A/N: Temple time Temple Time
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There was a thud behind the three as something dropped to the floor.
The area lit up as multiple torches lining the walls sprang to life, revealing the creature as a massive spider with coarse grey hairs coating its body and multiple beady eyes that glowed an eerie green even in the torchlight. On the top of its abdomen was a huge orange eye that rolled around with a life of its own.
"Great, all we needed was a giant spider," Ganondorf mumbled as the spider released an earthshaking shriek, front legs rearing up.
The monster's yell caused the flames from the torches to be extinguished, plunging the room back into darkness. The spider's scuttling legs were the only sounds heard next to Zelda's nervous breathing.
"How are we supposed to fight something we can't see?" Zelda asked, holding onto Ganondorf's arm tightly.
Ganondorf glanced around, trying to figure out where the spider was going to attack from.
The sound of a bowstring being pulled back caught his attention and Ganondorf smirked.
Right. Link was a veteran when it came to giant monsters and their weaknesses.
The three kept their backs against each other, keeping eyes out for any sign of the spider.
"There!" Zelda called when she saw the great orange eye open up on the wall to their left.
An arrow whizzed towards the eye and sunk deep into it, causing the spider to shriek as it dropped to the floor.
As if on cue, the torches once again started burning up on their own, revealing the dazed spider laying on the floor.
Ganondorf took advantage and leapt forward, drawing his swords quickly in an X shape, slicing off two of the spider's legs.
The spider screeched and flailed before flipping back onto its belly. It shook its head before pinning Ganondorf with a beady glare. It gave a rapid spin, slamming its bulbous abdomen against Ganondorf to send him crashing into the nearest wall seconds before the lights went out.
"Ganon!" Zelda yelled as the spider once again scuttled off somewhere.
Link reached out to try and grab her as he heard her run off, but he only managed to brush her arm. He kept his bow drawn, gripping it tightly as he turned in a circle, keeping his guard up.
The spider could try to take advantage of him being alone.
Ganondorf grimaced as he pushed himself up. He fumbled for his swords, found them and sheathed them. The Light Arrow still in his shoulder emitted a faint light of its own, helping Zelda pinpoint his location.
"Are you all right?" Zelda asked, grabbing Ganondorf's arm to help him stand up.
Ganondorf nodded, rubbing his back.
Nothing felt broken and the wounds on his side weren't opened. He would probably just suffer a few bruises.
"I'm fine."
Grabbing her hand, Ganondorf drew it to the Light Arrow so her fingers touched it and caused it to vanish.
"This is in my way though."
"What about the Malice?" Zelda whispered.
"I'll take the chance but I don't want to drive the arrow deeper."
Zelda bit her lip but she gave a nod, squeezing Ganondorf's arm. "Tell me if you feel off."
Ganondorf gave a smirk before he noticed multiple green eyes slowly approaching them.
The spider shrieked, lifting itself up as it prepared to attack.
Moving swiftly, Ganondorf shoved Zelda behind him and held up his hands towards the monster.
Flames erupted from his fingertips and the spider squealed as it scrambled back, a smell of burnt hair filling the room.
Ganondorf blinked then stared at his hands in awe. Had he just…?
"You can do magic?!" Zelda yelled, grabbing his arm.
"I…I suppose I can."
He knew he could. Well, his old selves could. They were proficient in magic. But he hadn't ever thought about it before.
I can do magic.
At least, he could do fire magic.
The spider shrieked at them then charged.
"Do it again, do it again!" Zelda shouted, holding onto Ganondorf tighter.
Ganondorf held up his hands again, but no flames came out. He tried a second time, desperately.
"I-I can't!"
"What do you mean you can't?!"
"I just learned how, okay?! Give me a break!" Ganondorf seized Zelda's arm, yanking both of them to the side as the spider barreled past them.
It crashed into the wall, stunning itself and once again, the torches lit up.
Zelda took the advantage, taking out several Sheikah needles and tossing them at the spider's eyes, piercing several of them.
It shrieked, scrambling back.
Ganondorf lunged forward, carving off two more of the beast's legs.
While the spider was distracted, Link charged at its back, leaping up and driving the Master Sword down into its eye as deep as possible.
The spider screeched louder before it collapsed.
The torches remained lit.
"Is….is it dead?" Zelda asked hesitantly while Link wiped the Master Sword off on one of the beast's legs.
Ganondorf drove both of his swords through the spider's head before yanking them out, flicking off the black blood coating the blades.
"It's dead," he confirmed, sheathing his swords.
You can do magic? Link asked with a grin.
"Apparently not when it counts," Ganondorf muttered as a door to their right slid open. "Looks like we can continue."
