Chapter 16: The Restless Dead below the Village
They did come up with a plan. And there were some stares, which they both ignored. Some of these were probably simply owing to Link's attire, which was not exactly common in these parts. But then, too, there were a few curious looks directed their way for other reasons.
Still, all in all, it went well. They made plans for what to do next. Sheik said that she'd take him to the graveyard, and indicate the path to the Shadow Temple, and together, they would create the 'Nocturne of Shadow'. Then, they'd make the perilous trek back through Hyrule Castle Town, to the Temple of Time, and Sheik would explain more there.
Now, they stood in the graveyard, with poes hovering about, carrying their lanterns, despite it still being light out, with the tombstones (mostly) undisturbed.
"The Shadow Temple is on that high cliff up there," Sheik said, whispering to avoid calling unwanted attention to themselves for as long as they could. The ledge she pointed to was so sheer that you would never know it was there if it wasn't pointed out to you. It lay just behind the Royal Family's Tomb. Link nodded to her.
"Wait here for a second, alright?" he asked, flashing her a reassuring smile before heading up the slope to clear the graveyard of poes ("the spirits of concentrated hatred", as Navi called them). The poes would almost certainly notice them when they started creating the song, and Link didn't want to know what would happen if they interrupted its creation. Sheik waited below, hands clasped before her as if in prayer. She seemed to want to say something, but feared distracting him.
A few minutes later, he returned back down the slope to where she still stood.
"I just… didn't want to risk them interrupting," he explained, looking down at the ground. Sheik gave him an encouraging smile.
"I understand the sentiment. I wonder what would happen, if they interrupted the song in its creation?" She bit her lip, probably, thinking about what disaster they might have just avoided. Then, she closed her eyes, reached behind her, pulled the harp out of nowhere.
Link smiled, nodded, and retrieved the faerie ocarina.
The "Nocturne of Shadow" began discordant and heavy, ponderous as a dirge, as a groan, as the encapsulation of man's misfortunes, expressed in song. Then, it got worse. Even as the tune lifted, it shattered the world around it, the end of the world. He shivered. Sheik nodded.
"Yes…I think that that will work. It should take you to the entrance to the Shadow Temple, or very close to it. But, there is also the Temple of Time to consider. And, along the way, I will have to beg your forgiveness, and tell you some things…things that I should have told you before."
She raised a hand and carded it roughly through her bangs. He stared at her, wondering what ailed her.
He was soon to learn.
On their way to the Temple of Time, after a night's rest, they struck off for the ruins of the castle, and she explained.
Apparently, all he'd needed to do to go back in time to his childhood, seven years ago, was to sheathe the Master Sword back in the Pedestal of Time. Well, he had to have the title from somewhere, didn't he? Sheik seemed to feel that he would be angry with her for withholding the information, but traveling back in time to his childhood had never occurred to him.
Indeed, it hadn't occurred to him to miss his childhood. He missed his friends amongst the kokiri, true (although Mido's new attitude was refreshing). He missed Kokiri Forest, but he could return there at any time. He missed his friends among the Sages, and Hyrule as it had been, but these things could be retrieved by defeating Ganondorf, and thus lay as much in the future (potentially), as in the past. Here, in this time, he had found his purpose, and destiny. He did not regret it.
What he regretted was that his friends had suffered because of his mistake. He had released Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm. While it was true that the man would have made his way there eventually, regardless, the fact that Link had opened the door for him felt something more than a personal failure.
He had the sneaking suspicion that his childhood had in truth been longer than the average hylian's. How long, after all, would a hylian raised as a kokiri remain a child for? His mother had brought him into the forest in the midst of a war, but before Ganondorf's arrival, Hyrule had been at peace for decades.
But, that was a thought for another time.
Instead, he focused on Sheik's words, her advice, as she gave him the knowledge of how to travel back and forth through time by merely drawing and replacing the Master Sword. In this way, he would be able to undermine Ganondorf in both times, and roads blocked in one time might well be open in another.
By the time they reached the Temple of Time, Link had made Sheik see that he bore no malice or resentment towards her, or he hoped he'd succeeded. They'd entered the Temple, and Sheik had withdrawn the harp, and they'd made the song of the Temple of Light—the "Prelude of Light". Link did not ask if there were a melody associated with the Temple of Time. It seemed to resonate around him, notes bouncing even now off the walls.
Sheik nodded to him as the final notes of the "Prelude of Light" died. It occurred to him, when she didn't vanish, that she was waiting for him to sheathe the Master Sword. Maybe she'd leave right after that. Maybe he wouldn't see her again. He stepped towards her, instead, slowly, as if to do otherwise would cause her to flee, as it always had before. She let him approach her, however, brow furrowed.
"Sheik…will I see you again?" he asked, staring not at his feet, but at what he could see of her face. Why did he feel that he was about to lose something vitally important? She nodded, and he relaxed, just slightly.
He gave her a shy smile, and then slowly, cautiously, reached out for a short hug. Sheik stiffened, but eventually decided to wrap her arms around him, too. Perhaps, it was rude, or against Sheikah protocol. He should have asked if it was alright to do such a thing.
He let go, took a step back, turned to look behind him, where the Door of Time lay. It was the perfect time for Sheik to disappear, but she was still there when he turned back around.
"The bottom of the well is blocked in the present—but hasn't been exposed yet in the past. I'd start there," she said, with a smile. "Good luck, Hero of Time."
She took a step back, and then another. Link let her, watching as she threw something at the ground, and vanished. He turned back around, walked past the altar with its three Spiritual Stones, and through the passage into the chamber of the Master Sword, for the second time.
He walked around the Pedestal of Time again, staring at the six designs etched, engraved, and embossed into the stone. The shadow seal was next. And it was the first one he'd seen. Was it coincidence, or something else? But he slowly approached the Pedestal, steps heavy with the proper respect for the blade hung at his side. He drew the Master Sword as he approached. He stood over the Pedestal, aimed the blade just so, and thrust it into the stone.
The world faded away into a field of blue light.
A moment later, he had the disorienting sensation of his mind trying to acclimate itself, yet again, to another change in body. He clung to the Master Sword to stay upright. It easily supported his much slighter weight.
He stared at his chubby hands, noticed how very much closer the floor was now. He looked around for Navi, and fell over. He made to turn from the Master Sword, and fell again, barely catching himself on his hands to keep his face from smacking into the floor.
"N-Navi?" he asked. His voice was so high! He looked around for her. She landed on his shoulder, cocked her head at him with her familiar fascination. "Navi, did you come back with me?"
She giggled, which was a good sign. "Whithersoever as you go, I go, Link," she said. "Except when you disappeared in the moat a little while ago…. I think it was a little while ago, at least. Yesterday, maybe. I don't remember anymore. Remember what Sheik said? We have to go to the bottom of the well!"
Link nodded. Thanks to the old folklorist in Kakariko Village, he had some knowledge as to what he was looking for. He had said that, a long time ago, back before Impa was born, when Kakariko Village was a sheikah village, a sheikah man had tried to figure out an easy way to open people's eyes to the truth. He'd wanted to find a way, a means by which no disguise or illusion could hide the truth from a person's eyes.
He'd been a rather unpleasant character. People had often disappeared from the surrounding area, and were rumoured to have been brought to his house, for unspeakable things to be done to them. But, eventually, the King had brought him in, and had had him executed for the murders of several ordinary citizens, including one government official. That had been his fatal mistake.
