Chapter 38: Making twisted progress
As the group looked ahead, they could see another enemy looking at them in the room. It appeared to be a large, armored reptilian, probably a relative of the Lizalfos and Dinolfos, wielding a Ball and Chain itself!
"I'm surprised you even made it this far, given the circumstances… I expected that you would be driven to eternal sleep in that music box house…" It said.
"What?! So it was YOU who played that Melody of Darkness in the house!" Link said, getting furious.
"You could say I did. Then again, it would be a shame for you to perish so easily…" It said, twirling the spiked ball around.
"Great, another sick, twisted maniac!" Saria said.
The creature laughed.
"The Great Ganondorf and Majora will be very pleased when I, Darkhammer, can report of your demise by my hands. I'll make this short and as little painful as I can." It said, before swinging the Ball and Chain towards the group, intending to crush them.
However, before it could impact against the faces of Link, Saria and Zelda, someone intercepted the Ball and Chain, catching it with his bare hands! It was Darunia whom acted accordingly!
"We've had enough of such crap of you and your leaders, begone!" Darunia snapped as he tossed the ball and chain back, slugging it into the Darkhammer's gut.
The Darkhammer grunted as the ball and chain hit it, sending it back a few feet and making it fall on the ground with a *THUD!*, after which it stood up…
"Okay, forget about the short and less painful… I'll gladly make you suffer instead!" It then hollered, regaining his ball and chain and swinging the ball around like a lasso, intending to inflict serious pain on the group.
The others already drew their weapons and were ready to assist Darunia, just as several Dinolfos and Lizalfos came in the area to assist what appeared to be their leader, as if the Darkhammer was like a commander to them like the Stalfos Commander was within the Forest outpost, commanding large numbers of Stalfos at its leisure.
"I'll handle this Darkhammer, you'd better keep those Dinolfos and Lizalfos off my back when I do." Darunia said to the others.
"Gotcha, Brother, we'll provide the back-up you need." Link said, nodding.
"That's the spirit. Now let's show this freak who's boss!" Darunia said, rubbing his hands together as he was quite eager to deliver some pain on the offending Darkhammer.
The battle began shortly after as the group engaged the enemies. Link, Saria and Zelda brandished their own ball and chains which they had looted from the Ball and Chain Troopers whom they defeated earlier in the Temple, swinging the ball around while ensuring they weren't in each other's way before tossing it at the incoming Dinolfos, with great effect as it practically caved their skulls in right away. Princess Ruto made use of her Electric Barrier to stun several Lizalfos, allowing Nabooru and Impa to slash them to pieces, with Rauru blasting several other Dinolfos with his Light-based attacks. Darunia himself engaged the Darkhammer, using his own strength to block the incoming Ball and Chain when it was tossed at him, sending it right back at him, which in turn began to damage the Darkhammer's armor in a style reminiscent of the Iron Knuckles. While the Lizalfos and Dinolfos were easy to deal with, the Darkhammer was a tougher cookie to crack. Still, Darunia was a formidable fighter in his own right, even though he welcomed the assistance of the remaining Sages as well as Link himself. Darunia kept the focus on keeping the Ball and Chain occupied, while Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto, Nabooru went in close range to strike at the Darkhammer to get rid of its armor, being backed up by Impa and Rauru. The Darkhammer then kicked Nabooru and Ruto to the side, before pulling the Ball and Chain out of Darunia's hands, swinging it to knock Darunia to the side, taking Rauru and Impa along with him. It then kicked Saria right into Link and Zelda both, making them fall to the ground, before it raised its Ball and Chain into the air and smashed it right on top of the three children, with the remaining Sages clearly hearing the painful yelps of the three as the ball and chain hit its mark, creating an indent in the floor as well. Immediately Nabooru responded by charging at the Darkhammer, only for it to swing its Ball and Chain to her, catching her in the side, breaking a few ribs in the process, after which it smashed the ball back on the three children, taking pleasure in torturing them like this. Impa could hear the moans coming from underneath the ball, which meant that the three were hurt badly…
"You monster!" Impa snarled, charging at the Darkhammer, only to be smacked aside as well.
