Alaia Skyhawk: Well here's the Christmas thank you list, considerably shorter than I'd hoped, but still a big thank you to all those that replied in some way.
1: Sparkling Moon Phoenix 2: Ninjauthor 3: PisceanPal23 4: Arisu Tsuranu 5: The-Jaron 6: Regina Raptorum 7: NC-chan
Thanks a ton guys, and Happy Christmas.
I don't own the Zelda series or anything associated with it. I do however own this story and any OCs, so please don't steal them.
Chapter 51: New Door?
"Well here we are, The Tower of the Gods."
Eight sages literally stood on the gently shifting water within the shelter of the ring of arches that surrounded the entrance into the tower. The rise and fall of the water in this sheltered area was little more than you would see upon a lake on a clear day, making it easy for these protectors of the land to influence it just enough to support their various weights. The tower was huge, six hundred feet in diameter at the base, and soared to a summit thirty-two hundred feet above them. The chambers inside the structure only actually took up the tiniest amount of possible space within. The rest of the tower was, as far as they knew, completely solid, which given the fact it was almost two thirds of a mile tall it probably needed that in order to support its own immense weight. All that didn't really matter to the six Sages of the Sacred Realm though... They were too busy gawking at it.
Nabouru craned her head to try and see the top from where they were standing, giving herself a crick in the neck in the process.
"That... is big."
Saria nodded in agreement as she also looked up at it.
"Really big... It's no wonder this thing can be seen from places like Windfall even though it's over a hundred and fifty miles away."
Makar interjected.
"Actually you won't be able to see this from Windfall anymore. The new land gets in the way of the view. You could only see the very tip above the horizon from that island, these days the new shoreline will blot it out."
Medli shook her head in amusement before setting off across the water at a casual stroll.
"C'mon, Makar. Stop playing around with words, we're supposed to be giving them a tour."
Sticking his tongue out at her retreating back like the child he appeared to be, the Sage of Wind trotted after her with the rest of the sages following close behind. Heading into the entranceway as though walking down a street and not across the shifting waves, the eight sages passed into the shadows and out of the glare of the spring sun outside. The first room they entered was floored with water in all areas but a few platforms to the left and right. Ignoring the laws of nature, and the sea this room was supposedly connected to, the water rose or fell by several feet every minute or so like the breathing of some great beast. Ignoring it, Medli walked on air whenever the water fell and guided them to the small door in the middle of the far wall. A few steps later and they found themselves in a small shaft that reached upwards about sixty feet or so.
Medli inched into the room, looking around and above before she stopped in the centre.
"There's used to be a lot of rats hanging around in here, they'd drop on you from the ceiling. I'd guess the tower being submerged for the past few months has convinced them to vacate the premises as it were." She led them across the room and stepped onto a floating platform, a touch of her power making it wait for them as she grinned. "Going up."
All of them were barely able to fit on the small square platform, and they could have just flown up, but it was more fun this way. Another touch of her power made the platform take them all the way to the top, rather than trying to switch platforms part way up, which would probably have resulted in more than a couple of them falling off. Giggling in amusement at the strange sight they must make at that moment, they finally stepped off at the top and passed through the nearby door. The next room made the two guiding sages pause.
Makar sighed, clearly annoyed.
"The three statues are gone... Aww man, that means we have to bring them in here to go to the upper level."
The Sage of Earth glanced at him sidelong.
"Get one each then go together to get the third?"
The Sage of Wind shrugged and said with a touch of sarcasm.
"Sure, I always wanted to play musical statues again." He looked over his shoulder at the other sages. "You guys might just want to wait here while we get the first two. Once you've seen one you've seen them all, so you can just come along for number three. We'll be back in a few minutes depending on how slow those things decide to move."
