Chapter 19
Sun Temple

The moment he warped to Lake Hylia through using the Serenade of Water, Link knew something was wrong…terribly wrong. His suspicions were confirmed by taking just one quick glance at his surroundings…the water was…bubbling?

He was immediately bombarded by a wave of heat that swept over him, that had to mean that the bubbles were there because the water was boiling, not to forget the rising steam of course. That could definitely be a problem for the Zora's…but what could possibly be the cause of such a thing? The temperature wasn't near hot enough above the surface to create such a strange happening or else Link would have been suffering from intense heat.

There was no way he was going to be able to swim through the underwater tunnel to get to Zora's Domain…unless they were in the mood for boiled Link that is, and he most certainly was not.

The Zora's problem was apparent…but now he had a problem, what could he do about it? He definitely couldn't just go away and leave things as they were. If the water in the lake was like this then it was probably the same down in the domain…

He sighed and sat down on the warp pad, pushing his mind into deep thought as he searched for an answer to this mystery. Absent-mindedly Link gripped a nearby rock and skipped it across the water…However, this simple act ended up being the basis of causing something much bigger in the scheme of things to happen.

First it was the ground that began rumbling and shaking beneath Link that startled him, then the next thing was a giant building that suddenly shot forth from beneath the water and abruptly towered over Link with its immense height. He could only gape at it; its sudden appearance had completely shocked him.

It was some sort of temple; the one Link was looking for perhaps? What appeared to be real gold coated its outside and shimmered in the late afternoon sun. Suns and all kinds of other indistinguishable things were etched into this gold and pillars supported the overhang above the entrance, a large door also plated in gold.

Shaking off his shock, Link stepped towards it. As if sensing his approach, a set of stairs unexpectedly descended out towards him, beckoning him to enter. He cautiously placed one foot on the first step and then ran the rest of the way up before yanking the door open by its large handle and entering the temple.

Behind him, the door shut with a resounding bang and the temple submerged back under the water of Lake Hylia. Link was not made aware of this occurrence however…

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Link's eyes were currently preoccupied with roving over the huge room he had found himself in upon entering the building. As was the outside, this room was also plated in a sheet of gold…even the floor. Only in addition there were statues…three really big statues…that also held really big swords. Each of these statues were exactly the same, their design was of a knight garbed in full armor holding their sword by the hilt with both hands with its point stuck into the ground.

Straight ahead was a door and that's where Link decided was the best way to go, there seemed to be nothing of importance in this room so of course the best option was to simply continue on. Then again, he was soon to discover that continuing wasn't going to be so easy…

As soon as he drew near the door, iron bars sprang up, blocking him from going any further…and from experience, he knew the bars also meant he was about to engage something in combat…but he had yet to find out what.

From behind him, there was the sound of stone grating against stone and he immediately swung around. What he saw gave him a pretty good idea of what he was up against…the statues.

All three now stood away from the wall and lined up in front of him, their swords up and ready for action. "You have trespassed into the Sun Temple and now you will pay the price with your life," a deep bass voice rang out from all around Link.

The statues simultaneously took a step towards Link, sending a great tremor through the ground. Link inched backwards and drew out the Master Sword…they wanted a fight, he would give it to them…he just had to figure out how he was going to take down three gold statues attacking him at once, especially since they were much bigger than he was.

This'll be fun… Link couldn't help but think this thought in a sarcastic manner.

The three statues began their charge towards Link and that action could have been called the official start of the battle. Link took a deep breath before diving into a roll and struck out at the leg of the center statue…he managed to hue out a chunk but that was about it, no serious damage whatsoever. He did however achieve angering that same statue as it swung in a downwards chop directed straight towards him.

Link immediately dived out of the way, nearly hitting the other statue's sword. He nimbly avoided that and clipped that statue with his sword.

The next few moments passed as a blur to Link. It seemed most of the time he was avoiding something or chipping away a tiny bit more of a statue. All in all, things were not looking very good for him…but with that in mind, Link came upon an idea.

He had luckily managed to avoid being struck thus far, but luck couldn't always hold out and that was a lesson he had once learned the hard way. All it would take on the statue's part was for them to nail him with one of their huge feet or a single slice of their sword and he would surely be finished…but the question was what would happen if they were to hit each other?

Link's next maneuver was to dive to where he was directly behind the statue to the left where the one in the center could see him. He picked up a chunk that had fallen off one of them and flung it at the one in the center…it did exactly what he had wanted it to.

Dodging away from the statue he currently stood behind, Link dropped back to what he guessed was far enough away. The center statue had tried to hit him with its sword, and had struck its comrade…the one struck gave a deep moan before crashing to the ground and shattered, sending chunks of it flying everywhere. Link winced as a rather small chunk nailed him in the chest. It had flown so fast that it succeeded in knocking the breath from Link's lungs for several seconds and it made his heart skip a beat.

He wasn't even given a chance to recover as the center statue's sword struck the wall just right above him and caused the rocks from that blow to batter him down. It was kind of sad it had missed…but then again, it simply proved that these things were too big to make proper use of their humongous size.

Coughing and wheezing because of the dust that had also showered him along with the rocks, Link crawled away from the debris and regained his standing position. His sword had not once left his hand this entire battle and here he was armed and ready for the next attack. The one on the right went side by side with the center statue, there seemed to be an evil glint radiating from those carved eyes. Link blinked such an image away thinking he was just imagining things.

If he wanted to continue carrying out his plan, Link was definitely going to have to move fast. With the two statues standing there before him in the position they were in, they had only complicated things for him. They each stepped towards him and Link had no time to waste, no matter what risk he faced if he didn't move fast enough, he would have to act now…or never.

