[A\N]: Long time no see! Sorry about another long wait. I promise that the next chapter won't take longer than a week (sooner as long as I can find some time between tests and homework assignments).

And now, onwards to Chapter 25!

Chapter 25: Desert Trek

Link:

"Open the gates!" Nabooru called out.

A few seconds later, the gates leading out to the desert started to groan as they slowly opened. I adjusted the cloak and face mask that I was borrowing for the trip. I remembered the first time I had passed through the desert. A good portion of the desert had been covered in what looked like a perpetual sand storm. In order to find my way, I had ended up having to follow a Poe using the Lens of Truth. Since we were going with Nabooru this time, I figured I would not need it.

"Does everyone have what they need?" Nabooru called over her shoulder.

"Do we really need these heavy cloaks?" Cody griped, tugging on the cloak he was given. He had forgone his usual jacket in favor of the cloak. "I feel like I'm going to have a heatstroke before we even get to the desert."

"You've never traveled through a sandstorm have you?" Nabooru asked wryly. "Enough complaining, let's move out."

Nabooru started through the gate without waiting for a reply.

"I still think my jacket would have been just fine…" Cody grumbled, following after.

I shook my head. His jacket had taken quite the beating on our journey. Why he still insisted on hanging onto that thing was beyond me.

Shortly after entering the desert, the winds immediately kicked up. To make matters worse, the wind was blowing towards us, making the trip slow going.

"The winds are stronger than usual!" Nabooru shouted out over the howling winds.

Malon leaned in closer to me, "Do you think Malgum has anything to do with this?"

Zelda answered for me, "It's unlikely. Malgum may be powerful, but I doubt he can control the weather."

It wasn't long until we reached the first set of flags. Nabooru held out a hand to halt us.

"We first need to cross the river of sand," she informed us. "Normally we would use a grappling hook, but…" She gave me a pointed look.

I rolled my eyes and pulled out both the Termina Hookshot and the Longshot. I immediately presented them to both Zelda and Malon.

"Um… how are you getting across?" Malon asked quizzically.

I could not help but grin. "You know… I thought I might just walk across." Before either of them could say anything, I walked out across the river of sand.

When I got to the other side, I turned around. Malon and Cody looked shocked, Nabooru looked curious, and Zelda was just shaking her head in exasperation.

"He's wearing the hover boots," she informed the others.

"Oh is that all…" Cody said. "Wait… When did he get hover boots!?"

"You're not very observant are you?" Zelda said with a grin. She turned back towards me and fired off the hookshot. The metal hook sailed past and hit the crate that was set up on the other side (coming uncomfortably close I might add). The chain pulled taut, and she sailed across the river of sand.

Nabooru and Malon both came over together on the longshot, leaving just Cody. Cody pulled out his clawshot and took aim.

"One second, boy," Nabooru called out. "You really think that thing is going to latch onto one of these crates?"

"That was the hope…"

She pointed to one of the flags next to us. "You're going to have to hit that."

"Umm… Why?..."

Nabooru just gave him a wicked grin. "That claw is never going to latch onto a crate, boy."

Cody looked at the flagpole apprehensively. I frowned. I had heard that Cody was a bad shot, but he could not be that bad…

Cody took careful aim, then fired. The claw sailed out across the river, looking like it was going to pass well past the flagpole.

Nabooru grinned as she watched. "I think that is going to be a mi-" A howling gust of wind hit the claw, and redirected it back to the pole. "Hit…"

Cody was pulled across the river and landed next to the pole. Nabooru looked at him incredulously. "Did you plan that?"

"... Um… yeah… we'll go with that…" he said a little sheepishly.

She snorted. "Thought so. Let's keep going."

The trip to the halfway point took almost an hour, thanks to the large dust storm. Visibility was so low that we could not see the flags. We were forced to rely only on Nabooru's memory. We almost ran straight into the structure at the end of the path of flags.

"We need to take shelter!" Nabooru shouted. "It's too dangerous, we need to wait out the storm!"

"You won't hear any arguments here," I said.

We quickly piled into the structure. Nabooru rushed over to the opposite wall. After a few seconds, there was a groan and part of the wall sank into the ground.

"Follow me," Nabooru commanded. She walked down a stairway into darkness. We all looked at each other and shrugged, then followed her down. After we entered, the door closed behind us, plunging us into darkness.

"Um… Nabooru?" I called out.

Just ahead, a flickering light lit the passage. We followed the light until we entered a chamber that was roughly the same size as the structure overhead. It was circular and made of the same stone that the rest of the building was made up of. There was sand piled up around the edges in various spots.

Nabooru was in the middle of the chamber, setting up a fire. "We'll hold up here for a little while," she explained. "At least until the storm calms down."

"Thank goodness," Cody said, shaking his cloak off his shoulder. "I've got sand in places I didn't know sand could get!"

"And you'll get to experience that again on the way to the temple and on the way back," Zelda said calmly, folding her cloak up beside her.