"Hopefully we won't have any more monsters like that," Zelda mumbled with a shiver. "That was awful."
"We'll have more," Ganondorf said. "That was probably just a guardian. It was there to test us."
I bet we have to get through the boss to open the spring, Link signed as they passed through the door.
Zelda gave a groan. "Wonderful."
As they walked down the hallway, the torches sprang to life one by one until they reached a door.
Ganondorf lifted it open so they could pass into the next room.
The room itself was circular and the next door was up on an unreachable ledge. Several boxes lay scattered around along with a few spider webs and grass patches.
The three gazed around the room.
Ganondorf could see about four Skulltula hanging on thin threads near the spider webs, awaiting unsuspecting prey.
Link walked forward to start figuring a way forward and as he stepped closer to the grass, a strange plant slithered up with a hiss and snapped at Link who barely avoided its teeth as he stumbled back in alarm.
"What is that?" Zelda asked, staring at the swaying plant in horror.
Deku Baba, Link signed, the Deku Baba slowly returning to the underground.
"Why don't we take care of the Skulltula and Deku Baba first before we try to get a way forward?" Ganondorf asked, crossing his arms. "They're in our way."
Link nodded, heading closer to the Deku Bab to get it to come back up.
"Come on." Ganondorf said, nudging Zelda before he moved to the nearest Skulltula.
Swallowing, Zelda looked between the Deku Baba and the Skulltula before she went to a Deku Baba nest.
Once the monsters had been taken care of, the three met in the center of the room to figure out the puzzle.
"We have to somehow make a staircase to that door," Ganondorf grunted, pointing to the door on the second level.
"By using the boxes?" Zelda suggested, moving to one of the boxes and trying to pull it.
Link went to another box to inspect it closely. He tapped it then tried to move it.
"No luck, huh," Ganondorf muttered as he rubbed his chin.
There were only boxes in the room. Not vines to climb or anything a potential hookshot could latch onto.
"Hey, there's something on the wall," Zelda said, pointing to some faded letters.
Ganondorf hummed as he moved over to the wall, staring at it.
Good job getting past the spider's lair, now you need a pair of stairs. Three work as one, your job is nearly done.
"Three work as one?" Zelda asked. "Does that mean us?"
Ganondorf gazed back at the boxes and saw that there were three. Moving closer he saw that the Triforce was carved into the sides of the boxes, specific pieces of the Triforce more prominent than the others. The tops of the boxes contained the marks of Din, Nayru, and Farore.
Maybe we need to move them into the shape of the Triforce? Link suggested.
Ganondorf nodded. "Yes, it appears that way. But we need to push them together."
"That sounds easy enough," Zelda said, heading over to the box with Nayru's symbol.
Ganondorf moved to the Din marked box while Link moved to the one with Farore's symbol.
"Ready?" Ganondorf asked as he braced himself against the box.
The other two nodded.
"All right. Push!"
The three began to push the boxes, the edges scraping against the ground.
Ganondorf paused when he saw that Zelda and Link's pieces were swapped.
"Link, push yours up as Zelda moves forward. I'll push mine to the side."
Link nodded and as he pushed his up, Zelda moved hers to the left as Ganondorf moved to the right.
A bit of maneuvering and the three managed to get the boxes into their respective places. A rumble sounded and seconds later a staircase slid out from the fall.
"We did it!" Zelda said excitedly.
Ganondorf sighed as he rubbed the sweat off his forehead. "The puzzles will only get harder as we go deeper."
Link nodded.
"It was fun though," Zelda mumbled, following the other two as they made their way up the stairs.
Just as Zelda went through the door after the other two, Ganondorf grabbed her arm to pull her against him.
She blushed at their close proximity, pressed up against his warm chest, but she saw quickly why he had pulled her.
In front of them was a yawning chasm of nothing but deep blackness. There wasn't a lot of space for them to stand without the possibility of plummeting into the bottomless space. On the other side, Zelda saw a door leading to another room.
"What do we do now?" She asked as Ganondorf slowly released her. She kept close to him, trying not to stare at the abyss.
"There's a way past it, I'm sure," Ganondorf mumbled, glancing around for a sign or something that gave them a hint as to how to move forward.
Link patted the two and pointed to a sign against the wall.
"What's it say?" Zelda asked, not wanting to move from the safety that Ganondorf offered.
Link read the sign then looked at the two. It says that the path will reveal itself to the one who can sing the forest's song.
"Forest's song?" Zelda asked. "What's that?"
Ganondorf hummed. "Perhaps it's that music you claim to have heard in the Lost Woods?"