Link pumped his legs into action and bolted off as fast as he could, darting straight to the left side of the center statue. The right statue lunged for him, almost as if it were oblivious to the other statue standing between it and Link. At the last moment however, the statue jerked its sword arm back and didn't even touch its partner.

Link gulped, "Now that wasn't supposed to happen…" he said aloud to himself in a low mumble.

Just as the statues turned to reface him, Link was hit by a little surprise…an annoying one at that.

"You are so dim-witted you idiot!" it was none other than Vera.

"W-where'd you come from?" Link questioned her, totally startle by her sudden appearance.

"Never mind that—WATCH OUT!" Link dived to the side just as the two statues lashed out with their blades in the spot he had been moments before. "If you would look closer you would notice there's a jewel at the base of each of those things' neck! All you have to do is hope you've got good accuracy and take it out with something…a sword would work best…and I suggest you get goin' before they kill you!"

Link nodded and scanned over the high neck of the statue, seeking the jewel Vera spoke of. There! He found it, the flash of red gave its position away. But while Link had been searching, the once center statue kicked out at him, its giant foot sent him flying into the wall. A dent was left to mark where he had hit once his body slid limply onto the floor.

Vera flew down to him, "Get up and finish this already!"

"Easy for you to say…" Link muttered bitterly as he struggled to stand…the pain that echoed in his right side had to be a sign he had at least one broken rib.

"HURRY!" she only snapped in return.

Link's breath came in deep gasps as he marched forward to face his foes, he held his sword in a position he'd be able to easily throw it in and took aim. Once again his aim proved true, it took out the jewel on the 'center' one and the statue went crashing down to the floor. Luckily, Link's sword came flying back down to land right in front of him. He immediately picked it up and turned to face the last enemy standing.

To his disbelief, it studied the remains of its comrade as if processing something. "These things don't have brains, do they?" Link couldn't help but ask.

"Possibly," was Vera's short and unhelpful reply.

Link grunted in agitation and prepared to take aim again. As he released his grip on it and sent it flying, the statue swung its large hand out right before it could take out the sparkling red jewel. Link was astounded by this, and even more so when the statue caught his sword and flung it back at him. Link gave a cry of pain as his sword pierced straight through his shoulder.

"Does that answer your question?" Vera taunted, appearing to be uncaring to the fact that Link had gotten hurt.

Link worked quickly and yanked the sword from where it had lodged itself…this caused more pain to reverberate through him, but now he didn't have a sword stuck in him anymore. Blood gushed out and stained parts of his tunic red before dripping onto the floor in a sickening amount. Link ripped off the opposite sleeve of his tunic and did his best to make a quick bandage before the statue could attack again.

Lunging out of the way, Link just barely avoided another swipe of the things sword. Then Link discovered another reason why the statue had examined its fallen comrade's remains as it picked up its sword and now stood with two of the giant blades.

Link picked up his sword, now stained with his blood, from where he had set it and yanked the shield off his back to hold in his opposite hand…the hand that was on the arm that extended from his wounded shoulder. Link proceeded to step forward as if to engage it in a fencing battle…but he had other plans.

As the statue plunged both swords downwards, Link threw his sword at the jewel on the base of its neck. Following this action, Link reinforced the power behind his shield by placing his other hand there to hold it just as the blades crashed down into it. Link was knocked to the floor by this, the shield slightly crushed him as he struggled to keep the swords at bay. If he didn't have the Power Gauntlets, who knew how long he would have lasted in such predicament? After what felt like forever, his sword finally struck the jewel, shattering it to bits and bringing about the demise of the final statue. Link curled up as best he could under his shield with his throbbing side and wounded shoulder as parts of the crumbling statue rained down upon him. Bang after bang was heard as his shield was struck numerous times and then…there was silence.

Link pushed his shield off and resisted the cries of his screaming body as he stood. He…had won…The sound of the iron bars rising further signified his victory. He breathed a painful sigh of relief and looked around for his sword. Finding it, he cleaned the blood from it and sheathed it.

"Wow…I'm impressed," Vera said fluttering about around him.

"Is that a compliment?"

"Maybe," was all she said.

Link dug through the sack of provisions he had been given and fished out a flask of fresh water. After downing a good bit of it, he put it away and positioned his shield onto his back over the sheath of his sword.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Link asked Vera, searching her tiny face for answers.

"That's my business, but I'd say it was a good thing I did come here seeing as you definitely needed my help… Come on now, onto the next room! We don't have all day you know…"

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On a balcony of Hyrule Castle, Zen stood with a sadistic smile on his face, Princess Zelda wrapped in his strong arms.

No longer in the rags she had previously been reduced to wearing, Zelda was now clothed in a flowing black dress that very much resembled the design of a wedding dress. Her normally deep sapphire blue eyes had lost their color, resembling a shade of grey. Her gaze was fixed longingly on Zen's face as if in a trance.

"Soon my bride…all this will be ours…" before them, all across Hyrule raging wildfires were visible and the shrill screams of death and torment reached their ears. "Soon…" he whispered.

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((sniff)) you reviewers are so good to me…without you guys I don't know where I'd be on the inspiration ladder…((sniff again)) Welp, thank you guys a ton and be sure to check out reviewer replies by clicking the homepage button on my profile page! I can not stress that enough…

I worked really hard on this today to get this updated so I'm actually shocked with myself…lol.

-blondie91

Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Zelda or anything that obviously does not belong to me. I do own Zen, plot, made-up things whether they are places or characters, and anything else that is rightfully mine.