Chapter 23: The Truth
Link walked back across the broken drawbridge, crossed the dusty abandoned street next to the Ghost Shop, and even snuck past the redead without incident. He only began to run when he reached the row of gossip stones, but then he ran full tilt, determined to atone for his tardiness with haste.
There was no one there when he arrived, as far as he could see. He relaxed, thinking that at least whoever it was, they hadn't been kept waiting. He continued towards the altar, with the three Spiritual Stones, considering the merits of traveling back in time, but whirled around when he heard a familiar, deep voice.
"I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time," said the voice, but there was a tinge of amusement to it.
His jaw dropped, but he whirled around, grinning to see the familiar figure, clad all in blue and white, who stood in the doorway. It had been Sheik waiting for him all along. He couldn't stop himself from taking several steps forward, and she tensed, as if preparing to disappear, but then shook her head. He took it as his cue to stop.
"Sheik!" he said, grinning so hard that his mouth hurt. "You came back! I thought that I'd never see you again! Did you change your mind? What did I do wrong, anyway?"
But, her expression remained grave, and she bowed her head, hiding her bright red eyes in the shadow of cowl and bangs.
"Link, the Hero of Time…allow me to congratulate you. You have faced many trials, overcome them, and freed all six of the Sages of the Temples. Congratulations. That was very well done. But, Ganondorf still remains out there."
He perceived Sheik's gaze boring into him, her eyes lifted, although her head remained bowed. He sobered, realising that the quest was not yet over; he knew before that there remained Ganondorf, but he'd let his victories drive him to complacence. He straightened up, smoothed out his expression, nodded.
"You prepare for a final battle, a confrontation with Ganondorf Dragmire, the Evil King of Thieves. But, before you do that…I have things I want to explain, only to you."
She suddenly seemed weak, and vulnerable, with her shoulders slumped, body compressed as if drawing into herself, trying to become as small as possible. With her head bowed, she seemed somehow young, and fragile. He wished that he could protect her from whatever was troubling her, but knew that he couldn't without knowing what it was.
"You know that you can tell me anything," he said, reaching out, letting his hand fall, not daring to come any closer. His eyes fell to the floor, and he looked down at his boots.
Sheik had a strange sort of air to her, as if she wanted to disappear. He humoured her by looking away from her, but couldn't help glancing up now and then, when he thought she wasn't looking, as if to assure himself that he hadn't frightened her off. She took a deep breath, and nodded.
"There is another myth that you should know, passed down by the 'Shadow Folk', the Sheikahs. It also concerns the Triforce. It runs thus:
"'If you would seek the Sacred Triangles, listen well. The Sacred Realm is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart of whomever enters it. If he be virtuous, the Realm will become an earthly paradise. If evil, the Realm will itself become twisted and evil.
"'The Triforce itself, however, judges only the weight of a man's heart, and whether or not it is in balance. It weighs the values the man places on the three aspects of itself: Power, Wisdom, Courage. If he have all three aspects in balance, he will gain the True Force to rule all. But, if his heart be unbalanced, he shall obtain that piece of the Triforce that represents what he most strongly believes in. The other two pieces of the Triforce will vanish, each going to a different individual in the terrestrial world. They will each seek out one who values and believes in that aspect that they represent. If he who touched the Triforce seeks the True Force, he must first seek for these two, and obtain their two pieces of the Triforce. And, he shall recognise them by the mark of the Triforce that appears on the back of their hands.' That is the myth."
She heaved a great sigh, as if a burden had been lifted from her, and finally lifted her head, looking him in the eyes.
"When you opened the gate to the Sacred Realm, seven years ago, you opened it in the name of peace. But, that did not stop Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Thieves, from entering it, and turning it into the twisted, evil land spoken of in the myth. Nor is that all of the myth that was verified, for the very moment that he touched it, the rest was proven true. The Triforce broke into three pieces. Only the Triforce of Power remained in Ganondorf's hand.
"Pursuing the myth, or his own intuition, he has since then been scouring the land for them who hold the other two pieces of the Triforce, to no avail. He possesses only the Triforce of Power, even now.
"The one who has the Triforce of Courage is…you, Link!"
She smiled at him, and he nodded, and gave a tentative smile back. Even as she'd spoken, he'd seen that it must be true, and hadn't his thoughts tended in that direction, before? When he'd first awoken in the Sacred Realm, hadn't he assumed that he had the Triforce of Courage? And, in truth, hadn't he demonstrated it, by his behaviour on his quest? The trials that Sheik had mentioned had tested all three aspects of the Triforce: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. But, Ganondorf already possessed the Triforce of Power, and only one Triforce would go to each of two other individuals.
