Chapter 11 Never what it seems
I tried to ease my conscious by focusing on the map instead of the cave mouth behind me where I left Zelda's brother stuck before a tall ledge. I wasn't standing in the swamp I needed to reach yet, but I could already tell that I was coming close. Water has saturated the very ground that I stood on, making this place its own wetland. I couldn't see the road from where I stood, but my map showed it was southeast less than an hour from here. I then, still holding my own map, brought out the one that Impa gave me.
The old map, of course, was of an early Hyrule Kingdom, and many places on it either didn't exist anymore or was expanded on. All of the palaces were on this map, however, and showed me the exact location of Midoro Palace. The temple's name hovered above a small icon deep in the eastern swamps, but in order to reach it, I would have to travel to the road and then follow the split turning north and around a swirl of mountains.
On the old map, it shows before the time the road was split, this path only went south to a lonely bridge that crossed a small river and to Death Mountain. But looking back on the more recent map, a town was now surrounding that same bridge with the name, "The Water Town of Saria" written above it. I rolled the map back up and began the trek across the wetlands. The daylight was still going strong and would for the time needed to reach my destination if I was quick enough.
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Besides the various attacks I encountered, my journey to the swamps was uneventful. From a distance, the swamp was stunning and amazing. It looked almost peaceful. A person could easily see the steam rising from the many channels of water. And after being trenched in it constantly, the few trees bowed with heavy clouds trapped in its branches and leaves.
But once I finally reached the place, I felt like it was the most humid location in the world, and I was completely miserable because of it. The hot and sticky vapors in the dank air clung to my skin and clothes, making me feel horribly uncomfortable.
It was impossible to tell how deep most of the pools were. The stagnant misty waters swirled almost magically, and countless frogs and insects rather enjoyed this environment. Thorns that were thick enough to draw blood sprouted free on the ground, and mushrooms and moss also thrived from such a moist place. I suddenly felt sympathy for the trees, that looked to be the only other beings, besides me, that would love to be anywhere else than here.
I groaned aloud as I stepped over some of the drenches, but still had to walk through some. Seeping black mud sucked in the air around my feet, making it hard to even take a step forward. My sweat mixed in with the vapor, and I knew I still had a long way to go. A part of me wished that His Highness was still here, so that he could suffer along with me. That thought made me wonder; where was he now? Would he really go back home? I told him to, and I hoped he did, but I didn't think he would. He struggled with trust, and if he didn't trust me with his sister's life, than he couldn't trust anyone. I felt like he should have believed me!
Just thinking about the issues he gave me, I was glad he was gone, but at the same time, I wished I had someone to take this anger out on! How could he accuse me of all the things he did? I didn't have a pride issue! What? Don't tell me you want a prize. Heroes help people just for doing the right thing, am I wrong?
"Agh!" I yelled aloud to my thoughts. "What would you know? It's not like you did the right thing!" But nothing responded save for a frog that was frightened from my sudden outburst. It splashed down into the nearest pool and disappeared in the muck. This quest was not about the prince of Hyrule! Nor...
...Nor was it about me.
I stopped in my tracks. This was about Zelda. It wasn't about finding the Triforce, and it wasn't about the monsters that hunted me to revive Ganon. Again, a shudder traced down my spine, and I looked down at the thorny vine that I was standing on. Without a conscious thought about it, I imagined the thorns squirming up towards me. Like they, themselves, wanted to spill my blood with their sharp knives. Everything was against me! That didn't frighten me, but through the thorn image, I saw the prince of darkness, Ganon.
No, he's dead! He can torment me no longer! But something about that, I couldn't run from. The thoughts quickly became unpleasant, so I shook them away. My eyes then fell on the silver pendent around my neck.
Zelda... Hang in there. I'm closer to the Triforce than I was before, and it'll only take me a few days to find all of the temples. I could almost see her lovely smile on the charm. My heart skipped a beat, and all anger was resolved.
I allowed myself a calm breath, and then continued my walk. Little did I know, long weeds in front of me obscured an octorok, sitting calm and harmless. But, unfortunately, I didn't notice it was there until it was too late. In my march, I had kicked the round land octopus hard in the face! "Huh?" I cried, "Oh, I'm sorry!" But despite my apology, the octorok frowned and took in a deep breath.
I didn't want to hurt this innocent creature, and most certainly not to kill it, but I knew what it was going to do next. There was no choice, I brought out my shield to stop the rock that it spit at me, and then struck the beast down with my sword.
The occurrence might bring attention from other octorocks, and I didn't want to be here if it did. I quickly clean my sword, sheathed my weapons, and picked up the pace. I wasn't afraid of more monsters, but I kept watch for any that might appear. I was so intent on watching, and my pace was at enough of a quick walk, that I wasn't even looking when I stepped in a deep puddle that I couldn't lift my foot up from! My pace suddenly broken without my attention, I couldn't stop from falling forward down in the water. Impossibly thick mud engulfed me, and debris that floated in the stagnent pool for who knows how long pricked me everywhere.
