Disclaimer: Well, it's now official; I have parted ways with Moon13Dreams and I intend to continue on solo. With this latest chapter, I'm also going to put up a poll on my profile to determine who'd be best suited to direct a live-action Legend of Zelda movie (that we all know will never happen, but we can dream.)
Anyway, here's the next chapter of the story; hope you enjoy it. No ownership claimed.
Chapter XXV
Nabooru regained some consciousness to find herself being dragged down the stairwell to the cells below. Two Moblins had her by her arms, squeezing on the exposed flesh to keep her from escaping this time around. She heard the heavy footfall of Ganondorf storming behind her, sword in hand, this time to make sure that if she tried to escape, it would be for the last time. The approach drew the attention of the other prisoners. Malon was the one to react to the presence as the Moblins tossed Nabooru into the cell that Impa once occupied. Ganondorf stood at the gateway with his back to Malon, Talon and the rest of the prisoners. Then he stepped into the cell with Nabooru. He wanted the other prisoners to see what would happen next.
Ganondorf stood over Nabooru while still holding the hilt of his sword. Nabooru glared at her former master and now captor with the same contempt she'd had from the day he'd been made king of the Gerudo tribe. Ganondorf sheathed his sword before he grasped Nabooru by the neck and hoisted her up. He pinned her against the wall and held her off the ground, in full view of Malon and the other prisoners. Nabooru tried to fight out of the death grip of her former master but it was all in vain, while Ganondorf squeezed her through to cut off her breathing. His eyes burned a sickly yellow that spoke of rage and hatred for the Gerudo before he threw her to the other end of the cell.
Nabooru hit the ground hard and rolled aimlessly across it. She was still breathing but it was shallow and strained. Ganondorf stood over her with the same contempt as he'd ever displayed. With a disappointed glare on his face, he stormed out of the cell and closed the gate – hard – enough to startle the prisoners into a mild panic. Except for Malon; for some reason that she couldn't fathom, she stood straight and tall among the prisoners, and it was then that Ganondorf took notice of her.
"You leave her alone." she demanded in a shaky voice, to both the surprise of the prisoners and the anger laced amusement of Ganondorf.
He slowly approached the cell, the iron bars being the only thing separating him from the girl. "And… what would your intentions be were I to refuse, hmm," he asked, but Malon only stared him down without offering a response. "That's what I thought."
Ganondorf saw no further reason to remain and went to take his leave, but Malon, for some insane reason, claimed, "You're nothing but a coward. You claim that Impa is dead and beat a defenseless woman for no reason other than for your own amusement."
I beat my subordinate to prove a point; that my rule is not to be trifled with," Ganondorf claimed without turning to face Malon. Then he turned and further stated, "You believe me to be a coward, yet it was your supposed friend that abandoned you to rot and die here - and I am the coward? I think you should reassess your belief in those closest to you, girl."
Malon had nothing else to offer, and Ganondorf knew that all too well. That was why this was an argument he'd win. As he prepared to leave, he took on last look at the fallen Nabooru. She barely moved, only being able to lift her head. Ganondorf continued to glare at her with every ounce of contempt in his bones before finally taking his leave. Nabooru was just starting to stir, holding her hand to her neck in a vain attempt to alleviate the soreness from Ganondorf's mighty death grip. She saw Malon glaring directly at her. That in of itself was the clear indication that Nabooru, even in her current position, was not to be fully trusted; Nabooru accepted the mistrust. But perhaps…
"Impa isn't dead." she told the girl, and Malon's eyes widened.
"What did you say?" Malon asked.
"I helped Impa to escape from here, in the hope that she would find Princess Zelda and your friend."
Talon stirred to his feet and stood beside his daughter. "So Link is still alive? Do you know where he is?"
"I'm sorry, but that is something I cannot say for certain." Nabooru solemnly replied.
"I see," Talon said before shaking his head. "Poor lad must be…"
"Don't say it, Papa," Malon replied with an unexpected conviction in her voice. "Link's still alive. I know he's alive, and he'll come for us all. I know he will."
Nabooru didn't say a work, but she thought to herself, I believe you.
Inside of the active Death Mountain, a stone door opened and Patriarch Darunia emerged with his Megaton Hammer in hand. Zelda and Link followed close behind him and were quickly taken aback by the intense heat of the mountain. It practically caused Spryte, who was seated atop Link's shoulder, to once again seek the refuge of his cap. That only barely stemmed the uncomfortable heat, while Link and Zelda were both already perspiring under their clothes. The heat didn't appear to bother their Goron companion. In fact, he seemed to be relishing it. It would've have been a surprise if the Gorons had adapted to the heat as far as Zelda and Link were concerned.