"Wait your turn, woman; once I'm done with these three…" The Darkhammer said, preparing to smash the ball and chain back on Link, Saria and Zelda, but as it landed, he was suddenly met with resistance… before the ball was being lifted up by one pair of arms… followed by a second pair… and a third pair…
Darunia, Rauru and Ruto looked on in surprise, as the ball and chain was then tossed right into the Darkhammer's face, sending it to the far side of the room, shattering its armor in the process as he landed. Darunia immediately went to the impact area of where the ball and chain had landed on, the other Sages following right away, although Nabooru winced due to her broken ribs. Out of the small indent however climbed Link, before he helped Saria and Zelda out together. The three suffered major injuries, seen as their outfits were partially torn and sported several red stains around that was obviously blood, but the three were still alive and, by the looks of it, were still able to fight. The Darkhammer however recovered swiftly, rubbing its head.
"GET THEM!" He then said as a call to someone else out in the room.
It was then that the door on the other side of the room opened up, revealing several Iron Knuckles, Stalfos, Assault Sword Soldiers and Moblins, while from the sky came a Garo Master, who summoned several of its Garo Robe comrades in response. Seeing this, Darunia responded by invoking his own Sage Powers through his Fire Medallion and, after spreading his arms wide, he created a dome of fire around the group as if creating a Fire Shield around them. Seeing her chance, Saria responded by activating her Forest Medallion, summoning vines that began to wrap themselves around the group in general, leaving the Darkhammer and the other enemies stunned…
Inside the barrier of vines, Saria then let some newer vines touch herself on her right shoulder, as well as making it touch the shoulders of Link, Zelda and Nabooru as well as the others, attaching themselves to them.
"Saria?! What are you doing?!" Link asked, blinking.
"Shh." Saria said, meaning for Link to be silent for this.
Link wisely shut his mouth, when a green glow began to envelop the entire group, after which whatever injuries they had suffered so far were being soothed… as if it was healing their wounds! Link did a serious double-take as he could feel his wounds closing up and healing over, while there was no sensation of pain at all. Nabooru winced a little as she could feel her broken ribs being set back into place, the apparent painful feeling being rapidly soothed by a feeling of comfort washing over her as the damage done to her was being repaired. She blinked at this, while Zelda also had her powers active around the group, with Link relaxing in the glow.
After several minutes, the glow dissipated and the group was healed over, although Saria collapsed to her hands and knees, being exhausted as the vine barrier started to whither, revealing to the group that only a couple of seconds had passed, as Zelda had invoked the aid of the Goddess of Time for this. Link managed to give Saria some of the Green Potion he had with him, restoring Saria's powers along the way.
"Thank you." Saria said, smiling.
"No, I should be thanking you for using your powers like that." Link said, hugging Saria while Darunia exploded his barrier outward, damaging the enemies around them, just like how Link deploys his Din's Fire magic attack.
Saria smiled, returning the hug before she let go, with Link brandishing the Purified Fierce Deity's Mask, putting it on in order to transform to Fierce Deity Link, wielding his Double Helix Sword as he was ready to make mincemeat of the enemies.
"Now it's our turn." Fierce Deity Link said as the group now went on the counteroffensive.
Fierce Deity Link focused on the Garo Master, with Zelda and Saria assisting him to keep the Garo Robes at bay, using the knowledge they had about them from possessing one each in the Gerudo Fortress back when they were spirits to their advantage to take them out swiftly, each Garo Robe disintegrating in sheets of green flames as they held on their policy of dying without leaving a corpse. The revitalized Nabooru let loose her frustrations on the Assault Sword Soldiers, her twin Gilded Scimitar Blades being more than enough to attack multiple of them at once. Darunia grabbed one of the Stalfos by his leg as the latter attempted a jump attack, swinging the skeletal warrior around before tossing him into the mall group of Iron Knuckles, smashing the Stalfos to pieces in this regard as well as damaging the Iron Knuckles. Princess Ruto used her Ether Medallion to freeze all enemies in place, which in turn allowed Impa and Rauru to aid their comrades by decimating the Stalfos and Moblins. Knowing how it fought, Fierce Deity Link avoided the incoming Garo Master, rolling behind it and performing a Back Slice against it, damaging the Garo Master in the process. He repeated this maneuver again a second time, this time defeating the Garo Master, after which the Garo Master brandished a bomb to commit its ritual suicide, which in turn gave Fierce Deity Link the opportunity and freedom to aid his friends, using a Great Spin to destroy a few more Garo Robes to relieve some pressure onto Zelda and Saria, before engaging one of the Iron Knuckles once he knew the two faced the last ones of the Garo present. Darunia, Rauru and Impa joined Fierce Deity Link shortly after while Ruto and Nabooru assisted Saria and Zelda, after which only the Iron Knuckles remained, which were soon stripped off their armor and then defeated using the newly acquired Bomb Arrows. The Darkhammer was shocked at seeing the group rejuvenated and decimating the troops like that, before the group turned to face it, making it angry and brandishing the Ball and Chain again, charging at them. This time however, Saria intercepted it by firing an Ice Arrow herself, freezing the Darkhammer solid, after which she, together with Zelda and Link, used their own Ball and Chains to smash the frozen Darkhammer to pieces, defeating it and FINALLY ending the brutal fight, after which the group relaxed a bit, ignoring the chest that appeared in the room for now. Fierce Deity Link returned back to normal as he took off the mask, reverting back to Link himself as he leaned against the chest, sitting down against it. Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Nabooru soon joined him, with Impa, Rauru and Darunia following.
