Hey, readers! It's sslamajama97! Yeah, I know it's been a while since I last updated this, but I had marching band all day for the last two weeks, and that completely shut down any creativeness/willpower I had to write. It was basically two weeks of school, smack dab in the middle of summer. On top of that, my beta reader was having some problems with this chapter, which messed things up even more. So, I'm really, really sorry for not publishing in the last few weeks. :( Hopefully, things will finally start getting back to normal after this chapter.
Anyway, now it's finally time for Chapter 38! Woo-hoo! :D Anyway, this chapter will once again be in Samuel's POV, and it will cover the rest of the Ancient Cistern, up to the boss fight. So, as always, thanks to ToonLink, TheSunsetWolf, Skylofti, and 4 Guests for reviewing last chapter, and thanks to PhantasmicFire323 for helping me beta read this chapter! Enjoy! :D
DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo does. I own all OC's I make up.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Fatality
(Samuel's POV)
I felt myself be pushed out of the pipe, and shot into a smaller pool of water. I was still under the surface of the water for the moment, so I glanced around, and noticed Link about three feet away from me. He was underwater as well, so we swam upwards, and resurfaced, getting out of the water near a Bird Statue. Link and I prayed at it for a minute, and then I turned around to get a good look at where we were.
There were a couple of Lily pads scattered around the water we were just in, and there was a Skulltula hanging above each one. There was a huge gate at the other side of the room, and I knew that the Lily pad near the gate was blocking our way out. So, I took out my Beetle, and Link copied me. Both of us aimed our Beetles at the giant spiders' threads, and let them fly.
I piloted my Beetle forward, and decided to get rid of the Skulltula in the middle so we could get out of here. I sliced its thread, and it was sent to the Lily pad below. The momentum from the Skulltula's fall caused the Lily pad to flip over, which opened up the exit and caused the Skulltula to be submerged underwater. I saw it struggle for a second, but it soon drowned, and exploded into darkness.
After my Beetle snapped the Skulltula's thread, it flew back to my bracelet, and clicked onto it. Link had managed to kill the Skulltula on the right, but he stopped when he saw what I had done. He called his Beetle back to him, and we put them both away. Then, we jumped back into the water, and swam out of the small room.
Link went ahead of me, and got out of the water first. I followed him, and gazed around. We were in another small room that was concealed inside a gate, except this time the door leading out of the room was locked by a key. There weren't any keys that could be collected inside the room itself, but I could see a green Bokoblin pacing back and forth in the next room. And, I could barely see a key hanging on its waist in the light from a torch hanging on the wall.
Link saw the key, and perked up. "Hey, Samuel. Watch this," he said softly. Link retrieved his whip, and swung it through the gate at the Bokoblin. He aimed perfectly, and the whip latched onto the key the monster was holding. Link quickly jerked his whip backward, caught the key in his hand, and held it up for a second. "Well, what do you know? My idea worked," he grinned, looking rather proud of himself.
I smirked. "Nice job, Indie," I said. Link looked confused at my remark, but didn't speak up about it. "Um, okay, then. Let's keep going," he said. I nodded, and the two of us walked over to the locked door. Link inserted the key into the lock, turned it, and the lock clattered to the ground. Then, he bent over and opened up the door. We walked into the room with the Bokoblin, but it didn't spot us just yet.
Link and I walked over to another gate on the left side of the room, and looked through it. Through the bars of the gate, I could see the white treasure chest that contained the Blessed Idol sitting in the middle of the room. I heard a faint noise, and turned to see Fi coming out of Link's sword. "Masters, I have some important information that I am certain you will want to hear," she stated.
"Ooh, I wonder what it could be, Fi? Let me guess. You found the Triforce, Jack has been magically freed, and we can go home?" I thought sarcastically. However, I already knew what she was going to say. "There is a large treasure chest in the area," she continued. I turned to Link, whose face expressed complete disbelief. He glanced to the chest, and then back to Fi. "Really, Fi?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.
Fi nodded once. "There is an 85% probability it contains the key that will open the door at the top of the stone statue," she replied without detecting any of Link's sarcasm. A moment later, she returned back to Link's sword, and he spoke again. "Man, she might as well just change her calculation to 100%, because, seriously. What else could be in that chest? There's been a key inside all of the other white chests, so why not this one?" he questioned.
