So, here we are. Second to last chapter. Over one hundred reviews. Feeling accomplished. Feeling good in illness. Feeling relatively confident about the chapter. Let's geet it ooooonn!
REVIEWERS: MY ETERNAL GRATITUDE TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Chapter 23: Trials
It was business as usual in Skybound as normal routine was restored to the town. The fanfares had died down, and the winged citizens were busying themselves with cleaning up the messes Dameus left in their beautiful city. "Drakar!" Link hailed as the named passed.
"Link, you've returned already," the prince commented. "What news do you bring?"
"The glass maker, his name is Wilson. He's not a bad guy at all… He's just trying to make an honest rupee," the hero reported. "Send word to your father that events pertaining to the glass maker will not happen again. Before you go, please tell me. Would you happen to know the location of Purgatory?"
"Purgatory is a dangerous place," Drakar sighed, "both for this within it and those around it. This is one reason the Sky Clan remains hidden in the clouds: long ago we were deemed as the protectors of the gate. Two of our finest reside just on the other side of the gate where they supervise who goes in and who comes out."
"They must not be as fine as you make them out to be if Dameus got in," Kaze muttered. Drakar sighed again. "Hermes and Persephone, the two warriors that protect Purgatory, were caught off guard. Dameus knocked them out cold before they could even deliver a warning cry. As a result, defenses have increased by tenfold. It is likely that they won't let even you three in," he explained.
"We'll have to get in somehow," Lor said in determination. "One way or another, we'll bring Hieke back."
Failing to change their minds, Drakar directed the trio to the farthest reaches of Skybound. Settled on the edge of the cloud as though floating on the mist was a giant arch. In the middle was a swirling vortex of what appeared to be fire. How appropriate, Link mused grimly as he approached the structure. Images were engraved upon the stones, crude carvings of people wandering barren plains in droves. There were illustrations of fires that swallow up all who approach and images of terrible monsters that roam the otherwise lifeless mountain. Lor shuddered.
"Purgatory?" he asked.
"Purgatory," Kaze confirmed.
Link stood before the gate hesitantly. His mind searched every consequence and compared it against the prize of having Hieke in his arms again. He could find no reason to linger any longer and pressed forward through the portal.
The searing heat was intolerable. Link held up his arm to protect his face from the blasts of scorching wind that singed his gauntlets and sleeves. Lor shut his eyes and shielded his face with his hands. Kaze pulled up the tattered gray scarf bound about his neck.
Before them loomed a vast wasteland. The ground was blackened and cracked from the incessant heat. The sky was naught but a crimson void, be it from the heat of the place or the blood of those that wandered it. In the center of that infinite scarlet was a terrible moon, black and empty like an eclipse. Sadness and anger flowed around them on the wind, seeping into their veins and infecting their minds. Lor sank to his knees and stared at the ground as he saw his life as it truly was: nothingness. Kaze fought back tears as the intensity of the wrongs he had committed was revealed to him. Link gazed at his hands in disgust, seeing with new eyes the blood of all the people he had ruthlessly slain.
A soft voice penetrated their anguish and brought them back to the situation. "What business have you in Purgatory?" the voice inquired with complete absence of compassion.
Link snapped his head up and his cerulean eyes met the harsh ones of a somewhat older man with ebony wings. His clothes and hair were dark. Sky Clan, the hero observed. "We come to retrieve the soul of a dear friend," he declared. A shadow swooped forth and gained substance. It was a woman the same age as the man, with short hair and a flowing black skirt. "No," he replied simply. "Forget what your eyes have seen, lest the images pervade your nightmares. No longer will we allow the recovery of a deceased soul into the living world. Not after what Dameus did."
"Madam," the man scolded gently. "Forgive my friend. She is still bitter over her failure. My name is Hermes, and this is Persephone. We are the guardians of Purgatory," he introduced. "As Miss Persephone stated, we are now far more wary about our work. I beseech of you your own identities before this conversation further develops."
"My name is Link, and this is Lor and Kaze," the green-clad boy said as he gestured to his companions in turn. Hermes nodded. "The heroes who felled the foul villain Dameus. Well done. May I assume that you come seeking the soul of Miss Hieke?" he questioned. Link gave his silent assent.
"Too bad. Please leave," Persephone spat. Hermes lectured her briefly. "Since the… incident with Dameus, you must pass our trials before you are allowed to find your friend," he informed. "I will ask you each a question pertaining to Hyrulean history. I will continue asking until someone gets a question wrong. We'll begin with young Master Lor."
Lor gulped. He had learned quite a bit during his exploration of the land, but could he answer trivia? He'd just have to believe. If all else failed, he could ask Kuro.
"Name the three Goddesses," Hermes said.
Lor breathed a sigh of relief. After all his adventuring with Artemis, he had this one nailed. "Din, Nayru, and Farore," he stated confidently.
"Link," Hermes said, moving on, "how many entrances are there to the Lost Woods?"
