A/n: Why not have the hedge maze? I didn't want to. It was a little video gamey, and besides, I don't want to be just like the game. Here, I wanted to show Link's power as the Hero of Time in a full-frontal assault, so that later, his power can be tested… Anyway, this chapter's gonna be exciting. Whooo:D Enjoy reading, and don't forget to review!
A Hero's PathChapter 25: Of Friends and Enemies
Link took a look around the room inside. It was dark, and it took his eyes a moment to get used to the dim lighting of the four braziers in the center of the room. They stood on the corners of a rail-perimeter of a square, in the middle of which was a strange, tall, thin booth with four posts. Link stood at the top of a staircase looking down upon this area of focus.
As his eyes adjusted, Link noticed that the embers of each torch were a different color, and none of them seemed natural. One was a deep red, another icy blue, a third bright green, and the fourth a dark purple flame. As Link's eyes finally adjusted to the lighting, the torches suddenly went out. All was dark, aside from the faint light issuing in through the doorway.
Suddenly, four figures appeared in the darkness. Each glowed of the color of each torch, and they hovered over them. At first Link thought he was seeing things, but it appeared Navi was mesmerized by the images as well. The figures appeared to be women wearing robes with the hoods drawn up. All four cackled in unison, then shot off in all four directions, carrying a candle of their respective flame colors.
The strange booth in the middle of the room descended into the floor and meshed with the tiling on it. Link and Navi were suddenly left stranded in the dark as the echoing cackle of the iridescent women echoed through the chamber.
"Link, follow me," Navi said. Her luminescent glow lit his way down the stairs and to the left. "There was a door over here," she said. "I saw it. Watch your step."
Link tripped as he stubbed his toe on a step. He headed up another staircase, still following his fairy guide, on the left wall of the great room. Once there, Navi glowed brighter and helped him find the doorknob at the top. He opened the door and stepped through. Through the door was another large room, lit by a floating, burning skull. Link almost jumped in startled surprise, but Navi calmed him.
"That's a bubble," Navi said.
"It looks like a burning skull with a chattering jaw," Link said sardonically.
"They're called 'bubbles'," Navi said as if everyone should know already. "They are a simple enchantment, mostly used for lighting effects. They're pretty harmless unless provoked. Let him light the room."
The floor of the room seemed pretty empty, but above, Link could faintly see passages and balconies overlooking the floor. By light of the bubble and the fairy, Link discovered a ladder resting by the wall. He climbed up it and found that it led to a long hallway.
He ran along it and found it hardly led anywhere. He did notice a strange section of wall with two handprints upon it. The passage ran perpendicular to another hall. One direction of this hall led back around out on a balcony. The open walkway ran parallel to the original hallway. On the opposite side of the strange section of wall with the hand impressions was another just like it. The other direction of the hallway led to a wall. At the top of the wall Link could see another corridor, but couldn't reach it.
The hand imprints reminded him of the Desert Colossus from seven years ago. He stepped out on the balcony and pressed his hands against it. He easily pushed the section of wall away and into the hall he had come from. The balcony led back around through the hallway, and he was able to come around to push the section of wall down the hall and up against the high wall. There, he jumped to climb the strange block of wall, then jumped again to get atop the wall with ease and enter the next corridor.
"How did you know to do that?" Navi asked.
"Hands of a hero, remember?" Link said, raising his gloved hands. "That's also how I did it, I think. The strength of two or three warriors, right? That's what Nabooru said."
"She did say that didn't she?" Navi said. "I'd forgotten."
Link and Navi walked down the next passage, which led them into an open area lit by a couple of bubbles. There was a door on the opposite side of the room from where Link and Navi entered. Above it was a large eye, constantly skimming the area. Link and Navi rushed to the door and Link opened it.
The following passage was the most bizarre thing he'd ever seen. The carpeted hallway twisted in on itself, leading to an opposite doorway that was upside down.
