Chap. 12
The Spirit Temple
"Are you sure this is the only way?" Cyborg asked, as he looked over the vast desert in front of them. "Without Link's ocarina, we can't transport back to the Temple, so we'll have to cross the desert." Zelda answered. "Yeah, but why can't you just magic us there or something?" "I told you, that magic is too erratic for me to control right now." the Princess said, with a hint of annoyance. "All right, but there must be something…" "Cyborg, please stop asking me, I can't give you the answer you want." Zelda snapped. With that, she transformed into Sheik and began to walk across the sands. Cyborg watched for a moment, then adjusted the Mirror shield on his back, and followed. He was already questioning the success of this expedition. Zelda was certainly a good companion to have for this, but she had a bit of an attitude problem. She refused to take a second look at anything once she made up her mind on it. He suspected it was part of the royal upbringing, but Cy had a bad feeling about what it meant for them. Still, he had no real idea of how to complete this on his own, so for now, he would have to rely on Zelda, baggage and all. He found it less then a good premise.
The two of them made only a short distance through the desert, before they came to a challenge. Before them was a mountain of what looked like fast-moving quicksand. It flowed down the hill like molasses, and seemed entirely unstable. "Any ideas?" Cy asked. "Link told me about this before." Sheik said thoughtfully. "He said that the way to cross it was to go over it." "Well, he must've flown, cause I don't see anything else that would work." Cy said. "Maybe there was something else." Sheik said, as she looked over the sands. Suddenly, she cried out, "There!" Cyborg looked up and noticed then that above the flow of the sands was a large wooden crate. "Sweet!" he yelled. But then, he realized something else; "How do we get up there?" Sheik tried whipping out her chain to grapple the box, but it just wasn't long enough. "There must be some other way then." she said, as she tried to think it out. But Cy already had a plan. Reaching down, he grabbed Sheik in one hand, and aiming his fist at the box, shot out his forearm grapple. His extended hand shot past the quicksand and practically buried itself in the wooden crate. Reversing the mechanism, Cy dragged the two of them over the quicksand and onto the plain above. Placing Sheik down, he rewound the rest of his arm and gave a few test movements. "Well done." Sheik said thankfully. "Hey, sometime you just need to make a change or two, and it still works." He replied.
The two moved on, but it became much harder after a short time. The winds began to pick blasting sand at them from almost every direction. Even with all her facial masks, Sheik could barely look up. Cyborg could feel all the grains of sand start to clog up his mechanical parts. If they didn't find shelter soon, he would be unable to move. But he pressed on for as long as he could, knowing that there was no other choice. Thankfully, his endurance paid off. Sheik soon saw a structure through the sands. "Come on!" she yelled, as she began to trudge even harder through the winds. Cy continued, but suddenly, he felt something in his leg lock up. He tried to move it, but the motors would not respond, and he lost his balance. "Sheik, I can't move!" He yelled out, as he tried to push himself on his belly. Sheik turned around and without hesitation ran back. Lifting Cyborg as much as she could, she put him her shoulder and leaning on her, Cyborg managed to limp into the structure. However, there was only a ladder inside it, but Cy was able to get down with only one leg. Finally, the two of them reached the bottom and a well-protected room.
Cy lay down against the wall, as Sheik changed back into Zelda. Kneeling down, the Princes asked, "Where are you injured?" "Huh?" "You weren't able to walk; something must be wrong." "No, I'm not hurt." Cy explained. "My gears were clogged." "Gears?" "I'm part machine, and my systems were getting clogged from all the sand. But now, I can force it out." Indeed Cy's body was hard at work, slowly expelling the sand from it in visible streams. "That's unnerving, you know that." Zelda said as she watched. "You've seen weirder then that." Cyborg chided, as he slowly began to flex his body parts. "Maybe, but I think I'll make sure that it doesn't happen again." She replied. Walking over to Cy, she placed his hand on his chest. A blue glow spread out from her hand, covering his entire body. After a moment, it faded. "My magic will now protect you from the sands." Zelda proclaimed. "Thanks." Cyborg said, getting to his feet. Zelda nodded, then changed back into Sheik. "We'd best get back up there. We need to press on."
They climbed out the ladder, and then back into the storm. "Where do we go now?" Cy yelled over the winds. "We go up!" Sheik replied. Grabbing Cyborg's hand, she led him up the winding platform that circled the structure. Finally they reached the top, and the winds seemed to die down. "OK, that worked." Cyborg commented as he looked around. "But how do we move on?" Sheik gave no response. She placed her hands on the eye-image on her chest, and suddenly brought them out. A red light flashed out before them and suddenly the image of a small figure, holding a lantern and wrapped in old robes, appeared floating in the air before them. Cyborg's first response was to draw forth his cannon and blow the thing back to where it had come from. But Sheik stopped him. "This is the guide to the Sprit Temple. He will show us the way." "But what is he?" Cy asked. "He's a Poe. You'd call him a ghost." "Wait, you're going to let a dead person show us the way? Isn't that a bad idea?" "This is the only way." Sheik said simply. As if on cue, the figure began to move across the sands. Sheik leapt of the roof and followed. After a moment, Cy followed.
