Chapter 36: Temple of Shadows
Maiku dashed off ahead of Link to the Kakariko Village graveyard, trusting in his decision that the Hero of Time would figure out that he would have to play the Nocturne of Shadow if he was even hoping to reach the entrance to the Shadow Temple. I just hope Link can fend for himself… he thought to himself; …he should, but I can't take any risks. I must not rely on his piece of the Triforce and his odd knack to have himself pull through that all heroes seem to possess too much. He needs to do almost anything by himself with little or no help from me; I'll only aid him when times become severely bad for him…
He stopped and noticed that he was in front of a small cliff blocked off at the top by a wood fence.
The entrance to the Shadow Temple is beyond that fence… I really don't want to use a portion of myself that is forming every hour by this cursed mask, but I don't want to waste my time and energy by leaping from the gravestone… so I guess I must.
He held out his arms in front of him, pointing them toward the fence on top of the cliff. He focused and two black & red tentacles emerged from the palms his hands; they wrapped themselves around the post and retracted back into his hands, pulling him up. He hopped over the rest of the fence that he wasn't pulled over and landed on a large stone slab.
He knelt to examine it and discovered that it was the symbol that was inscribed on the Shadow Medallion that Impa held. "…. The stone is warm…" he said to himself, "Power has already passed through and onto the slab… Link is already inside the Temple…" He ran towards the temple entrance.
* * *
"It sure is creepy in here…." Navi said with a shaky voice, "…. Why did the Sage have to be in such a spooky place, Link?"
"Beats me, Navi…" Link replied simply with a low voice, unsure if the walls of the hallway they were in were solid or if they were just an illusion to deceive and confuse him. "This hallway just doesn't seem to end!"
"You mean we're gonna… die?"
"I'm not saying that, I just saying…"
"The Shadow will yield only to one with the eye of truth, handed down in Kakariko Village…." A voice of a young man said.
"Hello?" Navi said as she flew ahead.
"Is anybody there?" Link asked as he started to walk forward cautiously, but stopped as a familiar looking figure stepped out in front of him. The figure was a young man about the age of seventeen with crimson eyes whom was wearing a black tunic with grey pants and had long shoulder length black hair parted in the middle, "What!?"
"That looks like Maiku without his mask!" Navi said
"Maiku looked like that?"
"Yes, remember?"
"Do not speak, Link." The figure of Maiku said, "I appear because I want you to help me."
"Eh…. Sure thing, I guess."
"Do not be indecisive, Link."
"What do want us to do?" Navi asked
"I want you two to help cleanse my body's soul, cleansing it of the evil of the Mask of Shadow."
"I don't believe you."
Maiku put his hands behind his back and closed his eyes, "I understand that I have done a lot of things to hurt you, and I am truly sorry for everything I've done in the past. But you've gotta help me purify my soul!"
"How do we do that?" asked Link, "Is there any non fatal way to do that?"
He shook his head slowly, "No, I am sorry, Link… you must destroy my body before the transformation is complete! You Link, The Hero of Time, is the only person to help me! Just wait for the time; if you destroy my body at a time of non-aggression… my soul will be forever doomed to walk the land."
Link nodded, "Okay, I'll do it."
He smiled faintly, "Thank you. Now, to go deeper into the Shadow Temple, you must first open that gate in the first room, and then you must cross the bottomless pit. Only one who has sacred feet can cross the valley of the dead."
"Sacred Feet?"
"The Hover Boots… a treasure of this Temple that will enable you to literally walk on air temporarily."
"Wow."
"C'mon, follow me. I'll lead you to it." He quickly ran off in the opposite direction and out of Link's sight
"Hey! Come back!" Link took chase on the image of Maiku
"You have to be faster than that if you wish beat me in the future…" he remarked, "C'mon, Hero… quicken your pace!"
He dashed with all his leg power and finally caught up to him, "Slow… down…." He gasped.
"…. Through this door you will find the Dead Hand. Kill it, and you will obtain the Hover Boots." He turned away, "I wish you luck…" he said and vanished.
