And after seven chapters of subplots, we finally return to the main quest.
The Magic Awakens
Chapter 16
Maw of the Mountain
The elevator creaked and groaned, each sound a warning of the hellscape that awaited them at the top. Strips of orange light swept over three spherical helmets with square windows, thick metal tunics, and concertina-covered joints. The bulky Goron wore no flame-breaker armour, exposing the crest of Hylia on his bulging bicep.
"Alright little guys," Daruk said. Ganondorf snorted. "Death Mountain's little tantrum has caused a lotta damage to the mine. Nearly all the rooms used to be airtight, but a lotta volcanic gas has been leakin' in. Now, how do ya seal your suit?" The Triforce Trio demonstrated what their safety instructor had taught them. "Good, and how much air does it give ya?"
"Fifteen minutes," Link and Ganondorf recalled.
"Ten under high stress activity," Zelda quipped.
Daruk grinned. "If you're lucky, ya might find some of the insulated break rooms are okay. They're extra fortified for emergencies. You could shed your armour for a bit. Have a snack." His own stomach growled so loudly that Zelda squeaked, mistaking it for a tremor. Daruk patted his belly. "Whoops. Sorry about that. I could really go for a rock roast about now."
"No worries, mate," Ganondorf said. "We'll find that nasty coin so you can feast again soon."
Daruk beamed as he gave Ganondorf a hard smack on the back that would have knocked over anyone else. "Glad to hear it."
The elevator slowly ground to a halt, rumbles shaking the entire frame. Once it settled, Daruk confirmed that the whole trio had locked their armour before he punched the button. The rusted doors creaked open to a scene swimming in heat. The air itself burned orange, as if the slightest provocation would engulf them in flame. Large metal crates lined a hall of exposed rock supported by metal shafting. At the other side was a metal shutter door.
Zelda summoned an item given to her by the safety instructor. It was a small device similar in size, shape, and composition to the slates of two decades ago, with a small blue screen displaying pixelated numbers. She took the briefest look and stored it in the pocket void, lest it overheat as she had been warned. "Clear," she said as she unlocked her armour. Link and Ganondorf did the same.
Once they filed out of the elevator, Daruk offered them an encouraging smile. "Break a boulder," he said. The doors closed, and the elevator creaked downwards, stranding them in the scorching heat.
Unlike the March sisters and the Gerudo, the Gorons had nothing to offer on the exact location of the Fire Medallion, claiming it had been lost centuries long ago. Hopefully it had not been swallowed by lava, although the possibility seemed all too likely.
A small tremor caused the crates to screech against each other. A harsh reminder that time was not on their side. "Nothing strange here," Link observed. "Let's keep going."
They entered a small airlock with a sign announcing the outdoor scene that awaited them, so they locked their armour. The doors split apart to reveal a metal bridge that jutted out from the rocky inner rim of the volcano. As steel boots clanged against the bridge, their eyes travelled the setting that wriggled and writhed in the hot hair. Link and Ganondorf couldn't help but grin, as these mines had been on their travel bucket list for the longest time, but none of the pictographs ever captured how it looked on the cusp of eruption.
Affixed in and around the rim of the volcano were several airlocks leading into tunnels or blocky metal buildings used for storage and processing, joined by more metal bridges. A particularly large and sturdy one spanned across the maw. Rails and lifts and magnetic cranes connected the levels. Some structures had been broken or bent out of shape by the tremors. The sky was a blazing red with ashy clouds rising from the expansive lake of bubbling lava. The thin coat of ash did little to hide the blinding orange glow. Zelda was so mesmerised by it that Link had to urge her forward.
Even in their armour, the intense heat felt like a viscous liquid they were drowning in. It weighed them down with each step until they reached the airlock which billowed with a tamer heat.
The next room was airtight and had piles of glowing rubble. They had the appearance of rock candy but were, well, actually rocks. These stones had been roughly cut from the volcano as they still had grey and brown bits attached, but rows of tables and the nearby floor held scattered chisels and tools, along with out-of-commission conveyer belts down the centre that lead into open metal crates.