Knowing that the King's men were coming for him, he hid the fruits of his research in the shadows, deep beneath his house. Centuries later, the villagers had discovered a passage into his catacombs when they dug the well. Before they could block it off, the water had filled the wellshaft, preventing them from doing this. But, rumour held that his house had once stood where the well was now.
It was a rather chilling tale, told in its entirety, but Sheik had barely reacted at all, as if she heard such horror stories all the time. And, the future was a rather horrific time. Perhaps, she did. What would a woman in the employ of the Royal Family encounter, anyway?
He shrugged, peeling himself up off the floor. He took several wobbling steps forwards, arms out to help himself balance. The deku shield seemed ridiculously light and feeble on his back, but still was a weight that had to be compensated for. But, he was sure that he could train even a child's body to lift the hylian shield. He switched them out, and bent over, falling forwards again, right before the stairs.
Navi fluttered down after him, already scolding him for the genuinely stupid behaviour. He gave her a sheepish smile, slowly pushing himself to his feet. He stepped cautiously down the stairs, and then walked several times around the perimeter of the room.
Then, he swung the much larger hylian shield off his back. It offered his front complete protection, from head to knees. He could plant it in the ground before him, but he wasn't sure that he could manipulate such an ungainly weight with this body. He frowned, but held the shield up, standing and facing an imaginary foe. He immediately began to topple, and he frowned, impatient for progress.
Nevertheless, he dropped the shield, pressed his right hand against the wall to reorient himself, and to regain his balance.
Then, he picked the shield back up, and resumed his march. He walked until he had much greater confidence in his shield-bearing and using capabilities, and then he added the Kokiri Sword into the mix. This would be slow going.
When he was done, he raced back out of the Temple of Time, into bright sunlight. He glanced at the gossip stones as he passed them, and then turned right, entering the Market for the first time in…however long. A very, very, very long time.
Suddenly, now he was back in the past, he wanted to revisit all of his old friends.
But, there was one he'd never find. He swallowed, feeling guilty as if he'd been disloyal (which was ridiculous), and stepped into the market. He noticed the Happy Mask Shop to his right. He'd forgotten about it, and the Bunny Hood sitting mouldering in his inventory. Well, probably not mouldering, but…being unused. Maybe he'd get some clues as to whom he was looking for in town?
He saw the old folklorist right away, and the woman who had recommended that he see the Temple of Time. He hadn't seen her in the future; he wondered what had become of her.
He shook his head, refocusing himself. There would be time for that later. For now, he whipped out the Ocarina of Time, and headed for a back alley.
When he was far enough along, he stopped, putting the Ocarina to his lips, and remembering the merged melody he and Sheik had made.
He played the "Nocturne of Shadow", and the world around him faded into a grey haze, and then he stood in a huge chamber, at the end of a steep path leading down, through which sunlight trickled. There was a raised podium, and all around it were many unlit torches—perhaps as many as a hundred of them. He'd never light all those with the fire arrows. Before him was a great violet door, with faded red paint (it was paint, right?) flooding chiseled lines—the stylised crying eye of the Sheikahs. The door was seamless and shut. He also suspected it was very thick, and very sturdy.
He ascended the path leading down into this antechamber for the Temple, and found himself looking out over the graveyard. Considering the location, it was a great view. Very impressive.
Down below, the kid he'd sold the spooky mask to, long ago, stomped through the graveyard, unaware of his audience. Link silently leapt off the cliff, rolled, and wandered down into the (poeless!) graveyard.
Talking to people in the future let him know precisely what he needed to do. He needed to drain the water from the well. And, to do that…ah, poor windmill composer. He'd be angry for years to come. But, Link had to drain the well, somehow. No ordinary means would dent the water barrier.
Dampé was still alive, thus there was no route directly from the graveyard to the Windmill. He'd have to go through town. He started bracing himself for the strangeness of that sight even before passing under the arch proudly labeling the graveyard. Despite that, he stood stock still, staring.
Even though the village occupied the same amount of space, it seemed smaller—and larger at the same time. He was smaller himself, and so the few buildings existing in both times each seemed larger, the spaces between them greater, the steps steeper, the paths broader. But, at the same time, there were much fewer people, fewer buildings, less activity. The carpenters hurrying aimlessly through the village did little to change this sense of seclusion. The clucking of cuccos made the scene almost pastoral.
He passed by Juna, holding her head in her hands as she lamented the escape of her cuccos. Again. This was a regular occurrence for her, apparently. In the future, she'd bred a kind of cucco called a "pocket cucco". Presumably, she called them that because they were content spending all of their time in her inventory. Which meant that, maybe, Link himself had the prototypical bird. Perhaps.
She'd wanted to speak to him, hadn't she? Something about finding her brother? In the future? Ah, well, he'd remember that when he returned to the future. Or not.
He considered wandering the town, knocking on doors to see if he could discover the whereabouts of child Sheik. He could almost picture her with her face unwrapped, standing in some secluded sheikah archery range, and learning to shoot a bow. Unfortunately, when he tried to age that image, that sense of her childhood self (itself only speculation), he was left with the mystery sheikah who hid half of her face.
He wondered if anyone had ever kissed her. How would you go about doing that, when her mouth was always covered? And how exactly had she eaten dinner, last night (seven years from now)?
Yes. Well, he had more important things to do than to seek out his future guide's past self. Maybe (he could always hope!) he'd stumble upon her somewhere, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't. She was almost certainly with Impa, who was almost certainly with Zelda (although, maybe not…they seemed to have parted ways somewhere in the future; maybe Impa had only delivered the princess to a safe haven?)
But, he couldn't help himself, once the thought had entered his head. Something to distract him from the different layout of the town, at least, right? Those beams that that carpenter was endlessly running across—that was going to turn into the Shooting Gallery, right? And the shop with the sign saying that the owner was away, but business would return soon, that was the shop that sold the ultimate medicine. And, between the two, the door to the windmill.
He let his feet guide him, as he pondered the mystery of Sheik. Better thinking of her, and wondering about the sense of mystery that surrounded her, than to think of what might lie ahead.
Or, more specifically and accurately, below.
He opened the door to the windmill, entered it, and set off to at least speak with the music man, before he ruined his life. And, speaking of music…at some point in time, he had to revisit the frogs he'd noticed before, on Zora's River, or who knew what might happen to the future?
This was a very strange thought, but he felt that he was trying to optimise chances of success for both himself, and for the Wind Waker, at the same time. He was, as it were, giving his descendant a path to follow, one he sorely needed. He mustn't forget to visit those frogs.
Maybe he'd do that now, instead. What did the Village do for water in the interim, in however long it would take to restore all that lost water? They'd been using rain barrels, hadn't they? Still….
Navi gave him a strange look when he opened the door, again, and headed back outside.
He reached the log with its waiting multicoloured frogs only three days later. When he stepped onto the log, he took a moment to peer over at them. There were six of them, in a rainbow of colours. But, his mind and eyes fixed on two in particular: a sky blue frog over to the left, and an indigo-violet one to the right.
They might be, mightn't they? If far too small, nevertheless…. They might really be Cyclos and Zephos. It was a truly strange thought.
He cocked his head, and withdrew the Ocarina of Time. The frogs hopped up onto various stepping-stones, unblinking eyes fixed on him. From here, he could see them more clearly. They were each the size of his hand, like a normal frog, but…something about them….
Determined to test his theory, he made his way through the slow, steady, lazy-day melody that Malone had taught him. (A bit surprised, perhaps, that he still remembered all the notes. Perhaps, he had a memory for music.) An orange frog stared at him, enraptured, as he and the other frogs sang along as best they could. Link would never again underestimate a frog's vocal range.