* * *
"So this is the inside of the Temple?" Maiku said as he stood in the first chamber of the temple, his eyes showed signs of disgust, "It's absolutely intolerable that the Shadow gets such an unspectacular chamber for its Temple…" He walked forward, studying the architecture, "Still…" he stopped at the center piece, a statue representing a bird of some sorts, "…It looks pretty good…"
He walked towards a cliff with a seemingly endless pit as its drop and stared straight down, "I wonder how many people died trying to cross this pit….?" He squinted into the darkness, noticing a doorway at the bottom, "What's down there, I wonder…?" He placed his right foot on the edge and leapt off, plunging into darkness.
He landed perfectly on his feet a few minutes later and found himself standing on thousands of skeletons of the people who had fallen in on accident. "Hmph… Unfortunate for them…" he said coldly, leapt off the pile of bones and landed in front of the door. He looked into the doorway and saw that beyond it was a hallway leading to the Temple's hidden chambers, with no other way to go in the pit he stepped into the doorway; turning around when thick metal bars dropped from the top of the doorway as soon as he stepped in. "… Typical…"
He looked ahead again and started to walk ahead, his eyes saw through the darkness as though it were day and so he didn't need to light a torch or anything. The chambers were in ruins but were still explorable anyway; he found that most of the chambers were empty but he came across one single chamber that was not empty. He stepped into a place that looked like an underground Cathedral, instead of stained glass windows there were carvings of figures that looked like the Six Sages and with a Seven Sage illustrated as being bigger than each Sage. Over the Seven Sages was a carving of the Triforce and three figures. One figure was of a young man wielding a shining sword; another was of a strongly built man; and the third was of a young woman in a crystal.
He took his eyes off of the carvings and onto a podium with what seemed to be a magnifying glass with a purple lens. There was an inscription on the podium, "The Eye of Truth" he read out loud, "This might come in handy for Link…" he opened the pack at his side and placed the Lens of Truth into it. "Now… to get out of here…. Oh yeah, I know." He ran out of the room, through the hallway, and into the pit. He leapt onto the wall, pushed away, and leapt from one wall to the other until he reached the top. He found that the gate was opened meaning, of course, that Link had already entered before him.
He leapt across the pit and ran down a ramp leading to a lower area; a Beamos was guarding a split road and spotted him. He drew his sword from its scabbard and lunged at it, driving the blade into it and slashing upwards, slicing it into two pieces. "Maiku?" he heard Link's voice say from his right side. He placed his sword back into the scabbard and turned to him.
"Link…." He said, "From here on, the Temple gets even more difficult…" he opened the pack at his side and took out the Lens of Truth, "Here, take this."
"Eh, thanks…" Link replied, taking the Lens of Truth "But aren't you going to use it?"
"No, I am not bound only to land like you. I'll find a way to get by…." He shut his eyes, "Link, good luck…." He walked towards a solid wall and phased right through it. "You'll need it…" he said quietly, "I might as well help you, though…" he said without even think about it and vanished in a dark flame.
He reappeared in a large chamber and onto a large platform that looked like a large cover for a drum. "A drum?" he said, "What the hell is this?"
"Who dares to enter my chamber?!" a raspy voice said from somewhere, "What the…? Is that… you…?"
"What do you mean?"
"Aren't you the Shadow Demon that disappeared thousands of years ago?"
"Shadow Demon…? I don't know what you are talking about."
"Come on… stop acting like that, Shadow."
"I really don't follow you."
"You always were such a mischievous little devil… random killings for fun. Weren't those the days?"
"I am sorry, but I don't understand."
"I am Bongo Bongo!"
"Bongo Bongo? Hm… doesn't ring a bell… but I do need your power…. You wouldn't mind, would you?"
"Anything for you, Shadow."
"Stop calling me that," he said, withdrawing a tentacle from his hand and piercing Bongo Bongo's skin, sapping his strength and weakening him, "…. I am Maiku." He sent the tentacle back to him and brought it back into his hand, "I thank you… rest in peace…" he turned away and vanished.