Ganondorf peaked inside of one of them. "I still can't believe Gorons chomp on these like apples." He reached in and grabbed a green rock.
Link held out his hand with a smirk. "Give it. I wanna try it later."
Zelda stormed up to Link and planted her hands on her hips. "We are in dangerous, inhospitable conditions, and you want to break your teeth on some volcanic rocks?" Ganondorf snickered as the offending item disappeared into his void. Zelda whipped her head around. "Please tell me licking weird stuff isn't a normal thing you do?"
"Not really," said Ganondorf, fishing out other colours and storing them. "But finding new ways to enjoy weird stuff is."
With a glower, she turned on her heel towards the nearest door. "Nothing strange here, aside from you idiots. Let us continue."
Link correctly deduced that such a work space would have a break room nearby. There was a small airlock but as there was no toxic gas in the main hall, both sets of doors opened for them. The lights in the room were a dim flicker, and it was a cosy fit around the table. The Gorons favoured metal crates over proper chairs, but the trio were comfortable enough to remove their helmets.
Zelda and Link's faces were bright pink from the heat, with hair sticking to their foreheads. Ganondorf faired a smidge better, having spent his early childhood by the desert, but the helmet had been pushing his rather large and clumsy man bun into the back of his head. His hair did not suit confinement, so he let it down to try and sort out a more comfortable way to stuff it into the metal sphere.
Zelda couldn't help but stare a little as he combed his fingers through his locks and toyed with them. Sweet Nayru, she loved watching women play with their long hair. Brushing it. Styling it. Tossing and tucking it. It was rare to see the same thing from a man, especially one with hair that reached his lower back and was an even more vibrant red than Malon-
Ganon caught her eye and smirked. Surely her face was too pink to give away her embarrassment. She cleared her throat. "Do you need some help?" Hopefully he hadn't heard the eagerness in her voice.
He shrugged with that infernal smirk. "Sure. Know how to stuff a wild mane into a fish bowl?"
Did she, though? "Well, we could try something similar to the braid and bun I wear to school sometimes."
"Hylian vai hair?" Ganondorf shrugged. "Sure. Could you do it up for me?"
Oh. She would get to style his hair. Well, they were both sweating profusely which was not flattering for either of them, but this was far more than she had dared to want. "In that case," she turned to Link. "I need all your bobby pins."
"All of them?"
"All of them. I know you steal them from me."
"What if we need to pick a lock or something?"
Zelda rolled her eyes, pulled two pins out of her hair, and tossed them at Link. Sighing, Link summoned his ziplocked collection and tossed it her way. She caught it and summoned her hair brush. Link furrowed his brow. "You carry a brush around?"
"You don't?" Zelda and Ganondorf said, aghast.
Link waved his arms. "Nope. Nope. You don't get to call me the weird one."
Braiding and twisting Ganondorf's thick hair while they were both sweaty was a challenge, as Zelda's fingers couldn't glide through easily. Now it had her brainstorming excuses to touch his hair again in more desirable conditions. After 10 minutes of Link and Ganondorf chatting about all the sites they hoped to see on their mission, Zelda succeeded in wrestling Ganon's hair into a passable recreation of one of her favourite hairstyles. The thick braid ran over the crown, and the bun was set higher than Zelda's would but was at least a third less than it was before.
Ganondorf checked his reflection in his slate's camera and grimaced. It wasn't supposed to look good, he reminded himself. "You don't like it?" Zelda asked.
He shrugged. "Bit feminine for me." After putting his helmet back on, he sighed contently. "Ah, that's way better. Thanks, Zel." He meant it too. That girl was a trove of nifty solutions.
She smiled shyly as she slipped on her own helmet. "You're welcome."
Through the mine, they continued, finding more rooms and structures with not a single sign that could point to the Fire Medallion.