Link frowned before he gave a nod. It's worth a shot.
Link began to whistle an upbeat tune, staring at the abyss expectantly.
A path began to light up over the chasm to the music and the three carefully made their way across it, making it to the other side as Link ran out of breath.
The path faded once the music stopped.
"Good job," Ganondorf said with a smirk at Link.
Link smiled and gave a thumbs up as the door opened.
There was another room with a beam of light slanting into it. Five pedestals with mirrors attached sat around the room within their own grooves. A door leading to the right was locked with a bird symbol in the middle.
"This looks like an angle puzzle," Zelda said, pointing to the light beam. "We have to move those mirrors to get that beam onto the door's lock."
"Seems easy enough," Ganondorf grunted, moving to one of the mirrors and sliding into the beam of light,
The light was reflected onto the ground.
Ganondorf moved it back. "Huh. Wrong one."
Link looked at the angles of the mirrors before he moved one to reflect the light beam to the left. Then he moved another mirror down to reflect the light south.
"Link has it," Zelda said with a smile as Link moved the third mirror.
Once Link had moved the last mirror into place, the beam of light reflected onto the medallion in the center of the door.
After a few seconds, the medallion sunk into the door and the door slid up.
Ganondorf gave a hum, nodding in appreciation.
Link was definitely a veteran temple runner.
The room beyond the door was empty save for three treasure chests sitting in the middle of the room.
Ganondorf stared at the treasure chests suspiciously, feeling like something was of about the random chests.
Link's eyes lit up at the sight of the chests and he made a move towards them.
Before he could get closer, Ganondorf grabbed the back of Link's shirt and yanked him back hard, dropping him to the ground.
"Are you crazy?! Doesn't this seem a bit suspicious to you? Three random chests? No monsters or noticeable mechanisms? It's obviously a trap."
"Then do we just continue on?" Zelda asked, staring at the door at the far end of the room.
"I don't think so." Ganondorf shook his head as he crossed his arms. "This could be a test. But we have to think about it careful—Link!"
Link looked at Ganondorf just as he opened one of the chests.
The chest was empty.
It was obviously a trap as several Skulltula dropped from the ceiling, chittering at the group as they came closer.
Ganondorf scowled at Link as he withdrew his swords.
Link smiled innocently.
The Skulltula weren't too big and their hard carapaces hadn't solidified yet so they were easily dispatched.
Ganondorf sighed as the last one was killed. He then looked at Link sharply when the blond began to inch back towards the chests. "Don't. Open. Another. Chest."
Link flinched and stopped as Zelda moved to the chests.
She rubbed their tops and revealed markings underneath a layer of dust. "Huh….a boar, a dragon, and an owl."
"What does that mean?"
Zelda looked at the markings, frowning before she gasped. "Oh, I remember Purah once told me the Zonai believed that dragons represented courage, owls represented wisdom, and boars—"
"Let me guess: Power." Ganondorf crossed his arms. "The Triforce again, huh…"
What do we do? Link asked, staring at the chests anxiously.
He really wanted to see what was in them.
"Well, you opened the owl one so I suppose that means the dragon is yours and the boar is Gan's."
Link looked at Ganondorf who moved close to the chest with the boar on it.
He opened it and was greeted with a silver Rupee. Ganondorf pulled it out, staring at the money in question. "Weird…"
Link bounced eagerly and opened his chest, yanking out a purple Rupee. He shoved it into his pocket.
The door at the far end opened up.
"I'm sure we're close to the end," Ganondorf said, pocketing his own Rupee.
The three headed into the room.
The room was square with a 3x3 panel on the left and right walls carved with three dragons, three owls, and three boars. At the back of the room was a door covered with a thick gold chain.
"Boss room," Zelda guessed, staring at the door.
What are the panels for? Link asked, staring at one of the panels.
Ganondorf gazed at the panels before looking at the ground and spotting three of the exact same panels on the ground, he stepped on one and heard a musical note as the square lit up.
"Hm."
"A musical challenge?" Zelda asked, moving to Ganondorf's side.
"Like a Goddess Says, I imagine."
Pressing a small button beneath one of the panels on the wall, the nine squares within it lit up together. The bottom left one—a dragon—lit up before the top right corner lit up next followed by the bottom right owl corner.
There was a pause before the middle tile—a boar—lit up followed by the tile next to it then the top left corner.
Another pause then the left bottom corner lit up followed by the top middle panel then the middle left followed by the bottom middle panel and the top right corner.
Dragon, owl, owl.
Boar, owl, dragon.
Dragon, boar, dragon, boar, owl.