The Poe was an engimic guide to be sure. Its way of showing them to the Temple seemed to consist of endlessly wondering around the desert landscape. Cy must have passes the same flag marker four times. However, the sandstorms were too great for him to try to find his own way. So with growing frustration, he continued to follow the Poe. Suddenly, the storms reached their climax, blowing around him so hard he could not see. Then the Titan felt a hand on his shoulder. Opening his eyes, he saw before him the epic figure of the Sprit Temple. Sheik's hand gave a pat on the back, as if in congratulations. "Well, I guess the dead guy knew what he was doing." Cyborg said. "Indeed." Sheik replied. "Now, let's get going." With that, they trekked across the last piece of desert and finally reached the Spirit Temple. After taking a moment to admire the Desert Wolf statue once again, they walked in.
"Whoa." Cyborg muttered as they walked around in the Temple's entrance. So far, the great structure was very much creepy. Large snake statues stood at either side of the stairway, as if guarding it. The air was stale, as if no one had opened the door in years. There were no sounds or any other signs of life. The only thing that seemed to be alive was the stone platform in front of them. It glowed with an unearthly light, and seemed to be waiting for them. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked Sheik, as she changed back into Zelda. The princess responded with a nod. "This is the gateway that Link spoke to us of. We need to use it." "Are you sure that there's nothing else we need to do first?" he asked. "As long as you have the Mirror Shield, we'll be fine." With that, Zelda stepped onto the platform and vanished. Cyborg followed, and reemerged on a large platform in the middle of a huge room. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around. "In the hall of your own deaths!" a crackly voice rang out. The two of them whirled around to see a pair of symbols appear on tow platforms apart from them. From each, the figure of a hag on a broom appeared. "You dare to enter the shrine of Kotake and Komue, Princess?" The hag with a red gem in her forehead cackled. "I do not fear you witches!" Zelda cried. With that, she let out a furious burst of magic that struck the witch dead on. But she only laughed. "Did you really think that magic could hurt us!" Kotake laughed menacingly, as Zelda looked on in shock and horror. "We were practicing our craft when you were still in the womb! Your power is nothing to us." As if to prove it, the witch let loose a blast of flame right at Zelda. Thankfully, Cyborg leapt in front of her, Mirror Shield outstretched. The Shield's polished surface reflected the flame right back at the witches stunning them for a brief moment. With that brief moment, Cyborg handed the shield to Zelda. "Can you use this thing!" he asked. "Yes, but what good is it without my magic?" Zelda asked. "I've got my own magic to try." Cy replied, as he drew forth his cannon and blasted the witches. The pure sound knocked them back into the wall. As the hags drew themselves forth, Komue yelled, "What kind of power is that?" "The power of Cyborg, ugly! Booyah!" yelled the Titan, as he let loose another burst of sound. This time, the witches dodged it. Giving a sudden look at each other, Kotake yelled out, "We won't make the same mistake that we made with Link, Princess! You and your friend will feel our full power." The two witches began to swirl around each other, covering each other in their own magic. There was burst of flame and ice and suddenly a huge sorceress floated before them. Its hair was fire and ice, and it held a wand of each power in its hand. "Feel the power of Twinorovra!" She cried as she let loose a huge blast of flame. But this time, Zelda leapt forward with the Shield. It absorbed the attack and shot it right back at the hag. The witch crumpled onto the floor, stunned just long enough for Cyborg to let loose with his cannon. Nevertheless, she rose up and continued the attack. But no matter fire or ice, Zelda was always able to send it back. Finally, Cyborg's cannon prove dot be too much for Twinorovra's magic. The witch split apart into her two components, and then those hags began to dissolve in a haze of dark magic. When they were finally gone, Cyborg looked back at Zelda and gave the thumbs up. "You handle that shield pretty well Princess." He said. "You did good yourself." She replied. "It's was a good thing you were here Cy. If not for you, I would have given up." "Aw, give yourself some credit." "No, without my magic, I would have thought there no other way. And you may have guessed, I'm quite stubborn when I put my mind to it." "Well, yeah…." But Cyborg didn't get to finish, as an orange light filled the Temple. The ghostly image of a Gerudo appeared before them. Taking a look at Cyborg, she said, "I always manage to get the handsome ones, don't I Zelda?" As Cyborg blushed, the Princess replied, "You think that of all men, Nabooru." "No, just when it's true." The Gerduo replied. "Now then, I think that I need to thank you two, so why don't I save you some time and magic and send you to meet that man of yours and his friends?" Zelda nodded, and she and Cyborg were encased in an orange light…..