They encountered a bridge with screws pulling loose from the rock and scaffolding. Zelda hovered across and stationed herself on the sturdier platform opposite the boys. She held her hands out, ready to extend her magic should something happen. Link gingerly set his boot onto the bridge, and it creaked beneath him. He sucked in a breath and shuffled across, though not too slowly as they had to be mindful of air supply. Just as he approached the end, the first major tremor hit. Zelda stumbled about, arms flailing. The bridge slanted, and Link slid. He seized the upper edge, but the tremors did not cease. He shimmied his fingers along the rim as the hinges squeaked and groaned, inching him closer towards the lava lake storeys below. Gold light encased his figure and flung him onto the platform.
The tremors stopped. Zelda scrambled towards Link and threw her arms around him. He received her eagerly, but only briefly, as Ganondorf had yet to make it across. Zelda opted to hold onto some nearby scaffolding lest she lose footing at such a crucial moment again.
Ganondorf walked back a little and posed for a running start, bouncing back and forth on his ankles as he hyped himself up. He met Zelda's gaze, and then he charged.
The bridge sank beneath his weight, but he kept running along the edge. Screws fell behind him as the structure peeled away. Link's outstretched arm was in reach. The last attachment snapped. Ganon threw himself towards his best friend. Fingertips grazed. He plummeted.
The golden light caught him as another tremor hit, but it flickered as Zelda struggled to draw him to safety. His upper body smacked against the platform with a loud clang. The tremor settled, and Link crawled over to heave him up. Ganondorf glanced over his shoulder as the last sliver of bridge sink into the lava.
They had spent an estimated five minutes trying to cross that goddess-damn bridge, and the airlock just had to be broken. Zelda's gas reader deemed it too unsafe to unlock their suits just yet. The room beyond served as a space to dump raw minerals from the mines themselves. Three tunnels with rails wove through. Only one had a minecart present. If it was used for evacuation, then it led somewhere.
Link gave Zelda a boost and clambered into the cart after her. He tested the engine, but it let out a pathetic sputter of smoke. If time was on their side, Link would've tinkered with it. Instead, Ganondorf pushed them along, wheels screeching against the metal, until they gained momentum. He jumped into the cart, summoned the Gale Boomerang, and used that to propel them further along the rickety path.
Link and Zelda held their bows at the ready. Around the bend, a dozen torch slugs hung from the ceiling. Zelda shot down seven, while four fell to Link. A dent in the rail jolted the cart as he let a fifth arrow fly. Miss. The slug dropped onto his head and slid down his back, leaving a trail of heated metal. Link stumbled forward with a hiss, right into Zelda. She stored her bow just before it slipped from her fingers.
Ganondorf skewered the slug with both scimitars and threw it off the edge. Link pressed his hands against the front of his helmet and tunic to keep the scorching metal away from his flesh.
The cart slipped into an automated elevator and stopped with a rough jolt that caused Link to feel the singe of metal again. The metal wire creaked as it hauled them up on a sideways slant.
They felt the thinness of the air now, having to take longer, deeper breaths just to have enough oxygen to stay present. When the lift stopped and the rails connected, Ganondorf propelled them out with a lumbering sweep of the boomerang. The cart carried them onto a rocky ledge with exposed glowing minerals and a large, fortified metal cube set into the side. Please be intact, Zelda prayed as she clambered out.
Ganondorf dug his hands under Link's arms to lift him out. With the pain from the metal increasing Link's heartrate, his oxygen was the most depleted. His sprint was too heavy to match that of his friends. The destination phased in and out of view. Blackness. On his knees. Blackness. Someone crying out. Blackness. Fire on his back. Blackness. An arm dragging him by the wrist. Blackness.
Someone removed his helmet. Air gushed into his lungs and it was sweeter than anything he had tasted before. A large pair of hands slipped the red-hot tunic over his head, followed by his sweat-soaked shirt. Someone poured blissfully cool water over his head and back. The rest of the bottle hovered before his face. He seized it and gulped the contents down.
"I reckon he's okay." Link's sight and hearing faded back into his consciousness. "He's pretty hardy."
"He almost suffocated!" Zelda exclaimed.
