Chapter 37: The Final Protector

As the final rock positioned itself directly over Link, the hero tried as hard as he could to press himself into the corner between the rocks and the floor. It was a faint chance, but it might just be enough to prevent him from becoming seriously harmed. At any rate, he was out of options.

The final rock descended. In the next moment, Link was falling, the floor broken apart by the massive blow it had just received. Link only had time to thank the goddesses that he had been spared before he hit the ground again and blacked out.

When he came to, he was in a complete enclosure. There was no light at all down in his prison, but careful exploration by running his hands around on the walls revealed that he was being kept in a tunnel of some sort, with steel bars blocking him from going in either direction. The only point of reference was a faint light in the hole through which he had fallen, and it was just enough to tell him which way was up.

After days in the cell, a light began to shine between the steel bars on one side of the enclosure. Although it was at first relieving, the light continued to grow brighter and brighter, until Link's eyes hurt from it. He had been happy to learn that his friends were there, but just as quickly, there were the rockfalls, then the sound of steel being sheared in half, and Link had been rushed away.

Link's eyes barely registered what was going on. Already hurting from the sudden light after days in darkness, Link now found himself straining to make out the blurred shapes rushing past him at high speeds.

Finally admitting that his vision was of no use at that point, he turned instead to his other senses. Hearing only told him that the rockfalls were still occurring, although the commotion they caused gradually grew fainter and fainter as time went by. Smell and taste were useless to him in such a situation, so it was from his sense of touch that Link gathered most of his information. The wind against his face told him that he was moving, and fast, the pressure against his ribs informed him that he was being carried. Once more, Link tried to see his surroundings, mainly to determine the identity of whoever was moving him.

A sound ahead, and Link became aware that the ceiling had begun to collapse in front of them. As he braced himself for either frantic evasion or the impact of several very large boulders, he was surprised instead to find himself pelted repeatedly with small stones. Slightly bruised but otherwise unharmed, they continued onward. Occasionally, Link thought that the other person was trying to talk to him, but the rushing wind and Link's disorientation made interpreting any of it impossible.

How long they continued like that, Link had no idea. After the sound of falling stones had died down, the sense of urgency faded, but they still continued along at a brisk pace. As Link struggled to reorient himself, he became aware that he was being spoken to.

"Sorry about the rough ride," the other apologized. "I panicked a little when the ceiling started falling."

"It's alright," Link said. At least, that's what he thought he said. The other person didn't seem to notice that anything had been said, or he might have just been choosing to ignore it if he did. He tried to free himself.

"Easy there, we're not completely out of it yet. Just a little farther and we can rest a little."

"I can walk," Link protested. Again, no indication he had been heard. He decided to try speaking a little louder. "Put me down," he instructed. No immediate response, but a few minutes later he found himself being gently lowered to the ground.

"You okay?" the man asked. "You seem a little out of it."

"Who are you?" Link managed to ask. The question had been nagging at the back of his mind since he had become aware of his situation.

"Forgotten me already? I'm a little hurt."

"I can't see," Link explained, his mind racing to think of who this might be. "The light's too bright."

"You'll get used to it in a minute or so. Don't worry about it."

"What happened to the others?" He tried opening his eyes, but could only make out the blurred outlines of objects.

"They were outside the range of the quakes, so they should be fine. They'll have one hell of a time trying to find their way over here, though."

"Where are we?"

"The second ring of tunnels. Kitsu and the others are in the first ring."

Link processed this new information while his vision cleared. "Ritsuki?"

"Right on the mark, kid."

"When did you get here? Did you come with the others?"

"Unfortunately, it seems that they forgot to invite me," Ritsuki explained. "It was slightly insulting, but I'll manage. As soon as I got word of what you all were doing up here, I came over and decided to help. Well, I tried to help, but I got lost in the mountains and ended up in here. It was a bit of a coincidence that I managed to show up where you all were."

"Do the others know where we are?" Link asked hopefully.

"I doubt that they even know that I'm here," the swordsman answered bitterly. "They'll probably come looking for you, but it's unlikely that any of them know another way to cross between the rings."

"Why didn't we just cross over to the ring they were in?"

"I had a few reasons. First, there were rocks falling everywhere, and bars between them and us. I could have cut through them, but it would have taken more time than we had in there."

"Sounds reasonable, I guess." Despite what he has told Ritsuki, Link was disappointed that the rest of his friends wouldn't be able to join them.

"More importantly," Ritsuki continued, "They are in the first ring. Going into there would be a step back from where we are now, which is the second ring."

"Rings for what?" Link inquired.

"It's a maze," the swordsman explained. "There are seven rings, and in the center is whatever's causing this whole mess."

"What do you mean, causing it? What's going on here?" Link had been wondering about that for weeks.

Ritsuki sighed. "Look, I'll explain it to you. Somewhere in these mountains, there's a really powerful being. Recently, the being has been getting stronger, resulting in the number of monsters in the region also increasing. Defeat the strong monster, all of the weaker ones go back into hiding. Can you follow all of that?" Link nodded. He had encountered situations like that all of the time in Hyrule.

"Good, because here's the bad news. We know absolutely nothing about this creature, and have even less knowledge about how to kill it. Got any suggestions?"

"Just use whatever you can find," Link advised. Ritsuki simply stared at him for a few seconds.

"No offence, but that has to be the stupidest plan I've ever heard. It's not even a plan! What ever possessed you to even think of trying something like that?"

"It's always worked for me."

"It's a wonder you've managed to survive this long."

"Got any better plans?"

"Sadly, that's the best I've managed to come up with, too. I guess we'll just stick with it and see how it turns out." The swordsman got up and walked to the other side of the room.

"Where are you going?" Link asked, also getting up.

"Ring three," Ritsuki replied as he drew his massive sword and drove it into the stone wall.