I chuckled. "Well, she did say she was only 85% certain, Link. I mean, you never know…" I trailed off with a slightly dramatic shrug. Link snorted. "Yeah, and if there's anything else inside that chest other than a huge key, then I'm Hylia. I mean, seriously, could she be any more oblivious to the fact that we're not six years old? I think we can see the obvious stuff for ourselves, thank you very much," he replied with a huff.
I nodded. Fi was nice, but she didhave her moments where she could tone down on the explanations that we didn't need. Some of the stuff she pointed out was pretty obvious, but at least it was better than constantly having a small fairy at your side saying "Hey! Listen! Watch out!" all the time. Even though she wasn't perfect, Fi was certainly helpful in some regards.
"Yeah, Link, I guess you're right. But, it could be worse. Trust me," I said. Link raised an eyebrow. "How much worse can it possibly get?" he asked. I shrugged. "Eh, it's not important. Let's just keep going," I coolly responded. Link complied after a second, and turned ahead. We walked forward to another pipe, but before we dove into it, I put on my best impersonation of Navi that I could.
"Hey! Listen!" I said, purposefully trying to sound annoying. Link turned to me with a look of confusion on his face. "Um…okay. And, what was that for?" he asked. I shrugged again. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Link," I lied, trying to keep a straight face. Link obviously didn't want to hear me; he just jumped into the water, and was sucked upward from the pipe. I followed him, and we were both taken upward swiftly.
After a few seconds of darkness, I could suddenly see light ahead, and knew we were back in the main floor of the Ancient Cistern. Link and I were abruptly thrown off a waterfall, and landed in another pool of water. I looked around, and could see some more Lily pads floating about, one of the pads blocking off a small chamber. I could also see some other things as well, like a Bird Statue, and another gate that led back to the rest of the temple.
Link and I swam forward, and I decided to open the gate really fast. So, I got out of the water, walked over to a wall switch, and pulled it down. The gate was immediately opened, and I let go of the switch. Before I dove back into the water, I remembered that the Dungeon Map was right next to the gate. So, I took a second to get it because we hadn't gotten it before. "I'll be right back, Link!" I shouted over my shoulder as I ran through the gate. I didn't wait for a reply, went over to a chest, opened it, took the two copies of the map out, and turned around. I was going to immediately go back and join Link, but a Furnix blocked the way to the gate.
"Oh, goody. It's a Furnix," I thought. Furnixes were pretty cool looking, and they were also very easy to beat, which is why I liked them. The huge bird hovered above me, flapping its wings menacingly. It suddenly decided to spit three fireballs at me, but I managed to dodge them with a forward roll. Once I came out of my roll, I quickly took out my whip, and aimed it for the Furnix's chain-shaped tail. I cracked my whip, and it latched onto the Furnix.
After I got ahold of the bird, I pulled down on my whip as hard as I could, and the Furnix was sent crashing to the ground in front of me. Once it was on the ground, I unsheathed my sword, and did a Fatal Blow to kill it. The Furnix gave a huge screech, and exploded into darkness, unfortunately leaving nothing behind. With the encounter now over, I hurried back through the gate before another Furnix could show up.
I joined back up with Link, and took my two maps back out of my pouch. He got out of the water when he saw what I had collected, and took a map from me. We both studied our maps for a second, and then Link spoke up. "Okay, at least we know where we're going now," he commented. I nodded, and put my map back into my pouch, because I already had the temple memorized.
"Follow me, Link," I suggested. Link nodded, put his map away, and we both turned back to the water. I dove into it, and swam over to the left side of the room, Link following me. I then spun myself around, and did a spin attack to get myself onto solid ground again. Link copied me, and landed right beside me. Once we were both standing upright, I got my whip out, and looked ahead, where there was an upside-down Lily pad floating in the water.
To the left of the Lily pad was a small vine wall with a Walltula on it. Link spotted it, and took out his Slingshot to kill it while I flipped the Lily pad over. I latched onto the Lily pad with my whip, and flipped it over at the exact time that Link shot a Deku Seed at the spider. Link's seed hit the Walltula, and it died on impact. Then, we put our items away, and jumped onto the Lily pad. We climbed the vine wall, and turned to our left to see a small set of stairs.
The two of us walked up the stairs, and came to a small ledge. However, before we could do anything else, a Quadro Baba sprang up in front of us. I was going to kill it, but Link stopped me. "I've got it, Samuel," he called, going ahead of me. Link stepped forward with his sword raised, and slashed at the Quadro Baba. He hit it dead on, and the monster was spun around from the momentum of Link's slash.