"Wow… any more battles like this one and we'll have one workout that will definitely test us to the core." Ruto said.
"You got that right." Link said, nodding at her as the group rested together.
A few minutes later, the group got back up, with Link opening the chest where, to his surprise, he located an item that they initially had ran out of at the start, but now had regained for the moment: The sacred Light Arrows.
"Alright, Light Arrows!" Zelda said, smiling with joy.
"I have a feeling we will be needing them soon." Link said, making Zelda nod as the group went on its way again into the next room.
When they arrived in the next room however, they blinked at what they saw. They had arrived in what appeared to be a small hallway, this time there were no enemies around as they had decimated them in the previous room already, but what surprised them was the amount of crates and chests around, which looked different from the ones they had seen before.
"What is this place?!" Nabooru asked.
"This must be some kind of storage room for them…" Link said, checking out one of the chests where he discovered several bombs, arrows and spears, obviously meant for the Corrupted Soldiers to be used as ammo during their battles.
"And what is that sound I hear, as if something sharp is colliding with a hard surface?" Zelda asked.
"That's from a Spiked Roller moving around on a lower part of this area. We're above it in this room, so we won't be bothered by it in this regard." Link said.
The others nodded as the group decided to use some of the arrows and bombs present to replenish their supplies, after which Darunia laid down a powder keg with a long fuse to destroy what was left in order to deprive the enemy of some of their weapons, with Impa and Rauru taking on some of the spears as well to have a melee/ranged weapon of their own other than their own daggers/blades. Once the group restocked on ammunition, they carefully ventured one after the other over the path towards the door on the far side of the room, which was a hallway with guardrails at the side and a single Eyegore at the far side of the room. Zelda and Saria took care of the Eyegore by shooting it in its eye when it was yellow, defeating it together after which the group went towards the next door, which took them back to the now cleared entrance of the Temple. Once there, after taking out the Stalfos that remained there, they felt the room shaking a bit as the Powder Keg exploded, doing its job into crippling the enemy's supply of ammunition.
"Well, this was it, right?" Zelda asked as they went outside to the Stone Tower area itself.
"I hope so…" Link said, seeing that the bridge they had made to enter the Temple was still in place, allowing the group to hop over it and back towards the platform they saw as a safe area, although this puzzled Link as the statues they had made were gone, seeing that rocks had replaced them.
Just as the group arrived on that platform however, a small band of Gerudo Pirates arrived in the area, surrounding them.
"You have made it this far, but this is where your trip ends." One of the Pirates said.
"Oh yeah?! Who says?!" Nabooru said, holding her blades tightly.
"Lord Ganondorf won't be happy when he learns of you penetrating his stronghold here…" The Pirate replied.
"How about this?!" Zelda then asked, charging up a Light Arrow and shot it at the Pirate, whom deflected it to the side…
"Hah! That didn't help you much did you, what do you think-"
The Gerudo Pirate didn't finish her sentence as there was a golden flash for a moment, indicating the Light Arrow hit a target, followed a split second later by a chiming sound.
"What was that?" The Pirate asked, while the group looked around.
Suddenly, Link gasped out in horror, seeing what has caused the chiming sound.
"What is it?" Saria asked, just as the tower began to rumble.
"W – What's going on?!" Impa asked as the Gerudo Pirates looked around as well.
"Step back everyone…" Link said in a shaky voice, taking a few steps closer to the wall behind.