"Can't you let me dream a little…"

Nabooru shook her head as she chuckled. "Let's get comfortable. We may be here for a while."

"I must say," I said, glancing around the chamber. "I really wish I knew about this place the first time through the desert."

"Not even all the Gerudo know of it," Nabooru said. "To be honest, I only accidently stumbled across it myself."

We had been here for an entire hour, making small talk. The winds were still howling outside, foreshadowing a long wait.

Zelda, Nabooru, and I were currently sitting around the fire. Cody and Via were near the stairs, and Malon was at the opposite end of the chamber (Cody and Malon were still not talking).

"It's been a while since last we met, hasn't it Link?" Nabooru said.

I shrugged. "Well, there's not a whole lot of reasons for me to come out to Gerudo Valley."

"And I haven't seen the princess here since she was a child," Nabooru said.

"The day Ganondorf was arrested," Zelda said, nodding her head. "I remember that time real well."

I did as well. Shortly after my return to the normal timeline, I had immediately raced to meet Zelda. Together, we were able to convince her father of the danger that Ganondorf represented. The Gerudo King did not go quietly though.

"As I recall, you had a hand in helping arrest him," I said to Nabooru.

"He was a vile man even then," she said, shaking her head. "I'm ashamed that I ever thought he was a worthy ruler of the Gerudo."

"Thankfully, he was executed," Zelda said. "We'll never have to worry about him again."

Nabooru glanced up at Zelda, confused. "Executed?"

Both Zelda and I turned to look at her. "Yeah," I said. "The King informed us of that shortly after his arrest…"

Nabooru blinked. "He… He must not have wanted to alarm you-"

"Are you saying that psychopath is still alive!" I shouted.

"What's going on?"

My sudden outburst had drawn Cody over.

"We just found out that one of the most evil men that ever existed is still alive," Zelda said, her usual calm demeanor completely gone. "I can't believe my father would lie to me like that!"

"Evil?" Via asked from Cody's shoulder. "Was he really bad?"

"Yeah, the guy took over Hyrule once," I said shaking my head. "I know that the events from the other timeline had not happened, but he did kill more than a few people in preparation for what was to come."

"You seem to know something," Zelda said, zeroing in on Nabooru. "Why wasn't Ganondorf executed."

Nabooru shifted uncomfortably. "It wasn't from lack of trying."

We all stared at her expectantly.

She sighed. "Have you ever heard of the Arbiter's Grounds?"

I shook my head no. Zelda on the other hand nodded. "I've heard mention of it. It's supposed to be a prison, but it was also a sacred place."

"That's the gist of it," Nabooru said. "It's the place where the spirits of the original sages reside."

"Wait… I'm confused," Cody interjected. "I thought the sages were actual living beings."

"We are," Nabooru said. "We get our powers from theses sages. I get my powers from the Sage of Spirit."

I remembered discussing this with Zelda earlier, how we did not know how the other sages were connected to the current sages. Apparently we do now...

"I think I'm going to get a headache from all this new information…" Cody said, sounding weary.

"But how does this all relate to Ganondorf," Zelda said impatiently. "Did something happen at the Arbiter's Grounds?"

Nabooru nodded. "I don't know the full details, but he was taken up to the sages to be executed."

"If it was the sages that were in charge of that, they would have known about his evil deeds in the other timeline," Zelda insisted. "There is no way they would have given him a stay of execution!"

"They didn't…" Nabooru said, looking grim. "He was protected by the Goddesses."

A stunned silence filled the room. Nabooru continued, "He received what should have been a fatal blow, but the Triforce of Power glowed on the back of his hand and…"

Nabooru trailed off.

"What is it?" I asked. It must be bad if Nabooru was acting this way

She took a breath before speaking, "He destroyed the Sage of Water."

"He destroyed a spirit!" Cody said, shocked. "Is he more powerful than Malgum!?"

"Yeah," Zelda said, her face pale. "Much more. The only reason we haven't gotten Malgum yet is that we can't pin him down…"

There were some other pressing concerns about Nabooru's revelation. "When I was in the Water Temple, I noticed that Ruto's powers seemed to be fading…"

"She'll be fine," Nabooru quickly assured me. "She will one day lose her powers, but her life force will remain unaffected. It will be years before her powers completely fade away anyway."

I nodded. At least Ruto was fine. "You said he had the Triforce of Power…"

"That is correct," Nabooru nodded.

"But how?" Zelda said incredulously. "He never made it to the Sacred Realm this time around! How could he be protected by Din!"

As Zelda was saying this, I stared at the back of my left hand. "I think I have an idea about that..."

"What do you mean?" Zelda said, finally starting to focus.

"Do you think that the Triforce… came back with me?"

Zelda shook her head, "No. Only your mind traveled through time. The triforce should have stayed in the other timeline."

"But doesn't the triforce bind with the soul?" I insisted. "When I came back, the triforce must have realigned itself based on the piece I brought back."