One of the first steps taken was upon a mostly hard ground with rocks and piles of soot strewn about. It would've made it hard to breathe for the two Hylians, not so much for the Goron Patriarch. Link inched toward the edge of the ground where he could barely see down at a river of boiling lava. The soot rising from below made it hard to keep steady, and Link was already starting to feel lightheaded from it. He was appeared suddenly weak kneed and would've fallen had Darunia not secured him. Link quickly steadied himself, shaking the cobwebs from his head.
Darunia then replied with a grin, "It's not as bad as it looks."
Link just gave him wide-eyed stare when Zelda replied, "Where is the Goron Ruby, Darunia?"
"We need to venture deep into the mountain in order to reach our destination. The Goron Ruby rest at the core," Darunia expected over the roar of the mountain. "It's pretty far from where we are and the path is a treacherous one, so unless you want to swim in molten rock, you should try to stay close."
"What about this Volvagia monster?" Link asked, as much it pained him to.
"We'll just have to hope we don't run into it." Darunia replied, though that didn't fill Link or Zelda with confidence.
From there, the group started on the way into the mountain, first traversing a relatively stable looking bridge. At least Link and Zelda hoped so. Link went first across the bridge although he was starting to dislike bridges after the incident in the ice caverns. He managed to make it across to another patch of stable ground. Zelda went next and was able to better navigate the bridge, though it did swing slightly from side to side. She too made the crossing, with an assist from Link and amid the searing heat of the mountain. Darunia was slow to make his crossing; his burly legs snapped a couple of floor boards and the bridge was swaying to his weight. Regardless, he managed to get across to the other side and from there, he led Zelda and Link further into the mountain.
The ensuing trek was a lengthy one, with the group doing what they could to safely navigate the inside of the mountain as it seemed to roar around them. The heat was unbearable for Zelda and Link, especially Zelda. She had to remove her wrap cap and scarf to alleviate the heat, though it hardly did much in the long run. Link wanted to remove his cap but he worried that Spryte, with her small size, would be fatally exposed to the heat. To her credit, Spryte appeared from the protective covering of Link's cap and quickly fluttered into his pocket, and Link was thus allowed to remove the cap.
The group ventured deeper and deeper into the cavernous mouth of mountain, during which the heat steadily increased. It hardly meant anything to Darunia as he appeared to be thriving on it; Zelda and Link, not so much. They pressed on up until they came across another bridge. This one appeared in fair less reasonable condition than the first bridge several feet above the boiling river of lava, but they began making their way across. This time, Darunia went first, making it across but unknowingly weakening a single floorboard. Link followed, carefully crossing the bridge as it was buckling under his weight. He stepped on the floorboard, which snapped complete, and barely managed to catch himself on the bridge ropes.
"Link…!" Zelda shouted over the roar of the mountain.
"I'm okay," Link responded before noticing that Spryte was actually attempting to help him by tugging on his tunic. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to save you, stupid." Spryte replied while she pulled with all her might, which Link actually found amusing if not noble of the fairy girl.
Link then stood straight up and, to reassure the fairy, he said to Spryte, "Thanks for the help."
Spryte couldn't help to smile. "You're welcome."
"Might I be allowed to cross over now?" Zelda shouted.
Link and Spryte were quick to oblige and made their way the rest of the length to where Darunia was waiting for them. Darunia was tense and grasping his Megaton Hammer. Something didn't feel right to him. Link wasn't exactly sure of what made the burly Patriarch so nervous, if that was even possible. All he knew of was roaring and searing heat of the mountain and the boiling lava threatened to flay him alive. Or maybe it was something else entirely.
Meanwhile, Zelda was making her slow and careful trek across the bridge, with was creaking under her weight. She wasn't even of heavy build; she was slim and nimble and fit. Yet, the bridge was buckling, and it clearly due to the extreme heat. Link was at the very end of the bridge, holding the ropes to keep the bridge steady while Zelda made her way across. It seemed she would make it by the skin of her teeth, until Link looked across the way at the other end. One of the ropes was on the verge of snapping. Zelda looked back just at the rope was down to the last wire. Frantically, she raced across the bridge, heedless of it stability and right when she was about to make, the rope snapped.
The bridge began to fall apart under Zelda's feet and in desperation, she leaped as far her legs would allow. It was a suddenly all or nothing situation – that favored Zelda. Link barely managed to grasp her outstretched arm. Zelda slammed into the rock face with a heavy thud, but managed to still conscious long enough for Link to hoist her up to stable ground. Zelda fell on top of Link before quickly rolling off of him and sitting up.
Zelda was exhaling from her near brush with death when she looked to Link. "Thank you." she said.
"Don't mention it." Link replied.
"You two done? We've still got a long way to go." Darunia exclaimed right when he heard something… not of the mountain. He mutely growled at the sound.
"What was that? It sounded like an animal." Spryte said with fear in her tone.
