Chapter Fifteen: The Blizzard Temple
Link was able to out swim the Tyfirians to shore, but because of the number of Tyfirians still alive, Link was forced to run from the beach as soon as he reached land to prevent another skirmish with his enemies. Not far from the shore, Link found a small forest and took refuge in the trees. He walked about a mile into the forest before he stopped to rest.
Though Link wanted took look for his companions, he knew that would mean heading back towards the beach where all the Tyfirians were. While Link wanted to protect those who aided him thus far, he realized the best thing he could do for them was make sure his mission was a success and going back to face the Tyfirians would seriously lessen that chance. All he could do is pray his companions were safe and continue on his quest.
Link did not rest long; he sat beneath a tree for five minutes and then struck out on his journey to the Frozen Fortress. After Link traveled another mile towards the center of the island he came across the ice wall. The wall rose straight up from the ground, which made it impossible to scale. Link found nothing nearby that he could use to climb wall, so he decided to walk along its base.
After he traveled another three miles Link came across a portion of the wall he could see through. At this point the wall was made up only of ice, whereas the rest of the wall was composed of stone, which was coated by many icy layers, which gave it the appearance of ice. Link had found one of the many gates into the Frozen Fortress. Each gate was separated from the next by about twenty-two and a half miles of wall. Though the gate was frozen over, all Link had to do. The ice soon melted and the hero passed through the gate and entered the icy wasteland.
Link continued on his way to the center of the island, traveling across snowy plains until he reached the base of the mountain, ten miles from the fortress wall. As Link looked up to the mountain summit he was glad no one else was with him. The mountain seemed to shoot directly up out of the island. The ascent to the top of the mountain would be difficult and Link did not want to be slowed down by anyone like he had been while traveling through the Shadow Woods.
Without further hesitation, Link began his perilous climb. The slope was not as extreme as it first appeared, but the snow was very deep and could not support Link's weight, so the mercenary was forced to use his powerful limbs to plow through the snow every inch of the way. Link tired quickly, but he forced himself to continue up the mountain until dusk. Once the sun set, Link realized he was not prepared for the trek to the Blizzard Temple. He had no food, no water, and nothing he could use to build a fire. The lack of water was not a problem, for he was surrounded by it in its frozen form, but the lack of food and firewood promised to be major problems. The cold had not really bothered Link thus far, but once the sun set he found it difficult to focus on anything else.
For his first night on the mountain Link burrowed a small snow cave off the side of the path he was making. Though it was very cold Link managed to squeeze six hours of sleep out of the night. He awoke the next morning shivering. He rubbed his arms with his hands in an attempt to warm himself up. It was times like these that Link was glad he wore pants and a long sleeved coat instead of the Kokiri tunic of his younger days. Though Link's coat and pants were lightweight and the cloth was not very thick, it was quite effective in keeping his body heat in whenever it was cold out.
Link continued to plow through the snow and make his way up the mountain before the sun rose again, but the snow had become hard and icy during the night, which made Link's trailblazing much more difficult. Unfortunately the snow was still not hard enough to support his weight. Once the sun rose, the snow softened again and Link was able to pick up his pace. As Link progressed up the mountain the wind picked up and blew much harder than it did at the mountain's base. The wind chilled Link to the bone and he began to shiver violently as he made his way through the snow. Link stopped every couple hours to rest and warm himself up. Still he only rested for a few minutes each time.
Sometime around noon that day, Link noticed something off to the right of his trail. A large white wolfos was feasting on something it had killed. Though Link hated the taste of wolfos meat, he knew he could not be picky in such a situation. Link killed the wolfos with a well-aimed arrow. He cut a path to his prey's body and forced himself to choke down some raw wolfos meat. Luckily, the wolfos had just killed a mountain goat before Link killed the wolfos. After Link finished eating, he pulled the chain from his hookshot and disconnected it from the firing apparatus. He then tied up the wolfos and the goat and lashed them to his back. The two beasts together weighed seventy-five pounds, but Link easily carried them with him.
As Link climbed higher a dense fog fell upon him. He soon lost sight of the sun, but with the fog also came more snow. At first it fell only lightly, yet the light snowfall rapidly turned into a blizzard. Snow constantly flew into Link's eyes decreasing his ability to see, but he was not daunted from climbing.