Ganondorf realized the beat of the panels was similar to the song Link had whistled earlier.
The forest's song.
He looked at the other two. "We have to match these panels at the same time."
"What happens if we don't?" Zelda asked as Ganondorf moved to one of the panels.
"Let's not find out, hm?"
Link and Zelda looked at each other before they moved to the panels.
"Remember to follow the lights exactly."
Zelda and Link nodded as the nine panels lit up once more.
"Now!"
As the panels lit up in their specific orders, the three pressed the buttons on the floor at the same time to the same beat.
Miraculously, the three managed to not mess up with the puzzle and once they had finished, a large chest with gold trim dropped down from the ceiling.
"The boss key!" Zelda gasped as Link went to open the chest.
He held up the key proudly before going to unlock the chains across the door leading to the boss room.
After the chains fell to the ground, he opened the door.
Zelda and Ganondorf followed after him.
After they had passed the threshold, the door dropped with a thud, bars blocking it seconds later.
The room was empty and silent save for what appeared to be a large black bud sitting in the center.
"Our boss is a plant bud?" Ganondorf mumbled skeptically, moving closer to the bulb.
All they had to do was burn it and that was it.
Link withdrew his sword, getting into a fighting stance.
"Ganondorf, wait!" Zelda called when she saw the bulb shift.
He looked towards her and at that moment a black Deku Baba shell raised up from the ground.
The Baba was ten times larger than its brethren, green saliva dripping from its fang riddled mouth.
It roared at Ganondorf before grabbing the back of his shirt and flinging him against the far wall. With the immediate threat taken care of, the large Deku Baba leaned down to snarl at Link and Zelda before raising itself to its full height, swaying side to side.
Zelda took out her short sword, glancing towards Ganondorf who was slowly getting to his feet.
The Deku Baba snapped at the two and they jumped back to avoid it.
Link lunged at the Deku Baba, slashing at it but its hard exoskeleton made it difficult to scratch the monster. He backed up, sheathing the Master Sword and grabbing his bow instead.
Ganondorf charged at the Deku Baba while its back was turned. He raised his swords to attack its stem, but the Deku Baba suddenly whipped around.
It grabbed his swords in its mouth and furiously shook him before throwing Ganondorf to the side.
Zelda rushed at the Deku Baba but it turned to face her with a snarl.
With its mouth open, Link shot a few arrows into it, causing the Deku Baba to shriek, rearing back.
Zelda quickly moved forward to start hacking at the Deku Baba's thick stem.
The Deku Baba shook its head before tilting its head down with a snarl, lunging towards Zelda.
Something struck deep into its shell, causing the Deku Baba to rear back with a squeal before whipping its head in Ganondorf's direction, the redhead lacking a sword.
Ganondorf smirked at the plant.
Vibrating its stem, the Deku Baba shook its head before spitting multiple black orbs into the air.
They landed on the floor and immediately took root, small Deku Baba popping up.
The tiny Deku Baba snapped at the group with growls.
Ganondorf destroyed the ones nearest to him while Link did the same to the ones by him.
Zelda moved out of the giant Deku Baba's range, taking out the Deku Baba that snapped at her heels.
"How are we going to kill it?" she asked as she joined Ganondorf and Link.
"The inside of its mouth is its weakness," ganondorf grunted as he cut down another Deku Baba. "We need to get its mouth open."
Link looked around for anything around the room that could be used to their advantage but thee didn't appear to be anything. Typically, the room would contain the boss's weakness, but apparently not this time.
The Deku Baba snarled and lunged at them again, missing since they were out of reach.
Ganondorf sprang forward, shoving his sword vertically into its mouth as far as it could go, wedging the Deku Baba's mouth open.
The Deku Baba recoiled and shook its head furiously to try and dislodge the weapon.
While it was distracted, Link went for its stem and began to chop it.
Zelda tossed her needles into its open mouth whenever it tried to lunge at Link, halting the plant in its attacks.
After a few more strikes, the stem caved under its weakened weight and the Deku Baba collapsed with a fading shriek.
Its head hit the ground with a thud and the Deku Baba remained still.
Ganondorf approached the plant, yanking his sword from its carapace as well as the one in its mouth. He shook them to get off the juices before sheathing his swords.
"You okay?" Zelda asked as they approached the door at the back of the room.
Ganondorf nodded. "Yeah. Probably just going to have a few bruises."
Zelda smiled a bit, relieved that Ganondorf wasn't injured too badly.
Link waved at them after the door opened, pointing to a spring that lay beyond the door.
"This must be the first spring," Zelda murmured.
"I guess we just step into it?" Ganondorf grunted with a shrug.
