I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did the games would tie in together better and there would be a few different ones added in.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Labyrinth--Fight of the Living Dead
Link:14 Romani:14
??? to break curse
It looks like now I don't have to insist on getting reviews anymore. To show my gratitude, until I get 60 reviews (no obligation to reach that number soon now) whoever does review can ask me any question about this fic and I will privately answer it for you. Any question, even ones regarding the future of this story, except when concerning something I'd prefer to keep a mystery for plot line purposes.
Romani wondered just what had happened to Chigg. Best she could think of was that when she had been fighting the poe something had taken him away. She figured if she kept wandering the maze, she'd find him again and help him get out. She really hoped that he hadn't gone back where she had found him. It would have been nearly impossible to get back there, considering this place didn't come with a map or compass.
Romani continued on thru the twisted stone hallways never sure exactly where she was going. More random but nonlethal creatures tried to hurt her, but she wiped them all out. Occasionally she called out Chigg's name. She never got a response. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear she and Tael were the only things alive here.
Eventually Romani found herself in a large room that looked almost like a tomb interior. Pillars were carved into the side walls of the room, two pillar stumps were in the center of the room, and a large locked door was on the wall opposite her. She smiled, hoping she had finally found the exit. She stepped forward, and two flames instantly appeared on the two pillar stumps. When the flames died, she saw Jackal and Vulture stand before her, arms crossed and faces grinning.
"Well, you've surprised us, little girl." Vulture stated. "Not many reach this point alive. Feel proud, for you're almost out."
Romani frowned. "But you're not going to let Romani leave so easily are you?"
"Of course not. Where would the fun be?" Jackal answered. They both unfolded their arms.
"Hope you enjoyed our labyrinth, got you're never leaving it." Vulture proclaimed, before he and Jackal pulled out and conjured up a small flame each then vanishing. Romani got her sword and shield ready.
The two flames grew and took shape. Then they became two creatures. One looked like a person with a jackal's head and feet with clawed hands, and wore a red and green tunic. The other looked like a person with a vulture's head and feet with clawed hands, and wore a blue and purple tunic. Each wielded a javelin and a bloodthirsty expression, and their flesh appeared to be rotting a little, like they were zombies.
"Heh. Should have seen that coming." Romani told herself.
Tael looked them over and told Romani what he found on them. "The jackal is called Fang and the vulture is called Claw. They're fast, but no stronger than an Iron Knuckle. They'll be hard to hit, but if you do, it won't take too much to kill them."
Claw and Fang swiftly started the match. Tael was right, they were fast. Before Romani knew what to expect, they were behind her and attacked simultaneously. She fell to her knees and they tried to attack again. She swung her sword and it hit Fang, but Claw jumped out of the way. Fang yowled, but didn't lose his balance.
Romani got back onto her feet and struck again. Fang dodged and Claw got behind her again and slashed. She cried out and felt some blood leak out of her body. Romani got into position and put some of her magic into her blade. Her foes came in for another attack, but got too close as Romani unleashed a spinslash attack, hitting and stunning them both.
Her vision was getting blurry and she feared she was loosing a lot of blood. She pulled out a bottle and freed a healing fairy, which did it's job and renewed her body. "These guys keep trying to attack from behind." She muttered. Then she got an idea. The ranch girl cleverly got close to one of the walls, giving them no room to get to behind her.
This bothered the two ghouish fiends. They stood there for a bit, not sure what to do now. Claw got closer but since Romani could see everything it was doing, she was able to strike back without getting hurt. The two creatures backed off , as if trying to figure out a new plan.
"Hmm... I need a way to get rid of both of them without leaving here, soon." Romani thought out loud.
"What about that new arrow of yours? This seems like a good place to try it out." Tael suggested.
Romani was surprised she didn't think of that. In fact, she had yet to do anything with the grey arrow that she gained from beating Twinbino in the mountains. "Why not? It's got to be good for something." Romani commented as she got out her bow and an arrow. When she drew it, the arrowhead glowed a semi-dark gray. She fired it, and apparently her enemies were too confused or arrogant to dodge.
Fang was the one who was hit, and it was an odd sight to hit, the canine-like creature howled and glowed gray too. Then in the next second or two, the entire body turned into stone. It looked like some kind of freakish gargoyle without wings. Romani, Tael, and Claw looked surprised at this result.
"Cool. A Stone Arrow." Romani said, remembering that Twinbino had petrifying powers. Since the Poison Arrow got it's powers from a venomous creature, she should have guess her new elemental arrow would have the same characteristics of who it had killed. 'Wonder what other kind of arrows Romani could get this way.'