While Link trudged through snow he wondered why the island was covered in snow. Based on its location, the isle should have had a tropical climate. On the main land it was summer, but at the Frozen Fortress it felt like winter. The truly strange thing about the island was, just outside the fortress wall it was warm. When Link passed through the fortress gate, he had instantly felt a temperature drop. Link arrived at the conclusion that some sort of curse must have been placed on the island in order to protect the Blizzard Temple and Soarlec's Talon from thieves.
About two hours before the sun set that day, Link noticed a sudden increase in the slope of the incline. The change was so drastic it seemed like another mountain grew out of the original mountain. Though the incline was much greater, Link found it easier to scale in some ways. The steep slope of the mountain caused most of the snow to slide off. Link was no longer forced to use his body to clear a path. However, the steep slope presented a new set of challenges. Almost every inch of the mountain was covered in ice. Link frequently slipped as he climbed. Also, the lack of snow prevented Link from digging a snow cave, consequently Link was forced to spend the night out in the cold with the wind constantly blowing on his back.
Link's second night on the mountain was the coldest night of his life. Fortunately, Link had the skins of the wolfos and the goat to use for warmth, but they proved to do little good for the hylian. Link found it impossible to sleep that night, even after the blizzard finally subsided, so he continued to scale the mountain in the dark. Link thought if he continued to move he would feel the cold less. The bitter cold did in fact seem less extreme to the hero as he climbed, so he climbed all night long. Though the darkness greatly limited his vision, the moonlight enabled him to continue his ascent.
Once the sun rose the next day and the air became warmer Link propped himself up against the mountain and fell asleep. He awoke only a couple of hours before dusk. Before Link continued the climb he ate some more wolfos meat and some snow. One fortunate side effect of the cold was it kept Link's food from decaying.
Once he finished eating, Link once again began to clamber up the mountain. He continued to climb after the sun left the sky. Halfway through the night, there was another sudden increase in the slope of the mountain. At this point the mountain rose up almost completely vertical. Before Link was only hiking up the mountain, he only occasionally needed a handhold to lift himself up. Now Link's journey had turned into a rock climbing expedition.
With the rocks covered in ice Link found it difficult to keep his grip strong. He was also constantly shivering. With his arms shaking involuntarily, he often lost his grip and was forced to pull himself up with the use of only one arm. Occasionally Link found a ledge large enough he could rest on, but as soon as he stopped the cold set in. Link tried to keep his mind of the cold at these junctures by thinking of other things. The main things he thought about were Chiron, Vialla, and Balris. He wondered where they went after Balris's ship sank. In all likelihood they swam for shore the moment the ship went down. The question was where did they go after that? Did they take refuge in the woods like he did or did they wait on the beach for him? Did the Tyfirians capture them? The mere possibility that they might have fallen into enemy hands gnawed on Link's soul. There was no telling what would happen to his companions if the Tyfirians got their hands on them.
As Link thought of the Tyfirians a great deal of rage swelled within him. The Tyfirians were causing countless Cyntirians to suffer because of their blockade. It was because of them that Link was at the Frozen Fortress. A sense of hatred for the Tyfirians began to brew within the Hyrulian. They were the ones after all who had killed Calrith and they may have already killed Chiron and the others. As he contemplated the possible death of his companions, Link realized the Tyfirians could not be blamed for what they were doing. Link wondered how many of the Tyfirians were like Ormek. How many of them actually wanted revenge on Cyntir. Link guessed that probably very few of them sought vengeance, most of them most likely wanted peace. It was people like Ormek who kept the war going people who refused to let go of their hatred, refused to let go of the past.
Refused to let go of the past, that phrase stuck in Link's mind like an arrow. He longed to let go of his past, but no matter how hard he tried he could not forget his adventures in Hyrule and Termina. The events that transpired in those places still haunted Link everyday of his life. He still had nightmares that Ganondorf would get free and terrorize peasants or the moon would fall from the sky and destroy the entire world. In those nightmares Link watched helplessly as the world fell apart around him. As the painful memories came flooding back to him, Link determined he needed to keep climbing to get his mind off his past. He simply could not tolerate his memories any more.
Link continued to scale the mountain until dawn, but he did not always move upward. He often found himself in a spot where he could no longer find any means of supporting himself on the mountain. Whenever Link came to such a point he had no other choice than to climb back down a ways and choose another path to scale. Once the sun rose Link climbed until he found a ledge he could rest on. Link tried to sleep, but the fierce wind and bitter cold prevented him from sleeping for more than a few minutes at a time. A just after noon Link stopped trying to sleep. As he stood up he looked down the mountain. Clouds surrounded the peak; Link could not see the base of the mountain nor the top. He began climbing the mountain once more, but before long the wind picked up again and the snow began to fall. A few times Link climbed into an area where he could no longer progress, but for the most part his journey to the top was fairly smooth. As Link came closer to the mountain summit his muscles burned. With every inch he climbed Link lost a bit more of his determination, but he forced himself to continue anyway. A few hours after the sun set that day, Link reached the mountain summit. The first thing Link saw when he pulled himself to the top was the Blizzard Temple.