In the Hero of Winds's time, the bearers had been Princess Zelda, and The Hero of Winds himself. And the legends had suggested that the Hero of Time had the Triforce of Courage. He'd expected her to say this. But, he had expected it to be somehow perceptible to him from the start.
He paused, removing the gauntlets from his hands to examine them without any protective cover for the first time. He raised his right hand, saw nothing, lowered it with a shake of his head, and raised his left. There, faintly, he could see the outline of the triple triangles of the Triforce. One alone among them was filled in—the one in the lower right. The one representing the Triforce of Courage.
He replaced the Kokiri and Silver Gauntlets, nodding, thinking perhaps that he'd only missed that visible mark because his hands had been hidden this entire time.
He raised his head, again, to look at Sheik, who nodded back to him.
"The one who bears the Triforce of Wisdom is the seventh Sage, destined to be the leader of them all, without whom their power is halved, for she possesses the Triforce of Wisdom."
She lowered her head, and then raised it again, sharply, so that Link feared that she might hurt herself from the violent motion. Instead, she raised her right hand, fingers splayed, back of her hand facing him. It was covered in cloth, fingerless gloves, so even if the symbol of the Triforce were there, it was covered. And, he rather suspected that that was what she was hinting.
As he watched, utterly perplexed as to what she was doing, she slammed the back of her left hand against the palm of her right, and a bright light flooded the temple. It was, in fact, bright enough that he was forced to close his eyes and turn away.
A moment later, the light died down, and he was able to turn around to look at Sheik again. Only, Sheik wasn't there anymore.
His jaw dropped, again, as he stared, heedless of decorum. His heart was suddenly pounding, and breathing was almost impossible. His breath seemed to have gotten stuck in his throat on its way. He couldn't speak, and indeed, all capacity for thought also seemed to have left him. He didn't notice Navi's giggles, even, as he gaped at the woman before him.
She was tall, and fair, with long, strawberry-blonde hair, several shades lighter than his own, and bright blue eyes the colour of the sky. She wore a bright pink bodice, and long white gloves that came past her elbows. The skirt of her dress was pale pink, except for the bannerlike design that was stitched into it, which was blue, with the red phoenix reaching for the Triforce prominent among its other designs, picked out in reds, blues, and yellows. She wore earrings shaped like the Triforce, and a torc and epaulets made out of bronze, the weight of which didn't seem to trouble her at all. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman Link had ever seen, and very familiar, even without any introductions.
This had to be Zelda Atempor.
She looked at him with the most tragic expression he had ever seen on anyone's face, and he clenched his fists without knowing it, desperate to somehow set everything right, if only to fix that lost, broken expression.
"It is I, Zelda Atempor, Princess of Hyrule." Link swallowed, finally regaining use of his body, as if she'd just broken a spell placed upon him, just by speaking. He bowed, and then knelt before her.
"Rise, Link. Are we not friends? Please, let me speak with you, as an equal, as a fellow bearer of the Triforce. To hide from the Evil King of Thieves, I donned a disguise. Forgive me for misleading you, but I felt it necessary. I had to ensure that Ganondorf did not find the whereabouts of another piece of the Triforce."
What was there to forgive? What did it matter to him that she'd disguised herself as Sheik? He understood the need to hide from Ganondorf; indeed, he thought she should put that mask back on, mindful of Ganondorf's watchful eyes, but his voice still eluded him. He stood there, and gaped.
She looked down and away, right hand clutching her left elbow in a gesture he at last recognised. She seemed to need to compose herself, holding back tears by force of will. His heart went out to her.
"Seven years ago, I saw you as my attendant—my mother!—Impa and I were fleeing Hyrule Castle. There was no time to stop to speak with you. Instead, I thought that it would be best to leave the Ocarina of Time with you. I thought that it was our best chance: Ganondorf would continue his pursuit of me, leaving you to obtain the Triforce from the Sacred Realm before him. If that had happened, then we could have avoided all of this. I threw the Ocarina of Time into the moat, trusting that you would acquire it, and fulfil the final phase of our plan."
Her hand rose to her chest, as if she could apply pressure to the injured area, and make it stop hurting. Make it stop bleeding. Link took a step towards her. Two. She still wasn't looking at him.
"But, something happened then that I could never have predicted. The Master Sword, guardian of the barrier to the Sacred Realm, sealed you away for seven years. Ganondorf used the opportunity, and the open door, to obtain the Triforce. All of this, that has happened since, is because of my misjudgement. It was a mistake, one I regret deeply. My first duty, above my own happiness, must be to see my mistake righted as best it can be, and Ganondorf stopped."
She lifted her head, lowered her hand, and turned to look at him, eyes narrowed and dark with something Link couldn't even tell. He wanted to say something, but didn't know what. What could he possibly say?