"I imagine so."
They all looked at each other before stepping into the water, the water coming up to their waists.
Ganondorf closed his eyes, the spring easing his wounds and soothing the slight pain in his shoulder. His Triforce glowed faintly beneath the water.
He laughed to himself as he finished tying up the bags filled with green goop that he gathered from the remains of Chuchus. It wasn't very pleasant smelling and was sure to take a few washes to get the smell out.
Ducking behind a nearby wall, he chucked to himself as he waited for his unsuspecting prey to walk by.
"Koume, I can carry it myself!"
"You'll drop it, Kotake!"
"You're going to make me drop it!"
The arguing came to a halt and was soon replaced by twin high-pitched shrieks as the two sisters were covered in smelly green goop.
"Ganondorf!"
She looked around for any sign of her cousin, but he was a master at hide-and-seek.
Stupid Sheikah.
Huffing, she paused by a house and groaned. "Okay, Sheik! You can come out now!"
Almost instantly, a blond her age dropped down in front of her, arms crossed with a smirk. "I didn't know you for a quitter, Zelly."
"Don't call me Zelly or I'll call you Sheiky-weiky."
Sheik made a face at her before looking away with a grumble. "You're a spoilsport."
"You use your Sheikah abilities to your advantage so at least I'm not a cheater."
Sheik rolled his eyes then nudged her. "Tag, you're it."
He took off running.
"Oh, you're so on!"
He stared up at the tree where Sheik was perched, grinning up at the Sheikah. "Hey! You brooding up there?"
Sheik stared down at him, appearing unamused. "I'm a Sheikah. Sheikah don't brood."
He glanced at Navi before looking back up at Sheik. "Looks like brooding to me."
Sheik groaned as he jumped down from the tree, crossing his arms. "What do you want, hero?"
"Want to join me for the next temple?"
Sheik raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"For…fun? Come on, it'll go faster if you help me. And you can teach me the song on the way there."
Sheik hummed, watching as he walked away before he slowly trailed after him. "I suppose I don't see the harm."
Ganondorf opened his eyes with a grunt. He looked at Zelda and Link who appeared puzzled.
"Did you two—?"
"Have memories?" Zelda finished. "Yeah."
Link nodded.
"Why memories?" Ganondorf mumbled. "What's the purpose?"
"They're possibly memories we didn't remember. We may have memories in every spring."
Ganondorf hummed, crossing his arms.
He still didn't understand the reasoning. But perhaps the memories would somehow help them during their journey. Or to bring back memories of times that hadn't seemed important, but were important.
"Let's get back to the Deku Tree," Zelda said. "I'm starving."
Link looked at his stomach when it growled. He nodded quickly with a grin.
Food sounded good. And a nice rest.
Ganondorf nodded. "I'm sure the Zora are wondering what's taking us so long."
After leaving the temple and rejoining with Astrid who patiently waited for the trio, they returned to the Korok Forest.
Mipha was sitting among several Koroks, apparently telling them a story while Bazz stood nearby.
Sidon appeared to be playing hide-and-seek with a few Koroks, smiling as he found a few easily.
Several Koroks perked up at the sight of the group's return, several yelling, "The Hero's returned with his friend!"
"Did you have fun, Mr. Hero?"
"Was it dangerous?"
The Koroks all gathered around Link who smiled at them.
"Welcome back!" Sidon said, straightening as he heard the Koroks and smiling at the few that landed on his head and shoulders. "Did your adventure go well?"
"It did," Zelda murmured. "We found the spring and bathed in it."
"Excellent," the Deku Tree rumbled. "I can sense the spring's cleansing powers surrounding you three. I'm certain you're exhausted from your adventure though. You six are free to spend the night here. I'm sure my children will whip up a nice meal."
The Koroks all began to chatter at once, beginning to nudge everyone towards the opening near the base of the Deku Tree's roots.
"We can make good food!"
"Best fried greens!"
"Mushroom skewers!"
"You'll never want to leave!"
Mipha and Zelda chuckled at the Korok's overzealous behavior.
The Deku Tree cleared his throat. "Ganondorf, a word?"
Ganondorf paused, staring after the group before he stared up at the Deku Tree. "Yes, sir?"
"I am quite pleased you are attempting to change your fate. None of your ancestors had ever been so willing before."
"Uh, thank you, sir."
"I suggest you travel to Mt. Lanayru next. You may find some answers to the questions you seek."
Ganondorf furrowed his eyebrows, tilting his head slightly. "Mt. Lanayru?"
"The Spring of Wisdom resides there. Only those of the age of seventeen may visit the spring. It would do you good to visit the spring."