The temple was made out of the same stone the mountain was composed of. In fact the temple had been carved right into the mountain. As Link stared at the temple he wondered what kind of race could build such a structure. The gorons were the only race he could think of that could survive on top of the mountain for an extended period of time, but gorons were to bulky to climb up a mountain as steep as the one the Blizzard Temple rested on.
The entrance to the Blizzard Temple was not visible to Link when he first arrived at the summit. He slowly made his way to the other end of the temple, but it was not an easy task. The building left very little walking space at the top of the mountain. Only about one foot of stable ground sprang out from the base of the temple. Link was forced to sidle his way around the structure's perimeter.
Once Link arrived at the temple entrance he sighed. He had finally reached his goal, but he was certain the trials awaiting him inside the temple would be far worse than those he faced on his way to the temple.
Link entered the temple with his sword drawn, half excepting an ambush. The first room in the temple was built like a cave, with both stalactites and huge icicles hanging from the ceiling. At the back of the room were three doors, one at ground level, and two just above the first with two curved inclines made of ice leading up to each of the doors.
Link sheathed his sword and removed the two animal carcasses from his back. He reassembled his hookshot and then passed through the ground level door. The next room was very long, but the floor only extended three feet from the door. Below the drop off laid dozens of sharpened icicles pointed toward the ceiling, ready to skewer anything that was unfortunate enough to fall on to them. In an alcove on the other end of the room sat a large metal plated chest. Leading up to the alcove were several ice blocks attached to the right wall.
Link charged the ledge and leapt onto the first ice block, but it was unable to hold up Link and it broke from the wall. The mercenary jumped from the first block and to the next just before he the first one fell. The second was no stronger and collapsed just like the first. Link managed to cross the sea of deadly icicles, but by the time he reached the other side of the room, the entire set of ice blocks had broken from the wall, leaving Link no way back to the door.
Without hesitation, Link opened the chest, in it he found a roll of parchment, on which was a map of the entire temple. "Great," Link thought to his self, "now if I could just find away back across the room I would be set." Link turned all his attention to scanning the room. Just above the door Link noticed a familiar shape, but it was covered by ice. Link shot a fire arrow at the irregularity and the ice around a grapple point melted away. Link used his hookshot to pull himself across the chasm unharmed.
Link re-entered the first room and immediately attempted to run up one of the icy inclines, but it was too slippery for him to make it up to the higher doors. He attempted to climb it again only that time he hit the icy ramp with a running start. He made it further up the incline, but he again slipped near the top and slid back down. He shot off the bottom of the incline with considerable speed and slammed his back against the other ramp. Link rubbed his spine and chuckled. He charged one of the inclines again, but this time when he reached the point where he no longer had enough speed to continue any further up the incline, he turned and started to run down the ramp. As Link reached the ground again he continued running, he hit the other frozen incline with even more speed than the first. Link's plan worked like a charm, he easily made his way up the second incline and reached one of the higher doors.
The next room was small; the floor was covered with snow and riddled with freezzards. Link quickly disposed of the ice beasts without even being touched by their frigid breath. After the freezzards were all dead, a small wooden chest appeared in the middle of the room. Inside Link found a key; he attached the key to his belt and left the room.
Link used the same technique of running down one incline and up another to reach the last door in the front room. As Link passed through the third door he felt another temperature drop. Link hugged himself in an attempt to stay the cold, but when Link studied the room he was in, he let his arms fall to his side as he gazed in awe at the size of the room. From the floor to the ceiling the cylindrical room measured two hundred feet high. A large spiral staircase ran from the floor around the walls of the room up one hundred eighty feet. The staircase was full of large gaps that were wide enough that no creature without wings could jump.
Link unfolded his map and studied it carefully. According to the map, the Blizzard Temple was made up of seven floors. None of the floors were very large, but the number of separate rooms promised to keep Link occupied for a long time. With a grunt Link made his way up the staircase. Atop the first section of the case was a door, chained shut. Link used the key he found earlier to unlock the door. From there Link made his way through three more rooms, melting ice with his fire arrows, shoving ice blocks around, and slaying a few ice keese along the way. At the end of the third room, Link found a small staircase. Link followed the stairs and found himself on the second section of the large spiral staircase in the temple's main hall.
