Hey Everyone! I'm back! So I am probably not going to update next week, because I will be on vacation. FLORIDA BABY! *ahem* sorry about that. So I might update if I don't really have anything to do over there one day, but that is only an if. Either way, just wanted to point that out. Oh, and I can't believe I didn't do any of this yet.

NONE OF THE LEGEND OF ZELDA CHARACTERS OR GAMES BELONG TO ME! Only Aden is mine. Either way, let's get onto it!

Chapter 4; Arbiter's Grounds

Aden's POV (who else?)

Walking down the entrance steps of the tower, I once again formed a memory orb. Since I didn't have a lantern with me, that was the only light source I had. And sadly, the Great Fairy didn't give me one either. The tower was nice and cool now though, and hopefully it will stay that way. The inside of the tower was eerie though.

The walls were almost the same color of the sand outside. Bits and pieces of it were scattered here and there on the ground, so with every step I took, I stepped on a pebble. I was thankful that I had my shoes though. There was also some mold on the walls that I would find from time to time, and they smelled TERRIBLE! Think of the smell as like an extremely clogged toilet that already had seven other tenants in it.

Either way, I kept walking until I walked into the first room. Thankfully, there were some torches lit here and there, so I didn't need my memory orb for light anymore. There was also a large sinkhole of sand right in the center, and the only pieces of the floor were spread apart from each other in gigantic spaces! WAY too long of a jump to make. So, the only logical thing to do was to use my memory orb. I made it greatly bigger and cast it onto the floor.

There was not that big of a space to walk on, even with the memory orb! It was just a thin walkway just as wide as my hand! But since it was the only way to get across, I started to sidestep across. I wasn't exactly the person that has the best balance however, so halfway across I started to falter. Then I fell.

I was lucky to fall on my stomach though, because I landed on the narrow walkway! But then I realized that I only had a couple seconds left before this disappeared! So going across the walkway on my stomach, I shimmied forward until I made it to the other platform, then the memory orb disappeared behind me.

I got up and dusted the dirt and rubble off of my shirt. I looked around and saw that the other platforms were in a close enough distance to jump towards. 'Thank goodness!' I thought. I then took a running start and leaped over to the raised platform. I landed with a skid however, and accidentally fell on my butt. 'At least there wasn't a giant pebble there'.

I hopped to the other platform, and found SKULLS! WHY THE HECK WOULD THERE BE SKULLS HERE?! I suddenly felt really uneasy, I did not want to know why there were random skulls here, so I instantly turned to the other platform. This time, when I jumped to it, I felt a little rumble. I didn't realize why until I felt sand appearing at my feet. I looked down, and saw I was no longer on the platform.

I was in the pit of sand! Freaking out a little bit, I quickly leaped to the other platform. Because I was a couple inches into the sand, a tripped over myself and fell face first onto the platform. I felt A tiny little *pop* and hopped that I didn't break anything. I got up onto the platform and felt around my mouth.

Thankfully, there was only a small bruise that formed. So there was nothing I had to worry about, except that popping sound though. So I hopped onto the other side, getting out of that sand trap. (Now where is my golf ball?) I started to walk forward, but noticed something to my left. There was a couple more skulls over there, and something else I couldn't see. I didn't exactly fell like checking what it was, so I continued forward.

I found myself at a crossroad. There were passageways to my left, front, and right. All of the passageways were open, so I might as well explore. I started off to my left, and found a bowl of, something. I sniffed the bowl, and smelled a strange smell that I almost instantly recognized. 'oil' I thought. 'Too bad I don't have a lantern' I turned around and started to go into the right passageway.

I could make out an open chest, and more skulls. So once again, I lay off it. I then went to the main passage. It looked like a wall was blocking it, but it felt like there was more things behind here. I looked around the door/wall, and found some handles on the bottom. I grabbed them and lifted up, with a little force from my legs. The door stayed up, and I walked through.

