The Legend of Zelda series do not belong to me, they belong to Shigeru Miyamoto. And the gods in the story, the Sanchez, and Chakal belong to Jorge Gutierrez. What does belong to me are Cleo, Finn, Syrilla, Joseph, and the kids in the prologue.


Chapter 28

Cleo took a swig of red potion and picked up the guitar. She played the Song of the Hero in it's entirety and as she played, the deep well in the grotto started to churn. Then the water dragon shot out of the grotto as she finished her music.

Faron lowered herself to Cleo's level. "So what is it you are in need of dear."

"I need to go to the last Temple of the Sun."

"What?!" Her eyes widened. "The Temple of Floods? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I've gain Ehecatl's approval. I have his conch shell, right here." Cleo held up the shell.

"What's that around your neck?" Faron asked suspiciously.

Cleo felt a flutter in her stomach. "I swear, I didn't steal this from you! The Hero's Sha-"

"Not the scale, silly girl! I mean the red skull."

"This?" Cleo held it, looking thrown off.

"Oh, great!" muttered Xibalba. "Another cosmic celebrity who's noticed me. I'm not keeping a low enough profile, am I."

"Yes, I've seen that skull before. I certainly hope you haven't had the unfortunate displeasure of being affiliated with that nasty god of death."

So she knew Xibalba as well. "If I did, I'm afraid it's my own business, ma'am."

"...I see... Very well, I shall clear a path for you even though I'm reluctant to do so." Faron floated higher and soared down the river toward the fork. Cleo followed her and heard a shriek as she arrived at the boat rental shop. Iza was running past Cleo screaming.

Cleo saw Faron fly through the wooden barricade, splintering it to pieces. Cleo headed to the shop. "Hopefully, she won't mind if I borrow one of her boats." There was no other way to get there as she didn't have the strength to swim the whole distance. She hopped aboard and paddled down the path now open to her.

The ride down this river was much rougher than she'd expected and it took all her stamina to steer. She saw Faron ahead of her. "Follow me, Cleo!" The dragon lead her to a cave off to the side and Cleo was now traveling down an even narrower, rougher, and more winding path. There were more forks ahead so she needed to stay behind the dragon and try not to fall behind. She was sure taking a wrong turn would not end well.

After a while, the boat finally traveled onto steady water, then she paddled to a dry landing where a stone door was. "Did you enjoy the ride?" asked Faron.

Cleo wrung out her green hat. "Makes Splash Mountain seem like a kiddy pool."

"This is where I leave you... I wish you the best of luck." Faron bowed again and dove into the water, disappearing from view.

Cleo faced the door, brought out the conch shell and blew into it. It made a low melodious sound like an ocean wave. A glowing image of a winged serpent appeared on the door, before it slowly creaked open. She walked through and saw the pedestal for entering the dungeon, but was surprised to not find Syrilla lying there. "Where is she?" Then she sensed someone swooping in right behind her and felt a hard blow to the head. She was out in an instant.

She opened her eyes and heard chanting and screaming. She lifted her head off the cold cave floor and saw Ghirahim performing a spell with Syrilla on the pedestal covered in light. "Cleo, what's happening?!" Xibalba asked. "All I can see is your bosom again!" Cleo's head started swimming as she tried to get up, she felt like she was going to faint again. The light suddenly stopped and she knew it was already over.

Ghirahim turned around and looked at her. "Thank you so kindly for opening the door for me, dear Cleo. I never could get past it with my powers because of that sorcerer's barrier." Cleo was baring her teeth as he spoke. "Aaand... I've got a little bonus!" He held out his hand and a piece of Triforce appeared, floating slightly above it. "My master is sorely missing this, I shall be returning to him with the Triforce of Power and wait with him for you after you've been endowed with the last sun spirit." He chuckled demonically as he faded away with the Triforce piece.

"Damn you!" She really wished she hadn't lost quite so much blood.

"I can't believe we just did that!" Xibalba spat. "It could've been avoided!"

"There's no way we could've known!" Cleo walked to Syrilla. The Gerudo's skin was not as dark as normal. "I'm so sorry Syrilla... I promise I'll make it up to you." Cleo laid herself next to Syrilla. "I'm ready." The snake slithered out, used to the routine by now, and bit her.