As the last note faded away, the frogs all hopped about in a frenzy of excitement. The orange frog held up froggy arms, and a violet rupee appeared there, which it chucked at Link. He caught it, brow creased in confusion.
"Ah, what a nice song. I quite like it. A nice, soothing melody is something we all need in these troubled times. Thank you for teaching this song to us. We'll take great pleasure in practising it. As a reward, please take fifty rupees. They're nothing next to the joys of music!"
Link stared at the orange frog who had spoken, as it swelled to several times its previous size, until it was half as big as he was, right now. He stared. And stared. And stared.
Well, that confirmed it, didn't it?
"Link, what are you…?" asked Navi, but Link was too busy thinking to heed her. She'd figure it out, or he'd explain it later. For now, he raised the Ocarina to his lips again, fixing the bluish frog with his eyes as he played the song of the Royal Family with all due reverence and respect. Once again, the frogs hopped about in excitement. It was less of a surprise, now, when the frog he'd watched through the entirety of the song held up a purple rupee, tossed it to him, and then folded its froggy arms.
"Ah, what a pleasant song. I quite like it!" he said. "There's some sort of secret power in these notes, isn't there? I've heard tell of a similar melody, held sacred by humans. Are you sure you should be teaching us this? Haha!"
At the familiar laugh, Link's heart skipped a beat. Still, there was no denying he'd need the funds, so he accepted the rupees with grace, and somehow refrained from asking the frog if his name was "Zephos", instead watching as the frog swelled until it was the same size as the orange one sitting next it.
He glanced over at Navi, whose lips were pressed tightly together. Link frowned, trying to discern which song would appeal to Cyclos. But, the frog had been unapproachable in Link Sylvanus Tetrus's time. Damn infant gods. Why did they have to make things difficult?
He chose to play "Saria's Song", next, eliciting a reaction from the green frog similar to those of his friends. Fifty rupees, and comments about how much the music was appreciated, "and if you know any other tunes, don't hesitate to share them with us."
Link knew eight other songs, but he wasn't sure that he could play them all, with just the ocarina. Trying to share any of the warp songs with this crowd might be something of a headache, yet he knew he must. The "Ballad of Gales", after all, was nothing but an arrangement of the "Minuet of Forest". He could see that, quite clearly, now.
He shrugged. One of these songs would almost certainly appeal to Cyclos, and that was the first step. He stared at the yellow frog in the middle, as he played through the "Sun's Song".
It was a very short melody. Whether this was because that was the nature of the Song of Power, or whether songs could be abbreviated without losing their power, was difficult to say. Perhaps, the Composer Brothers had never figured out the entire song, and if they had, it would have been more powerful. Although, Link was having trouble thinking of how much more powerful it could even be. It immobilised certain of the undead, and sped up time for its performer. What more did a song that controlled time need to do? Enable travel backwards?
Those words elicited a strange sort of response from Link, who barely listened to the similar speech of the yellow frog, catching the violet rupee without thinking. He thought about the words, "backwards in time", and his mind caught on them.
Three days, repeated in an endless loop. Three days, repeated in an endless loop. Three days, repeated in an end—
The "Song of Time", forgotten, and remembered, and forgotten again, as time spun back to its original position, reduced to mimicking one of those spinning wheels used in games.
A song that somewhat resembled the "Song of Time", played in reverse, as people's movements elongated, the sun slowed its passage across the sky, but monsters, and natural processes, and Link and Tatl, retained their original speed.
The "Song of Time", doubled up into a march, with the same effect as the "Sun's Song".
A faerie with hair red as fresh-spilt blood. Link's heart leapt. Navi!
But, no…it was someone different. This figure wore a ragged yellow dress, with her hair cut short, choppy and uneven, and tattoos around her yellow eyes. The face was similar, but set differently, the smirk nothing like Navi's smirk, expression unusually guarded, voice sharp and quick to reproach, but behind that, something vulnerable and hurt.
Tatl.
"Link, are you alright? Answer me!" Navi cried, her voice clear and pure, bobbing frenzied as she flew near his face. He was remembering something that hadn't happened, should have happened, did happen. He put a hand to his head. Visions, eh?
Now, what was going on?
He swayed where he stood, but then straightened. He was back in the past, fulfilling the very important duty of paving the way for his perhaps-future-self. He should not let himself be distracted.
He turned to Navi, gave her a feeble smile. "I'm alright, Navi. I don't even know what just happened, there. I seemed to be remembering something that never happened…another world, similar but different to this one. And, a faerie a bit like you. Her name was Tatl. She was helping me on a quest, to save her, and her brother Tael, and their friend—"
He stopped. He was giving her information that he wasn't even aware that he had, but once he realised it, it dispersed, vanishing as if it had never been.
He pressed his hand against his temples, rubbing at the fabric of his hat as if trying to ward off a headache. He turned back to the frogs, watching him with those unblinking eyes. He nodded to them, raising the Ocarina of Time to his lips. He played the "Song of Time", deliberately not thinking of Termina as he did.
Cyclos was the final frog to swell to a bigger size. Instead, the red frog let out a hearty ribbit, with earnest thanks, and fifty rupees more, and a request for more songs. These frogs would have an entire fakebook when all was said and done.
"This is the last song, the 'Song of Storms'," he offered, glancing at the frogs. "There are other songs that I could teach you, but I'm only one person, and I don't have the right instruments."
"You could hum them," suggested Zephos. Link considered it. That might indeed be what he ended up doing, but he felt that the "Song of Storms" made a natural stopping point. It was probably unfair to teach all of the frogs but one a second song. He'd come back when he'd learnt whatever song was associated with the Spirit Heart. For now, he nodded to Cyclos, and began to play the "Song of Storms".
"Hmm. Well, yes, that is a rather nice song, isn't it? Look at all the rain it's brought us. Mighty nice," said his usual, waspish voice. "You're not bad after all, human boy. What do they call you?"
What would it do, to tell the frogs his name? Would it change the future? But, it seemed rude not to reply, and he'd probably told them, before….
Come to it, why hadn't Zephos and Cyclos commented on the Wind Waker's clothes, and physical similarity to their friend who had taught them the melodies they needed to become so strong?
Where on the Great Sea were the four other frogs?
"Well, take fifty rupees as my reward. And come back here again to teach us more songs, when you learn them! Ah, a song after my own heart…."
The frogs leapt back into the water, leaving Link three hundred rupees richer, and mentally spent.
He could have used "Saria's Song" to talk to her from afar, but he could do that even in the future. He wanted to see Saria, alive, in the flesh, and standing on solid ground. Was that so wrong? And then, he'd probably head back to Kokiri Forest, drink in the familiarity, reminisce, and go to Goron City to explain some things to Darunia, and ask for advice.
Now that he was back in the past, he had plenty of time to gather his thoughts and focus. Now that he was back in the past, he didn't have to rush. In the future, when he'd recovered, he would enter the Shadow Temple, and help Impa. Despite the injuries his seventeen-year-old self had sustained, he was confident that if he gave his mind some time to recover, he'd be fit to forge a path through the horror that was sure to be the Shadow Temple.
Also, he was…intimidated, by suspicions of what the temple would contain. What beings more shadowy (other than the singular Shadow Link) than the walking, shambling corpses known as redead? There were also sure to be stalfoi, naturally, and the ubiquitous keese, but even the "Sun's Song" did not erase the horror of the redead.
He appeared in the Sacred Forest Meadow, near the pillar trying to support the entrance-ledge of the Forest Temple. Its valiant efforts had long since been rendered moot, yet it persisted, covered and choked in ivy though it was.