Makar going left, Medli right, they disappeared through the doors in those directions leaving behind six rather bemused sages. Standing in silence, not sure what to make of this new development, they waited until the sound of harp song reached their ears. Medli's door opened and she came through playing her harp as she walked. In her wake came a stout and rather short little dark grey statue with upward pointing horns. Blue lines glowing in patterns across it, it hopped slowly forward at Medli's commands and proceeded to position itself on a circular plinth that rose up as a column as soon as it was in place. Shortly after that the sound of a violin came from the other door as it once again opened to allow the sage and another statue with horns that stuck out to the sides and curled upwards to pass through. Once again the little statue hopped forward before stopping on what became its column as the other had done.
Sighing with resignation, Medli and Makar headed for the last door, the one opposite the door the group had entered through, Medli murmuring as they went.
"And last but not least, number three. The statue that has horns that curl down at the back to curl up at the front like a ram's."
The trip was short, the six sages not sure why their two fellows were so put out by getting the statues given the short distance, that is until Makar brought number three to life and it began to move.
It hopped forward with what quickly became agonising slowness by the time they'd got it to go just to the door out of its home chamber. Seeing their expressions as he continued to play, Makar grimaced.
"I'd pick it up and carry it, but these things are picky when it comes to sages moving them. A non-sage can pick one up and carry it to and through the next door, but if I sage tries it they fuse themselves to the floor and refuse to budge. Medli and I found that out when we came here after Ganondorf was defeated to check everything was alright, and that no moblins had tried to use the tower as a new home after Link began clearing them off the Great Sea. We had to open the upper level then as we're doing now, and that's when we learned how stubborn these things are... the little creeps." As if in response to the insult, the statue began hopping even slower, causing the Wind Sage to glare at it. "Alright, alright, you win. You're not a little creep. You're just doing what the gods made you to do."
It resumed its normal speed, much to his relief, and eventually they made it back to the central room and guided the statue into place. All three accounted for they began to glow and in a burst of light triggered the rising column of power on the plinth in the room's centre. It was this column of light that would lift the sages to the upper level.
Resisting the urge to make a rude gesture at the statues, Makar led the way into the rising energy and let it carry him upwards through an extremely long shaft that almost seemed to go on forever. Finally, after rising slowly for several minutes, they were gently pushed out of the light onto solid floor in a small circular room that centred on the shaft they'd just emerged from.
Heading to the only door out of the room, Medli looked back at them with a grin.
"I hope you like heights."
She opened it, letting in the glare of unfettered sunlight that blazed with there being no cloud between it and them. Stepping out into that light the six sages gasped in unison at the panorama before them. Clouds rippled to the far horizon below them, dazzling white in the light of the sun. Here and there small gaps revealed the dark blue of the cloud shadowed sea below, those small glimpses hinting at just how high up the tower they were. Turning and looking up revealed just a few hundred feet of tower left above them, a glance to the left as they had come out the door showing them where they would be going next... Stairs going up the outside of the tower, and there looked to be quite a few of them, a few as in actually a lot. The two guiding sages led them up those stairs, on a long climb that took them around one quarter of the tower's circumference at this height. Reaching the end of the external stairs and walking up the last few that pointed inwards inside a small passage, the two sages once again stopped in surprise.
Coming up behind them, the other sages peered around them and came face to face with a huge slab of rough grey rock, not white like the tower, but grey. In its centre was emblazoned a stylised harp in red.
Impa walked up to it, running a hand over the pitted surface.
"What's this rock for? I sense power to it, but not a power I'm familiar with."
Medli sighed and unhooked her harp from the strap across her back.
"It's an Earth Door. Step back a moment and I'll remove it."
The Sage of Shadow obliged as the Rito woman began to play a lilting song that, even to those present who had never heard it before, held a deep and resonant power. The Earth Door shuddered before a huge crack split it from top to bottom and it crumbled into dust that vanished as though it had never been. The next sight that greeted them had Makar groaning with irritation.
Saria chuckled a little at his discomfort.
"And I'm guessing the green violin picture on that one means it's a Wind Door. Looks like it's your turn, Makar."
Still groaning, he unhooked his violin from his back and began to play an upbeat turn that was no less resonant with power than Medli's tune had been. Just as with hers the rock slab split up the middle, crumbed, and disappeared to reveal the actual door they'd been heading for. Walking up to it, it was once again Medli who gave them the heads up before they entered.