She rose up from her body and walked through the doorway leading deeper into the dungeon. The first obstacle she encountered, of all things, was red ice blocking the doors and pathways. Although she couldn't be frozen by it as a stalfos, she still needed to get rid of it. There were standing torches lit with cold blue fire for her to use in her lantern to help melt the ice. The only real chance of getting frozen at all would be when Cleo swam through water canals where red ice lined the entrances. Cleo made sure to shoot down the blue fire stalkeese before taking a dive and traveling to other parts of the dungeons. Every canal had a strong current that went one way and she needed to turn a large lever to change the flow. Every lever was surrounded by deep water, some of them were encased in red ice. She couldn't carry her lit lantern while swimming so she shot arrows at the ice through torches. She used the same strategy to melt ice covering the wall buttons which opened a door. Past that door was the biggest, most heavily armed stalmaster she had faced yet, as strong and tough as a darknut. She had to use some of her more advanced sword moves to take out its armor and finish him. She found a pair of clawshots in reward for her victory. She used them to reach new places where more elaborate multi-switch puzzles were. She had to use more creative ways of using Scattalton (and the clawshots) to turn all the switches at once as they were far apart, sometimes in different areas. After solving them all, she found a big key (the first and only time she'd gotten a big key). She used it on the big door and entered the last room.

The room was small and empty with a hole in the middle of the floor. Cleo looked to see what was down there before jumping in. She fell an entire floor, landing on a platform surrounded by water with four huge wall sculptures of winged serpents, the ends of their tails extending outward over the water. The hole sealed itself, trapping her in. "Cleo!" She look up and saw Syrilla trapped in the mouth of one of the statues like in a cage. "Cleo, there's something in the water! You need to be on your guard!" And already, Cleo had noticed something moving swiftly around the platform. She looked around for the thing. "Behind you, Cleo!" She turned around and saw a hand attached to a very ropy arm reaching out to her. She jumped back before it could grab her.

The hand retracted back into the water for a moment before the entire beast leapt out and grabbed one of the stone tails, swinging back and forth. It was a creature that was half dog and half monkey with an extra hand on the end of its tail.

Ambidextrous Aquatic Dweller:
Ahuizotl

It swung from tail to tail in one direction. Cleo quickly brought out one of her clawshots and aimed at its third hand. The weapon latched on and pulled Ahuizotl onto the platform. Then they faced off in melee where she taunted it with her cape and struck it when it tried to swipe at her. Squealing, it dove back into the water. It swam around for a few seconds before the hand poked out and grabbed her by her leg. Cleo broke off her legs to free herself and it tossed them onto the floor. She pulled herself together as Ahuizotl jumped out of the water. The second round, it swung left or right in a more random pattern, making it more difficult for her to grab. Then in the third round, it made an amazing jump up onto the serpent heads, and hopped around out of reach. Cleo clawshot a ring on the ceiling, pulled herself up, and used the second clawshot to yank Ahuizotl down. After she slashed at it thrice, it became enraged and slammed down its monkey fists so hard, the whole room quaked, causing stone to fall off the walls and ceiling. Cleo dodged them.

Then Ahuizotl howled and water started moving like it was alive. It jumped up onto the ceiling ring and streams of water traveled up to the monster, forming a huge water bubble around it. Cleo knew what was coming and tried to get out of the way. But the very edge of the platform wasn't far enough. When the bubble hit the floor, it expanded and pulled her in where Ahuizotl was able to pummel her. She was punched out onto the floor, coughing. The bubble flowed up to the ceiling again. Cleo noticed red ice inside the cracked open wall. Acting fast, she took a piece with the clawshot, aimed at the water bubble, and shot again. The bubble turned to red ice in an instant and crashed down (Cleo wrapped herself in her cape at the last second). With Ahuizotl down, she executed the ending blow.

Jerked by the blow, it writhed on the ground as glowing smoke escaped its body. In a flash, the body shrank and returned to its true form, a matador stalfos who looked a lot like Manolo. Cleo looked up at the glowing orb, her first thought was to run. But in a room like this, it wasn't an option. So there was nothing to do except to let herself be possessed one more time.

The spirit flew at her and hit her hard. It was actually painful this time and she succumbed to the pain. She collapsed.

The ground began to shake... Forests ripped apart... buildings and skyscrapers toppled... sounds of people screaming and loud crashing of rocks... The world tore itself apart and the light of the sun died...

As she watched the vision, Cleo heard a voice... the voice of Ehecatl.

With each new era, there is a new sun... Four were created... four were destroyed... now only the fifth remains... As long as the light of the sun continues to shine... ... your world will remain... ... ...