Link nodded to it, as if sharing a secret, and turned to the girl playing her melody, sitting on her stump. She knew he was there, of course she did, but he walked over to her, quietly, anyway.
"Link," she said. "You came to visit! But, how did you get here without my hearing your approach?"
He just smiled at her, and then crushed her into the tightest hug that he could manage. "I take it you regained your memories, then," she said, brushing aside his ridiculous bangs.
He nodded, temporarily unable to speak. "Oh, Saria…I'm so sorry. I was so rude to you! I don't know what came over me…."
He gave her a weak smile, pondering what to say, what to do, what he could admit without the world collapsing.
But, she shook her head, smile wistful and almost indulgent.
"Oh, Link. You don't have to apologise. I'm so proud of you…of everything you've done. I may not know the details, but I can see that something about you has changed. Link…a kokiri never grows up, never has children, the way that humans do. We live forever as children, but…if I had a child, I would want him to be like you. And also…I suppose, you are that son, in a sense. Human mothers are bound to their children by the bond of family, and I…well, for me, you're all the family I have."
"What she means, is that she considers you to basically be her son, and therefore family. Don't mess that up," said a familiar voice, one with a yellow dress, not yet damaged by future violence, and long blonde hair with specks of brown in it. Gatrice.
"Navi, a word?" the faerie snapped, staring Link down, as if he'd object, or catch Navi in a bottle and steal away.
He turned to Saria, but she giggled. "Oh, I don't pretend to understand everything Gatrice does. Navi had best listen to her. We'll just talk by ourselves, here."
And they did. Link told her what he could about the future, giving her what might be taken as a warning of what was to come, but she pressed her lips together firmly, saying, "Well, if it must be, then I will play my part as I must. Don't worry about me, Link. Go save Hyrule!"
He left several hours later, still thinking about his quest, and about Sheik, and about Kokiri Forest, not yet purged of monsters. When he stopped to pay his respects to his sort-of father, the Great Deku Tree, he stood in the exact spot that the Great Deku Tree's sprout would someday occupy, once more pensive. For the first time in seven years, he spent the night in his own home.
The next day, he wandered through the woods until he came to the portal to Goron City. He'd considered the "Bolero of Fire", but not only did he not have a goron tunic, but even if he'd survived and made it to the (blocked) door, somehow pushed it aside, and came into Darunia's chambers…well, that seemed the height of impropriety. Not that it mattered, since the entire idea was based on too many more-or-less-impossible contingencies to even merit serious thought.
The heart-to-heart chat with Darunia did garner plenty of good advice, he was sure. Darunia hadn't laughed when he'd explained…well, more-or-less everything. That goron tunic had not been an idea that came out of nowhere.
He'd given Darunia forewarning that he would return seven years hence, and then laid out the situation with Sheik. Darunia had a son in the future. That might mean he knew something about dealing with girls. Add onto that the advice he'd given Link about Ruto and Zelda (at least in Ruto's case, accurate), and Link figured that he was an acceptable person to ask for advice.
Maybe, maybe not.
He turned over the new knowledge and advice, not to mention the big, bold warnings, as he wandered over to the windmill in Kakariko Village. He'd reached the point that he just wanted to get it over with.
He'd spent two nights in the past, and was…eager…to return to the future. His quest was on the verge of completion, and Impa was waiting. If anyone were to know the whereabouts of the princess (or give him any sort of information on Sheik), it would be she. Thus, he mustered his strength, and his courage, and entered the windmill.
And, standing there before the far wall, was the music man, grinning broadly as he watched the central…spinning thing…spin around and around. It didn't have sharp blades attached to it, so Link didn't see the interest. He went over to ask the music man. This was a mistake.
This new (old) giddier version of the music man was highly excitable and long-winded. He prattled on at great length, about how he was a music man and amateur composer seeking Songs of Power. He was sure that there was one connected to the windmill, but he couldn't figure it out. It would have to "go around, and around, and around", just as the ever-turning windmill.
Link only half-listened, trying to decide whether or not he thought that the "Song of Storms" fit the windmill. He couldn't decide. Something about the almost-tinny quality of the music when the music man had played it on his phonograph seven years hence seemed to fit, but that was a quality of the instrument, and not the song itself.
It did seem to fit a rainy day, but as for the windmill itself…well, what kind of music did suit a windmill?
He took a second to consider whether the music man thought that the song fit, or whether he just considered it the melody that had broken his precious windmill. But, there was nothing else for it.
He tired of the man's enthusiastic chatter, and withdrew the Ocarina of Time. There was no point in hiding or disguise; he knew that the man would recognise him seven years from now; that was how he was going to learn the song to begin with.
What was the origin of this song? That was a headache. But, he pushed such thoughts aside, playing through the familiar melody on the ocarina, careful not to play a single note early or late, louder or softer than it should be. It probably wouldn't affect what the music man remembered, but….
As he played, a raincloud formed overhead, and in a moment, both of them were soaked from the pouring rain. The central platform and pole that probably controlled the windmill blades outside began to spin, faster and faster and faster.
The man began to murmur with piteous frantic muttering.
"Go around and around and around and around and—no! It's going too fast! No!"
Link backed carefully toward the door, feeling that he'd interrupted a very private moment. The man was reacting as if someone had just killed his pet. He hadn't expected quite so severe of a reaction.
He raced into the clear sky awaiting him outside, ran down the steps, and peered into the rapidly lowering waters of the well. Now, he could clearly see that rungs were installed into the side of the well, providing a way up and down.
He thought of what might await within, and shuddered. He didn't have the Master Sword, or the power of the Sages. Not in this time. All he had was the Kokiri Sword, and the hylian shield, the slingshot, the boomerang, and some bombs. Not much to work with.
But, he could do this. Sheik was waiting for him. The Sages were counting on him.
He straightened up, climbed over the rim of the well, and began to climb down, down, down. It was considerably darker at the bottom of the well, and no light filtered past a certain point in the long passage that lay before him.
He turned to Navi, who nodded to him, and together, they walked through the passage. Thanks to Navi, he could see despite the complete darkness of the well. She provided better illumination via their connection that the torches on the walls flanking the door.
There was a strange painting on the wall, a grotesque face, and next it, between it and the torch illuminating the room, a skeleton sprawled against the wall. Link found himself remembering the time he had broken into the Royal Family's Tomb, and shuddered.
"I can hear the voices of spirits speaking in this room," Navi said. "This one says to 'seek out the eye of truth'. he says that the wall to the left is an illusion, and we can walk right through it. But…I can't see it. I thought that I could see through illusions? Oh, Link, I have a bad feeling about this."
"As do I," said Link, peering at the skeleton. He bowed to the dead man, considered. "Thank you for your help. We appreciate your advice." He turned back to Navi, face paler than usual, and not just on account of the lighting. He was certain that he looked absolutely wretched.
They walked right through a solid wall—there was a brief point of time when they couldn't see anything but the illusory brickwork—and into a corridor. It stood around a steep bend.
Hence, he could head left or right. A stone walkway ran alongside the low canals of water that remained after the well had drained, as if the man who had built these catacombs knew that they'd someday be flooded.
He shivered, and then pulled the hylian shield off his back, as he heard a strange grunting noise shortly before a green bubble rounded a corner, heading straight for him. He held out his shield, moving to ensure he always remained protected, but the green bubble was making rounds, and did not engage him. He stared at it. It must be fully as tall as he was. Why hadn't he realised how big these things were, before?
"Link, what if there are more false walls in here? I won't know where they are, which might mean that we never find the right path. And…and what if there are false floors?"
