Nika hurried outside to see that a beam of light started coming out of the cloud barrier, also making an opening to below, "So that's where I need to go." Nika thought before going to jump off Skyloft and calling her Loftwing.
During the flight to the opening, Nika could only guess what awaited her, but her answer came soon as she jumped off her Loftwing into the hole in the barrier, and what she saw... It was the most beautiful thing.
There were only dreams of what the world beneath the clouds was like, but nothing like this, and it was only what she was able to see, vegetation, fire, sand, and right now, she was falling near some kind of temple in the vegetation.
Sealed Grounds.
Right before hitting the ground, Nika used the Sailcloth Zelda gave her to slow down, landing softly on her feet, after she put the sailcloth away, Nika looked around, "This... This is... Beautiful... There's nothing like this in the sky." She muttered while going down a path that seemed specifically made for her.
She reached the end of the path and saw a door to the temple, but it looked to be old and stuck from all the dust and dirt, Nika stared at the door for a moment, until she felt a dark presence behind her, but looking, she saw a spiral path that went downwards, and at the center of it, some kind of pillar.
Nika started thinking what it was, but she got a headache that came out of nowhere, she held her head and closed her eyes, but when she opened them, she saw the black monster from her dream rise from the bottom of the spiral and lunge at her, the shock caused her to snap to her senses and realize that nothing really happened, but she understood something "I need to get down there."
Directly jumping instead of following the path helped save time, thank the Goddess for Zelda's gift, Nika approached the pillar and saw it was leaking a dark aura, "Make your sword vibrate." A voice called out to Nika, "Make your sword vibrate and hit the pillar, don't let the dark being break the seal..." The voice instructed, and seeing no other option, Nika did as told, she made her sword vibrate and she used it to strike the pillar, causing it to release a note, Nika already knew what to do.
Reproducing the note, caused a symbol to appear on the pillar and the darkness stopped leaking out, "Well done, you who was chosen by the Goddess, now, make your way back up... I'll be waiting for your arrival." The voice told Nika, and as it finished, air geysers popped from the ground, Nika used the sailcloth to ride the air currents and reaching the top of the spiral path.
The door now changed, it looked new, almost as if it was a completely different door, "Come on, come in." The voice invited, but this time, it felt as if it came from the temple, "Got no other option I guess." Nika thought before entering.
The inside looked a lot cleaner than the outside, as if someone has been living there for years, "So you've decided to come... I wasn't sure if you'd back down or go through with you decision." The voice said, now revealed to be coming from a very old woman, "...Who are you?" Nika asked, the lady chuckled and replied "That's not important for you to know at the moment, instead, you're Nika aren't you?"
Hearing her name come from the lips of a complete stranger got Nika to be on tight guard, "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you, your friend passed through here too actually." The lady said, peaking Nika's interest, she wasted no time in asking question "Where did she go!? Is she okay!?", The lady motioned for Nika to calm down and responded "She passed through the back door, someone was accompanying her".
"Wait, she should be alone? Nevermind, I need to follow?" Nika quickly stopped talking and went to the door, "Wait just a moment you, if you plan to go, I must warn you that the woods have been haunted by monsters for a while now, not sure why, but if you still insist on going, I won't stop you, just be careful." The lady told Nika who was undeterred from the information and went through the door.
Now outside, the first thing Nika saw was a bunch of monsters attacking a weird creature, they stopped howevr when they noticed Nika, the monsters attacked her, but she managed to kill them with mininal issue, "Are you okay?" She asked the creature, "Yeah, I'm fine, just the dangers of being an Archeologist!" The creature exclaimed before focusing on Nika "Say, you're not from around here right? I saw another one that looked pretty similar to you." The creautre said.
Already knowing that Zelda passed through there, Nika didn't ask about that, but instead asked "Uhh... What are you exactly?", the creature looked confused as he responded "A Goron, never saw one of us?", Nika shook her head before noticing a Loftwing statue behind the Goron, "Oh! You're interested in that too? Maybe you can help me." The Goron suggested while getting closer to the statue.
"You see, I found some ancient texts that mention these statues, they say that these have something to do with ascending to the sky." the explanation got Nika's ineterest and she got closer to the statue, but when she got close enough, it seemed to activate, "Is that supposed to happen?" She asked, but the Goron was more focused on the statue, "Forget that! This is the first one that did this! I don't know what you did, but thank you! Now I can continue my research!" The Goron cheered before going away.
Nika was confused by the guy, but the spirit in the sword suddendly spoke "Master... This statue was made by the Goddess to assist you in your journey... If go near one, you can choose to go back to the sky should you need to... Remember this, you might need to return sooner than you think.", Nika kept this information to heart.