The Quadro Baba tried to lunge at Link, but he blocked it with his shield. The Quadro Baba was stunned, leaving its stem vulnerable to attack. Link quickly slashed at the stem, and the monster disappeared. I walked forward after Link was done. "Okay, Link; wait here, and I'll be right back," I said, preparing to jump off the side of the ledge we were on.
However, Link stopped me. "Where are you going?" he inquired. I turned to him. "I'm just going to jump off this ledge, and flip that Lily pad over," I replied, pointing to it. "Then, I'm going to swim down a small chamber, and activate a switch that should blow the Lily pad back up here with a water geyser. When I've done that, you'll know. When the Lily pad is up here, all you have to do is flip it back over with your whip, and we can keep going. Okay?" I asked, glancing at him.
Link nodded. "Yeah, I get it. I'll see you," he replied. I gave a quick wave, and then I jumped off of the ledge and fell towards the Lily pad. I felt myself land on the Lily pad, and flip it over, which was what I needed to do. I was sent underwater, so I swam over to the small tunnel that the Lily pad had been blocking moments before, and entered it. I swam down some more, and a red Rupee on the ground caught my eye. After picking it up in my hand, I scanned ahead.
There were a bunch of Froak floating around inside the small tunnel, which would make it very hard to navigate through it without getting hit. So, I swam forward, and minded my distance as best I could. When I came out of the tunnel, I had only gotten hit once. And, it was only a small brush, so I was basically fine. I broke the surface of the water, and arrived at another set of stairs. I trekked up them, but another Deku-baba suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, so I had to finish it off.
After I slashed through the Deku-baba, efficiently slaying it, I continued up the steps, and pulled my whip out. I walked back into the room that Link was in, except I was now on the other side of the room, near the switch. I strode up to the switch, latched onto it with my whip, and pulled backward. The switch spun around a few times, and I heard more water rushing through pipes. I turned to see the water geyser I'd mentioned before suddenly spring up, pushing the Lily pad along with it.
I looked up to where Link was standing, and called out to him. "Hey, Link! Go on ahead of me, and I'll meet up with you. Okay?" I called. Link nodded in reply. "Yeah, Samuel. That's fine," he responded. I nodded back, and Link turned to the Lily pad. He took his whip out, latched onto the pad, and flipped it back over, creating the way forward. I saw Link hop across the Lily pad, and I turned away from him.
I put my own whip back into my pouch, and jumped back into the water. Then, I swam over to the other side of the room, and got onto the Lily pad I'd flipped over before. I climbed the small vine wall, walked back up the small flight of stairs, and was now where Link was a minute before. I jumped back off of the ledge, went across the Lily pad, and landed on another ledge.
After I landed, I went forward, climbed another small flight of stairs, and proceeded down a small hallway that ended in a gate. Link had obviously unlocked the gate for me, so I strode into the next room, which actually was the main room of the temple. I stepped forward, and was suddenly ambushed by another Furnix. I didn't waste any time, and quickly latched onto its tail with my whip. "Get over here!" I thought as I pulled the Furnix over to me. I did another Fatal Blow to kill it, and smirked. "Samuel wins. Fatality," I thought dramatically.
I stood up from my attack, looked to my right, and saw some vine walls that I could climb. I also saw Link standing near another switch that kind of looked like a wind-up key. So, I climbed down the vine walls, and jumped across some small gaps in them until I was standing where Link was. "Hey, Link. What's up?" I asked as I climbed off the wall.
Link turned to me, slight surprise written on his face. "Wow, you've already caught up to me? I guess I didn't really get to do a whole lot of stuff, then. I was just about to get this switch with my whip, but you've arrived in the nick of time," he replied. I nodded, and Link swung his whip at the wind-up key switch. It spun around, and a water geyser shot up behind us, creating a shortcut we could use to get back to the rest of the temple easily.
After Link had spun the switch, I walked ahead of him, and took out my own whip. There was another switch hanging from the wall, and I knew it controlled where the statue in the middle of the room went. So, I swung my whip at it, and pulled downward. The switch clicked into place, and I heard a rumbling noise, as well as felt vibrating come from the floor. Link noticed it too, and we turned to see the statue sinking into the ground, down to the basement below.
When the statue stopped moving, Link spoke up. "What did that do, Samuel?" he asked. I glanced over to him. "It lowered the statue," I replied. Link smiled. "Why, thank you for the information, Fi, but I was wondering where the statue actually went to," he said sarcastically. I glared at him. "Hey!" I shouted. Link chuckled. "So, where did it go?" he asked again.