She fired another one, but Vulture dodged this one. The avian fiend tried to rush in and slash her eys out, but she put another arrow in her bow and fired at point-blank range. Claw didn't stand a chance, and became the world's ugliest oversized lawn ornament.
"Looks like Romani won." She said to the two maze-keepers, certain they were listening.
Jackal and Vulture reappeared in the same place in the same way, even in the same posture, but they were not grinning this time. "You take us too lightly, girl."
"Same to you." She replied playfully, twirling her sword. Still, she knew not to take an enemy lightly. That was most of Link's enemies' biggest mistakes when fighting him.
The two half-skeletons then seemed to morph right in front of her. What remained of their flesh looked like it just melted off of them. Their bones then sort of converged and bent their shapes to create a single bone golem. The tunics shredded in the process but their half-masks moved to what could only be called their shoulders now.
Romani didn't really know how to describe this new thing. It looked sort of draconian and devilish at the same time. It had four arms and four legs, giving it a spidery look. The lengthened spine created a tail and the second ribcage formed spikes at the end. The two skulls came out of the collar, one had fangs and the other horns.
Tael shivered. "That's their true form, Despari. Attacking it with a sword won't be a good idea."
Romani soon found out why. Apparently Despari could come apart at the joints and each severed part was mobile and reattached on it's own. The skeleton moved like a dragon and tried to crush the ranch girl with it's hands or tail. She dodged when she could, took a few hits, and couldn't find a weak spot. She tried to hit places where there was no joint, but Despari would still come apart when she tried. Not sure what else to do, Romani fired another stone arrow at her adversary. It hit the tail, but the fiend discarded it before the effect could spread to the rest of it's body.
Romani saw she didn't have enough arrows left to turn the thing completely to stone, so she need a quicker way. Thinking over all the things Link had taught her, she decided on a long shot. She pulled out another arrow, but charged it into a light arrow, and fired it. According to Link, the light arrow was most effective against the undead.
Apparently it worked. The arrow struck the horned skull and it fell off the neck it was attached too. It bounced around but seemed unable to simply reconnect with the body. Romani fired another light arrow and hit the other skull, getting the same result. The body collapsed, and before it could recover, she rushed in and swung her sword down on both skulls. They split in half, then the whole skeleton dissolved into dust. All that was left was their two half-masks.
Romani curiously picked up the two mask pieces. When she held them both, a soft yellow-orange glow emitted from the sides of them. The pieces suddenly rushed towards each other like they were magnetized, escaping her grasp. They came together, and the glow faded away from top to bottom, as if the two were connecting to make one mask. And apparently, that was exactly what had happened. Romani now held a mask with narrow eye slits, no mouth, and a red, green, purple, and blue pattern going clockwise n the face, kind of like a twister spinner.
Romani sat down and sighed, and put the mask away in hammerspace. Right now didn't seem like a good idea to try on the mask, just in case it had some kind of curse on it. Then she saw a ball of light appear before her. Worrying it was some new threat, she got back onto her feet. She was revealed to see it become Chigg, who actually looked healthy now.
"Thanks a lot, Romani. Back when Ikana and Termina were still young lands, this labyrinth was created to house restless undead spirits. Eventually, they started making the living come here too, to toy with them. Any who failed to get out would die and become a ghost, doomed to remain here until someone succeeded." The man explained to her.
"My crew and I were brought here last year. None of us survived. Yes, the whole time I had been a ghost. Thanks to you, we all can leave this accursed place and go rest in peace. By the way, defeating the main guardian of the maze wasn't enough to earn freedom. You also had to try and help a prisoner of the maze get out too. Otherwise, you'd stay trapped whether you won the battle or not." Chigg suddenly grinned brightly. "Luckily, you dragged me thru the maze even though I was dead. That counts. You can truly leave now. I wish you a good life."
Chigg's image vanished and the door opened. Romani and Tael immediately rushed out. They found themselves back on Termina's surface, and judging from the layout of the land, they were still in Ikana. But they were near where Link had found Shiro the invisible soldier long ago so they knew exactly where to go.
Romani twirled around and took a deep breath. "Mmmm... fresh air at last." She then saw several dozen balls of light leave the opening behind her and drift towards the sky. One hung close to her for a bit longer, then ascended too. Romani just knew that had been Chigg's spirit saying good-bye. "Rest in peace, Chigg." The door closed, and Romani headed towards the field, ready to find Link.