Chapter 13. The Land Beneath the Waves

It was dusk by the time I got out of the tower and King and I went to investigate the ring of light. It looked just like every other glowing ring of light I'd seen lately, but it was the first one I'd had time to contemplate before going in.

"Where do you think it goes?"

"I know where it goes," King said, in that tone that made me think he would roll his eyes if they weren't wood.

"Yeah? Where?"

King paused for a moment. "You have done well, Link. It would seem that the gods have acknowledged you to be a true hero. But this does not mean your trials have ended here... Once you take your first step into the world beyond the ring of light you see shimmering in the waves before you, your true trial will begin."

"My true trial huh? Is it gonna hurt?"

"What do you think?"

"I think let's go."

The ring of light, instead of taking us up and away, took us down into the water. I could see fish and floating things passing us by, but for some reason I had no trouble breathing. I probably should have held my breath, just in case, but it didn't occur to me.

We wound up in a pretty sort of area with lots of white marble and plants. It seemed like a nice park-like place, until I looked up. And up and up.

The white marble turned out to be part of a airy-fairy-straight-from-the-bedtime-stories-turrets-and-all castle.

Cool.

"Hey King?"

"Let me guess, 'where the hell are we?'"

"Yeah."

"You would not believe me if I told you. But there is an item here that will allow you to strike down Ganon. Once you have obtained it, all will be made clear."

"Couldn't you just, like, tell me?"

"Would you like the short answer?"

"Yes."

"Hyrule. We're in Hyrule."

I took a moment to process that. "But…Hyrule drowned."

"Yes. And?"

I looked up at the leagues of water between us and the surface. "And…I guess I'll get going then."

"You do that."

The inside of the castle had a strange stillness to it. It could have been a side-effect of being in a giant magic airbubble under the ocean, or it could have just been my imagination.

Or it could have been because the place was frozen in time.

I got quite a scare when I almost walked into a Moblin, but after a few seconds of panic I realized it wasn't moving. It wasn't alone either. Ther were dozens of monsters all over the place, all of them frozen, all of them oddly pale. Grayish. Not enough that I thought they were stone, but enough that I could tell they wouldn't be hurting me any time soon. This was an interesting enough discovery, that I decided to do a bit of exploring.

It was very posh, very picturesque, but seemed oddly homey too. You could tell that this had once been someone's home. Sure, a giant literally palatial home, but a home nonetheless.

It was also kind of busted up, with bits of railing broken off and pillars tipped over and shattered into pieces. Someone had really done a number on the place.

Probably the monsters, before they got frozen.

There were two giant portraits, one on either side of the entrance, that caught my eye. One was of an older man, dressed in fancy robes and wearing a crown, obviously the king. He looked friendly though. Like the time of nice old man you could go to for advice about stuff. And he would buy you some juice and tell you home truths, but he wouldn't take any guff or put up with your self-doubt. He looked like he would be a good father, grandfather, whatever. I was sure he had been a good king.

Although…he was most likely king when whatever happened to Hyrule happened. So maybe not so good.

The other portrait was of a pretty girl about my age, every inch a princess, surrounded by men. They too were dressed in nice clothes. There was something odd about it though, I couldn't put my finger on it. It was like there was something familiar about that painting. But there was no way I'd seen it before, it was under the ocean, and there was no legends about a princes and a bunch of…

Wait. That wasn't right. My mind had been on the edge of a realization, then ran flat into a Don't Go There wall. The last time my brain had been this adamant about not thinking about something was when Grandma had been hinting around about the Facts of Life. There are just some things a guy does not want to think about, his Grandma knowing about sex is one of those.

But what ever it was about this portrait couldn't have been nearly as disturbing as that. It was more like…I just couldn't process it. My little blond head couldn't wrap itself around the thought.

But what was the thought?

I looked up at the princess. Did I mention she was pretty? She was, in an ethereal sort of way. I couldn't imagine her doing the things Tetra did.

Woah, what was that? The princess as a pirate? Tetra as a princess?

Tetra. As a princess.

I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud. The idea of Tetra, the bad-ass pirate captain who could immobilize me with a wink, in a pink dress and heels. It was too funny not to laugh. I shook my head and decided not to think about it any more.