"I passed myself off as a Sheikah, and waited seven years for your return. In the meantime, Ganondorf conquered Hyrule. But now, you're back! The nightmares that have haunted Hyrule will finally come to an end!" She pressed her palms together in front of her, almost but not quite clasped, and a smile struggled to appear on her face. "Finally, Ganondorf's evil reign will come to an end! And I shall play my part in ending my people's suffering. But, I must ask you to lend me your courage once again."
He found his voice, nodding, and saying in a thick, almost slurred voice, "Anything I can do, Zelda."
She smiled at him, but the smile didn't reach her eyes, which still looked…lost…haunted. He wished that he'd been there to support her through the seven years, or, better yet, to have prevented all of this from happening.
"We go to confront Ganondorf. He has his stronghold just outside the ruins of the marketplace. The six Sages will lure him out, and you and I will seal him in the Sacred Realm with the joint forces of the Triforces and the Master Sword. With his evil sealed in the Sacred Realm, his influence in this world will come to an end. Hyrule will at last be free. But, before you go to confront him, I must teach you one last thing…how to make the sacred Arrow of Light—the weapon given for use only to the two Chosen Ones!"
She held up her hands, and, as Link watched, an arrow appeared above them. It was silver in colour, and glowed with a bright white light from deep within. He recognised it; the Hero of Winds had encountered just such, himself. It fell into Zelda's hands, and she reached out across the gap, holding out both of her hands to him. She pressed it into his empty hands, and folded his fingers over it.
He closed his eyes, thinking of the fire arrow he had learnt how to make at Lake Hylia, while Sheik—while Zelda!—watched. As it had then, knowledge flooded him, how to make the arrow. Zelda smiled at him, and he smiled back, and he knew that whatever he had done before that had incurred her wrath, she had forgiven him.
"Come, Link, let us—"
Zelda was interrupted by a rumbling noise, and the wild shaking of the ground. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened wide in fright. She turned to Link, reaching out to him for support.
"Link…that rumbling. It can't be…."
"At last, I have found you, Princess Zelda!" said a familiar, horrible laugh. Link reached for her hand, but a pink wall shot up between them, constricting itself into a crystal prison around Zelda. She pushed her hands against the barrier, as if expecting to pass through, but they met something solid and impenetrable.
Link returned her wide-eyed gaze, and launched himself forward, determined to break through. He banged on it with his fists, but it was unyielding, and hard as stone. It shimmered with unbefitting beauty, as the ground quaked, and mortar and pieces of rock fell from the ceiling of the Temple.
"I knew you'd show yourself eventually if I let this kid run around! Ha! Well done, kid! But, I must admit, I would have thought you'd die by now. I guess I underestimated you…no, I underestimated the power of the Triforce of Courage. Well, now I know better!"
Link knew that he wouldn't see Ganondorf, but he looked frantically around the temple anyway, but didn't enter the chamber of the Master Sword. He didn't dare to leave Zelda's side. It was as if he believed that, if he stayed here, he'd be able to protect Zelda, despite not being able to reach her. He considered taking out the Megaton Hammer, but then bit his lip. What if it hurt Zelda?
A moment later, the crystal began to lift into the air, and he realised that he'd missed his chance.
"If you want to save Princess Zelda, come to my Tower. Fight me for her!"
And then, the Temple stilled. The ground stopped quaking, rubble stopped falling from the ceiling, and Zelda's rupee-shaped prison disappeared.
He sank to his knees on the cold stone floor. Failed. He'd failed her. Again. The pain in his chest was as if someone had reached into it, and was crushing his heart. He stared straight ahead, feeling numb. The woman he loved, the best friend of his childhood, one and the same woman, now kidnapped, abducted at the brink of triumph by the man she'd eluded for seven years. The fault must be his. But, he would get her back. He would. He didn't care what it cost him.
He rose to his feet, shaking, swaying on the spot, as if he had just received a physical blow that knocked him off-balance.
"Link, shall we go?" asked Navi, in a small voice. "Only, you should keep an eye out for the last two faerie fountains. At such a moment as this, you need to not act rash. We should seek out the assistance of the last two Great Faeries before we go to confront Ganondorf."
Link made no answer, instead stumbling out the door of the Temple, past the gossip stones, through the market, lumbering like the redead around him, feeling as if he'd become much the same as what they were, a body without a soul. He walked as if another guided his steps, not towards the drawbridge, but to the path that once led to Hyrule Castle. What better marker for Ganondorf's complete triumph than to tear apart the erstwhile Hyrule Castle and build a black tower of its bones?