"I'm getting a headache just looking at this room," Link said. He took one cautious step forward on the twisting carpet, and found that gravity held no bearing upon him. He could walk with ease through this twisted passage as though it were any other hallway. He hurried to the next door, all the while Navi spinning behind, and practically leapt through to the next room.
"I might just throw up a little," he said as he stood still a moment. He looked around the room and got his bearings.
This room wasn't quite twisted, but it was similar. There were windows and doors on every plane of the room, from the ceiling to the floor. He stood on a landing with the door leading back through to the twisted hallway. Opposite him was another landing with a door, and in between was a single platform. He noticed a hole that he could peer through to see a strange, checkered wall beyond.
Link jumped to the center platform, then over to the opposite door. He opened it and stepped through. In the next room was a staircase leading down. On the walls were several portraits of nothing. One contained a red-hooded woman. As he drew close to it, the woman disappeared, and he was sure he heard a faint cackling sound. She reappeared in another portrait.
Link decided not to bother with her and hurried down the staircase. All the while he was wondering where Saria was. If he could just find her… Then he remembered what Mido said once more. The evil man on the horse was here. That sounded too much like Ganondorf. He hoped Saria hadn't encountered him yet, and decided he would face Ganondorf face to face before leaving this strange place.
At the bottom of the stairs was a small room with an unlit brazier by a door. Link walked through this door and stepped into a circular room. In the middle was a dark pit. He stepped close to see if he could see anything inside. It was too dark to see very far. Suddenly, a figure rose from the depths of the pit and landed right beside Link. It was the skeleton of a full-grown Hylian, standing and walking, holding a sword and shield.
"That's a Stalfos, Link!" Navi said.
"A what?" The creature swung at Link and he backflipped away. Upon landing, he drew his own sword and shield once more.
"Stalchildren are the children, Stalfos are the adults! The only way to summon these forth is to call upon Lord Bongo, King of the Dead to grant you an army of undead soldiers! That takes an incredible amount of power, Link. No doubt, Ganondorf did it."
Link was still dodging all of this creature's attacks. "Is there a way to defeat this guy, or do I have to fight until the sun gets in here?"
"I don't know that you can destroy him, but if you hit him good enough his bones will scatter. That's your chance to rid yourself of him!"
The creature swung its weapon at Link. Link blocked with his shield and swung with the Master Sword. The Stalfos blocked with its own shield and jumped back. It bounced on its anklebones and sprung into a jump attack at Link. Link rolled under its arcing leap and came up behind. The skeleton was not prepared for such a bold move. Link swiped upward on the warrior's backside, disassembling several ribs. The Stalfos hardly seemed to notice. It started to turn to face Link, and that's when he planned his next action.
Link really didn't feel like fighting this guy. He dropped his shield and slung it over to the other side of the Stalfos. The creature had now turned and started to swipe at Link.
As Navi shouted, "Link, what are you doing?" Link ducked the enemy sword and rose up as it started to block with its shield. He jabbed the Master Sword down into the sternum of the monster. It stared at the blade as though Link had just pointed to the button of his coat, and then looked at Link again.
In the moment's hesitation on the part of the Stalfos, Link took full offense. Holding the hilt of the sword, firmly fit in the monster's chest, Link climbed the monster's body and flipped over him.
They now stood back-to-back, Link's arms still around the skeleton's neck and holding the hilt of his legendary sword. Link placed one large boot on his shield, now resting metal-side-down on the floor before him. He hopped off his other foot and kicked with all his might backward, sending the shield skittering and sparking across the floor, going straight through the monster's legs. The sharp edges of the Hylian Shield caught in the crevices of the monster's anklebones and plowed straight through. The shield continued its course across the floor, carrying with it the bone make-up of the skeleton's feet.
As Link landed on both feet again, he raised his arms in a high arc, carrying every attached bone of the skeleton over his head. Then he slammed it into the ground, shattering the Stalfos so that no two bones were still assembled.
He freed his sword of the sternum still caught upon it, and started kicking bones into the pit. When he reached the skull, he chopped it in half before kicking both parts down the hole.