I turned back to the statue. "It went to the basement; we're going to have to head back there now, so let's get going," I said. Link nodded, and immediately dove back into the water. I followed, and we both headed for the front of the statue. Link spotted a Silver Rupee along the way, and did a spin attack to pick it up. Once he collected the Rupee, we continued swimming until we arrived back at the front of the statue.
I did another spin attack to get myself out of the water, and Link did the same. Then, we walked over to the door, I lifted it up, and we walked back inside the statue. Once we were inside, I retrieved my Sailcloth, and Link took out his. We walked to the edge, and jumped all the way down to the room where we had fought the Stalmaster before. After we safely landed, Link and I walked over to the door, and he lifted it up. We strode through the door, and we were back in the basement of the Ancient Cistern.
I looked ahead, and spotted a Cursed Bokoblin on my right. Let me say this right now; I freaking hated Cursed Bokoblins. They were basically the ReDeads of Skyward Sword, and they creeped me out. All they did was shamble towards you, and try to get a hold of you to rape you, kind of like ReDeads. I knew they didn't actually rape you, but I honestly couldn't think of another word to describe what they did to you. The one good thing I could think about them was that they couldn't stun you like ReDeads could; however, they could only be killed with a Fatal Blow. And, when you were surrounded by the things, it either got really hard to beat them, or just really annoying.
Link spotted the Bokoblin, and made a face. "Ew. What is that thing, Samuel? It looks like a Bokoblin, but something's different about it…" he trailed off. I nodded. "Yeah, there's something different about it, alright. That Bokoblin's cursed. Cursed Bokoblins don't have any weapons with them, and they're kind of slow. Basically, they'll try and grab you, and that's it. Whatever you do, Link, don't let them get to you. You're going to have to do a Fatal Blow to kill it; that's the only thing that's going to work, or else they'll just get back up," I stated seriously.
Link looked at the Bokoblin again, and nodded. He drew his sword. "Okay, then. If that's all, then let's go and kill it," he said. Link walked forward, and I suddenly remembered something. I gasped. "Wait, Link! There's going to be more of them! Stop!" I shouted. I ran forward to stop Link, but it was already too late. Link was getting ready to slash at the Cursed Bokoblin, and by the time he heard my message, a whole crowd of the things suddenly appeared all around us.
I screamed, and quickly whipped out my sword. Link saw that we were getting ambushed, and gasped. I backed up, and felt myself press up against Link's back; there was nowhere to run. "Crap," I muttered. I stepped forward, and decided to try and get rid of as many of the things as I could. I waited for a bunch of the things to get near me, and then I did a spin attack, sending all of them on their backs. Then, I went for the nearest one, and killed it with a Fatal Blow.
I quickly got up from my attack, and managed to finish off another one of the Cursed Bokoblins before it could get back up. I got back up from that attack, and was going to continue with my onslaught. However, I heard a scream, and turned to see Link getting surrounded by the Bokoblins. He tried to free himself from the pack, and slashed at one of them. Link sent the Bokoblin on its back, but he left himself vulnerable to another one. It grabbed hold of him, and he screamed. "AHH! Get away from me! I SAID, GET AWAY!" he shouted at the top of his voice.
I saw Link struggling to break away from the Cursed Bokoblin, but I couldn't help him, because there was another one coming near me, and I didn't want to join him. I quickly slashed at the Bokoblin, and sent it flying on its back. Then, I took a second, and glanced at Link, who still looked like he was being molested by ReDeads. As soon as I thought that, I was suddenly hit with an epiphany. "Wait a minute! That's it! How do you stun a ReDead?" I thought quickly.
The answer clicked in my mind, and I quickly reached into my pouch. I pulled out my ocarina, raised it to my mouth, and began playing the Sun's Song. As I played the song, I saw a circle of bright light shine around me, lighting up the basement. I completed the song, and I immediately saw all of the Cursed Bokoblins freeze in their tracks, including the one on top of Link. He stopped struggling, and quickly threw the Bokoblin off him.
Link took a couple of deep breaths, and spoke up. "S…Samuel, what did you do? Why are they frozen?" he glanced around at me. I held up my ocarina. "Remember one of the songs I mentioned before? The Sun's Song?" I asked. Link nodded, and I walked up to the Bokoblin that was lying on the ground. "Well, I played it, and it stunned all of the Bokoblins. It does that for most of the undead creatures. At least, I'm pretty sure it does," I explained.