Navi was still unsettled at her own perceived shortcomings. Never had he heard her sound so…hesitant. This uncertainty did not befit her. And thus, instead of admit his own concerns to her, he gave her his best smile, holding out a hand to her.
"It'll be fine, Navi. We can do this! If all else fails, I can just try to run into every wall in this entire area until I find something. And, as for floors…."
He hesitated, unsure of what honest thing he could say to reassure her. A lie would taint the rest of his reassurances, and Navi was smart enough to tell the difference. "I'll just walk really carefully, and hope for the best, I suppose. But…if this is a dungeon, there will be a way forward. And, it is certainly starting to seem one."
The green bubble had floated above the walkway, and thus Link walked through the canal. He had the sense that—just maybe—the water would serve to reveal any sudden drops in the floor. On the other hand, it also meant that the promising outside wall—the place for secret passages, if there were any—was beyond their reach.
They made a circuit of the room, ending where they had started. He'd seen a likelike behind a green wall of iron bars arranged as a grate, but it was inaccessible. He could, however, see a door to the left, in the room with the likelike. That was unhelpful.
There were also two turns at the far side of the room, with the same creepy paintings as he'd seen near the entrance. He suspected that they marked a hidden passage of some sort. There was no more readily available path to take—at least, not visible.
A curious thing was the statue standing between the two paintings, in the dead centre of the corridor running parallel to his current location—the top line of the square, it could be called. There had been a strange carving of a deformed face, as if as a three-dimensional, somehow more grotesque, depiction of the face of the paintings. There had been a platform before it, hadn't there? And on that platform, gold paint, depicting the insignia of the Royal Family.
The implications were obvious, but he found himself thinking about the Water Temple. If he played the song of the Royal Family, the water might drain away—or rise. If it did the former, he'd lose the guidance, the knowledge that if it was covered by water, the ground before him must be solid. If it cause the water to rise, he'd drown before he could make it to the surface. He couldn't hold his breath for that long.
He made a second circuit of the room, this time turning to look at each of the turns on the far side as he passed. On the left was the painting, and then a mound of what might be dirt. On the right was a small crawl hole, probably leading to the room that would give him access to the likelike. He did not relish the thought of facing one of those without a bow; he somehow doubted that slingshot bullets would trouble them. He passed it by, again.
There were also two, more unnoticeable, grates in equivalent areas to the left and right of the base of the square. The one to the right (the one he passed second in his clockwise round of the room), contained a tall grate, and a wall beyond it. If there was anything hidden there, it was either hidden behind an illusion, or beneath the pool of water flooding the area.
The door on the left, however, was more promising. A grate of steel bars rose from ceiling to floor, but on the other side was a ledge, with a door set into it. Of course, the door had a handle; maybe it wasn't real. He didn't want to think, however, about the chances of encountering a false door here, in the bottom of a well, as a child. He doubted that he could survive such an encounter as a child.
As it seemed, now he had two options: he could try to access the door to the left of the entrance (there must be a way past that grate, right?), or he could play the Song of the Royal Family, and see what happened. Those two options seemed the best choices.
Link returned to the centre of the bottom of the square. He stepped into the gap in the wall leading to the entrance to the well, and let the green bubble pass.
Draining or flooding the chamber might be irreversible. Nor would it help him face whatever lay in the left-hand room. He might as well head there first; see what he could find.
He nodded to himself, turned left, and stepped into the pool of water, peering through the darkness as best he could. There was a hole in the grate. He didn't notice it until he dove—it was right at the bottom.
He surfaced, and then dove again, swimming through the hole in the bottom and surfacing on the other side, where holes in the wall provided a way to climb up from the pit onto the walkway. Accessible even if the floor was drained.
He was beginning to think that the switch at the top of the room closed the mouth of that statue spewing water into the well. Maybe, it could both open and shut it, or maybe not. Who knew how the minds of evil sheikahs worked?
He pulled himself out of the water, and approached the door. He glanced at Navi, who shrugged. She probably didn't understand his hesitation. He slowly reached for the doorknob, and her eyes widened. The door did not, however, fall down and crush him, and he quickly threw it open, stepping into the room beyond.
There was something uncomfortably familiar about rooms filled with closed coffins. These were lying at regular intervals on the floor. There were six of them. Link well knew that absolutely anything could be inside—monsters, treasures, traps, but, given the reputation of the sheikah man, probably not actual interred corpses.
There were several torches lying around the room. Their importance was not readily apparent. He glanced around the room, strained his ears. He heard the flapping of wings. Keese. Were they invisible, or hidden inside the coffins?
Navi bit her lip. "I don't see them, but…."
The sentence did not need to be finished. He approached the coffin nearest him, on the left, and took several steps back as two keese fluttered out. He withdrew the boomerang, aimed, quickly defeated them. The nearest torch lit. He turned to the coffin on the right. It was empty, the torch next to it lit.
He headed for the next coffin, the one in the middle-right.
Something swathed in white bandages slowly rose from the coffin with an incapacitating shriek, bright red eyes fixed upon him. He froze, unable to move. Was this some new manner of redead?
"They're called 'gibdos'. I told you about them a while ago, when we were talking about redead, and other undead creatures. They're basically redead, but tougher. Watch out!"
But, he couldn't watch out. The monster latched onto him, and began siphoning away his vitality. He struggled, trying to force his body to move.
At last, he managed to throw it off, and wanted nothing more than to slump over, give his body time to recover. His heart was racing, and he could feel his head spinning. He'd lost too much blood. He knew it.
But, he didn't have the opportunity to recover. He whipped out the Ocarina of Time, and played the familiar "Sun's Song". He didn't care if he ended up missing half a day. He needed the help.
The gibdo, thankfully, froze, and Link considered what to do. If he attack it, it might recover, and latch onto him again. But, there might be more of them scattered through the well. Where there was one such monster, there were bound to be others.
He gripped the bottle containing the medicine of life in his hands tightly, and downed the entire thing in one go. He crept around behind the monster, even though it meant climbing into the coffin, and began hacking at it from behind. Eventually, it slumped over, and didn't rise again. From this, he assumed that it was dead. The torch next to the coffin lit, as if confirming his theory.
He headed to the next coffin in the line; the lid fell off; two keese flew out. He dispatched them swiftly, trying not to sag in relief. There were still two coffins left, after all, and he'd not found anything of consequence in this room, yet.
The torch lit, and he continued in his counterclockwise rotation.
And, of course, there was a gibdo in the next coffin. Damn. At this rate, he should just retreat, replenish his supplies, and return. It might take a hundred trips, this.
He finally threw the gibdo off him, and it landed in a heap next to the coffin, rising again straightaway in the familiar, boneless way of the redead. They were tougher than redead; Navi was right. That was little consolation.
Link played the "Sun's Song". Maybe he'd just lost an entire day; he didn't much care. He withdrew the second bottle of the medicine of life, downed the entire thing, and was on the move. He climbed around behind the gibdo, jumping, thrusting the kokiri sword down through its bandages, cutting through, but not far enough. There were layers upon layers of wraps. He stayed behind it, to avoid those eyes, and continued to lash out at it.
It seemed forever before it collapsed, and the fifth torch lit. He hesitated. There was only one one coffin left, but the only recovery medicines he had were both blue. But, he needed to do this now. He approached the final coffin, to light the final torch.
The torch lit. At first, he saw nothing inside the coffin. Then, he saw the small key. He had to climb onto the rim of the coffin to reach into it, but he fished out the key, staring at it. All of this, for just a small key? His shoulders slumped. The only other plan was to play the melody of the Royal Family before the statue-spout.