Confused, the Sages did so… just as the whole area seemed to move… as if it was turning…
"What is happening?! Why are we-?!" Zelda asked, unable to finish her sentence as the entire Stone Tower suddenly flipped upside down, with the entire group suddenly screaming as they fell from the ground-turned ceiling onto the ceiling turned ground, although a few screams sounded more terrified and longer before fading altogether. Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto, Nabooru, Darunia, Impa and Rauru as well as a few Pirates whom were initially surrounding them were dazed from the landing, while the Pirate Group's Leader and a few of her underlings were nowhere to be seen…
Link held his head, shaking the stars out of his vision as he tried to get himself together, before he blinked as he sat up. He noticed that the entire Stone Tower area had been flipped upside down, trapping the group inside the area with directly ahead the flipped entrance to the Stone Tower Temple, with four blocks that served as a bridge floating in the air. He also noticed that these blocks had the image of the Triforce on them, but had no connection to Hyrule's Royal Family in turn…
"Oh, dear Goddesses…" He said, "please guide us safely through this ordeal…"
Just then he heard Zelda moan as she recovered.
"What happened?!" She asked as Link crawled to her.
"I have some good news and some bad news…" Link said.
"Start with the good…"
"The good news is that you and I, as well as the Six Sages, are still together and alive." Link said.
"That's terrific, but what's the bad news then?"
"The Stone Tower area is now flipped upside down."
"What?! Are you kidding me?!"
"No, just look around…"
Zelda looked around and saw that the Stone Tower area itself was now up into what was used to by the sky… and that the sky was now BELOW them…
"Oh no! How could this have happened?" She asked.
"One of the Pirates deflected the Light Arrow you fired and it struck the Red Emblem at the Temple's entrance by mere coincidence. I'm afraid our duties concerning the Stone Tower Temple aren't concluded just yet." Link said.
Zelda looked down as if ashamed.
"Hey, don't look so down; none of us could have seen this coming. Take comfort in the fact that I know where we have to go in this Temple, so we should be able to move through it safely." Link said, putting a hand on Zelda's shoulder.
"Are you certain of this?" Zelda asked.
"I am." Link said, confidence shining in his voice, just as Saria and the others recovered…
Once Link and the Sages had recovered and Link informed the Sages of what has happened, they prepared themselves for the inevitable, which was that they had to move through the Stone Tower Temple now it was upside down. Just then, the four Pirates whom were with the group on the main platform also recovered, with the group noticing that the jewelry on their foreheads had cracked or were even completely destroyed.
"Ugh, what has happened here?" One of the Gerudo asked.
"Why is everything… upside down?" Another asked.
"The Temple area had been flipped upside down." Nabooru said to them.
Seeing Nabooru, the Gerudo all bowed down to her.
"Lady Nabooru, please forgive us… we were put under a spell by Ganondorf himself in order to guard this facility." One of them said.
"Wait, where is our commander here?" A second Gerudo asked.
Link walked to the edge of the platform they were on and looked down into the sky. There he saw partially broken glaives sticking into the wall, as if they had been stabbed in there as a form of a last ditch attempt to get a grip on a wall and save themselves to climb up. Sighing, Link turned to the others and shook his head.
"I'm afraid you won't be seeing her, as well as a few of her comrades, again." He said, causing the group to move to the edge and looking down, seeing what Link had seen, causing the four Gerudo to gasp in horror, two of them silently weeping even, while Nabooru looked on solemnly.
Then, Nabooru saw Link hopping on the blocks, heading towards the Temple.
"Link? Where are you going?" Nabooru asked.
"I'm going to end this; the sooner this place is cleansed from the evil inside, the sooner we can get out of here and we won't have to return to this place ever again. I don't like this place as much as you do, but this is a case of having to face and overcome your fears." Link said, before moving into the entrance of the Temple.
Entering the Temple in its inverted state, Link looked around, sighing as he resigned himself to what has to come, seeing the path going down to an opened chest and a safe platform ahead.
"Link, wait up!" He heard Zelda say.
Link turned around, seeing Zelda, Saria, Ruto and Nabooru enter the Temple, shortly followed by Impa, Darunia and Rauru. Also joining in were the four Gerudo Pirates, whom wished to join up for this to give the group extra manpower for this area. Link smiled at them.
"Glad you could join." He said, smiling.
"No problem; if you wish to finish the job here, we're here to help." Zelda said, smiling as well.