Link continued up the stairs until he came across another gap. At every gap in the stairs, a door was close by, which led deeper into the temple. The excursion through the temple was long and arduous, but Link's will conquered any weakness within him that would prevent him from reaching the top. It took a day and a half for Link to reach the seventh floor of the temple. Link faced many other enemies and puzzles along the way as well as many frozen passages, which forced him to use up most of his arrows as fire arrows to melt the ice.
Because of the extent of the physical activity required to reach the top of the temple, Link often found himself perspiring. The deep cold quickly froze the sweat and left Link colder than he had ever been in his entire life. By the time he reached the seventh floor, Link's undershirt and pants were frozen to his skin in several places. His hands and feet were also beginning to exhibit the first signs of frostbite. Link breathed a deep sigh of relief when he finally stepped on the final step on the Blizzard Temple's grand staircase. From the top step Link turned his gaze to the temple ceiling. Encased in a large icicle was what appeared to be a curved dagger. Upon closer inspection, Link realized it was not a dagger, but the talon of a large bird.
"The Talon of Soarlec," Link whispered to himself. From the top step of the staircase Link had the only clear shot at the icicle in the entire room. He immediately drew an arrow from his quiver, which left him with only two more arrows, and strung his bow with it. He powered up the arrow with his magic and shot it at icicle. The ice melted away and the talon fell to the first floor. As soon as the talon hit the ground, the staircase began to shake and break apart. What Link did not know was the stairs were rigged to collapse if the icicle at the top of the room melted or broke. Link turned and began to run down the stairs before they fell from beneath his feet. Link was able to clear the gap in the stairs as he descended because he jumped from higher ground, which was only possible while going down the stairs. As the sections of the staircase hit the ground they broke though the floor which was made of nothing more than a thick layer of ice. Once Link made his way back to the second floor he threw himself from the steps and landed hard on the crumbling ground.
After the falling stairs had done their damage, only a circular platform of ice, connected to the wall in two places, was left. In the exact center of the platform laid the recently thawed talon. Link attempted to retrieve the claw, but before he reached it, a creature composed of ice that was roughly his size dropped from the ceiling and snatched the relic from the ground.
The creature looked like a large freezzard, but this beast possessed long appendages and its eyes glowed with a demonic red light. Before he did anything else Link fired his second to last arrow at the beast, but the ice demon was too fast. It leapt up in the air and easily cleared the projectile. It landed right in front of Link and took a swipe at him with its powerful claws. Link stepped back just before the ice beast struck him. He then took a swing of his own with his sword, but the creature simply performed a back flip and escaped unharmed. Link charged to attempt another swing, but the demon jumped back again and clung to the wall with its razor sharp claws. It then pulled back its head and shot forth a sphere of frigid gas at Link, who somersaulted forward to avoid the blast. Before Link got back to his feet the demon jumped from the wall and slashed Link's hand. Link dropped his sword and the demon kicked it away. The blade slid across the floor and finally came to rest with its hilt hanging over the edge of the platform. Link turned and ran for his sword, but the demon jumped over the hylian and cut him off before he got far. The demon then began to swipe at Link with both its arms and legs. Link managed to deflect all of the attacks with his shield until the demon caught the edge of the shield with a wide kick. The strength of the kick forced Link to extend his arms to maintain his grasp. The demon followed the kick with a powerful slash, which landed on Link's shoulder. Link's chain mail shirt provided little protection as the demon claw tore through the shirt and Link's shoulder. Link howled in pain and fell on his back. His blood gushed from the wound and was soaked up by his coat.
The ice demon pounced on Link and attempted to tear out his throat, but the hero held up his shield before the beast reached him. The creature landed on the shield, but Link was able to muster enough strength to push his shield away from him. The ice demon lost its balance and crashed to the floor, but was quick to recover. It jumped to its feet and flipped backwards several times and anchored itself to the wall once again. The demon then shot three more balls of ultra-cold gas from its mouth, which Link managed to dodge with much energy and effort.
Link tried to recover his sword again, but the ice beast let out another blast and knocked it over the edge of the platform. The creature then jumped back to the ground and charged Link, who quickly drew a bomb from his bomb bag and lit the fuse. He hurled the explosive at the ice demon before it got within ten feet. It changed directions before the bomb exploded and escaped unharmed. The demon then hopped to the center of the room. It breathed out a continuous stream of gas from its mouth and began to spin around on one foot. The circular motion turned the ice stream into a spiral that covered the entire surface of the platform. Link was left with no choice but to jump from the platform and cling to its edge.