"This is Gohdan's chamber, the guardian of the tower that the gods created to test those who would come here seeking to earn the right to wield the Blade of Evil's Bane. He's a disembodied statue of a head and hands, animated by the magic of the gods. We're not here facing the trial so he won't respond to us. Basically you needn't bother trying to speak with him, it would literally be talking to a wall, namely the wall he recesses into when not active."
Taking her advice to mind the group of sages entered, and this time it was the Sages of the Sacred Realm that froze in surprise.
Eyes wide, Rauru moved forward and stopped at the edge of the hexagonal dais that he knew for a fact wasn't an original occupant of the room. Gazing around he saw three short pillars of head height with golden wire cradles on their tops, cradles made to hold the Spiritual Stones engraved on each of the pillars themselves. Facing his fellow stunned sages, he spoke in a voice that, while shocked, still held a note of relief.
"I guess we've found the gods' replacement for the Temple of Time. Shall we give it a try? We have all the stones with us."
Medli and Makar watched as each of the sages took up their place upon their seal depicted on the great stone dais that had once been hidden in a chamber behind the Door of Time. Saria, Darunia, and Ruto each lifted a hand, a flare of green, red, and blue light respectively becoming glittering jewels with golden mountings that each drifted over to the pillar bearing its image. The Spiritual Stones in place, the six sages focused their will upon the newly discovered dais and tried to open the door to the Chamber of Sages within the Sacred Realm. The two watchers staggered as the whole room shook, the seals on the dais each lighting up with the colour of each temple's power, before a blinding flash filled the room... and left it exactly as it had been a few moments before.
A few moments of silence filled the chamber, before Nabouru stated in a flat tone.
"Well that was a bit of an anti-climax. I guess three Keys isn't enough. We must need them all to reopen our access to the Sacred Realm."
Ruto sighed in defeat.
"Which means we're just as stuck as before since although we know where the Ocarina of Time is, the Master Sword is still missing."
They all looked at the two sages of said sword, Rauru giving them a sympathetic look.
"No pressure, I'm sure it will show up eventually."
Makar folded his arms and sighed.
"Some consolation when you consider the complete silence of the Sword these past few months. It's as though the moment Medli stopped the flow of power through it, it vanished off the face of the world. Our power can't locate it unless it stops being silent, so we're completely stumped as to where it is."
Saria grinned, holding up as hand as though a student asking for permission to speak.
"How about we abandon the magic and switch to mundane? You said it was underwater, right? So the sea currents would give a clue as to what direction it would have been carried, and as long as you know roughly where it was before the land rose then you can narrow down the area where it's most likely to be now. Things are going to be busy for this year, but there's nothing to say that next year we can't arrange some kind of methodical search of the most likely area. We'll start with where the sword was."
Humouring her, Medli answered.
"About three miles east by south-east of here, on the sea floor."
The Forest Sage glanced at the Water Sage.
"Which way do the deep sea currents go from that area? Or rather which way were they most likely to be going while the land was rising."
Ruto grinned, the question was an easy one.
"The same direction they're going now, momentum from the movement would set the currents into a matching pattern. The majority of the deep water in the Inner Sea flows in through the shallower North and East Passages, and out through the deeper South. We know the Sword is on land, so that puts it somewhere around the south-west corner of the Inner Sea, or somewhere along the South Passage itself."
Two bemused sages looked back at them, the boy of the two speaking.
"You just have to go and make it look so easy."
Saria giggled.
"We try."
Holding back groans, the two sages left the chamber with the other six in tow. At least one good thing had come of their 'tour'.
..--.-,-.-.--,-,--.-.-.-,--.-,-,-.-,--.
Alaia Skyhawk: This was going to be chapter 52, but I switched it round with 51 because it fit better. Now you know what I 'did' to the Tower, heh heh. And as for those statues, I couldn't resist poking fun at how slow they were. XD