I started forward, jumped up in the air, and came down on Link's Bokoblin with a Fatal Blow, finishing it off. Because the Bokoblins were still stunned, Link and I managed to slay a few more before the effects of the Sun's Song wore off. We hadn't killed all of them, but there were only two or three left when they unfroze. Now that the number of monsters was reduced, Link and I easily dealt with the rest of them.
Once the area was clear of the Bokoblins, I turned to Link. "You okay, Link?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine now. Thanks a bunch for playing that song, Samuel. I don't think I could have survived much longer," he said shakily. I nodded. "Yeah, it looked pretty bad from where I was standing. You good to keep going?" I asked. Link nodded, taking another deep breath. "Yeah. Let's go," he replied.
Link and I walked down a hallway on our right, where we met two more Cursed Bokoblins. We quickly killed them, and continued onward. We passed up some poisonous water with a couple of Lily pads floating in it, and Link spotted some Fire Keese flying about. We killed them as well, and Link healed himself with the hearts that they dropped.
We continued down the hallway, and I spotted some Blessed Butterflies fluttering around a wall. "Yes!" I thought with relief. I glanced to the butterflies, and then to Link. "Hey, Link. Get your harp out for a second," I ordered. Link obliged, and took his harp out of his pouch. "Why do I need it?" he asked, looking a bit confused. I walked over to the Blessed Butterflies, and Link followed. "Do you see these butterflies? They're called Blessed Butterflies, and they usually appear around sacred places. Actually, now that I think about it, there's another group of them upstairs, but that's fine if we missed them, because there's some here too," I said, pointing to them.
Link nodded. "And, what makes them so special?" he questioned. I looked back to the butterflies. "Well, like I said, they usually hang around sacred places, which means that there's something special hidden here. If you play your harp, then we'll get something: either a random treasure, or something special called a Goddess Wall," I explained. Link looked confused. "Okay. And, what's a Goddess Wall?" he inquired. I shook my head. "You'll find out in a second, Link. Just play some notes on your harp; that should get the wall to appear," I said.
Link nodded, and started plucking on his harp. He played a quick scale, and a Goddess Wall appeared after he finished it. I unsheathed my sword, and turned to Link. "Okay, Link. Get your empty bottle out, and watch this," I said. Link still looked confused, but he took out his bottle. "What are you going to do, Samuel?" he asked. Instead of replying to him, I held up sword up, and charged a Skyward Strike.
Once my blade was fully charged, I pointed it at the Goddess Wall, and pressed it against the stone. I started drawing a straight line that went down and to the left diagonally, and my sword left a trail of white light behind. I kept my sword pressed to the stone, and continued drawing lines. I went right, up and diagonally to the left, right again, down and diagonally to the left, right one more time, and ended up back where I started with another line that went up and to the left diagonally.
Once I completed my little drawing, I stepped back from the wall, and examined my work. Shining on the wall in the bright light from my sword were four triangles connected to each other, forming a bigger triangle. It was the Triforce. When Link saw what I had done, he stared, and gave a small chuckle. "Um, okay. And, why did you draw four triang-" he started. However, I saw his jaw drop when my drawing vanished, and was replaced by three Fairies.
Link gasped. "What? Three Fairies?!" he shouted. However, his confusion didn't last long. Link swiped at the Fairies with his bottle, and managed to encase one inside. He recorked the bottle, and held the Fairy in his hands. He turned to me, and smiled. "I can't believe it, Samuel! Fairies are exactly what we need! Now we don't have to worry about dying as much as before! Can we get other things from this wall?" he asked, looking back to where the drawing had been a few seconds ago.
I nodded, and caught another Fairy with my own empty bottle. "Yeah. We can get pretty much anything we want. Hearts, Rupees, Bombs, and more. You name it, and we can probably get it from this wall. But, we can't use it again right now, so let's finish this temple already," I replied. Link nodded, and we put our Fairies back in our pouches. Then, we walked over to a waterfall with poisonous water flowing from it, and a Bomb Flower growing in front of it.
There was a sign to the right of the waterfall, so Link walked over to it and read it. "A gemstone shines deep within the eye. Strike it to shut the mouth and dam the flow," he read. He turned back to me, slightly confused. "Well, what does this mean? I don't see any eyes around," he said. I shook my head. "Of course you don't. That's because they're not here. We have to backtrack a little, so follow me," I said, turning around. Link nodded, and we went off in the opposite direction.
