The Springs of Hylia
Chapter 27
Link didn't think it a good idea to teleport to the shrine in the Eastern Abbey directly, with the guardians there, he didn't want to risk and unsuccessful parry and be killed.
Instead he teleported to the Great Plateau Tower and flew down to where the marker was located just south of the tower.
As he was gliding, he could just make out a raging campfire, a bright spot in the now gloomy plateau, it was below with giant wooden canvases planted into the ground splattered with an unknown substance. A tactic to scare the enemy, it didn't scare him, but it deeply disturbed him.
He could see multiple lizalfos in the area and flew to where he was perched on top of a carved stone skull. Nobody knew how these got there, one of the many mysteries of Hyrule.
He notched an arrow in his bow and aimed for a green lizalfos' head that was wandering around on a broken concrete path. Once that one was killed, he aimed for the one moving around in the area below him effectively piercing through its skull. He moved up onto the concrete path, crouching lowly and moving as silently as possible. He did the same for the last one in his sight he continued on shooting from where he was at the lizalfos that could spot him if they turned.
He threw a bomb barrel straight down which effectively reacted with the others below, creating a monstrous explosion that sent the monsters flying.
He was going down to finish them off when a guardian near him awaked. He cursed and quickly hit it with the Obliterator. Thankfully it worked, even on Sheikah Technology and the guardian exploded in a mass of parts, unfortunately this wasn't all a good thing, thew lizalfos were now alerted of his presence and location and the last four came scrambling for him.
He hit the most dangerous one (a silver lizalfos) with the Obliterator using up his last hit for the time being and parried a jab from another then shot and arrow through its skull, it was dead before it hit the floor with a painful crack.
The other lizalfos was jumping around spewing water at him. Link kept his shield up to protect himself and moved in on it, the Obliterator came to life again and once he saw the opportunity, Link obliterated him.
The ground rumbled and he slipped off the side of the raised platform and he rolled to the bottom of the hill, he scrambled to his feet, and brushed off the dirt, he was lucky that time too.
He walked towards the Shrine that had now appeared and entered with caution.
Ahead of him were spikes, dangerously jutting up and down every couple of seconds. He gulped, these trials were getting harder and harder.
He used magnesis on the magnetic plates to the side of the room, spreading them out carefully so that he could still jump to and from each one without worrying about the spikes.
He jumped onto the first platform nearly losing his footing when the floors beneath him changed, narrowly escaping being impaled through some part of his body.
Carefully, he continued onto the next one, using magnesis again after he had planted his feet and was relatively stable, he brought the metal climbing square to a hairs breath away and climber, the he jumped onto the platform, having complete the first task in this shrine.
He continued further, moving through the archway where horizontal gears and rotating platforms guarded with more spikes. He would have to be careful, one misstep and he could be a goner.
He jumped onto the first gear and moved to the second, but he didn't jump far enough and ended up slipping of the edge.
A short scream escaped him and he threw out a handing grabbing onto the rotating second gear, he cursed a wall coming for him and would scrape him off the gear like a knife or squish him in between the two frictions.
He yanked himself up and lunged for the moving platform, this one moving backwards instead of around, he clambered to his feet and hopped over each moving platform with relative ease.
He paused at the next safe point. Bracing his hands on his knees as he panted, calming his racing heart. This racing heart wasn't good like it was when he was around Zelda. At the thought of her, his heart had a painful pang. He hoped she was alright. He didn't know what time, he had no connection through the shrine or on the plateau for his Sheikah slate, he could only go by the faint light from the sun or moon that was barely visible through the fog.
He walked forward dreading what was before him.
He waited a few moments, memorising the pattern of each spike ball attached to a chains it swung. He noticed a pattern, there was a delay to the left.
So he jumped from the ledge and quickly took out his paraglider, leaning so that he would be angled left, he felt the wind of the ball passing behind him each time he went past one.
He landed safely on the platform his heart beating out of his chest.
He couldn't see what might be ahead, there was a big part of the wall missing with no sign of what it could or would hold, he hoped all that awaited him was the monk.
He stepped down the platform and onto the slightly raised plate, his weight pushing down on it and opening the doorway ahead of him and opening one behind him, the one behind him, littered with spikes rushed out to greet him.
"Shit!" He yelled and ran forward.
The walls ahead of him were lined with spikes, he could see the monk ahead, one final trial…
A wall jutted out and he had a heart attack. "Fucking hell!"
Two more sprang out at him and he ran through the small gap, all the while hearing the sound of breaking and crushed stone as the wall kept moving forward from behind him, a threat like none he had ever faced before.
He relentlessly cursed his existence, cursed this trial, cursed this shrine and its monk.
One more and he jumped over a stone.
Two and then a third and he ran to the right.
Four more and then he clambered over one of the jutted walls narrowly escaping more spikes. He made it to the dais, but the wall behind him wouldn't stop, he skidded tripped and landing flat on his butt, he held his hands up, not that it would do much against the destructive force. But finally, the wall stopped mere inches before it reached him.
Link breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the steps of the dais breathing heavily and praying once again that the rest would not be like this.
He just hoped, all he wanted, was to get back and hold his precious Zelda in his arms again like he had sometime before that.