When I got into the next room, the door/wall closed behind me. There wasn't a speck of light in here! So once again, I used my memory orb for light. I walked across a stone pathway until I reached the wall. There were some spots where a torch would be, so I used my memory orb to get a fire in there. Once I did though, one part of a barred up door/wall raised up a little.

I heard some clattering noises behind me, so I quickly turned around. I found multiple skeleton soldiers with long spears! More and more were rising out of the sand every second! Putting two and two together, I ran over to the other torch holder. I frantically created a memory orb around the torch holder and created the fire. The bars rose up all the way, and I scrambled to it.

I quickly grabbed the handles and lifted upwards. I could hear the skeleton soldiers right behind me, so I rushed to the other side of the door/wall and grabbed the handles above me. I was right though, about the skeleton soldiers being RIGHT BEHIND ME! Right as one was about to get to me and stab me, I slammed the door/wall down on top of it. The unfortunate skeleton that got stuck under the wall, shattered into tons of bones, clattering all over the place.

I didn't stick around to see if the skeletons could open the door or not, I wanted to get the heck out of there! I spun on my shoe heels and turned to look at my surroundings. I was in a large room with strange statues here and there. In front of me was a large staircase that was surrounded by four blue fire lit torches. On each of then, was the symbol of the Triforce once again. I had to figure out if I was really part of this crazy "Legend" or not, soon. I got a chill from walking into here, and I didn't like it.

There was also some other pathways to my left and right, but I didn't feel like exploring anymore. I just wanted to get through this place and find my "Ally from another realm." So I walked towards the large staircase. I then heard metal clanking, and that gave me another chill. My whole body was covered in goosebumps, and it suddenly got a lot colder in here.

Then, appearing from the darkness beyond the staircase, I saw a floating blue lantern. It was shaking around, making the metal clank from before. 'first skeleton soldiers with spears, now ghosts?! What next, some sort of giant fossil trying to kill me?!' It floated around for a bit more, then absorbed the blue fire from the torch holder.

Bars suddenly came from the ceiling and closed around the stairway entrance. My only way forward! It was obvious what I had to do, I had to fight a ghost. Deciding on this in an instant, I charged up my pointed shockwave attack. Gathering the energy into my index finger, I released it, shooting towards the lantern. It just floated above my shockwave, harmlessly letting it pass.

Trying to find another way to attack, I started to form a memory orb. The lantern started to float closer, so I quickly shot the orb to the lantern. Then, there was a ghost with a completely blackened face, wearing something like a robe. It had a blue hood tied together with a skull ornament. The rest of it was completely white, but it looked blue with its glow. The look of it was just terrifying!

The ghost seemed trapped inside the memory orb, clutching its head and giving off a soundless screech. Still terrified, I took this opportunity to do another pointed shockwave. Gathering all the energy I could get in my finger, I released it quickly at the ghost, hoping something else would happen. And thankfully, it did!

The ghost fell onto the ground, seemingly dead. But then, a small ball of shadow appeared from its chest. I didn't exactly know what it was, but I knew it was important for the creature. So quickly gathering energy once more, I blasted it onto the shadow ball. It shattered and the ghost let out a screech that was so chilling, one would seemingly become ice just from it!

It then dropped its lantern, and disappeared inside the orb. The lantern fell to the ground and shattered upon impact. The blue flame that was being kept inside it flowed out and back onto its pedestal. The bars then raised themselves upwards and disappeared through the ceiling. I rushed through there because 1.)I just wanted to get out of here and 2.) There was a disgusting smell coming from the dead ghost! So I rushed on through.

I then found myself in a large, circular room. Bits of the floor were broken off here and there, and same with a big chunk of a wall. There was also a FREAKING FLAMING SKULL WITH WINGS!? WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE THINGS AND WHY DO THEY EXIST?! I just got rid of those with the shockwave, but I began feeling a little tired. All of this energy was taking its toll on me now. I needed to conserve my energy.

Either way, I found a strange gear shaped hole in the center of the room, and it looked like something was supposed to fit in there. So using a small bit of energy, I cast a memory orb into the center of the hole, and found a strange object. Inside of it. It looked like a spiral, downward pointed gear. On the top, was what looked like a picture of the sun. Either way, it looked interesting, so I decided to take it.

