Chapter 16
Ensnared

Link turned to see Terra, standing there in all her hideousness. "So I see you made it this far...well don't get your hopes up because you won't be getting much further," her lipless mouth twisted into a horrendous smirk.

"Oh we'll see about that..." Link muttered, gripping the master sword tightly in his hand.

Terra gave vent to a chilling laughter, so chilling that it seemed to freeze the very core of his being. "You don't understand my boy...the Moon Temple is my domain and here I have ultimate power over all!"

"Well not over me!" Link spat back, taking confident steps towards her.

Terra gave a sly grin and then Link heard a small 'mmph' emitted from behind him...he turned to see Nabooru slumped over on the ground and Vera lying next to her with her light shining dimly.

"What did you do to them?" Link exclaimed, his eyes boring into those empty sockets of Terra's, searching for answers.

"Oh don't worry...you'll be joining them soon...hahahahaha!" she laughed mirthlessly, the bones of her decayed body rattled together in a sickening way.

Her laughter soon became faint to Link's ears as an all too sudden sharp pain ricochet across his mind and darkness began to take over...

"Have a nice sleep..." and that was the last thing Link heard before he lost all consciousness...

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"Ow..." Link moaned groggily as he finally came to a while later.

His eyelids fluttered open to where he found himself strewn out on a cold and dusty stone floor, a very dim light illuminating few things around him. At first he felt stiff and almost paralyzed as he found himself unable to move as if he had not done so for a very long time...but soon the gift of movement came back to his body and he pushed himself up...the room spun for a few seconds as all the blood rushed from his head.

"Where am I?" he voiced this question aloud as he gazed about taking in his bland surroundings. He was surrounded by stone walls and many different passageways that branched off in different directions...almost like some sort of maze...but then again...what had last happened to him? Maybe that could explain where he was...?

...Nothing came to him...nothing at all...he remembered...seeing Terra...but that was it...nothing that could explain what had happened to him that would be reasoning as to why he was here...

He groped for the master sword he knew should have been strapped to his back...but it wasn't there!...he growled bitterly in frustration...yet again he had been left without a dang sword! Even the shield was gone...he was left without any sort of weapon...Well, he still had those 'power' gauntlets...A lot of good that did him...

Link sighed and decided the best way to get out of this mess was to pick a direction and set out in it...of course to also be wary of his surroundings along the way. And this was what he did...he attempted to pick the least sinister looking one but they all looked basically the same...creepy shadows dancing on the walls in the dim light that was cast from some unknown source, mist that clung low to the floor...all options definitely looked pretty sinister…so he just picked the one on the right and went with it.

He treaded along carefully, his footsteps light and soundless, extreme caution guiding him.

Now that he was headed in this direction, Link could only hope that it would end up free of danger...

For what felt like hours, he stalked along, having to make many more hasty decisions on which way to take as there were just so many twists and turns. So far the going had been pretty ok, just filled with the long and tedious task of walking. At a time like this without anything to really focus on, he began to wonder what had become of his food sack...he had never recalled having it on his person throughout the recent events that he could remember...but things had been way too hectic to think of food. He hadn't eaten since he had left the Gerudo Fortress...who knew how long ago that had been?

Little did he know, he was indeed wandering within a maze, a very large one at that. One that would take a person who actually knew the way at least twenty-four hours...but who knew how long it could take a lost person such as himself to get through it...? Unknown to him, this maze was filled with many perils...enormous creatures that possessed an even greater than Link's own...and he just so happened to be headed directly towards one of these creatures with the route he was taking...it wouldn't be long now before he would surely come upon it.

The deathly still silence that this place seemed to acquire bothered Link quite a bit. For one thing, if he were to make a single false step and kick free a loose stone, he feared the noise would alert someone...or something.

To make matters worse, Link was beginning to feel fatigued; the hunger he felt was starting to drive him crazy...especially when thoughts of all that good food he craved for popped into his head...

For a brief moment these thoughts of food were whipped away from his head when he froze, a sudden large thump that shook the very ground beneath him echoed through his pointed ears, causing him to freeze on the spot in mid-step. He waited in this uncomfortable position for several minutes. When nothing did end up happening, he continued on his silent way forward. If he did not keep moving, he feared he would faint from exhaustion and the current lack of something to at least snack on.

