only half of him was there. The unity which he'd experienced for over a year was gone, and that was when Link knew that he had to find his other half.

"Saria," Link said, his expression taking on a sort of direction as he spoke to her, "Thank you. You did a lot more than just cheer me up tonight. I know what I have to do now."

Saria just nodded with a smile, however, as she replied, "What else are close relationships for? Does this mean we'll be leaving tonight?"

Link paused to think about that for a moment, but finally, he decided against it.

"No. We'll wait until tomorrow. I learned some information today that extends our timetable quite a bit."

On the following morning, everyone clearly had a lot to do. As always with the mornings in the Great Sea, the sky was a bright pink, and by the first ray of that morning light, Link was on his feet, getting an early start on some morning exercises, as he waited for the others to wake up. His left hand was almost completely healed, except for the visible mark left by the scar, but he decided against using it in his morning exercises nonetheless. He'd give it another couple of days to regain its strength, before he tried to use it in any strenuous activity.

After about another hour, Saria was awake, and the Captain woke up about a half hour later than that. Pretty soon, they were all gathered on the beach, preparing for the difficult teleportation that awaited them.

"We're going to head back to your ship now." Link said to the captain with much greater confidence than he'd had on the night before, "Then, I'm going to leave you for a little while. There's a very special artifact that I'd like to track down, which I think might help us overcome the enemies we're facing."

"So, what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" the captain asked, sounding confused.

"In the meantime," Link replied, however, a fresh gleam coming into his eyes, "forget the search for the seven sages. You have things of your own to focus on. For example, you still have to confront Medli and Makar with the bad news, and there's also that young admiral friend of yours to rescue."

The Captain thought about that for a few moments. He didn't relish the task of breaking the news to Medli and Makar about the true origins of their powers, but he knew, deep down inside, that they'd have to find out sometime, and they might take the news better from a friend. As for rescuing Tetra, the captain knew that that was his job too, but for once, he was starting to think about it carefully, and decided that he wasn't really ready to go into battle for her sake or anyone else's, until the infection of darkness inside himself, and the others who'd survived the encounter on fire isle had been tamed. That would, he suspected, take a lot of training.

Link seemed to have noticed how carefully the captain was considering his future actions, though, and his smile only grew broader.

"You're ready now." Link said at last, "You're ready to confront evil inside and out. You're ready to go out into the world and teach it by example. Captain Link; you're ready to be a hero."

As the captain heard those words, his emotions flew off in a hundred different directions, but the ones he chose to express were the feelings of joy and happiness. However, at that point, Saria seemed worried about something again.

"Link," she muttered, clearly afraid, "Are you sure this is safe for me? If even one of those flames touches me, I'll be all burnt up."

It was the captain, however, who replied to her concern, saying, "I've come through it without any burns. It's perfectly safe."

Link nodded his agreement with those sentiments just a moment later, so, although she was still a little worried, Saria grabbed Link's right leg, and closed her eyes tightly to prepare for teleportation. The captain, in turn, put his hand on the Hero of Time's left shoulder, and Link put his right hand gently on Saria's head, so that they were as ready as possible. In moments, the flames rose up, and Saria was too terrified to open her eyes for the entire journey across the Great Sea.