"Nah, I'm okay," Link said, still catching his breath.
"Be that as it may, we need to treat your burns." She summoned the necessary lotion. A few of his lower hairs had curled and become brittle, and his back was red and peeling a little, but nothing severe. Just a proximity burn. Link hissed when she pressed her lotioned hands onto his back, and he tightly hugged his knees to his chest as Zelda tended to him like she had many times before.
With Link bandaged up, Zelda glugged down her own bottle of chilled water. One of the many advantages of having a pocket void was that the trio could carry around plenty of fluids. Another was that the objects were always in stasis, so the bottles exited the void as cool as they had entered.
As the trio munched on Zelda's homemade boxed lunches (of which she had gone a bit overboard in the presentation department), another tremor struck. The distant boom of boulders froze them in place, but it passed a few moments later. "Gods-damn it! Whose bloody idea was it to build a mine in a volcano?" snarled Ganondorf.
"Well, the most nutrient heavy rocks exist here, so the Gorons were right to jump on the opportunity while Death Mountain was dormant," said Zelda. "It's a shame our little sword retrieval had such an unfortunate side effect."
"You think it's our fault?" asked Link.
"Goodness, no! We were simply following the Goddesses' bidding, and because of Midna and Impa, we know magic has been leaking into Hyrule long before then."
"Not to mention that fucking cult," Ganondorf added. "Ghirahim and his cronies better not annoy us here too, or I might not be as kind as I was last time."
"I doubt he'd want to be in this place," Zelda said, combing back her hair in a parody of the demon. "Farore forbid the heat makes his hair frizz!"
They all chuckled, and it was a nice break from the constant mortal peril they were all in. Link wanted to keep it up. "Hey, Ganon. Let's try those rocks."
Ganondorf's face broke into a grin as he summoned four different rocks onto the table. Zelda pursed her lips as Link reached for the green one. "Looks like sour apple," he remarked.
"I seriously doubt it would actually taste like that," said Zelda.
Link shrugged. "Never said it would." He brought it up to his mouth, but considering the fact that it was a rock, he couldn't bite off a piece. More so gnaw awkwardly.
Ganondorf snickered and reached for a dark purple one. "Blackcurrant," he declared, and then he too gnawed on the rock.
Zelda huffed and shook her head. "They probably don't taste like anything to you."
"Nah, they have a pretty earthy flavour," Link said.
"A crunchy texture as well," Ganondorf added. "And is that-" he licked the rock, "-notes of spice, or is it just hot in here?" Zelda slumped across the table with a groan. Ganondorf tossed the red one her way. "Go on, give wildberry a try."
"Think you mean paprika," Link teased.
"Urgh. If I give it one tiny lick, will you let me toss those infernal rocks into the lava?" Link and Ganondorf nodded eagerly. "Fine." She snatched up the rock, gave it the lightest lick, and was thrown into a coughing fit. "It's spicy!" she wheezed. "Why is it spicy?" The boys slapped the table as they laughed, though Link was quick to offer water.
Ganondorf reached for the "orange-flavoured" rock and examined it. It was rather jagged compared to the rest. Perfect for smashing through their skulls. The thought slapped him so hard that he dropped the rock. The moment it clattered against the metal floor, another tremor hit, jostling the chairs and people within. Heavy rocks pounded against the metal outside. Zelda's nails dug into Link's arm, eyes fixed on the expanding dents in the roof.
It all stopped. Everything was silent, aside from a hissing noise that wasn't there before. Everyone scrambled around for their armour and pulled it on. They sealed it and gathered their belongings into their pocket voids.
The rockslides from before had done noticeable damage to the sealed rooms they had passed through, as well as many of the bridges and lifts, but they had no time to question how they would make it out once the mission had been completed, if they could get that far.
"Down there." Link pointed to a building set lower than their ledge which had a seemingly intact elevator shaft rising to the volcano-spanning bridge. There was no path to connect here and there. "Zel, think you can use the mine cart to carry us down?"