Right, well, at least that was something that he could do. First, however, he needed to replenish his supplies of the medicine of life. Their current levels did not bode well. He might as well start building up his relationship with the apothecary now, right?
He retreated back into the main square without incident. He noticed the small treasure chest at the bottom of the pool as he crossed back through the hole under the grate, further confirming that the Triforce insignia would somehow drain the rest of the water of the well. But, there would be time for that, later.
For the moment, he retreated, licking his wounds, as the saying went. He passed the skeleton lying against the wall, pausing, wondering to whom it belonged. Probably one of the sheikah's victims. He shuddered, and climbed out of the well into the sun, and fresh air, and nearly wept. But, he regained his composure, reminding himself that it was his duty to save Hyrule and awaken the six Sages.
He played the "Prelude of Light", and was brought to the Temple of Time, near the entrance. He could go forwards in time….
The most troubling thought might be that the Shadow Temple was bound to be worse than the bottom of the well. He worked hard to convince himself that his problems with the well were only on account of this weaker body, and the weaker sword. He did not quite succeed.
He and Navi wandered over to the apothecary in silence, and Link spent eighty of the three hundred rupees he had recently acquired on bottles full of the medicine of life. The woman behind the counter, who would someday give him a free dose, despite not knowing that he was the Hero of Time, destined to save Hyrule, now gave him an odd look. Children probably rarely visited this shop, at least to buy the medicines. Perhaps, they'd purchase a faerie in a bottle.
But, this stuff was the sort of thing a warrior would have use of, but rarely someone in an (ostensibly safer) role. Children were not generally thrust into life-and-death situations, now were they?
Uncertain as to how he ought to respond, he just gave her a smile, and fled.
Link returned then to the Kakariko Village graveyard via the "Nocturne of Shadow", far from ready for a second go at the bottom of the well, but with renewed determination (and vigour).
He returned to the well, climbed over and back down the rungs, returned to its main square, all with something like defiance. This dungeon would not defeat him. He was the Hero of Time!
This time, as he cautiously trod the walkway next the canal (might as well learn now if it was safe), Navi paused as they approached one of the horrid paintings.
"I can hear the spirits whispering nearby. They say 'danger above'. I wonder what that means…."
Link looked up; saw nothing of consequence. A hidden enemy, perhaps?
He was so busy looking up that he forgot to watch his step, and plummeted down through the apparently solid floor, into a hidden room beneath the main chamber. Yes, somehow that figured.
Navi followed him with great haste and many frantic exclamations. He landed hard on the brown packed dirt below, all the breath knocked right out of him by the collision. He could see nothing important about this dead end that he had landed in. He followed it with careful steps, around a bend, picked up a bomb flower, and broke it off near the stem to clear off the rockfall.
On the other side, he could see a redead a ways away, and beyond it, a toxic green pool of…something liquid. Beams of wood crossed one another, providing a makeshift bridge across the deadly pool.
He pulled out the Ocarina of Time, playing the "Sun's Song", and approaching at a run, in case the thing wasn't immobilised. It didn't move until he leapt upon it with drawn sword, impaling it in the head, and dragging the blade down. He pulled the Kokiri Sword out, and then lashed out repeatedly at the redead, until it finally collapsed. It left behind a vial of green liquid. Magic potion.
He could see several passages leading away from the central chamber. Since he was here, he forewent the question of how the basement wasn't flooded, to break down the rockfalls with bombs, and to hunt down the rest of the redead in this subterranean cavern. There were two more redead, and four more dead-end corridors off the central subterranean chamber.
When he returned to the room, it was to see a big treasure chest lying in the centre of the pool, precariously perched on an island in the centre.
He hoped that this was the Eye of Truth, but suspected that it was the dungeon map. Dungeons were predictable, if this was a dungeon. He could hope it would behave the same way. And he really, really needed a map.
He was unsurprised, after he finally managed to find a way to reach into the chest without falling in, to pull out the dungeon map. (He would miss being an adult if only for the ability to just reach down into a chest such as this one.)
Unlike all of the other dungeons, he knew that the best option for planning what to do next was to look at the map. He had the sense that the illusory walls that seemed so solid would not fool the map. What was surprising was that the central square of corridors was marked as one, solid blue, mass, with two black squares near the centre, and a branching dead end in every one of the four corners (and one in the middle of the western wall).
Two of these corridor dead-ends connected to rooms—the one to the southwest, and the one to the northeast. He'd been to the southwest one—it was the room with all of the torches and walking corpses. The northeast room connected to another room connected to the main square again. There was also a mysterious room marked as being in the basement—floor B1. The room he was in was marked as being B2. It was shaped like a corpse—in the pose of the skeleton he had seen leaning again the wall. He shivered. Sentient place or sheikah design, either way this non-coincidence was…disturbing.
He started looking for a way out; saw a ladder lying against the far wall, almost invisible against the similarly coloured earth. Navi was glowing a more washed-out blue than usual. It was difficult to tell, with her flying near his face, bobbing ceaselessly up and down, but he thought that she was shivering. And, the fact that she hadn't yet alit upon his shoulder said something on its own.
Link called her over to consult about the map. He pointed out the almost solid block of blue, and she looked thoughtful. Clearly, that central wall contained a hidden "room". But were any of the walls real?
He folded the map over, carefully putting it away in his inventory. Then he struck out for the ladder, wordlessly climbing it higher, and higher, until he pulled himself up into a room with a skeleton on the wall, and no door.
And looking at the space he'd just vacated, there was a solid floor there.
Link sighed. He looked to Navi.
"Does the skeleton have anything to say?" he asked.
"'Look for the Eye of Truth'," she recited. "Just as in the other room. Perhaps, it's a hint that there's a hidden room."
Link pulled out the dungeon room, noticed the now shaded in room. It was the one in the middle of the western wall. He reached out for the wall to his right. It felt solid enough. He imagined the room below in his mind. He was fairly sure that he was facing north, now. That ought to mean that the wall lying to his right was the eastern wall, and therefore the wall with the passage back to the main square of corridors.
He turned to the wall, instead, dropped his hands, put away the map, and walked out into the main square. A grunting green bubble continued around the bend, and out of sight.
He blinked, and turned to the left to stare at the painting he could see at the far end of the corridor. "Danger above", right? A clever trap.
Link walked into the waterway running around the room, and approached the central wall. He spent the next several minutes trying to walk through the wall, taking a step, trying to walk through, taking another step, trying to walk through, all along the wall. In the centre of the wall, he found that he was able to pass through it as if through air.
His vision was briefly obstructed, and then he stood in a square room, with a big treasure chest sitting in a fenced in area—a fence made of those same green-enameled metal bars he remembered from the Fire Temple—and another area. There were two doors set into the walls to his left—both locked, both leading to rooms he hadn't been to yet, according to the map. The two black areas of the map.
There was no time to stand there and consider what to do. He could hear the air whistling around him, a hauntingly familiar sound, as Navi belatedly called out a warning to "watch for the shadows of wallmasters!" And, there did seem to be a shadow looming ever larger overhead.
He rolled to avoid it, toward the pyramid skeleton of stakes arranged in the centre of the room. Four poles met in the centre, forming the outline of a pyramid, over a discoloured area of the floor. It seemed just the place for a bomb, he thought, remembering the Dodongo's Cavern. But, first things first, he should probably see what lay within the big treasure chest. Probably, the compass.