We eventually came to the poisonous water again, and I looked ahead. I could see an upturned Lily pad floating in the water, so I jumped forward, and went to go flip it over. However, on my way there, I slipped on the edge of the pad, and fell into the poisonous liquid. "Crap!" I shouted. As soon as I felt my body touch the water, my skin started screaming with pain. "Ow! OW! Damn it! Get it off!" I thought, squeezing my eyes shut and thrashing around for a moment. I tried to get out of the water as fast as I could, but my body suddenly didn't seem to work. I was paralyzed.
After a second or two, I felt Link's hands pull me out of the water, because I couldn't move myself. I felt the burning pain from the water slowly dissipate as soon as I was pulled out of it, but I still couldn't move. Link set me down on the Lily pad, and I eventually regained the ability to move my limbs again. But, I felt numb everywhere, which might have actually been a good thing. "Are you okay, Samuel? What was that stuff you fell in?" Link asked, a worried edge to his tone.
I sat up, which took a little effort. "Well, I don't know exactly what it is, but I do know that it hurts like hell if you fall in it, and it paralyzes you. So, don't fall in it. Some enemies that we'll encounter later on can use that stuff as a weapon, so watch out," I replied. Link nodded, understanding. "You're sure you're okay?" he asked once more. I nodded, and stood back up. "Yeah, Link, I'm fine," I replied, somewhat stubbornly. I pulled my whip out of my pouch, and swung it at the upturned Lily pad.
My whip caught onto the Lily pad, and I flipped it over. Once I opened up our path, Link and I jumped across the pads and made it to a circular platform. The numbness from the water was beginning to wear off, thankfully not leaving any pain behind. So, I walked over to a pathway on the right, and stopped. There was a huge face staring down at me. Its eyes were narrow holes that glowed blue, and its mouth was a waterfall of the poisonous substance that I'd just fallen in. The same waterfall from before, in fact. Link walked up beside me, and looked at where I was staring. After a second, he snapped his fingers.
"Aha! That's what that sign meant!" he suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the hollow eyes of the face. He pulled out his Beetle, aimed it, and let it fly. Link piloted his metallic bug towards the left eye, and flew it inside. Link turned his Beetle to the right, and the little projection screen instantly blinked out of the bracelet so he could see where it was heading. Link continued flying his Beetle, and spotted a crystal switch ahead. He flew the Beetle into the switch with a clang, and I heard a rumbling noise; a second later, the waterfall stopped flowing.
Link's Beetle flew quickly back to his bracelet, and he smiled. "Well, then. Let's head back there," he said. I nodded, and we turned ourselves back around. We walked back to where the Bomb Flower was growing, and Link understood what we had to do next. He still had his Beetle strapped to his belt, so he quickly put it back on, and aimed for the Bomb Flower at our feet.
Link let his Beetle fly again, and picked up the Bomb Flower. He piloted his Beetle forward, and I tapped his shoulder. "Make a small right, Link," I said. Link nodded, and shifted his controller to follow my advice. As the Beetle vanished from sight, the projection screen appeared again, showing what lied ahead: a whippable vine and a boulder blocking the path. It didn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out what Link had to do next. He dropped the bomb on the boulder, and it exploded, clearing a path forward.
Link's Beetle went back to its bracelet, and we sprinted back over to where the vine was, thankfully not falling in the poisonous water. I took my whip out, and Link took out his, too. "Okay, Link. You can go first if you want," I offered. Link nodded, and he latched onto the vine. He swung himself back and forth, and landed on the platform that he'd cleared before. In front of him, there was a spinning cylinder with vines all around it. So, he turned around. "Hey, Samuel. I'll go ahead of you, okay?" he called.
I nodded. "Yeah, go ahead," I replied. Link nodded back, and turned around. He climbed the vine-coated cylinder in front of him, and got to the top. I then decided to start catching up, and swung myself over to where the cylinder was. I waited for a second to catch my breath, and then I climbed the cylinder all the way to the top. From where I was standing, I could see Link near a switch. He flipped it with his whip, and some of the spinning cylinders reversed direction.
I saw Link jump onto a fast-moving cylinder that was kind of like a circular treadmill, and he was carried onto solid ground by the centripetal force. After that, I jumped from the cylinder I was standing on, and grabbed onto another. I climbed that cylinder, and let it swing me around onto solid ground again. I walked along a small stone path, jumped across a small abyss, grabbed onto another vine wall, and climbed it to get to where Link was a minute ago.
