Chapter Thirty-One: Saria's Destiny

Gohdan flew over Saria as everyone gathered around the unconscious teenager. Gohdan began to glow an unearthly light as he said.

"The path can now be opened," Gohdan simply said. He then reattached himself to the wall and stopped glowing. Everyone then looked up and saw a thin pink beam shoot down and hit the center of the room. The beam then widened.

"What does he mean by 'the path can now be opened?'" Yugi wondered. Saria began to stir.

"Oh. My head," Saria groaned as the elder Floyds gathered next to her.

"Are you alright?" Mrs. Floyd asked. Saria groaned.

"I just used a bit too much magic," Saria admitted as she tried to stand. Saria then fell back down, but the two parents caught her.

"Can you walk?" Mr. Floyd asked. Saria shook her head.

"I need a few minutes," Saria replied.

"What if I carry you piggy back for awhile?" Saria nodded. Tristan and Joey helped Saria get mounted on Mr. Floyd's back.

"What do we do now?" Serenity asked.

"We enter that beam. It should take us to our goal," Mr. Floyd replied. Everyone nervously stepped in and let themselves rise up and vanish. When they landed, they found themselves on the roof of the tower. The tower's roof was surrounded by a five foot wall and a small tower with a large bell.

"There's nothing here except that bell," Mrs. Floyd noticed.

"What if we ring it?" Tristan wondered.

"Who knows what might happen?" Joey replied.

"I think Tristan is right. Saria, you should ring that bell," Mr. Floyd said, turning to look at his tired kid.

"I can try," Saria said as she slid from her father's back. She wearily walked over to the stone ladder and slowly scaled it. When she was at the top, she pulled out a rope and grapple hook. Saria swung it and it wrapped around the handle of the bell. Saria then began to swing back and forth on the rope, ringing the large bell. As she did, the tower began to rise even higher out of the water. It was then Mrs. Floyd's communicator went off.

"What's going on?" Mrs. Floyd asked.

"Becky, the tower has risen even higher out of the water. The arch area is now above the waterline and a stone floor has been spotted. But that's not the amazing part! There's a glowing ring of light down there in the center of it!" Matson replied.

"Can you teleport us down?"

"Sure." The next thing the group knew, they were standing back at the base of the tower next to a gold ring of light.

"Wow, I wonder where this leads?" Serenity wondered as she knelt near the light.

"I don't know, but I'm not feeling good," Mai admitted as her headache began to return.

"Do you need to rest?" Mr. Floyd asked. Mai nodded.

"OK, I'll have Matson take care of you," Mr. Floyd said.

"Wait! I'll go with her! I'm pretty tired myself," Teran interrupted.

"OK, go ahead," Mr. Floyd said as the Courage IX hovered close. Mai and Teran jumped aboard and waved farewell as the ship rose again.

"Everybody ready?" Mrs. Floyd asked. Everybody nodded and they all stepped into the light ring. Gold light blinded them as they began to move downwards, floating in the water. Each struggled to hold their breath until they couldn't no longer. It was then they found they could breathe here.

"Look down there!" Joey suddenly cried out. Through the fading light, everyone could see a castle on an island in the middle of an extremely large lake. But what was shocking was that everything was in grayscale. The group then landed in the backyard's small pond. They all stepped out and took in everything they saw. Serenity set to work taking pictures.

"Where are we?" Tristan wondered.

"I'm not exactly sure. All I know is that this place used to be a part of Hyrule," Mr. Floyd replied uncertainly.

"Lets go see what's in the castle," Yugi suggested. Mr. Floyd picked up Saria again and they walked up a short staircase and into the building. The room they entered was long and two stories from floor to ceiling. There was upper walkways on the second floor. Around them were statues of pig face monsters and broadsword bearing knights. But overshadowing them all was a large statue of a man wearing a pointed hat, tunic and boots. In his hands, he carried a sword and shield.

"Whoa," Saria said awed at the statue.

"That's Link I, Hero of Time!" Patrick declared.

"That can't be! Can it?" Becky wondered.

"I don't know, but this place gives me the creeps. Lets find the sword and get out of here," Joey said, staring nervously at one of the pig warrior statues.

"Quit being a chicken Joey! This place is pretty cool," Tristan admitted, flicking one of the iron knight statues.

"I agree with Joey. We should get what we came for and get out," Serenity shivered, "But first, I want to get a picture of that statue." Serenity dashed down the large staircase to the main floor. She then vanished from view but a quick flash of light told the group she had taken her picture.

"OK, that's enough playing around. We've got work to do. According to our research, we need to find the basement. The only clue we have is the mark of the herald that we could see when we entered the castle. That's the Triforce. So everybody, spread out and look for something that resembles the sacred triangles," Mr. Floyd commanded. Joey and Yugi took the upper balconies, Tristan and Serenity took to the main floor, and the elder Floyds took the niches in the back corners. Saria, who was exhausted from her duel, had been set down on the main floor to rest. Saria looked around and saw everyone engrossed in their search when something caught her eye. Sitting in the center of the room were triangular blocks in a small depressed area of the floor. Saria counted and saw there were three.

"Hey guys!" Saria called, "I think I found it!" Saria stood up and leaned on the blocks.

"What'd you find?" Mr. Floyd asked as the Floyds joined her.

"These blocks must be the key," Saria said as she studied the depression in the floor. She then turned to Yugi who was still on the upper balcony.

"Hey Yugi! Look down here and what do you see?" Saria shouted. Yugi peered over the balcony and gasped.