Link nodded in appreciation, before carefully moving down the path and towards the right, where he moved towards the door that was present there, remembering where he had to go.
"You know, it may seem weird but the shape of the stone statue ahead looks like an idol of Majora's Mask…" Impa said, taking a good look at it as she waited her turn.
Link looked towards the statue.
"You know, you're right. I never noticed that up until now…" Link said.
"Maybe the ancient tribe has made this into their home?" Zelda asked.
"Possibly, but it could also allude further to the theories that go with this temple, I don't know for sure." Link said, before he entered the door, arriving in a hallway where the first light-absorbing mirror was found.
Upon moving into the larger room, the group could see that the water was now gone and that the holes in the ceiling from which the sunlight came through had been turned into air currents, blowing air from below which was strong enough to lift even a Goron up in the air.
"Where do we go from here?" Zelda asked.
"The door to continue here is on the top left, close to the ceiling. Saria, can you make us something that will make us reach it with the aid of these air currents here?" Link asked.
"Sure thing." Saria said with a smile, focusing her powers to create large leaves of a large tree, big enough to make it like a makeshift umbrella.
Link smiled at this, taking one of the leaves and held it above his head, gripping the sides tightly before jumping in the air current to the left… which blew air in the leaf from below, making it become a makeshift parachute that first lifted Link upward to the ceiling and in turn making him glide towards the door he wanted to go in. Zelda, Ruto, Nabooru and Saria herself followed shortly, while Link opened the door to make room for the others to join in. Darunia was given a stronger leaf that would help in getting him join with the other Sages, while the four Gerudo Pirates obediently followed as well.
Upon arriving in the next room, the group, excluding Link, blinked at seeing lava flowing at the ceiling, which didn't fall down, but it did release burning rocks from it, which could form a hazard in the room, especially for Ruto. They also noticed a door directly ahead, coupled with the blood-stained red emblem above it. Link waited until everyone was in the room.
"This is going to get tricky, so brace yourselves." Link said, preparing a Light Arrow.
"What are you doing?" Zelda asked.
"I'll be turning this room around once so we can cross the lava, which is at toe-height here, to the center of the room, after which I'll flip it again upside down so we can get through the door. I'll be also carrying Ruto to the center area as well." Link said, making Ruto blush a bit.
"Are you certain of this?" Saria asked.
"Trust me, I've done this before." Link said.
"Hey, I'll be glad to carry you to the other side as well." Darunia said, "this lava doesn't hurt me."
"Sweet!" Saria said, feeling relieved.
"In fact, let me carry you in groups to the other side at once, this will let us bypass the lava and the debris and will let us safely get to the other side." Darunia said.
"Alright then. Brace yourselves since now we're going right side up again." Link said, firing a Light Arrow onto the Red Emblem, which turned the room (and by extension the Temple) right side up again, although this did momentarily trap the group inside the room. Everyone grunted as they fell from the floor-turned ceiling to the ceiling turned floor, while the lava was now on the ground and had no debris falling from it. Recovering swiftly, Darunia then picked up Link, Saria, Zelda and Ruto and safely carried them to the other side of the room, wading through the lava without injuries or other problems, setting the four down at the other side. Darunia then returned and repeated this with Impa, Nabooru and two of the Gerudo Pirates, after which he returned again to pick up Rauru and the two remaining Pirates. Once everyone was safely at the other side, Link shot a Light Arrow in the Red Emblem again, turning the room back upside down with everyone landing again on the ceiling-turned floor, but in turn did allow them to exit the room as they were now at the door.
"Seriously, whoever built this must have had quite a sadistic mind…" Zelda said, grunting as she got back up from the ground.
"I was thinking along the same lines when I first explored this temple." Link said, helping her up before doing the same with Saria and Ruto.
Once everyone was up again, the group entered the next room which already had an unlocked door, a block that was in place, the red emblems above the door and a yellow and a green ChuChu that were guarding the door ahead.
"Good thing this puzzle is already solved…" Link said.
"How so?" Saria asked.
"Well, to solve this puzzle, I had to push that block into place, while flipping the room over and over again just to get it into its proper place." Link replied.
"Wow, that must have been quite tedious." Zelda said as the group moved to the door, taking out the ChuChus along the way and climbing up using either the block as a stepping stone or just climbing directly on top of the platform before heading for the door, moving through it to enter the next room…