I saw Link drop down from another rotating cylinder, and walk down a small path. Then, he turned down another small path, and climbed a vine wall to get to where I was at. Link and I stood right next to each other, except we were on different sides of a gate. "Hey, Link. Do me a favor, and don't pull that switch back yet. I'll shout for you when I want you to turn the switch, okay?" I asked.
Link nodded. "What are you going to do?" he questioned. I pointed to the cylinder that Link was just on. "See that cylinder? Well, you're going need to switch that thing's direction to advance further in the temple, so I thought you could just switch the direction while I'm on it. That way, we can both get through faster. Okay?" I asked.
Link nodded. "Sure, Master Lazypants. That's okay," he responded with a smirk. I glared. "Hey, cut it out! This is for everyone's benefit! It's not because I'm lazy!" I shouted. Link smiled. "Hey, I'm only joking with you. Go ahead," he said, waving me on. I scoffed, and turned away from Link. I jumped down onto the "treadmill" cylinder, and let it carry me onto solid ground. I then walked along a path, and jumped onto the cylinder I needed to be on. I climbed up to the top, and shouted to Link once I was there.
"Okay, Link. Switch it now!" I called. I abruptly felt my cylinder stop moving altogether, causing me to stumble a couple steps, and after a second or two, it reversed direction. The cylinder carried me over to solid ground again, and I jumped down. I decided to clear the way forward of enemies so that Link and I would have an easier time moving forward. So, I took out my sword, and slashed through any Fire Keese that dared to get in my way.
After about a half-minute of waiting, I saw Link drop down off of the cylinder, and stride over to me. "Okay, then. Onward we go," he said, looking over my shoulder. He looked into the clearing ahead, and I turned around and looked as well. All that was in the clearing was a rope, but I knew it was more than that. Link jumped down into the clearing, and I followed him.
The two of us walked over to the rope, and I looked upward. All I could see was a blinding white light, which led to the main part of the cistern. I knew we had to climb this thing eventually, so I grabbed hold of the rope, and started to climb it a little, leaving room for Link to get on. "Come on, Link. This rope leads back upstairs, and we need to do one more small thing to get that weird key. So, follow me," I said.
Link nodded, and grabbed hold of the rope. I climbed higher, and so did he. However, just as I crossed into the light and Link was somewhere in between, a ring of Cursed Bokoblins sprang up below the rope, and started to climb it. "Gah! What the heck?" Link shouted, shocked. He started climbing the rope as fast as he could, and I climbed as fast as I could to give him some room.
However, even though we were climbing really, really fast, a Cursed Bokoblin managed to catch up to Link. Luckily, however, Link batted it away with his hand, and it was sent back to the ground. "For Hylia's sake, get away from me!" he hissed. We both crossed into the light, but the Bokoblins persisted, so we continued climbing until it seemed we would be home free. Eventually, I knew we were both safe, and we came out back in the main floor of the cistern.
After Link and I got off the rope, we caught our breaths for a second. Then ten. Then half a minute. Then a minute. I was so exhausted, I felt like I was going to pass out. I had never climbed anything that tall in my life, and I prayed to the goddesses that I wouldn't have to do it again, at least not in the same direction. After a few more moments, our breathing returned to normal, and Link spoke up.
"Wow, Samuel…Thanks a whole bunch for leaving me on the bottom of the rope, where the Bokoblins could get me! And, thanks for warning me about them in the first place!" he shouted sarcastically, glaring at me. I smiled. "Why, you're welcome, Link," I replied with equal sarcasm. However, that incident was apparently enough to drive Link over the edge. He rushed up to me, and pushed me over the edge of the platform into the water. I felt myself hit the water, and resurface. "Okay, Samuel. You deserved that one. That was kind of a jerk move, not warning Link," I thought, scolding myself.
I swam over to a Lily pad, and jumped inside the water geyser Link had opened before to get back on the same level as him. He had already pulled the wall switch, so there was a clear way for me to get back to him. I jumped across the gap, and landed in front of Link. Neither of us said anything. Instead, I turned around, and took out my whip. Now that we were back upstairs, all we had to do was raise the statue again so we could get the key. So, I swung my whip at the switch, and yanked upwards. The switch clicked into place, and there was a huge rumbling sound as the ground vibrated. Link and I turned to see the statue rising up out of the water, revealing the Blessed Idol below.
After the statue ceased moving, Link turned to me. "Okay, so now what?" he asked, still sounding mad. I pointed to the rope. "We have to go back down there," I replied. Link looked at the rope, and then back to me. "There aren't going to be more of those Bokoblins on the rope, are there?" he asked, somewhat worriedly. I shook my head. "No, they're gone. Now, let's go," I answered. I walked over to the rope, and started to climb down it. So, even if there were any Bokoblins, they would get me first.