"That wasn't so bad," Link said.
Navi stared in amazement. Link's fighting style was incredible. He thought every move out before even dropping his shield, surely, and pulled it off with a grace and athleticism unlike any fighter before him.
Suddenly, a light crept through the ceiling, and a circular section of the ceiling dropped to fill the pit completely. A chest sat upon the section of floor that now filled the once-empty portion of the room. Link opened the chest and found inside a finely crafted bow, complete with a quiver filled with arrows.
"Wow," Navi said. "The goddesses have granted you a bow for your valor in attempting to conquer their temple!"
"What are you talking about?" Link asked.
"This temple is supposed to be a place devoted to worshipping the goddesses. Ganondorf has desecrated it. Now, you, the Hero of Time, are ridding the dungeon of all his evils. They have given you a bow to help you in your quest."
"How do you know all this?"
"Rauru told me it would happen."
"You could have told me! I thought I'd have to do all this with my sword!"
Navi laughed.
"Well who needs this stuff anyway?" Link said. "I don't need rewarding, like a dog on good behavior!" Still, he strapped the quiver to the lower portion of his bandoleer and tested his bowstring.
"What's wrong with you, Link?" Navi said.
He hesitated, and then with a great sigh said, "I don't know. I'm just confused, I guess. I mean, here I am, seven years from where I left off, and I'm taller, and stronger… and I'm going on a quest for some goddesses I don't know…"
Navi suddenly felt very sorry for Link. Why shouldn't he be confused? He'd just missed out on seven whole years of his life, and seven very important ones. Now, so much had happened in the world, and he had a duty to fulfill of which he knew very little. She was proud to be right next to him, watching over and helping him.
"It'll be all right, Link. I'm here."
"So?" he said fiercely. "You know all this stuff about everything, but you don't even live your life anymore, Navi! Remember all the good times we used to have? No, of course not. Anytime I bring up one of my memories, you talk about how long ago it was. Well it was yesterday to me!" He choked on these last words as tears fell from his eyes.
He dropped the bow on the ground, and wiped his eyes with both hands.
"Link, I…" Navi started, but she didn't know what to say. He was right.
They used to be such great friends, that much she remembered. But as hard as she tried, she found it so difficult to remember much of anything of their adventures. She remembered Gohma, and Mido, and the Dodongo's Cavern pretty clearly. Then there was Lord Jabu-Jabu, and their journey through the desert with Nabooru. All her memories were superficial, and so distant. She hadn't slept for seven years; she had studied. That was her life now, and as much as she wanted to remember all the great times they had together, she couldn't. The memories were so faded, so distant.
All she could do was keep silent as Link cleaned his face with his gauntlets and picked up his bow. Her silence stung worse than any retort she could have fired. As a child, she could always say things that would calm him, but now she had nothing to say for herself. She could say nothing to stop these tears he couldn't. "Let's go, Navi," he said harshly. "Let's get this over with."
Link opened the door he had come through.
"Link," Navi started.
"What?" Was she going to apologize? What good would it do? She had already failed him with her silence, with her forsaken memories.
"That's the door you came through," she said.
He made an indifferent grunt at her words and went through.
"Link what are you doing?" she cried as they went through the doorway, back into the room with the staircase. "Are you just giving up? You can't! You're the only one who can do this! You have to stop Ganondorf. You have to help Saria!"
He climbed the staircase in silence. She could cry to him all she wanted. It was his turn to leave her in the dark. He climbed up and looked around at the portraits. Again, one of them contained the hooded woman. When he went close, the woman disappeared before. Now he had a long distance weapon that could pierce these portraits.
He raised his bow at the portrait of the woman and fired. She cackled and disappeared as the bow sank in and the portrait fell to the floor. She reappeared in another portrait.
"Link, you're… you're not leaving?" Navi said.
He aimed again. The bow was almost as easy for him as his slingshot, though he knew that most people spent years of their lives training for accuracy.