"That's easy. Four, if you include Sacred Forest Meadow as a separate part of the Lost Woods," he answered.
Hermes nodded. "Kaze, a male Gerudo is born after an interval of how many years?"
"One hundred," the thief shrugged.
"Back to Lor, then," Hermes muttered. "What is another purpose of the Zora's Sapphire?"
Lor gritted his teeth. Here he was thinking the questions would all be easy. How can I not know? he scolded himself. I have the Fairy Charm of Wisdom! Blue is wisdom! The Zora's Sapphire is wisdom! "To… symbolize the Royal Family of Zora Domain?" he guessed.
"No," Persephone said flatly. "Lor is out. Kaze and Link, I will be asking you riddles. They will get harder each round, so pay attention. Link goes first. Tell me, oh great Hero of Time, what is always before you, yet you can never see it?"
"You future," Link replied. He thought he had made that riddle up himself during his first adventure to stop Ganondorf. Often he had wondered what his future would wield, and as a result he came up with the phrase: "It is always right before me, yet I can never see it there."
"Very good," Persephone scowled. "Kaze, what is always coming but never arrives?"
"Tomorrow," the Gerudo smirked. He remembered his younger days sitting around a bonfire with Hieke, Lea, Linna, and Dikai as they told each other stories and gave one another riddles to solve. He wasn't going to be eliminated so easily.
"Link, what lives on its own substance and dies when it devours itself?"
The hero pressed his lips together in contemplation, lest he accidentally blurt the wrong answer. Lives on its own substance… That meant that it didn't need to get any kind of food, so it was some kind of object. …and dies when it devours itself. What could die that wasn't alive? Flames often seemed alive, but they live off the air and wood. What about candles, then? Their flames lived as long as there was wax to burn, and the wax was a part of the candle itself. That was it!
"Candle!" he shouted triumphantly. Persephone's glower became even more solemn. "Correct," she growled. "Kaze, what do you fill a barrel with to make it lighter?"
Kaze stared unbelievingly. How could one fill a barrel so that it was lighter? Feathers were light… but they had weight, no matter how little it was. Filling it with wings wouldn't enable it flight, even if flight would make it weigh less. The only way to make a barrel lighter would be to remove substance from it, maybe remove some of its planks or rings. But the riddle was to fill the barrel. Fill it with…
"Holes?" the thief answered hesitantly. Persephone sighed in frustration. "I see you won't go down without a fight. Let's up the ante, shall we? Link, listen closely to my riddle. It is a long one and I will not repeat it or any part of it.
Four jolly men sat down to play,
And played all night till break of day.
They played for cash and not for fun,
With a separate score for every one.
When it came time to square accounts,
they all had made quite fair amounts.
Now, not one has lost and all have gained
Tell me now, this can you explain?"
Link shook his head, baffled. It was obvious that the 'jolly men' were gamblers, but if they were playing seriously, someone would have lost money. Unless they were playing an ocarina, chimed Link's subconscious. He laughed victoriously. "The four men are musicians in an orchestra, and they're playing for cash!" he responded.
Persephone nodded airily. It seemed she had given up on her hopes of one of them messing up. "Kaze, there is a man looking at a portrait. He says:
"Brothers and sisters have I none,
but that man's father is my father's son."
Who is the portrait of?"
Kaze tapped his foot on the ground. This one was logic. The man in the portrait's father is the speaker's father's son… Father's son… Man, figures I get the confusing one, he grumbled in his head. It seemed obvious enough. "Is the picture of himself?" he said.
"No, it's of his son!" Link snapped. "Well, sorry, Mr. Smarty Butt," Kaze muttered. "It's you that should get Hieke back anyway."
"I've passed your trials, now let me proceed," Link requested. Hermes shook his head. "There is one trial remaining. You must prove yourself worthy. You've shown us your intelligence. Now show us you strength and your bravery!" he called as he shot up into the air and drew a blade of magnificent onyx. "You must defeat us in battle, Hero, should you continue into the depths of Purgatory!"
Persephone joined her partner in the skies and shot an arrow down at their opponent. Link quickly unsheathed his sword and blocked the arrow. Two against one? he thought somberly. Talk about stacked odds.
I was going to make this the last chapter, but I didn't feel like writing a fight scene at the moment. But then Angel of Atonement showed me a short movie of one of the most AWESOME BATTLES EVER, so I'll probably use that to help me write the coming battle (fight involved a couple flying people. CLOUD IS SO AWESOME!)
Oh shoot, I just used the demon word twice. Oh well. With that, I'm lifting the restriction on the word "awesome" until the Christmas contest is over. This might be a good time to mention that you don't HAVE to do Christmas if you don't celebrate it (for the contest, I mean). You can do whatever wintertime holiday you want, as long as it reflects a theme that I can understand.
Now exquise me whilst I jam to FF7 remixes, then go and construct a small shrine to Cloud. Ahem. Pardon me, I think my inner fangirl is showing.