That proved to Link that it was safe, so he joined me on the rope, and we climbed back down to the basement. Once we were there, Link and I walked over to a small hallway with another wind-up key switch. I took out my whip, and spun the switch with it. A water geyser shot up, making a way to get back here if we wanted to. After that, we jumped down into another clearing, and walked forward.
Link and I stopped when we got to the edge of a huge crater. In the very center of the crater was the white chest we'd seen earlier. It contained the Blessed Idol, but once again, getting it wasn't exactly as easy as it looked. I knew that a bunch of Cursed Bokoblins would spawn as soon as I got the Idol, but they were easily taken care of, because the statue above our heads would squish them.
So, I decided I would offer to get the key, and spoke up. "Here, Link. Wait for a second, and I'll get the key, okay?" I asked. Link nodded. "Sure. Go ahead," he replied. I turned away from Link, and jumped into the crater. I then marched down to the center, and opened up the huge white chest to get the Blessed Idol. I held it in my hands for a second, and then I turned back towards Link.
Suddenly, a whole slew of Cursed Bokoblins sprang up in front of me, just like I'd predicted. And, I could hear the statue above my head start to lower as well, beginning its attempt to squish me. Link gasped when he saw the situation I was in. "Samuel! Quick, play the Sun's Song! Stop them!" he shouted. However, I knew I didn't need to do that. Instead, I held onto the Blessed Idol, and bolted past the Bokoblins as fast as I could. I made it back to Link with plenty of time to spare, and climbed out of the crater.
I stood back up, and turned myself around to see the statue hit the ground, squishing all of the Cursed Bokoblins and killing them all simultaneously. I then tossed the Blessed Idol up in the air, and caught it in my other hand. "Well, I guess that's the end of that. Now we can finally get to the boss door. Also, I hope that putting myself in immediate danger counts as my sorry for what I did before, Link," I said, adding in my apology. Link turned to me, and smirked.
"Sure, I guess I can accept that, although you know I would have just forgiven you anyway," he shrugged. I smiled, and put the Blessed Idol in my pouch. "Okay, then. Let's head to the boss door," I said. Link nodded, and we walked over to the door in front of us. Link bent down, opened it up, and we walked back inside the statue. We strode over to the water geyser in front of us, and rode it up to the next floor.
We continued riding the water geysers upward until we eventually came to the floor with the boss door. Link and I walked over to the lock, and I retrieved the Blessed Idol from my pouch. We spent all of ten seconds trying to figure out how it went in the lock, because it was pretty obvious that it could only go in one way, unlike the other keys we'd used before.
Once we found the correct way to put the Blessed Idol in, it floated out of my hands, and went straight into the lock. The lock turned in a circle once, and then the top of the statue opened up. "Follow me, Link," I said. Link nodded, and we walked to the very top of the statue, where there were four wind-up key switches. We took our whips out, and Link and I each spun two of the switches around.
Once all four switches were activated, the statue started rising upward like an elevator. The Ancient Cistern vanished from view after a few seconds, and we were left in a room with a Bird Statue and some hearts. "Huh. Well, at least we have a chance to heal ourselves and pray before the battle starts," Link noted. I nodded. "Yeah, kind of like when we fought Scaldera," I agreed. We paced around the room, and took all of the hearts that we could, even if we didn't need them.
After that, Link and I walked over to the Bird Statue, and bowed our heads. I clasped my hands together, and started to pray. "Oh, Goddesses, please, please let me be able to save my friend from Ghirahim. Please let everything go smoothly, and please protect Link and I from any harm," I thought with all of my might. As I made my prayer, I thought back to the Temple of Time one last time, and hoped that nothing unexpected would happen.
Once I was done praying, I lifted my head up, opened my eyes, and took my hands apart. I looked to my right; Link was still praying, so I waited for him to finish. After a few more seconds of silence, Link ended his prayer, and looked at me. "Okay. I'm ready, Samuel. Let's go in there, and face whatever's in front of us. Hopefully, we might even be able to free Jack, if we're lucky," he said.
I nodded, and we walked over to a staircase. Once we were there, Link and I stood at the bottom of the steps in complete silence. "Okay, Jack. Here we come," I thought. I took a deep breath, and Link and I began our ascent up the staircase into the room where I knew Koloktos, Ghirahim, and Evil Jack awaited us.