"Saria! You're standing on a Triforce symbol!" Yugi shouted back. Saria stepped back and saw that the Triforce mark was on the floor.
"OK, we found the insignia. But what does that have to do with the blocks?" Mrs. Floyd asked.

"I think if we push the blocks onto the Triforce mark, we can open the door to the basement," Saria replied.

"Then lets try it. Tristan! Joey! Give me a hand here! Yugi! You guide us!" The girls sat near the statue of the Hero of Time while the boys pushed and pulled the blocks onto the Triforce mark. When the last block slid into place, everyone watched as the blocks were sucked into their proper slots. The Triforce mark then glowed a brilliant gold and the Hero of Time statue slid back to reveal a hidden staircase.

"You were right Saria! Come on everyone!" Mr. Floyd urged as he picked up Saria. Everyone wend down the staircase and found themselves in a shrine. A high up podium surrounded by water and the giant armor of knights greeted them. In the center of the podium was a medium-sized double-bladed sword in a pedestal, sunlight from above shining on it.

"That's it!" Mr. Floyd said excitedly. Everyone ran down the stairs and gathered around the pedestal. Serenity took a picture of the sword.

"This is incredible! Who wants the honor to pull it out?" Mr. Floyd asked, humor in his voice. Joey ran forward.

"Stand back!" Joey said and he tried to yank the sword free to find it stuck. He pulled until his face was red and his grip was too weak to hold onto the sword.

"Nuts!" Joey groaned.

"I think Saria should try to pull the sword," Yugi thought.

"I agree," Mr. Floyd replied, putting Saria down. She gripped the blade and tried to pull, finding the sword slipped out easily. As the sword slipped out, the pedestal began to shoot out white light. When the sword was slipped completely free, the armored knights, lowered their swords to form a triangle above Saria's head. Then there was a bright flash that blinded everyone. The glow blinded them for about a full minute, but when it died down, everything was in color, including the sword in Saria's hand. Everyone looked around confused.

"What was that?" Joey wondered.

"Don't know, but it looks like everything here has returned to normal, including the sword," Mr. Floyd said, pointing to Saria's blade. Saria then studied it. The hilt was a fine shade of blue and it had a yellow gem inside. The hilt was a specially designed type that could defend as well as attack. The blade itself shone a bright silver and gave off a soft white glow. Saria swung it a few times and found it to be light as a feather. She slipped it into her scabbard. It was then something caught her ears. It sounded like heavy metal footsteps.

"You guys hear that?" Saria asked.

"Sounds like those statues were monsters and they've reanimated," Mr. Floyd replied.

"Then lets get out of here," Mrs. Floyd declared. Everyone agreed and they quickly left the basement to find the knights and pig monsters moving about, patrolling. As Saria came up, the statue slid back into place. However, several of the monsters noticed this and charged the group. Mr. Floyd stood in the knight's way.

"Run!" Mr. Floyd commanded as he drew a pistol and fired. The bullet caught the knight in the neck and it fell. But Mr. Floyd's lone pistol shot caught the attention of every monster in the area. There was at least eight more knights and ten pig warriors. Mr. Floyd ran back to the group and found them frozen in front of the door.

"What's wrong? Run!" Mr. Floyd shouted.

"We can't! There's a barrier!" Serenity replied. Mr. Floyd then saw the blue electrical barrier blocking their only exit. Three of the knights charged the group.

"Spread out and try to hold them off!" Mr. Floyd commanded and he leapt at the knights. Yugi and Joey went up one way and Tristan and Serenity went up the other way. Saria watched as her father fist fought the knights, knocking them back.

There's no way Dad could push those things away that easily! They must weigh a ton! Saria thought as she and her mom watched fearfully. Then Saria realized her dad wasn't wearing his usual leather gauntlets. He was wearing gauntlets with gold backing with a red gem engraved in the back that glowed under the light.

The Golden Gauntlets! The gloves that give the wearer the power to lift just about anything! Saria realized. She watched as a knight's sword shattered on Patrick's glove. Patrick then grabbed the knight and threw him into the other two. The spikes on the shoulders of the armor killed the remaining two knights. The third one was already dead from the impact. Up on the right hand balcony, Yugi and Joey had run into three pig warriors.

"Time for a duel! I summon Rocket Warrior!" Joey declared, playing the card on his duel disk.

"Rocket Warrior! Attack!" Joey commanded. Rocket Warrior flew towards the pig warriors and knocked them back then self-destructed, taking them out in a flash of dark smoke.

"Alright!" Joey grinned when Serenity's scream pierced the air. Joey and Yugi looked across the way to see Serenity was on the ground at the foot of a knight.

"Serenity!" Joey cried. He looked around and saw a rope that he could use as a swing. Yami gasped as Joey climbed onto the railing and grasped the rope.

"Joey! Wait!" Yugi cried, spirits still merged. Joey let out a war cry as he crossed the gap and planted both feet into the knight's chest. The knight barely staggered at the attack.

"Joey! Serenity! Get down!" Mr. Floyd's voice commanded. Serenity and Joey quickly grabbed the rope and swung back as an explosion occurred near where they had been standing. When they landed on the opposite side, they saw Mr. Floyd throwing little green balls over the railing to the ground below. Explosions then rippled throughout the lower floor, engulfing enemies in flames.

"Hand grenades," Joey grimaced. They then watched as the Floyds, including Saria, picked off the remaining pig warriors, ending the fight and dispersing the barrier. Everyone gathered at the door and exited the castle.

"Lets go," Mr. Floyd simply said. No one felt like arguing. They all stepped into the golden ring in the pond and let themselves return to the surface.