Hi, y'all! How has your summer been so far? I have been writing this chapter on and off for a few weeks, and you should expect many more chapters to come. Don't worry, I won't stop writing until this story is finally done. Also, I will be testing with deeper and maybe darker themes in a few chapters, so prepare yourselves.
Ch, XIV
The Goron Lullaby
Link examined the mask in his hands. It looked like any other mask, yet Link had a strange feeling when he touched its warm surface. He almost felt life swirling inside the mask, and for a moment, it seemed to blink. A second later, it went back to normal, and Link wondered if he had seen it blink at all. He hesitantly raised the mask to his face, taking a deep breath, and then pain erupted in his head.
As soon as he placed the mask on his face, it stuck to him like a fly on a web. Link shouted in pain and alarm, but his voice was muffled by the mask that was now digging into his skin. Its power coursed through him, and purple light shone around the edges of the mask. Link frantically pulled at the edges of the mask but failed in his attempts. With one final scream of panic and pain, a light shone around Link, and he saw only blackness.
Link woke to the sound of a panicking Tatl.
"Link! Are you ok? What did you do! How do you look like the guy we just met!?". Tatl's words were getting more frantic with each word she said, and it seemed like she was about to explode with questions. Link, on the other hand, was feeling like someone had filled his head with rocks. He sat up, and immediately felt wrong, His joints seemed stiff, and he was much taller sitting up on the ground than he was when standing up! In a panic, he felt his face for the mask. He felt his face, but the features were not his. His face now had a small nose, wide lips, and a goatee!
After Link felt his face, he looked at Tatl, who was now looking at link pensively.
"L-Link? Is that you", she asked. Link was speechless at this new transformation, and could only nod at her words. He stood up and found that he was nearly 8 feet tall! Link looked down and saw a pair of short legs clad with thick leather boots. A muscular but very expansive belly the color of yellow sandstone poked out from a loincloth with a belt around his waist. He examined his arms and found they were hugely muscled, with many intricate tattoos on them.
Finally, Link cleared his throat with a sound like sliding gravel and spoke.
"What did that mask. do to me?", he intoned in a gruff voice like distant thunder. Link thought he knew the question but he couldn't help but voice it out loud. Tatl seemed about ready to explode, but Link calmed her down quickly.
"It's me Tatl, Link! I put on Darmani's mask, and it turned me into a Goron that looks like him. It must be the power of the song of healing.", he continued. This seemed to calm Tatl down a little, but she still was seething.
'Don't use magic things that you don't understand! I swear if you give me another heart attack by doing something stupid like that, then I am done with you.", she retorted. With that, she angrily flew out of the tomb of Darmani.
Link followed her but was surprised to see that he moved very slowly with his short Goron legs. Thankfully, the cliffside wasn't that tall, so he could easily climb down the cliff with his enormous hands. When he finally made it down, he sank deeply into the snow that grew another six inches while he was inside Darmani's tomb. To Link's surprise, he felt less cold. It wasn't like he didn't feel the cold, but his rocky skin acted as an exoskeleton, numbing the cold that he felt.
Now that Link had the power to become a Goron, he felt like his chances of finding the Goron keep where the other Gorons were located. He trudged through the snow but noticed that he was much slower than his human form. His short legs could barely move his massive form. "How did Gorons even move?", he thought. After a short while, Tatl spoke up.
"You know, things would go a lot faster if you rolled. We only have about two days left you know?", she exclaimed in anger. Link blinked. He had neglected to remember that Gorons could roll up into a ball and roll around places. How could he have forgotten?
Sheepishly, Link tucked his arms into his chest and curled up into a ball. When he was finished, he was curled up into an almost perfect sphere. There was only one problem.
"Uh, Tatl?", Link asked, "How do I see when I'm like this?". Tatl seemed stumped and didn't know how to answer.
"I don't know. Maybe it is something to do with a Goron's back? That is the only place that is exposed when they curl into a ball.".
Link shrugged and searched within his mind. To his surprise, he felt like he could feel the ground around him. He felt the cold stone of the cliff next to him, he felt the layers of snow around him, and he could even feel the roots of trees digging deep under the ground near him. Link used this sense to roll towards a tree a few feet away, and when he looked up, he saw that he had rolled in the right direction!
With excitement in his heart, Link rolled down the path to the Goron village once more, and Tatl flying swiftly behind him. Snow and rocks flew by, yet Link did not stop. He rolled past mounds of snow, through copses of trees, and by frozen rivers, until he sensed something strange in his path. Link stopped rolling and sat up to look at the obstruction with his own eyes.
Standing in the middle of the snow-filled path was an ancient-looking Goron. He had long white hair, parted in the middle, with a massive goatee of the same color hanging from his chin. His body was emaciated, but his hunched rocky back was positively enormous! He looked like he was on his last legs, but he crept steadily forward, icicles forming on his beard and back.
