Chapter 12. Maybe It'll Be Multiple Choice

The three little islands where the Pearls had to be placed were arranged in a lopsided triangle upon the ocean. They weren't as far as Windfall, but it was still past noon when I got to the first one.

There was a single small statue with its hands held out. It was funny-looking, with a big round head and a mark on its forehead. The mark looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out where I'd seen it before.

'Wandering traveler who seeks the guidepost of the goddesses... Place the pearl you hold here.'

Holy crap the statue talked!

And then I remembered where I'd seen the mark. On one of the pearls, Nayru's, I thought. I dug it out of my bag and placed it in the statue's outstretched hands. Its eyes glowed blue.

One down, two to go.

Din's pearl was next, with another little big-head statue and glowing orange eyes. And finally the third, Farore's pearl. That statue's eyes glowed green. And started flashing.

I backed away quickly as the flashing got faster, even going so far as to hide behind one of the steps that made up the island and put my shield above my head. But as I crouched there for several seconds and nothing happened, I started to think I was just paranoid. I climbed back up and examined the statue.

There was a BOOM, a bright light, a ringing in my ears, rushing wind, and I woke up floating face down in the ocean.

I righted myself and coughed the salt water out of my lungs, then grabbed on to the nearest solid object. It turned out to be King.

"You know," I choked. "I am getting really tired of being hurled through the air."

"You should be more careful," he said.

I glared at him.

"Or perhaps I should have warned you that was going to happen."

"'Perhaps?'" I pulled myself into the boat. "Yeah. Do that next time."

Something was rumbling nearby. I turned and shoved wet bangs out of my face to look.

A huge tower, bigger than anything I'd ever seen, was rising from the ocean. It was covered in carvings, with no particular purpose that I could see, that made it look somehow alien and ancient. And pretty.

"Holy crap!" I said.

"It is quite impressive," King agreed.

"What is it?"

"This tower, which the pearls of the gods have caused to appear, is a place that the gods of the ancient world prepared so that they might test the courage of men. Only one who is able to overcome the trials that await here will be acknowledged by the gods to be a true hero. Only then will that hero be permitted to wield the power to destroy the great evil."

"Power? I'm doing this to get power? And, wait, what kind of trials?"

"Link, you must believe in your own courage, which has led you to triumph over the many hardships you have faced, and you must triumph once again! You must rise above the trials of the gods!"

"If this is your idea of a pep talk, it's not that great."

"It is the only way."

"You know, I hate it when people say that. There is never only one way to accomplish a goal. Never. I'm sure if we just stop and think for a minute..."

King sighed. "You are right, there is most likely another way. But this is the easiest."

"Now you're speaking my language. Let's go."

There was a big sort of fence-wall made of topped columns around the front of the tower, that served no purpose as far as I could see. The entrance to the tower itself was another big stone arch, and it appeared the entire lowest floor was under water. Which was fine by me, since I was kind of tired of going it alone.

There were more pillars inside, and everything was dripping water. "Where to?" I asked.

"I believe there is a door under the water."

"I don't think I can hold my breath that long."

"You will not have to. The water level does not seem stable."

Sure enough, the water started sinking as soon as he said that. We sailed over to the emerging platform, and I skidded across the slick stone floor to the door.

The small room was mostly taken up by a pool of water with boxes floating in it, but there was something moving around underneath the surface. The walls were cracked and water-stained, and looked as though one good kick would bring them crumbling down.

I had bombs.

I chucked one at closest wall, but it bounced off and fell back into the water. I wanted to dive in and fish it out, but I was afraid of whatever was down there. They looked yellow and squishy and...not like fish. Not good.

Before I could make a decision the water started draining from the pool. The yellow things went down with the water, until it was all gone and they just lay on the floor.

Chuchus. Yellow chuchus. I'd never seen yellow ones before, but I'd heard they were electrified, like eels. My sword was metal, and metal conducted electricity. So, for that matter, did people. Not good.

But I wanted that bomb back. I didn't have many and I didn't know where to get more. And I wanted to blow things up, dammit!

I hopped down in the hole and pressed myself against the damp wall, trying to keep away from the zappy goo-balls of death. The one closest to me started getting a little too close and the only thing I could think of to do was whang it with my boomerang. The chuchu made a hurt noise and jumped back. Hoorah! I had a way to fight back!

I made my way to the bomb, smacking away blobs when I had to, scooped the thing up and scrambled back out of the pit just as water started filling it up again.