"It's possible I guess…" Zelda said, sounding doubtful. "But that would mean we would have the other pieces, and the Triforce of Wisdom has never manifested for me."

I shrugged, "It's just a thought."

We all remained silent for a moment.

"As interesting as this all it," Cody eventually interjected, "what happened to Ganondorf?"

"Right," Nabooru nodded. "He was too powerful to kill, so they did the only thing they could do under the circumstances..."

"They banished him to the land of Twilight."

Cody looked around the group, looking confused. "So… can he escape from this… Twilight?"

"In theory no," Nabooru said. "But he-"

"Has the Triforce of Power," Zelda finished. "He may be contained for now, but he will escape eventually."

"Well… that sucks…" Cody supplied unhelpfully.

"There's nothing we can do about it now…" Zelda said with a sigh. "All we can do is pray to the goddesses that he will forever stay in Twilight."

We lapsed into silence, not sure what else to say. After everything that had happened, I never once thought that I might ever have to deal with Ganondorf again…

And now it looked like it may be a very real possibility…

We were in there for another hour before the winds calmed down enough to venture back outside (not that the storm actually went away).

"Oh the joys of sand," Cody said with a sigh.

"Alright everyone," Nabooru called out. "Be sure to follow me exactly. The desert will swallow you up and spit you back out if you don't."

With that, she started walking out into the howling wind.

Cody leaned in next to me, "Is this desert actually called the Lost Desert?"

I chuckled, shaking my head.

Thanks to the calmer winds, the journey from the desert to the colossus was much shorter. When we reached the outskirts of the Colossus, the winds immediately died down.

"At last!" Cody said gleefully as he stuffed his cloak into the Infinity Bag while simultaneously pulling out his battered grey jacket.

"You know that we're going to be going back through that again in a short while right?" I said, shaking my head.

"Hey… Shut up…"

I just shook my head.

"Luckily, we don't have to go into the temple," Nabooru said. "The orb should be located in the oasis just over there."

Nabooru pointed to the palm trees that were a few hundred yards away.

"Sweet! I really wanted to cool off!" Cody shouted with glee.

Without further ado, he took off straight for the oasis.

"Are you five!?" I shouted after him.

"I have to admit, I'm all for taking a dip as well," Malon said, shaking the sand from her cloak.

"Remember to stay vigilant," Zelda said, her eyes scanning the environment. "Malgum has always attacked us when we've gone after the Orbs so far."

I nodded, "It would be a good idea to grab the orb and get out of here as fast as possible."

"Agreed," Zelda said.

We followed after Cody (albeit at a slower pace), and eventually made it to the oasis. Cody and Via were busily splashing water on their faces.

Cody let out a contented sigh, "I'm feeling much better now."

I just shook my head in exasperation.

"I guess this is my cue," Nabooru said. She stepped onto the rock (the same rock I once stood on long ago and played the Song of Storms), crossed her arms and closed her eyes. It was only a few seconds before she started to glow with an orange light…

A loud rumble came from the center of the oasis. Cracks appeared in the floor of the pool, causing the water to drain away (much to Cody's dismay). Another pedestal rose from the ground. Like all the others, this one also had a statue on top. The statue was of a hand, clutching at a glowing orange orb…

The Orb of Earth…

Using the Hover Boots, I floated down next to the pedestal and quickly snatched the orb from the statue.

"Got it," I said, turning to the others. "I think now would be a great time to leave."

"Really? But I had something planned for you and everything!"

This was starting to get depressingly predictable… Standing atop the pillar of rock next to the (former) oasis, was Malgum.

Everybody immediately had their weapons drawn and ready. Malgum just grinned at the display from under his hood, "That's the spirit! I have something fun planned for you all today!"

Malgum turned towards me and gave me a particularly chilling grin, "As a matter of fact, it's an enemy that you haven't faced before."

I scowled.

"Anyway," he said, stretching as if he were bored, "I must get going. Much to do. Have to prepare to grab the Sword of Darkness after all. Later!"

With that, he was consumed by shadows and vanished.

"A new enemy?" Nabooru asked. "Why do I get the feeling that we should run?"

Before anybody could reply, a loud cracking sound reverberated through the desert air. Mine and Cody's eyes met. We nodded and immediately took off, rounding the pillar separating us from the Desert Colossus.

When we got around the corner, we stopped short. I felt the blood drain from my face. Behind us, I could hear Zelda, Malon, and Nabooru quickly catching up. They too abruptly stopped.

"Din…" Nabooru breathed out barely louder than a whisper, "What has that monster done…"

The carving in the cliff wall above the Spirit Temple, the imposing Desert Colossus, was tearing itself away from the cliff face…

And its face was contorted with rage…

[A/N]: WARNING! INCOMING BOSS FIGHT!

After that long wait, we finally come across the next boss. And it is MASSIVE!

Will the group be able to take on a giant statue made of stone?

Tune in next time for: Chapter 26: Titan of the Sands: Desert Colossus.