"That, little fairy… was a dragon!" Darunia proclaimed.
"Volvagia!" Zelda proclaimed, to which Darunia nodded in the affirmative.
The sound of that name; it left Link with a sense of unknowing given belief, or his refusal to believe, that this Volvagia could've once been his former childhood pet dragon. Inside, he was still hoping this was just some random monster that Ganondorf conjured up slow him and Zelda down. In any event, Darunia continued to lead the way by following a hollowed out passage with Zelda following. Link was on the verge of following them when something caught his eye and he looked toward the lava. Amid the bubbling magma and searing soot, there was nothing out of the ordinary that Link could see, and so he believed he'd just imagined it. Thus, he followed Zelda and Darunia and just missed the sight a scaly hide jutting out of the lava before returning below.
The group traveled further into the mouth of the mountain through the passage that Darunia pointed out. Inside, it at least felt a little bit more comfortable compared to the overwhelming heat of the lava. But after having already traversed numerous passages throughout the journey, Zelda was growing tired of them. Link was also becoming annoyed by the repetition, but his mind wandered back to Malon. He was of the mindset that she was suffering under the rule of a tyrant and he wasn't there to help her. But he had to put that out of his mind and focus on finding the Goron Ruby with Zelda.
Zelda, however, seemed to sense the turmoil within Link even if he didn't outwardly say anything. She gave him credit for keeping quiet, knowing that his childhood friend was fresh on his mind. It was that, and the threat of Volvagia, which may or may not have been his former pet for his younger day. Just as Link was doing, Zelda focused on the journey ahead as Darunia continued to lead the way. The ground was somewhat loose to the presence of the group, prompting them to tread carefully. Spryte had it easy now that the group was clear of the furnace-like pit of fire but she tended at times to wander off for little more than a few moments. In those moments, she caught up and stayed close to Link, but Darunia had made it clear not to fall behind.
They continued on through the passage when Zelda asked, "How much farther to Ruby, Darunia?"
"We ought to be pretty close to the main chamber where it's being kept, provided Volvagia isn't waiting for us."
"And if it is?" Spryte nervously asked.
Darunia hoisted his hammer up. "Fret not, little one. This Megaton Hammer can take down even the most dangerous beasts."
"Maybe you shouldn't put too much confidence in one weapon, Darunia." Link stated while walking by the hulking Goron.
"Don't get too far ahead of us, kid. The soil in this passage isn't entirely stable," Darunia warned of the passage. "You fall through, there's no telling where you might end up."
Link tested the ground, feeling that it seemed relatively stable underneath him. "It seems fine to me, Darunia. Maybe you ought to…" An audible cracking sound stopped Link mid-sentence. "…take your own…" Another crack sounded. "…advice."
Then the ground shattered beneath Link, and it was too late for Zelda and Darunia to catch him. Spryte, however, was able to follow Link down, though it would've been a while before she caught with him. Link fell a short distance before slamming onto a sloping surface and being sent into an uncontrolled slide. From there, he struggled to maintain a level descent. The slope was seemingly far moister that the rest of the mountain, meaning Link had little to no traction on his way down to wherever. He was hoping that this shoot didn't lead down into a lava pit.
Without warning, the shoot reached its end and sent Link falling into a darkened cavern before he landed hard on non-budging surface. His momentum carried him a few extra feet from his point of impact before his body stopped entirely. For the next few moments, Link was face down and sprawled across the hard bedrock that was him unintended destination. Spryte managed to finally reach him only to find him down on the ground and not moving. She frantically tried to find some way to revive him when Link began to stir. He soon enough opened his eyes to see his fairy companion looking back him before he started to rise on all fours. Then he was on his knees and shaking his head to clear it.
"Link, are you okay?" Spryte asked worriedly.
Link groaned and twisted his limbs and his neck. "Yep, feeling good." he painfully quipped as he rose upright.
"Link," a voice called out from above, and Link knew it was Zelda. "Link, can you hear me down there?"
"Hey, kid, you alright?" Darunia shouted from above.
"I'm okay – just took a wrong step," Link quipped on his fall, such as it was. He spotted a faint light well off in the distance and resolved to follow it. "I think I see a light up ahead; might be a way out."
"Stay where you are, kid. We're on our way." Darunia called out.
"No, just keep going, Darunia. I'll catch up."
"We'll hold you to that, Link." Zelda said as she Darunia moved on.
Spryte looked at the light and replied, "So, now we're following a light at the end of the tunnel. You sure we're not dead?"
"Not if I can help it. Come on!"