The cart in question was lying on its side, dented and several feet away from the rail it had been set on. "I-I think so," she said. The boys hauled the cart to the edge and this time Ganondorf helped Zelda inside. It was an awkward fit for the trio as the sides of the cart had been smashed by a boulder at some point. Zelda's hands hovered outwards as she summoned her magic. The cart flickered gold and rose half-a-metre into the air. Good, she just needed to maintain control over this heavy load for several metres over a wide pit of lava…
The cart smashed back down and rolled them towards the ledge. Zelda seized up until it stopped just shy. A pebble fell into the lava. What was she thinking, agreeing to endanger her friends like this? "You were right, Link," she said, voice quivering. "This is too dangerous. Oh gods, I almost killed us."
"But you didn't," Link said. "We're fine."
"Not helping!" she snapped.
"Oh. Right."
Ganondorf reached over Link's shoulder to place a comforting hand on Zelda's. "You have done incredible things since we got here, Zel. You saved Link and I from that deadly bridge, fixed my hair problem, and took down seven slugs in half a minute."
"You did a pretty good job treating my burns too," Link said. "If it were just Ganon and I today, we'd be doomed."
Zelda looked over her shoulder at the two most important boys in her life beaming at her. She took a deep breath of her limited air, and only because she needed it. "Okay." Again, she faced her destination, held out her arms, and concentrated. Right now, it did not matter how "talented" she was with her magic. If it had to carry the Triforce Trio safely across, then it would not fail her, such was the lie she told herself.
The cart glowed gold and slowly descended. Molten rock bubbled and hissed, goading Zelda to give into her deadly doubts. She wouldn't. She couldn't. It helped to keep her eyes on the destination, rather than the horrid liquid boiling below. The smashed-up wheels gently settled onto the metal with a groan, and the golden glow faded. Zelda glanced over her shoulder to where they were before, then back to where they were now. "I did it," she muttered. "I did it!" She clapped happily. Link stilled her hands.
"Conserve air, remember?" It was noticeably thinner for each of them.
"Oh, right."
The airlock entrance was mercifully intact and clean of toxic gas, allowing the trio to refresh their air supply. Their glee was short-lived once they saw what lay in the room ahead.
Bombs. Cases of bombs strewn about the room. Most of them were tightly sealed, but one had been busted open during a tremor. The square case labelled WARNING: EXPLOSIVES. DO NOT OPEN WITHOUT AUTHORISATION lay on its side as the black balls with unlit wicks spilled towards them.
As if the looming risk of another tremor wasn't enough, something crept from behind the open crate. It had green scales, a horn atop its head, two legs, and a glowing orange tale. Of all the places to possibly encounter a volatile, fire-breathing dodongo, why did it have to be here?
"Reckon we can sneak around it?" Ganondorf whispered to the group.
"No need." Zelda drew her bow. "The tail is the weak spot, right?"
Link's eyes widened. "Yes, but-" The arrow flew, skewering right through the base of the tail. The creature let out a dying screech and collapsed.
It flashed red.
Link and Ganon dashed forward, pushing crates over the entrance where Zelda stood frozen. How stupid she was to forget.
The dodongo exploded, and it set off a chain reaction. Link ducked behind the box he had pushed over half the entrance and pulled Zelda down with him. Ganondorf kept pushing. "Get down here!" Link ordered. The boxes connected just as plumes of fire gushed over the twins heads. The flames wisped into nothing, but to Link and Zelda it felt like an eternity as their breath heaved and their hearts hammered and their gloves dug into the metal of each other's arms.
Link was the first to peak over the barrier at the wrecked warehouse. The crates had been rearranged but remained intact. Bits of floor had been blown off, and parts of the ceiling rained down. On the left, a stream of blood disappeared behind the edge of the crate. A helmet lay several feet away.
Link propped up a leg to haul himself over the crate, but Zelda grabbed his forearm.
And showed him the gas reading.
There you have it! The first chapter I drafted during NaNoWriMo. Well, part of it. I divided it later on which is why I'm teasing you with yet another cliffhanger.