After the stream of gas ceased the ice demon vaulted itself over to Link's position. It hoped to tear the hylian from the ledge, but Link was ready for him. The moment the ice demon landed in front of him, Link fired his hookshot at the demon's foot. The chain wrapped itself around the beast's leg and as it tried to jump to the nearest wall to escape, Link pulled on the chain and his enemy fell into the gap around the platform. Unfortunately the chain of hookshot wrapped around Link's wrist. The force of the falling demon pulled on the chain and ripped Link from the platform.
As he fell into the darkness Link saw the ice demon falling beside him. After a few moments of free fall the bottom of the pit came into view. Fortunately the bottom was a small hot spring full of water. Before Link plunged into the water he grabbed the demon and turned him towards the ground, so that he was able to use the demon as a shield to brace for impact.
Within seconds after the two warriors slammed into the spring the heat of the water melted the ice demon. As it dissolved it dropped Soarlec's Talon and the relic floated to the bottom of the twenty-foot deep spring. Link let out a thunderous cry of pain as his head emerged from the water. The hot liquid poured into his wound and caused him immense pain. The sudden increase in temperature was more than one hundred forty degrees Fahrenheit. For his first few moments in the spring Link could have sworn his skin was on fire. After a few more moments Link adjusted and would have enjoyed the warmth if it had not been for his shoulder wound.
As soon as Link reoriented himself, he dove down to the bottom of the spring and recovered Soarlec's Talon and his sword, which also had also fallen to the bottom of the spring. Link would have let out a victory cry upon picking up the talon, but he was unsure if he could get out of the pit alive. Because of the extreme cold and Link's wet clothes he would freeze to death in a couple of minutes if he attempted to leave the spring. Link sat in the spring for several minutes with no idea of how he could possibly escape. Link smacked himself on the forehead in frustration.
"This is it," Link thought, "I have come all this way to die in a hot spring." Just as Link was about to loose all hope he felt his hair and realized it was already dry. To his surprise the heat that radiated from the pool had dried his hair and cap. Link then slowly lifted a small section of his body out of the water. In a few minutes the section was dry and he raised more of himself out of the water. It took Link several hours to pull himself out of the spring completely using such a method.
Once he was out of the spring he surveyed the room he was in. He found one door that led out of the chamber. The passage led to another cylindrical room, but it was much larger than the previous one. It was so deep Link could not see the bottom. Link was at the top of the room, from that point a long four-foot wide circular ledge of ice wrapped around the inside of the room and led to the bottom with an extremely steep slope.
Link noticed that the room was significantly warmer than any other part of the temple, though it was still fairly cold. However it seemed that the ice in the room was beginning to melt. Link guessed the ice demon he destroyed was responsible for the frigid climate and with the creature gone the ice on the island was beginning to melt. Unfortunately the melting ice made the ice ledge even more slippery and impossible to descend safely on foot. Link contemplated how he could get to the bottom of the room for several moments. The only idea he came up with was to use his shield as sled and ride it to the bottom.
Link felt ridiculous trying to pull in his legs and sit in his shield, but it proved to be an excellent way to get to the bottom of the room. It was much faster than walking, but it was also hard to control the shield and Link almost careened of the edge several times. However, as Link advanced further into the depth of the room he learned to control his "sled" better. The deeper into the room Link delved the warmer it got. Soon Link started to feel comfortable again. However the newfound warmth caused the ice ledge to melt even faster. Before Link got to the bottom of the room the ledge cracked and started to collapse behind him.
Link quickened his pace down the ledge and though the falling ice was a lethal threat Link actually had fun as he narrowly evaded death. He succeeded in making it to the bottom of the room unharmed. By the time reached the base, Link had spent half of the day sledding. From the floor of the room Link found a passage to the outside. Once he exited the temple the mercenary was stunned to find that he was at the base of the mountain. He also noticed much of the snow on the mountain had melted off. In fact the passage Link used to exit the Blizzard Temple had only been cleared of snow within the past hour.
Link sighed with relief. He was quite glad he did not have to go back down the mountain. He knew climbing down the mountain would be far more dangerous then climbing up it. Link stared at the mountain for a moment and then lifted Soarlec's Talon above his head and let out a cry of victory. He finally possessed the means he needed to defeat Ormek.