Link hesitantly took a step forward, and then the Goron whipped his head around, his wizened eyes peering at him with a stern gaze. As he took in Link, his eyes widened in recognition, and then shock.
"D-Darmani? Is it truly you? But you're supposed to be dead! Am I hallucinating?", he said, baffled. Link had previously decided to take on Darmani's role, so simply he nodded in response. The Goron looked at him in surprise, but then in sadness.
"No, you can't be him. You must simply be a hallucination from Snowhead's magic power. I refuse to see this unkind illusion in front of me! Leave me be, apparition!". By the end of the Goron's short speech, he was shaking in anger and turned away from Link with a harumph. This left Link stunned.
"Well, who does that guy think he is?!", cried Tatl, "We are only here to help, and he just ignores us!" The duo of Goron and Fairy looked at the figure passing through the snow and watched as he stumbled further down the path.
Despite the Goron's rudeness, the two companions resumed their traveling, and soon the Goron Village was in sight. The Goron keep was easier to find than they thought. Down the hill and to the left was a massive door with a large lever sitting beside it. When Link pulled it, the door opened, and he and Tatl walked into a massive cavern dug into the solid rock of the mountains.
The chamber was filled with Gorons, big and small. Many torches were among them, but none were lit. The chamber had a path spiraling up to a doorway with a gilded frame, and a statue of a goron was facing the entrance. The most notable thing, however, was the noise. A sobbing wail was echoing in the large chamber, and many Gorons were holding their heads in agony, trying to keep the ear-piercing noise out.
"What in the world is that noise!?", Tatl cried. A nearby Goron looked up at the voice and saw Link. Suddenly, he jumped up and cried.
"Darmani? Is it really you! How are you alive!" This made other Gorons notice Link, and soon, the wailing was drowned out by the shouts and cries of the Goron citizens.
A chant soon began, and Link was surrounded by hundreds of Gorons.
"Darmani! Darmani! Darmani! Darmani!", was repeated many times. This continued until a larger Goron barged into the crowd. He looked Link up and down, then his face split into a grin so large, that every single one of his marble teeth was shown.
"Darmani! You are alive! I don't know how you did it, but we are really glad that you came when you did. Now that you know what managed to knock you off the bridge, you won't be tricked by it again! My name is Gabbro, and I am the caretaker for our Elder's son.", he said. Link was stunned by the massive welcome, but the chanting had died down a little, so he could speak to Gabbro. He decided to choose his words carefully when he spoke.
"What happened when I was gone? Why is someone crying so hard?", he carefully asked.
Gabbro sighed in front of Link. He opened his mouth to answer, but the crying picked up louder than ever, and he had to clap his hands over his ears to stop the racket. He shouted over the noise:
"You should know that the Snowhead situation has gotten worse. The snowstorm has gotten colder, and all of our torches have been put out. Because the snowstorm blanketed the opening to the mountain's center, where the lava is, we can't even be warm anywhere!"
"On top of all of that, our Elder, Rhyolite, has left to see why the moon is descending upon us, and his son dearly misses him. That is why his child, Phyllite, is crying. Can you help find our Elder to help quiet the sobs of his child?" Link had to blink several times before responding. This was a lot of information to take in, but he was determined to help the freezing Goron village in any way possible.
Following the interaction between Link and Gabbro, Link rolled up to the Goron Elder.
"Hey, listen up!", Link said to the ancient Goron, "I need you to listen to me. Your child is crying and misses you dearly. I don't care if you think I'm fake or not, but he needs help."
"Phyllite is crying?... But how do you know… Fine. Apparition or figment of my imagination, I no longer care. I cannot make it to the keep before the snow gets too deep. Because of this, if you can feel pity for my crying son, then please play this Goron Lullaby to my son." With that, Rhyolite took a small drum from his waist and beat out a simple rhythm.
The Elder beat the rhythm once more, but then hesitated.
"I cannot seem to remember the rest of the song. If you play this song to my child, then I am certain that he will teach you the rest. I will follow you back to my village, and then perhaps we can talk about the situation at hand.", he said. With that, Link nodded and rolled off.
Once more inside the Goron keep, Link walked up the ramp towards the sobbing and came upon a wide stone throne covered in geometric designs and Goron symbols. Sitting upon the throne, was a baby Goron who was currently bawling his eyes out. As Link walked forward, the sobbing abated and the child looked curiously at him with yellow-rimmed eyes. Link cautiously took out his Ocarina and was once again surprised by its wondrous magic. As he held it in his hand, it grew into a massive drumset, with multiple different-sized drums.
Nodding once at the curious Phyllite, Link played the three notes that Rhyolite had taught him. All of a sudden, the once sobbing Phyllite hummed five more notes. Link added the notes to his song, and clear, quiet music echoed inside the now silent keep. It held a calm reassurance that made every Gorons eyelids droop. When Link finally finished his song, he was surrounded by sleeping Gorons and the final notes of the Goron Lullaby.