Link and Spryte made their way down the tunnel, which seemed surprisingly cool compared to the rest of the mountain. Water droplets rained down from the ceiling and at times pelted Link's tunics and his cap. Spryte stayed close to Link to avoid the droplet in the concern that one or more of them would strike her. None did, but that didn't stop her from being cautious. As they continued down the tunnel, a tremor stopped them in their tracks. Link put a hand on the wall to gauge the tremor… and it felt like anything but a tremor. Then, there was a faint rumble that sounded anything but a rumble. It sounded more like a low growl.
It startled Spryte, but Link remained remarkably unfazed. After everything he'd been through so far, a tremor and a growling noise in an active mountain hardly bothered him. Spryte remained somewhat reluctant to continue through the tunnel as she and Link approached the light at the end. The light seemed further away from them than they were expecting, while the faint growling sound grew ever closer. It occurred to Link that it was Volvagia the Desolator roaming around, possibly stalking him and Spryte from the shadows.
Now Link had merit to be bothered; the dragon Volvagia could've very well also at one time been Nova. He was hoping and praying otherwise. The light at the end of the tunnel grew closer and brighter; not by much but enough that Link and Spryte knew they were on the right path. They were also hoping that Zelda and Darunia had the least found a safer route. At the same time, the muted growling of what they believed to be the dragon subsided. Either it didn't like it chances, which was unlikely enough, it was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Link and Spryte continued on until they finally reached the end, and the tunnel exit led them into a massive chamber made bright red by a lake of molten rock. Like in the rest of the mountain, the heat was overwhelming for Link. An enormous platform of rock rested like an island in the ocean, stable and large enough to accommodate groups of Hylians or maybe even Gorons. Something else caught Link's attention; a shimmering red jewel encrusted in gold plating at the very center of the platform.
"Is that what I think it is?" Spryte asked.
"Yep, that's the Goron Ruby…" Link confirmed, but he was very leery of it by that point. "…right there, just… waiting to be picked."
"I don't like this." Spryte said.
"What's to like?"
Meanwhile, Zelda and Darunia found their own way out of a separate tunnel adjacent to the one from which Link and Spryte emerge. From there, they found Link already on the main platform approaching the Goron Ruby. Darunia gave Zelda an approving nod as they began to make their way to the platform to join Link. But then he suddenly stopped and pointed down to the lava lake. Zelda saw something in the lava that appeared to possess scales. It then disappeared beneath the surface of the lava, and Zelda grew frantic that Link was in danger without knowing it.
Link was clearly oblivious to what was happening as he cautiously approached the Goron Ruby. It shined a bright red in front of him, so right for the picking. This was far too easy, Link reasoned. Just as he was about to touch, as it was within reach, the pedestal began to descend into the rocky ground. It was too quick for Link to react to it when the Goron Ruby sank into a pool of molten rock. As Link tried to figure his next, while Zelda and Darunia were still trying to get to him, the animalistic growl resurged in earnest. Link unsheathed his sword and shield while he spun around to meet his foe, but Zelda and Darunia had already spotted it… emerging from the lava.
"Oh no…!" Zelda whispered.
Link also sensed a very large presence behind him and said to Spryte, "There's something right behind us, isn't there?"
Spryte gave a very weak, "Uh ha."
Link very slowly turned around as the creature slowly emerged from the lava. He saw what he saw with his own eyes but still couldn't believe them; an enormous red dragon, bigger than Darunia with huge leather wings and faint smoke spewing out of its nostrils. Two boney protrusions jutted out of its head, which possessed two yellow, reptilian eyes and a mouth full of dagger-like teeth. As it emerged completely out of the lava, Link knew right at that moment that he was staring directing at Volvagia the Desolator as it stalked him on four huge limbs with its wings spread out. But that was also when he saw something else in the eyes; a familiarity that filled Link with stunned astonishment and pain. A brief flashback of his childhood further complicated things, and Link was now sure that he was staring into the eyes of a friend… a friend and a pet corrupted by Ganondorf.
"Nova," he whispered, but Volvagia snarled at him without any sign of recognition of its former friend before it. All it saw… was an enemy that needed to be snuffed out.
To Be Continued…
Author's note: Wow, this one didn't take as long as the last one; probably because I knew what I wanted to put down. As I said, Moon13Dreams and I have cut ties so I'm going it alone from here on out.
For this chapter, I tried to make the quest for the Goron Ruby a little more treacherous in a more hostile environment for Link and Zelda. At one point, Zelda even almost falls into the lava, while Link is himself separated from her and Darunia. All this is going on, while Volvagia is stalking them like any animal hunting its prey.
Speaking of Volvagia, for his official appearance I decided to give him the more traditional look and feel of a dragon, a red one at that. This was inspired by a picture titled Dragon's Lair, created by the artist Ironshod.
His past life as Link's former pet harkens back to the Legend of Zelda manga series, though the name of Nova was my idea.
Let me know what you think of this one while I work on the next entry. Chao!