He fell through the floor in the entrance to the fence, landing hard on the beams of wood that crisscrossed the redead chamber. He groaned, raising himself to his feet, slowly. He thought he might have broken something.
He managed to pull out the red potion, and to drink a little. He was able to stand, pick a path back towards the ladder now he knew where it was, and climb back up into the room with the skeleton.
The Water Temple had hated him. The bottom of the well somehow hated him even more. There must be another, hidden path to that treasure chest. One that masqueraded as a wall. Assuming that the chest itself was even real, that was.
Link returned to the hidden room, if only to show it that it hadn't intimidated him. He considered the two locked doors, cautiously traversing the floor, wary of any other holes. His hand passed through one of the poles in the centre of the room, and he sighed. If he bent down, he could feel the floor beneath it to see if it, too, was an illusion, but he'd be less able to avoid any dropping wallmasters. He'd just assume that it was.
He cautiously edged into the other walled-off enclosure, with nothing but a pile of packed earth in a corner. Or something. He wasn't sure he knew what it was, and certain that he didn't want to know. There was something rust-coloured mixed in—the colour of dried blood.
He pulled out a bomb, broke the cap, and set it down on the pile of unknown debris. Then, he edged slowly out of the enclosure, torn between avoiding the inevitable explosion, and not falling through the floor.
The rubble cleared as if it hadn't ever been, revealing a small treasure chest hidden beneath. He warily edged forward again, opened the small chest, pulled out another small key. The only locked doors he'd seen thus far were in this very room, but there must be others.
But, although he was sure that the dungeon would at least give him enough keys to open every locked door, he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. He would save the keys to clear the way forward. However…the map suggested that, maybe, the right room connected with this one held a way into the back of the enclosure. He needed the compass, too. In fact, he needed all the guidance he could get.
He approached the door, stuck the first of the two keys into it, and threw the door open.
To be met with the sight of a hunched over, slowly straightening up, redead. Link threw caution to the winds, hurriedly whipping out the Ocarina of Time to play the familiar "Sun's Song". It froze, and Link approached it from the side, as it was too close to the wall to access its back. He hacked at it relentlessly, until it collapsed with a groan. A magic potion appeared. He ignored it, for the moment, to turn and face the wall in which the door was set. There was a second door there.
He approached it, threw it open, was met with the sight of a solid brick wall. Probably not actually a solid brick wall—just the sight of one.
He walked through the wall, carefully approaching the treasure chest again. He might have sunk onto his hands and knees, but then what would he do when the wallmaster dropped down? He edged closer to the chest, and closer, and then reached out, swiveled a very real clasp, and pushed the lid off, throwing the chest wide open. Then he walked around to the front, climbed halfway into the chest, and reached inside to pull out the familiar compass. Now, he'd have no trouble finding the treasure chests hidden in the dungeon. Or the dungeon boss.
He stared at the skull marker, which was, naturally, the only room he didn't know where it was. The one room of B1. He sighed, glancing over at Navi. She crossed her arms, but said nothing.
He wandered back out of the hidden room a few minutes later, through careful backtracking, relaxing only when he stood in the central chamber again. Well, technically, probably, he'd been there all along. Or maybe not. This dungeon was too complicated to understand.
But, he followed the waterway back to the symbol of the triforce. He stepped onto the insignia, looking at the pool of water standing before him. He played "Zelda's Lullaby", and waited while the water all drained out of the pool before him, even as the statue-fountain closed its mouth. A moment later, he stood before a trench, straight and square, with a treasure chest lying at the bottom.
The treasure chest contained fifty rupees, as it turned out. He'd been hoping for a small key.
He shrugged, turning to the left to continue his clockwise circuit of the square corridors. As he approached the other painting, Navi paused and hovered near it. Both paintings were situated above the walkways, and not the waterways, which was why Link hadn't fallen into the basement before—he'd stayed in the safety of the waterways.
"I can hear the voices of the spirits around here," Navi said, in a hesitant whisper. "They say 'danger below', whatever that means."
Judging by the previous painting's warnings, it meant that a monster would drop down on him if he came too close. He approached in wary silence. He leapt back the moment that he saw the shadow looming before him. A second later, he realised that this shadow belonged to a skulltula. Well, at least he'd fought them as a child before. It was a simple matter of waiting for it to expose its sensitive belly to him, cut into it, back up as it spun back around, repeat until he cut through the vulnerable flesh to whatever passed for vital organs.
With the skulltula defeated, he carefully walked over to the crawl hole he could see around the corner.
He fell into several pits, always landing back in some part of the redead-shaped underground chamber, climbing back out, making his way back to the crawl-hole, each time marking where the holes were, each time moving more slowly, despite the fire keese flying overhead. He shot them from the sky, one by one. Occasionally, as they were consumed by flames, their bodies, or the items they dropped, helped him to locate the invisible pits littering the room. When they were all gone, he sank to his hands and knees, slowly crossing the room by crawling forward, until he came to the door.
The next room, of course, was also full of keese, and pits. This one had a beamos, too. It took several tries to hit it with a bomb without falling into a pit as he approached it. Eventually, however, this room, too, was empty, and he was able to crawl on his hands and knees to the door.
He opened it to find himself in the grated area with the likelike. From this encounter, he learnt two things: one, that the boomerang could stun likelikes, despite their strange composition, and two, that likelikes were a lot tougher than they'd seemed with the added power of two Sages, in the Fire Temple. It seemed to swallow his slingshot bullets, but he finally managed to get it to swallow a bomb. As with dodongos, its all-consuming stomach seemed somewhat weaker against bombs.
When it was defeated, another small chest appeared. This one, mercifully, had a small key.
He had now explored every room but two—the room connected to the hidden, central "room", and the mysterious room of B1, where the boss lurked. Apparently, each of these were accessible only by small key.
Hoping that the room off the hidden chamber contained the "Eye of Truth", whatever that was, he headed there first. It contained a redead, naturally, and fifty rupees hidden in a small chest. This meant that he'd have to defeat the boss (for boss it was, and not a miniboss), in order to acquire the dungeon item. That was a first.
But, that wasn't the problem that ate away at him. Not the primary problem, at least. The primary problem was that he still didn't know where the mysterious B1 room was—how to get there. Did he perhaps have to fall into a specific one of the holes scattered throughout the bottom of the well?
Passing by it in another circuit of the main square, he noticed the previously flooded room right next the entrance. Oh. Previously flooded meant that the bottom of it was lower than the rest of the room. Perhaps, low enough that it was on a completely different story?
He swung over the side, gripping onto the wire mesh covering the wall, and climbed. He actually climbed a sizable distance, but not far enough to put him level with the redead basement. At the bottom, he turned around to find himself facing a locked door.
He approached it, careful not to let his guard down. He didn't see any enemies, and neither did Navi; that didn't mean no enemies were there. He didn't see any holes in the ground, and neither did Navi. That didn't mean that the ground was completely solid underfoot.
He made it to the door without incident, inserted the key into the lock, and opened the door.
Beyond was a room with four pale arms sticking out of the ground. They reminded him of the wallmasters that he had…seen…on the Great Sea, except that these didn't rise out of black vortices, and they were pale and scabrous and gnarled. In the centre of their square was a thing that looked as if it might once have been human. It was as gnarled and gruesome as the hands, pale and twisted and wrong, with a long, long neck, and two arms that it clutched to its chest like a squirrel. The head was gaunt and featureless, except for a mouth with wrinkled lips and sharp teeth.
Link drew the kokiri sword, and leapt at the neck connecting the head to the body. The sword could only penetrate so far, but then the monster disappeared in a flurry of dirt.