It then came all too suddenly...the next turn he rounded, he abruptly found his boot stuck to the floor somehow and he was pitched forward by this all too sudden change in movement and the surprise of such an unexpected thing happening...he was pitched forward straight into a white sticky substance strung up in an intricate pattern between the two narrow walls of this passage way...suspiciously looking like an overly large spider web...the boot that had stuck was left sticking to the floor and now he only wore one shoe.

Link gave a groan of dismay as he struggled to get up but found that he couldn't. The white substance was sticking to him and the more he struggled, the more entangled he became...Of course this little fact hadn't quite cross his mind yet as he did not give up his efforts to get free. That is until he heard that loud thump again...Once again he froze, but then after a brief moment, he only redoubled his efforts.

Another thump resounded around him...and then another followed by another.

Then many more loud thumps sounded out, following one after the other in rapid succession. Something was coming and that something sounded like it was pretty big. Link's struggles had become frantic, pure adrenaline surged through his body, the only thing that was keeping him pumped into action. Now was the time he needed to break free.

Luckily for him, he discovered why the gauntlets he wore had a special title attached to their name...

His mind being on frantic mode actually did come in handy for something... In an effort to try and break free, his hands gripped around some of the substance and when he pulled...it actually broke the substance apart!

Hope shot through him and after a few vital seconds of ripping and tearing away at what had ensnared him, he was free! He crawled away from the web, cutting a rather funny figure as the white substance had still stuck to his body even when having broken free. He looked as if he had attempted to mummify himself and had done a horrible job at it. ...The thumping was much closer now, sounding distinctly like multiple footsteps.

Link determinably pushed himself up, each step he took, his feet stuck to the floor making him have to forcefully pick them up and trudge along at an unfortunately slow speed. He snatched his boot up and managed to slip it back on.

The thumping sound seemed to have reached the point of being too close for comfort...its echo in Link's ears sounded like the quick and hard beat of a drum, striking out a call for death. Then Link heard something from right behind him and that was all it took. Without even glancing back over his shoulder, he took off running...well, more like the closest he was able to get to the point of running…

Upon rounding the next corner, luck struck him again. He found a small break in the wall...an ideal place to hide. He wedged himself into it, getting as far back and the deepest into the shadows that he possibly could. ...the thought that he might get stuck in there with all the sticky stuff he was covered in never once crossed his mind, it seemed all rationalism was gone from his head...he just wanted to get away from the thumper.

He wasn't kept waiting for long...the thumping suddenly came to an abrupt stop...as if something was looking around for him...too bad for it, he was intent of staying silent and unnoticeable to leave them doing just the opposite of that.

The thumping eventually picked up again, but much more slowly...the something taking slow, cautious steps. Link's plan was to wait it out; surely whatever it was would get bored of looking for him...at least that's what he hoped anyways. The next thing to pass through his thin line of vision was something that shocked him horribly...

His first thought was of Ghoma, the monster that had infected the Great Deku Tree back at the beginning of the quest where he had earned the title Hero of Time...but this thing was bigger...much bigger.

A giant spider…that was what had built the web that had ensnared him...and his fierce struggles had to have only alerted it...telling it that something big had gotten caught in its web. And that was what was in front of him now. This thing towered over him as well as if the length of three men were to be added on top his shoulders by far, it's long and hairy black legs were thick and the producers of that thumping sound. Eight beady eyes decorated the front of its grotesque face, resting above a cavernous mouth with a tad bit of what looked to be drool oozing out the side...but did spiders drool? Link had seen a tarantula before and this is had to be at least somewhat of the type of spider this thing was...besides the point that it was a heck of a lot bigger.

It didn't appear to have seen him, and he sure hoped that it wouldn't as it continued slowly pass his hiding spot. Silence was definitely looking pretty golden to Link at that moment.

The freak of nature eventually passed and Link fought the urge to breathe a huge sigh of relief, he wasn't going anywhere or doing anything until he was sure that thing was gone and far out of hearing range...except something happened that kind of blew the chance of the spider reaching a safe distance away from him...the spider was actually just around the next bend when it happened...

Link's stomach growled.

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Cliffhangers…don't ya just love 'em? lol. Call me mean, cruel, or heartless but I just enjoy leavin' those at the end of most of my chapters…as I'm sure you've noticed…lol :P

I hope you liked that chapter…I certainly enjoyed writing it : ) And a super big thank you to all my fantastic reviewers, y'all rock so much : ) Reviewer replies may be viewed by clicking the homepage icon on my profile page.

-blondie91

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Legend of Zelda…Made-up stuff in this fic would be mine however…yeah…lol.