Luckily, that particular pool wasn't that deep, and I brought my head back up for air. The muck stank horribly, but as I was able to free my head, for every move, the mud grasped everywhere else it held. And for the first many minutes, I flailed, trying to stand back up. Octorocks crawled out from various hidden places, and the splashing of both water and mud caught even the attention of large flies known as boons. Great, I was trying to avoid an unnecessary battle when I took off in the first place, but then I had to draw their attention when I fell in the mud.
My struggle with the mud became desperate, but when it did, the puddle seemed to let me go quicker and easier. I came up covered all over with black mud, but reaching quickly for my sword and shield while stepping free of the water. All at once, the boons flew low and the octoroks shot rocks. I tried to keep up with the attacks by using my shield to protect myself from any stones, and slashing at any large flies that came too close. But I was not killing any of the monsters with this strategy!
The projectiles bounced harmlessly down against my shield, but now there were many of them lying around me, consricting my movement. And by now, the tricky beasts were coming up from behind me too. Solid stones sometimes soared past my shield and hit me in various places. And the boons were so quick that I couldn't react enough to strike them. I was too busy with blocking the octorocks, and so, they needed to go first.
I waited for the right time when an opening showed itself free of rocks for just a split second. Then, I crouched low to throw the boons off their target and pointed my sword to the octorocks in front of me. The creatures were shocked when missiles of light attacked them straight out of the blue, and most even chose to retreat. Those who didn't were even easier to shoot at now that there was more gaps in between stones.
The boons were more stubborn though. Once the octorocks were defeated, the flies never gave up! But at least I was free to attack them all I needed to. They kept to their strategy, but they were still impossible to slash at, I tried stopping them with my sword, and even with sword beams, but the best way to drop them was with my shield. I used it to stop them suddenly in their paths of air, but even now as I was making progress, more kept coming. They lived here, so I shouldn't have been surprised, especially that I knew how persistent they were!
I held my ground, even when they found a way around my defenses. Luckily, they were just hare-sized flies and not anything with a stinger. Their attacks, while quite annoying, was just trying to knock me down. I refused to give in, and I refused to run away. I fought with them for many minutes, and after what felt like a life time, and after killing so many, they stopped showing themselves.
I waited there longer, just waiting to see if more would show up, but none did. I outlasted them! I must have been too strong for them to continue bothering with. I cleaned my sword and sheathed it before continuing. I hoped that I was still going the right way. I knew the palace was really deep in the swamp, but even with the map, it was hard to tell where I was even going. It was like I was deprived of time and place here.
Miles all around me never changed how this bog looked, and I couldn't tell if I was damp from the humidity, or if it was my own perspiration. The battle took my mind of the misery for a while, but now it was all back. I couldn't wait to find the temple so I could be out of this mess!
I was so exhausted and sick of the reek, that I almost didn't even notice that I was passing by a weird shape wrapped in moss and vines. I stopped so I could stare at it long and hard until I saw it was an old pillar that fell a long time ago. And when I look past it, I saw more. They were all just as old, and every one of them have toppled differently; some were perfectly horizontal, and others were merely leaning. Was this the temple? I stayed and walked around the pillars, but besides the other small amout of debris, There was no way inside a building, if this was indeed a building in the first place.
How long have they been here? Must have been a long time since plants and age affected them like this. Even with close focus, I didn't notice the stone arch that was in, what would have been, the center of the towers. I brought my hand up to graze away the slime and pick at the plants that grew on the once smooth surface, and that was when I realized that it wasn't entirely smooth. Faded, and now indecipherable, sketches were engraved on the sides, and not just of the arch, but of the columns as well. Even as age destroyed whatever this was, I could tell that these structures were strong from proper care and decorated finely, like this place mattered to the people who built it.
I became more confused the more I lingered here, and I brought out my map like it would help me to find the palace even if I didn't know where I was. Staring at the old map now, apparently this land wasn't always a swamp. The map listed it as a much friendlier wetland, and these ruins might have been one of the sacred places to worship the Goddesses. Now that I knew where I was, the Midoro Palace was still a walk to the west, in the tightest cranny of mountains.
Seeing as how this used to be a friendlier place, I wondered how it will look in a few decades from now. But honestly, I couldn't see it any worst than this. Still pondering the thought, I continued to walk while still holding the map. In a location where deep, unhealthy pools were, this was unwise, but what I came across was not a pit of stagnat water.
No, I didn't fall in unexpectedly, but rather, I was surprised when I kicked something that clinked and rolled away. Concerned, I put the map away and looked down. A small, glass bottle still sparkled, even if it was now dirty from its roll. I bent over and held it before me. The slime easily slid off by my touch, and that was when I saw it wasn't empty.
A thin red liquid swirled inside the bottle, protected from the outside hazards. I pulled the cork to give myself a better look at the contents. Yes, just as I thought; this was a bottle of the red water of life, I was certain of it! This was a rare potion that could heal serious wounds. In all my life, I only met one person who could brew this, and that was in my last quest, so why was it here? Judging from how it refused to connect with the swamp as it was still clean, I didn't think it was here for very long. Who would bother coming here, and why? Were they trying to reach the palace too?
It would be a shame to leave such a useful aid here. I slipped it into my bag and continued on my way, not even giving the shrine one last look. It wouldn't be long now for me to find Midoro Palace now, at least, I hoped not.