I reached inside the orb and touched the gear. Just like last time, there was a bright gray light and when it faded, the gear was there. It certainly looked strange, but what really threw me off was how it weighed! The gear weighed about as heavy as three of the baskets I have, and that isn't that much!

Reaching down to inspect the gear, I saw two small buttons. They looked like they were designed to be stepped on, so I did as I thought. I stepped the first button, and the parts on the side popped out. It surprised me at first, but I figured that was normal. The second one was a sort of acceleration switch, and the gear burst forward once I pressed it.

I honestly didn't know what it was supposed to be for, but I put the gear back into the hole. I then held down the acceleration switch, and the wall in front of me started to shift. It spun to the left, and the broken wall became a passage! I laid off of the switch and lifted it back up. I was going to bring this along with me, you never know when something might be useful.

I then came to a gigantic spiral staircase, and groaned a loud groan. This was going to take WAY too long to climb! I then looked to the sides of the stairs, and saw a strange pattern that was in the wall. Upon inspecting it closer, I saw that it was tiny holes that go all the way up the staircase! I looked from the wall indents, to the gear, then back again. Suddenly, there was an imaginary lightbulb above my head!

I lined up the sides of the gear to the holes in the wall, and put them together. The gear stayed in place, and I had an idea. It was a stupid one, but it was an idea. I stepped onto the gear, and held onto some handles on the center. I stepped on the accelerator button and the gear shot forward. The ride was amazing, I sped through the entire staircase with ease! I also had to raise it a little bit halfway through, but that was just as same as moving the wall.

When I reached the top, my adrenaline was pumping! I was laughing like I just won a gigantic wad of money! I picked up the gear and headed towards the door. This wasn't just any door though, this was a giant door/wall! It obviously meant it was important! So I lifted the door wall all the way up and went inside. Which I found…

A GIGANTIC DROP OH GOD WHY?!

Thankfully, I didn't need to go that way. There was a bridge to the left, that was above the gigantic drop. Thank god, I didn't need to fall to my death! So I just walked across the bridge and up to the light of the outside.

When I finished going up the steps, I realized that the sun was about to rise! No wonder I was so tired! But I had to keep going, I felt like I had to get this done quickly. I began to walk along the stone pathway that led to wherever, while munching on some bread. It was really good, what you should always expect from a magical being's cooking.

Then I reached the place. It looked like a giant shrine, but I just wasn't sure. The biggest trait that stood out was the giant dark black stone that was in front of me. It was so big, that I was sure that it could fit in that big drop in the tower! Either way, it looked like a giant coliseum.

In front of me was a large, thing holder. It was circular, and it looked like it would hold something. So for the last time today, I used my memory orb to create a large gateway to the past. There was a strange mirror there, it was smooth stone on one side and had some glowing white markings on the other. But looking at it made me feel, different.

I quickly looked away as I touched it through the memory orb. I saw the light again from behind me, and once it faded, I saw the mirror in its glory. But I also saw something else. Not only had the mirror appeared, but a giant portal did too!

The portal had steps that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and the portal looked like it had the same markings as the mirror. But I didn't want to check it again, I didn't want to look at it. I set down the large gear, sadly, I couldn't bring it with me. Call it a gut feeling.

I then stepped up the transparent steps and onto a little balcony. I felt myself almost dissolve, breaking apart into tiny pieces. All of myself was traveling at almost the speed of sound, I was going to this "other realm." I wondered what awaited me on this other side.

When I got there though, I was met with a horrid sight.

Ah, cliffhangers. So good, yet so bad. Either way, make sure to leave a review down below! And you MIGHT not get a chapter next week. Buy hey, you never know. Oh, and the reason that Aden got to skip most of the dungeon is because Link already defeated the boss, got the different keys, and mostly because Aden has magic. Not to mention that it would take WAY too long to do the entire Grounds. Either way, see all of you guys next time!