Chapter Twenty Five – The fire of Kakariko Village

I received a report from Sheik a few days ago and it seems the giant owl that was carrying Princess Ruto away ended up killing her. It has also come to my attention all the zora have been removed from their hibernation crystals much earlier than expected. I didn't think they could survive in the cold of winter and wouldn't be waking up until spring. Since they're now awake I had Sheik head to their village to inform their king about their princess being killed.

Today I received another message from Sheik when he finally reached Zora's Domain, but it turns out all the Zora were already dead; including the king. I don't know how this happened, but it seems their entire race died from the cold. I also had him check on the Gorons and the only one left was a single giant Goron that lived on top of Death Mountain.

Link should have reached Kakariko Village a few days ago and fully recovered from eating those toxic beans. I'll have Sheik report back to Link then head to the Gerudo desert to see if anything bad has happened there as well. I wanted Sheik to keep an eye on Link while he was recovering from the beans, but with everything I gave him to do he wasn't able to be there, so he made sure to inform the witch that Link will be arriving there soon after he left.

Kakariko village should be ready to celebrate their annual Haunted Shadow Temple Festival. I was told Dampe was going to be setting up something very special for the town this year. I really wish I was able to join in the activities at the festival, but I understand I have to remain in hiding. I'm sure it won't be too much longer before I can take back my throne from Ganondorf and restore this land to its former glory.

Link made the long trip all the way back to Kakariko Village, and somehow managed to make it there without getting lost. Once inside the village he headed for the house he found the witch in last time. The scary looking guy wasn't blocking the hallway in the shop that provided the only path to see the witch, so he was easily able to get through to see her again.

Upon entering the small shed-like house he was met with a very strong smell that burned his nose. He quickly covered his nose with his hands and went inside. The room was still covered with all kinds of animal parts, and potions lined many of the shelves. In the center of the main room was the caldron she was working out of last time he was there, but this time the smell coming from it was almost unbearable.

"Who is in my house?" the witches voice sounded from somewhere further back in the house. It seemed the house was much larger than the outside made it appear to be. "I heard someone come in. Why aren't you saying–?

"-Oh, it's you." She said with an evil grin. "Have you come to free yourself from that curse that doesn't allow you to speak? Or is there another matter you've come to see me about?"

The witch stood there for a moment to allow Link to respond, but he had no idea how to let her know why he was there.

"I'm just messing with you young man." The witch said laughing. "You don't need to tell me why you're here. I have methods to help me figure that out. Now which body part do you feel you can part with most?"

The witch once again paused for a moment to let fear fill Link's eyes before she started laughing again. "Don't worry young man; I don't need anything from you. I already received a visit from someone even more confused than you, and I was informed you would be coming to stay here for a while. It seems you've had a run-in with the strange beans and you need me to help get the toxins out of your system before it kills you. It just so happens I've been cooking a new potion that should cure you, but none of my previous potions have had any success yet; who knows, maybe you'll be my first lucky survivor."

Link wasn't sure if she was joking again or not, but either way, he didn't like the idea of having to drink whatever was in the caldron making that terrible smell. Weighing his options in his head he finally decided drinking the nasty potion was probably a little better than death, but not by much. The witch handed Link a bottle of the strange blue potion, and he reluctantly drank it. It tasted far nastier than it smelt, and that was far thicker than he was expecting. Suddenly he started to feel lightheaded as the room started spinning and he fell to the floor and blacked out.

When Link awoke he was standing outside the windmill and his clothes were covered in cucco feathers. He had no idea how he got there, so he brushed the feathers off his clothes and made his way back towards the witch's house. Just before reaching the witch's house the door to the windmill burst open and he heard the owner come out screaming with the sound of many cucco's following. "I DON'T KNOW WHO DID THIS, BUT SOMEONE'S GOING TO PAY FOR STICKING ALL THESE CUCCO'S IN MY WINDMILL!"

Link wasn't about to return to the windmill just to be yelled at, so he continued back inside the witch's house. Upon entering he found her working at her caldron again. "Oh, good, you survived!" The witch exclaimed with a smile. "This is a good sign, and means the medicine is most likely working and I can start making more. I didn't expect sleep-walking to be one of the side effects, but I'll try to keep a closer eye on you this time."

The witch handed Link another bottle of the nasty potion, and he forced himself to drink it again. Just like last time, the room started spinning and he fell to the floor and blacked out. When he finally awoke he found himself high up on a cliff of Death Mountain and he seemed to be burying something in the ground. Looking into the deep pit he had been covering, he noticed there was a cow down there. While Link was starting to uncover the hole, and trying to figure out a way to lift the cow out of the hole, the witch flew over to him on her broom.