"Navi…what is this?" he asked, turning to her.
"It's called a 'dead hand'," Navi said, biting her lip. "It controls those arms and hands you see in the corners as if they were extensions of its body…its real hands, I suppose you could say. Don't come close enough for them to grab onto you! Attack the body itself!"
Link waited, and waited, and waited. He sighed, staying on the alert, wary and ready for if the monster returned. But, as time passed, it was clear that it wasn't going to. And meanwhile, if it were similar to the other monsters he'd encountered on its quest, the wound he'd inflicted on it was healing. He'd just have to draw it out of hiding—lay a trap.
Ignoring Navi's well-intentioned protests, he inched towards one of the hands, careful to approach it from the centre-edge of the room—not the corner, and not the dead centre. He needed to be able to make a quick escape.
The moment he was close enough, the hand reached over with agonising slowness, until it gripped onto his head. That alone was painful enough. But, he could hear a slithering, oozy, squelching sound—the boss moving towards him.
He struck the wrist as hard as he could with the sharp edge of the Kokiri Sword, cleaving through it, in time to jump back, away from both hand and boss. The hand, and the arm it had been attached to, collapsed to the ground, but the boss was upon him. There was no time to worry about those. He was at the wrong angle for a jump attack. This time, he held out the sword to the side, focusing energy into it until it burnt blue. As the boss lowered its head to bite him, he released the energy in a spin attack.
This one cut almost through the neck, but even as he brought the sword back to his side, the monster disappeared again, neck already sewing itself back together.
And, meanwhile, the repaired hand attached to the arm rose back out of the floor. Link swiped dirt from his face, rubbing it from his eyes. He needed to be able to see.
When he felt that he could trust his eyes, he approached another of the hands from a similar angle—not from the centre, and not from the corner. From the edge. Navi made no protests, this time. Even as he approached, he readied the sword to cut through the wrist. The moment it latched onto him, he sliced through it, as the boss appeared across the room. He held out the sword, focusing energy into it again. If he could hit it again, he should be able to cut through the neck. That should finish the monster off.
By the time the dead hand reached him, he'd focused a good deal of magic into the sword. He released a torrent of energy which behaved as an extension of the cutting blade, in addition to the sharp blade of the Kokiri Sword, finally cutting off the head. Blue flames licked it up, and the hands collapsed to the ground.
No treasure chest appeared. He sighed. This was the last thing he needed. First, he fights the boss, then he discovers that he still doesn't have the Eye of Truth. For no other reason than that he had no better plan, he walked around the perimeter of the room, feeling for any sort of hidden passage. But, that wasn't enough, was it? The illusory walls seemed solid enough until you tried to walk through them.
He groaned, and circled the room again. When he came to the wall opposite the door, he found that he was able to walk through. The room beyond was strangely homey, despite being located deep underground, in a place crawling with undead monsters, and guarded by a particularly nasty one. Even the incredible power of Link's strongest attack, the spin attack, hadn't worked quite well enough to finish it off in one blow.
He looked around the chamber, which was lit by torches stationed around the walls in regular intervals. There were bookshelves around the edges of the room, and a desk with a diary on it. Or maybe not a diary. He couldn't tell; it wasn't written in Hylian. He abandoned the task, and continued looking, wondering what had become of the sheikah who had built this place. Then, an unnerving thought occurred to him: suppose that sheikah had become the dead hand he had just slain?
Sometimes, Link wished he lacked the capacity to think. The idea made too much sense.
He shuddered, shook his head, continued to search the room. It would be different if he could read the books in this chamber, but a quick glance at the spines showed irrefutably that they were all written in that same incomprehensible language.
He opened the drawers of the desk, sifting through their contents. He examined the bookshelves, as if hoping for a secret passage. He walked back over to the desk but tripped and fell flat on his face, slumped over…something. He braced himself against that something to stand back up, and stared. He could see nothing but packed dirt. He groaned. Of course the treasure chest, itself, would be invisible.
Navi fluttered back over to him as he felt awkwardly about for the swivel clasp. It was on the other side, facing the desk. He crawled around the invisible chest to it, slowly twisted the clasp, and pushed back the lid. Suddenly, the big treasure chest became visible. Too late for that, he thought, with a frown.
He reached into the chest, and pulled out a stick with a circle at the end of it. The centre of the circle was all of some clear, flexible surface, fluid as water. He stared at it in fascination, and then stared through it, at the light he could see shining upon the chest. It seemed to be a ray of sun shining through the ceiling.
He glanced up. No light. He glanced down. No light. He looked through the strange circle again. Light. The same white light of the sun.
He blinked, repeatedly, and then held the rod up over his head, as if he couldn't resist trying to trace and outline the line of light. A sunbeam seemed to be falling from the ceiling, shining through the strange, viscous substance that comprised the lens.
"Navi, come look at this! According to this stick thing, there's a sunbeam in the room. Isn't that strange?" It did seem a bit warmer by the treasure chest. He considered the item, what it could be. Was this the Eye of Truth?
Navi flew over to him as he raised the thing directly overhead, tilting his head back to follow the sunbeam to its source.
The centre of the circle shattered, raining down on him like shards of glass, falling into his face, his mouth, his eyes. They burnt and stung and itched. He wanted to rub at them. He wanted to wash them out with the water of the outside waterway. But, he didn't trust himself to make the return trip—not while he couldn't see. The problem fed on itself.
Navi seemed to be having similar problems. She rubbed frantically at her eyes, and then clenched her hands into fists, lowering them.
"Link, what did you just do?" she demanded. Link shrank back, despite himself. Angry Navi was scary. He made a mental note of that.
"I don't know! I wasn't expecting it to break, honest! Ugh…I can't see. It's got in my eyes, and I didn't bring any water…."
Navi blinked, rapidly, and then sighed, fluttering down to look at his eyes.
"Did it get in your eyes, too?" That was an obvious question. When she didn't say anything, he continued, "I'm sorry, Navi. I'm really sorry. Thanks to my carelessness—"
"I can see, Link," she said, softly. He made to continue, to explain, but she elaborated: "I can see. My vision cleared. Yours will, too. I think…when they said 'Eye of Truth', they meant eyes of truth. This man invented something that, when it gets in your eyes, allows you to see the truth."
Link turned and stared at her. She was right. His eyes were clearing up on their own, although they still stung. He reached for the medicine of life at his side, decided against it. He breathed in, deeply, breathed out. He closed his eyes tight, waiting for the pain to subside. He opened his eyes when they stopped their complains to find that they started stinging again. But, it was no longer so completely distracting that he couldn't see where he was going.
He turned back to the entrance to the room, saw a rectangular block cut out of the wall. That was how they'd entered. He walked through, into the room where the dead hand had lurked. There was a treasure chest in the middle of the room. He approached it, kicked it open, found a bundle of arrows. These must be old sheikah arrows; they bore scant resemblance to the faerie arrows with which he was familiar. They were made of a darker wood, that looked as if it had been stained, somehow. They were also much glossier, and with black fletching. Typical Sheikah? Maybe.
Link didn't care. He just wanted out of this place—to go back to the future, rescue Impa, complete his quest. He wasn't sure what he wanted after that. Maybe to finally know what Sheik's appearance, under the disguise, and…what, get married, have children, die of old age?
All things that kokiri couldn't do, of course. He shoved thoughts of future aside. He knew full well that he'd end up marrying someone someday, if he survived, and having children. But, if he were ever going to marry Sheik, he'd have to complete the quest first, right?
Right. He turned back to the door, opened it, and made his way back to the main square. Future, here he came!