"Why are you surprised?" he said coldly, firing again. The woman laughed and switched portraits again. "I care about my friends," he emphasized while firing at the next picture. Before she could switch again, she was hit square between the eyes in the portrait. The arrow seemed to become part of the picture, and the whole thing fell to the floor and burned in a deep red flame.
"Link!" Navi said. The flame rose into the air and descended the staircase to the brazier. Link picked up the arrows he had fired through portraits and returned them to his quiver. Then he descended the staircase as well and stared at the brazier. It was the same shade of red as the brazier in the main hall.
Now it made sense. He had to rid the temple of these witches and light the braziers again. But what would that do? He didn't care. The goddesses wanted him to do this. He'd do it and be done with it.
"Link!" Navi cried again.
"Is that all you have to say?" he said, and walked back through the door to the circular arena in which he had fought the Stalfos. On the opposite side of the room was another door. Through there was a room absolutely the same as the one opposite the arena. He passed the unlit brazier, climbed the stairs and looked at the portraits.
"Link, I…" Navi started again, but finally decided he was being absolutely unreasonable. "Just because you were a child yesterday doesn't give you the right to act like one!" She said haughtily. "I'm your friend, regardless of memories!" She waited for his reply.
He aimed at the blue-cloaked woman in the portrait and fired. She didn't even bother switching portraits, but came straight out of the picture frame and charged Link. He jumped to the side.
"Navi!" Link said roughly. "Wanna help me out here?"
Navi was silent. He wasn't going to answer her? She had just tried to make amends, and he had nothing to say?
"Navi!"
The woman fired a blue fireball at Link, and he rolled to the side and prepared to draw his sword from a kneeling position.
"Don't Link," Navi said. He stopped suddenly. "When you get close she'll disappear. She's a poe. Fire at her from far away."
Link notched an arrow and waited. The woman charged toward him again, cackling. He waited till she got close and released the arrow straight into her head. Then he rolled onto his back as she incinerated in icy blue fire, still charging over him. Once the ember was all that was left, it floated down to light the brazier.
Link lowered his bow. "You're my friend, regardless of memories?" he said. "And what is a friendship that isn't founded on warm memories?"
"I'm trying, Link. You could…"
"I could try?" he said, opening the door at the top of the stairs. "What do you think I have been doing? I remember such great times with you, and what do they mean to you? Nothing. You gave them up to fill your little head with more of this stuff. Like Stalfos and poes. What is a poe anyway?"
He stepped through the next door to find himself standing on a walkway over looking a courtyard. In it were all kinds of vegetation, and much of that were monsters like Babas and Scrubs. There was a well in the courtyard, but it was dried up.
"The Poe Sisters were a cult of four Gerudo women who worshipped Twinrova as a goddess," Navi said as they stared out on the courtyard. "Twinrova named them Joelle, Beth, Amy, and Meg. The poes, in turn, attempted to sell their souls for immortality to Lord Bongo. He laughed at them, and said they were not worthy of immortality, but granted it to them in exchange for their bodies. So they are now wandering spirits, able to conjure up lesser spirits to do their will. But now you've condemned two of them to the land of the dead once more. There are only two left."
"And they're in this temple."
Link walked along the walkway high above the courtyard and found another door. He walked through and found himself on a walkway in the great room with the bubbles.
He hopped down from the walkway about six or seven feet to the floor and stepped back out into the main room.
"What are you doing now?" Navi asked.
"I figure I've done all I can in that wing. You can join me in another if you like."
The hall was now lit on one side by two of the four braziers, one red and the other blue. By the light of these torches, Link caught something out of the corner of his eye: a strange, shining stone door. On it were etchings similar to that of the Door of Time. There was a knob on the door.
"Wow," Navi said. "It's an actual door."
"Where would I be without you?" Link said sarcastically. Navi glowed bright pink in frustration. Link tried the knob. It wouldn't budge. He pulled out his Ocarina and played the Song of Time. There was a strange, clicking sound, similar to the sound of an unlocking door. Link tried the knob again. It opened, and bright light came from the open door. He slowly stepped through.