"I thought I lost you again." She said as she climbed off her broom. "For some reason you've been wondering all over Hyrule burying cows in deep holes. I have no idea where you kept finding these cows, or how you got them down the holes by yourself, but I managed to locate most of them and got them out of the holes.

"I'm glad you've finally come to your senses, but unfortunately we still have to give you one more dose of the medicine before those beans should be fully out of your system. I'll make sure to prevent you from getting out of my house this time, so don't worry about wondering around Hyrule again."

Link returned to the witch's house and she returned shortly after she finished freeing the cow. She handed him the final bottle of potion and with an uneasy feeling in his stomach that he hoped was only from the smell of the potion and not because of where he might wake up this time, he drank the disgusting medicine once again and fell to the floor and was out.

As consciousness began to return he felt his body walking on its own. He forced himself to stop and fully wake up. He hoped he was just walking around inside the witch's house, but he suddenly realized he was outside once again. He found he was standing in Hyrule Field and seemed to be heading back towards Kakariko Village while completely covered in dirt and what appeared to be blood. There didn't seem to be any sign of the witch anywhere, and it seemed he managed to get out of her house once again.

Heading back to town he noticed a lot of smoke in the distance and began racing back to see what was going on. Upon entering the village he found himself struck with fear as he noticed all the buildings were on fire. He wasn't sure if the fire was his fault, but he knew he had to do something to save the village before it burned to the ground.

Racing over to the well in hopes he could draw water and put the fire out, he suddenly noticed Sheik was already over there staring into the well. "You need to get back, Link." Sheik said without turning to look at him. At that moment there was a large explosion from within the well that sent the wooden frame of the well flying across the village. Link was too focused on the wooden frame he had no time to turn back around when Sheik yelled, "Link, watch out! The monster is on you!" as Sheik attacked and knocked him out.

When Link awoke Sheik was lying next to him while messing with Link's hair and watching him sleep. Noticing he was waking up, Sheik saw how frightened he looked, so he placed a finger over Link's lips and whispered, "Don't worry your safe now. I took care of the monster that was on your back. You're safe now, but I'm not allowed to stay with you. I have orders from Princess Zelda to instruct you on what to do now and leave. But don't worry; once this land is saved we will be able to be together forever."

The fear in Link's eyes was apparent, but Sheik was off in his own world dreaming of their future together to notice.

"I was told the man that lives in the windmill should be able to help you. My servant Impa… I mean, Princess Zelda's servant, Impa has already traveled into the temple to try and stop the evil from escaping, but I'm not sure how much longer she will be able to hold it back. Hurry and defeat the evil and return peace to this land so we can be together."

With a burst of light he vanished and left Link lying on the ground alone in the middle of town. With another evil creature he needed to stop, he reluctantly got up and started heading towards the windmill to find a way into the shadow temple. He hoped the guy wouldn't remember him, and really hoped he wouldn't find out who stuck all the cucco's in his house.

Looking around the village he suddenly noticed the flames on all the buildings were gone, but he had no time to worry about how the village was saved from burning to the ground. There was another evil monster threating the world, or at least Kakariko Village; and as usual it was completely up to him to save the day.

Upon entering the windmill the same owner from seven years ago was watching Link very closely. The man was still standing in the same spot as before and playing the same instrument as well. There were cucco feathers all over the place, and even a few cucco's up on the rafters that were too high up to get out of there.

"My young man, we are in desperate need of a hero." The man said as Link approached him. "Are you here to venture into the haunted Shadow Temple and become the great hero of Kakariko Village?"

Link nodded and the man continued. "That's great to hear. Our village was set on fire just moments ago from the monster that lives within the haunted Shadow Temple, but we managed to put it out. If you are brave and pure of heart I implore you to venture into the well and…"

The man paused for a moment and began speaking to himself. "What were the lines again? Oh yeah, I remember now." He looked back to Link and continued speaking, "…locate the sacred artifact known as the lens of truth. This item is rumored to be hidden deep within the well and will help reveal the many secrets hidden within the haunted Shadow Temple. Not everything you see is the truth inside this temple. It's up to you to discover the truth and save our village before it's too late."

Link once again gave a nod to show he understood, and began to leave the windmill to head towards the well when the man began to speak to him again. "To be a true hero for this village it's required to leave all your weapons before you enter the well."

The thought of leaving all his weapons behind didn't feel right with him, so he nodded to the man again, but had no intension of leaving any of his stuff behind. The thought of entering such a dirty place already sounded horrible enough to him. He saw no reason to leave himself defenseless to whatever evil things would surprise him once he got down there.

Looking into the well he noticed there was a ladder built into the stone wall that allowed him to climb down into the complete darkness below. With his burning desire to become the greatest hero Hyrule has ever seen, he forced himself to push his fears aside and keep going as he began his long climb down into the darkness.