There was a statue of the hero of time in the middle of the hall, looking all heroic and stuff. I wondered if he'd had the problems I was having with the whole saving the world gig. Probably not. Stupid jerk. At least he'd been an adult when it happened, and he'd gotten to travel through time. All I had was a talking boat and a magic wand.

Although, the talking boat was really helpful, and the magic wand could do all kinds of crazy shit. I should probably just stop glowering at the statue and be grateful I didn't have a princess that needed rescuing.

I pictured Tetra locked away in a tower, awaiting her dashing hero, and laughed again.

I was looking for a weapon, I reminded myself, or possibly a magical thingamabob that would help me defeat Ganon. Everything in the big entry hall was either frozen of broken, so I looked for somewhere else to go.

There was a doorway at the back, with more pillars and decorative wooden beams above it. I wasn't much for architecture, but even I could tell this place was beautiful.

Out the doorway, I was even more impressed. There was a pedestrian bridge thing curving up, and as I reached the high point I could see fields of green and crumbling ruins and trees and bushes and distant mountains. I took a moment to appreciate the scene, then realized that the ruins probably hadn't been ruins once, and there had once been someone to clear away the moss that grew between the stones.

There was a big arch at the very apex of the bridge, just as pretty and old as the rest of the castle. I had some vague notion of going through it and exploring all that green, but as I got closer I noticed a sort of red film stretched across the opening. I wanted to poke at it, but I figured that wouldn't be safe, so I did something I thought was smarter. I hit it with my sword.

Not smarter, as it turned out.

The film just absorbed my blow and tossed it back at me, hurling me onto my backside.

Stone, as it turns out, is not soft.

Deciding I had exhausted the possibilities of outside, I limped back into the castle. There must have been something I was missing.

There was that statue. The hero of time had defeated Ganon, right? Maybe there was a clue there. But when I looked, it just seemed like a normal statue. The engraving in the front wasn't even in a language I could read. That worried me, since maybe I needed to be able to read it in order to get the clue, but there was no sense stressing over things I couldn't change.

In the floor in front of the statue had a picture of the Triforce in it, with three triangle-shaped blocks arranged at the points. It was pretty, decorative, and keeping with the theme of the place, but I couldn't help wondering why, when all the pillars and railings and stuff on the walls had been broken, why were these blocks untouched?

I also noticed that they were exactly the same size and shape at the three parts of the Triforce.

Oh boy, a block-pushing puzzle!

At least it wasn't difficult. The blocks moved in kind of a weird way, what with being triangular and all, but I got them into the right places with only a little screwing up. The only tricky part was that I couldn't figure out a way to get the last block into place without imprisoning myself in the middle. Finally, I decided that if it was the only there must be a reason, and yanked that last triangle home.

There was a grinding noise, then all three blocks sank into the floor as the statue of the hero of time slid back to reveal a staircase.

Secret passage, cool. Now we were getting somewhere.

It was dark down the stairs, but I couldn't find any torches. Once I made it to the bottom I saw some light coming from a doorway, so I relaxed. The light turned out to be coming from a number of stained-glass windows in a big round room overflowing with spooky ambiance. There were the windows, first of all, which depicted several important-looking people posing for some reason. Then there was the mini-moat-thing under the windows. Then the circle of ginormous knight statues. Then the sword in the middle of the floor.

Wait, back up.

Holy shit. That was not- That couldn't be- There was no way that-

The pirate charm Tetra had given me buzzed against my sternum and I heard King's voice. "Excellent, Link. To receive such a puzzle and decipher it is no small feat. Now, take the sword that lies before you. It is none other than the Master Sword, the blade of evil's bane. It is the only sword that can banish Ganon from the world above."

There was a moment of silence, then the charm buzzed again.

"Link? It is not going to hurt you."

More silence.

"Link?"

The next silence was thoughtful.

"You're in shock, aren't you?"

"Gwuh?"

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AN: I didn't proofread this one, so it probably has typos. Bite me! It's 7:19 AM and I have literally gotten NO sleep! None! I am hardcore!

Dammit, I know I had something to say about this chapter, but I have no idea what is was. Um...

Oh! Right! Link is NOT an idiot for not noticing that the princess in the painting totally looks like Tetra. The clothes and hair and setting are so different, that if you didn't already know the plot, you probably wouldn't have noticed either. Probably. Of course, our hero isn't exactly the brightest torch in the dungeon either. Hell, I dunno. I need sleep.