I had a better idea this time. Instead of just chucking the bomb, I hopped over the water onto the floating box, and carefully placed it on the little bit of shelf in front of the wall. And then I ran for it.

The bomb exploded, shattering the wall into dust and rubble. The water was draining again, but I had enough time to get back onto that floating box and leap for the broken wall. There was a room on the other side, small and damp, with a decaying wooden chest near the back. It opened with a slight ripping of wood, to reveal a map! Luckily printed on some kind of animal skin instead of paper, otherwise it never would have survived underwater for so long.

I chose not to think about just what kind of skin it was.

I was getting a little bit claustrophobic, so I waited for the water to come back, then headed out of the room. King was waiting patiently, as always. I sometimes wondered what I would do without him. Not only was he my only mode of transportation, but he knew everything. I couldn't imagine what I'd do without him.

But soon, I had to go on alone. There were only so many rooms on the ground floor, and when I found stairs I knew I had to go up. It was a Tower, after all.

I'd discovered already that this wasn't your typical tower. There were statues that came when I whistled, and glowing steps of light. The whole thing was full of magic. I didn't think it was made of magic, the pervading smell of damp assured me of that, but I didn't take chances either. Every step tested, every wall knocked on, every corner peeked around before I turned it. Well, I tried anyway. I don't have a long attention span.

But you knew that already.

The magic following statues were probably the most convenient thing there. Apparently it was too easy for switches to be on a timer, so I used the friendly little things to hold them down. After a bit, I found a song that let me control them to an even greater degree.

And then I found more stairs.

And monsters.

And a bow.

And puzzles.

And, finally, a big round room covered in carvings with a pit all around the edge.

"You have done well to find this place," A big spooky voice said. "Oh, Chosen One... Accept this final challenge."

"What final-" The carvings started to glow and an enormous pair of hands emerged from the wall, followed by a giant statue-face. "Oh. That."

The giant hands had what looked like eyes in their palms, and if I'd learned anything in my adventures thus far, it was aim for the eyes.

The hands tried to do what you imagine giant hands would do. Slap me around, punch me, clap me between them. Odd, the things that don't seem strange after a while. Honestly, you would think the weirdest thing about the fight would be the fact that my opponent was a giant floating statue head-and-hands, but the thing I found the weirdest was simply that it wasn't harder. Was I getting better at this?

Okay, I did get knocked into the spiky zappy pit of pain once, but that was it.

Not long after that, I shot the giant face in the face one last time. It shuddered, then slid back into the wall, so smoothly there weren't even any grinding stone noises.

"The path can now be opened. Oh, Chosen One... What will now come to pass is tied to your fate, the path that you have chosen. Go forward with caution."

"Will do!" I promised it.

The glowing ring of light took me up even higher, to a bell on top of the tower that I hadn't seen from sea level. The bell was huge, big enough to house me, Grandma, Aryll, and probably most of Tetra's pirates too. Which was a disturbing mental image, but one I chose not to dwell on.

The bell's clapper had a hook at the end of it, something perfect for my grappling hook to latch onto. And what was I supposed to do, not ring the enormous bell? Blasphemy! I took out he hook, gave it a couple of good swings, and let fly.

Soon, I had let the entire Great Sea know that I was taller than all of them.

Something shuddered. It wasn't the tower, or at least I didn't think it was. It was more like the fabric of the universe had shifted, ever so slightly. Like someone smoothing out a wrinkle. From the top of the tower, I could see something glowing in the water below. Something that looked suspiciously like those crazy rings of light that were always taking me places.

I decided it was time to get down.

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AN: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! I know, I suck, I'm sorry!

First there was Kumori-Con, then packing, then moving, and now that I've FINALLY got a new chapter up it's SHORT! And classes start on Tuesday! Dammit, at this rate I'm really NOT going to fulfil my promise. I thought this was going to be easy! I'm following the game plot! Hel, I'm ripping off the game dialogue! So why...why can't I just write?

sniffle

On the bright side, with two stories in the works (and several non-fanfic projects), I can switch between them and not get bogged down with just one. I am making another promise! No way I'm going to be finished with either by the end of the year, but I'm giving myself deadlines! From now on, I will attempt to have a new chapter up ever week! That's right! By Sunday! The chapters may be short, they may be crack-induced, but they will exist! Yatta!

Holy crap, it's 3AM. Well that explains a lot.