He stumbled through the harsh winds of the winding castle path, trying not to think of his journeys here, seven years ago, sneaking past the guards, passing under this very gate, that now hung, half-buried in the soil, with its rubble strewn about. Here and there, the bleached bone of what must once have been a castle guard shone through the grime and muck that covered the once-beautiful path. Link took a moment, each time, to commemorate their sacrifice and courage, and gradually, his heart awoke to the knowledge of the shared plight of all of Hyrule's citizens. It was not only Zelda to whom Ganondorf had brought pain and suffering.
He straightened, his stride evening out. He turned around a bend, and the looming foreboding height of a tall black tower met his eye. Somehow, it was far more frightening than the same tower—or one very like it—buried beneath the Great Sea. Perhaps, because it was real, he mused.
Or, perhaps, because he was unprepared. Even the power of six Sages seemed insufficient for handling Ganondorf. If he had seen their reunion, then what else did he know? This was a trap; he knew it, but he knew just as well that he must spring the trap, and hope to live to see the other side.
He sought for a way to the tower, which floated in the middle of a pool of lava. The lava was so far below that none of the heat rose this high, but that didn't change the fact that there was no way to cross to the other side.
He made his way around the lake of lava, passing grey boulders littering the way to a dead end. Only, it couldn't be a dead end. His intuition woke, mind turning over the significance of the single grey boulder sitting up against the wall of the dead end. He stared at it, and then withdrew the Megaton Hammer, swinging it twice against the stone, which shattered, revealing a path boring through the hillside, one of a square archway, extended into a tunnel. He turned to Navi. She nodded.
They made their way into the faerie realm, with its shimmering, cascading walls, and pristine, shining stones. Two bright green torches blazed high, flanking the symbol of the Triforce, on the last step before the spring. Link stepped up, and stood on the symbol, taking out the Ocarina of Time, and playing "Zelda's Lullaby". He wiped away the tears that threatened to fall, and stared at the walls around the fountain, hoping that if he turned his head away, not only would he not see the Great Faerie, but she wouldn't see his tears.
She spun up out of the spring, pirouetting, before coming to stand before him, in the middle of the fountain. From the corners of his eyes, he saw that she looked identical to all the other Great Faeries, with bright green eyes, and blood-red hair separated into three ropes, and wearing nothing but boots and vines.
"Welcome, Link! I am the Great Faerie of Courage! I will increase your defensive capabilities tenfold! That will make you much stronger, and more difficult to kill. But, you are still far from invincible, so watch out!"
She closed her eyes, and chanted, and a stream of green petals flowed from her hands, forming a circle around Link. They turned into a circle of light.
"Be careful! A blow will still hurt as much as it did before, so pay attention! And, nothing will save you from drowning, incinerating, or falling to your death. Pay close attention to your surroundings, use your magic judiciously, and be careful. The last of my sisters lives in the heart of the Lost Woods, near the Sacred Forest Meadow. You are ready to meet with her now. She will increase your offensive capabilities. Good luck, Link! Rescue the Princess, and save Hyrule! We're counting on you! When battle has made you weary, please return to see me!"
And, with these words, she spiraled back down into the spring, as if she'd never been.
Link trudged back away from the fountain without another word. Navi landed on his shoulder, eyes wide in concern, but knew that it was best to keep her silence, for the moment. He needed some time to recover, still, from the sudden and unexpected blow. They wandered back out into the perpetual dusk of Ganondorf's base, Link stumbling back down the slope, eyes fixed upon the black tower in the distance.
"Link…" Navi began, hesitated, received no response. "Shall we seek out the Great Faerie of the Forest?"
Link stopped walking, just for a moment, before setting off again around the cliff ringing the pool of lava far below. There must be a way to cross.
"Link?" Navi ventured again, leaning over his shoulder.
He didn't seem to hear her. "Navi, how are we to cross this?" he asked, hands flying to clutch at his temples, as if to ward off a headache. Navi frowned at his lack of response, but redirected her thoughts to the goal at hand.
"I don't know," she said. "That ledge over there is the only level ground near the gap, but there isn't a way to cross. Still, it's a start, I suppose."
Link nodded, walking over to the ledge, and peering down at the lava far below. He bent down to look over the edge, as if he might see some manner of path around the rim. There was nothing.
"Link, I do think we should see the final Great Faerie. Maybe she'll have some advice."
Link stood up, straightened, and turned back to Navi. He gave her a dull, brittle smile, that didn't reach his eyes. "I suppose I might as well. Perhaps, she'll know the way across."
Navi huffed, and crossed her arms, trying to act as if this were only a routine sort of setback, rather than a gaping hole in their plans. She nodded, and he withdrew the Ocarina of Time, letting his smile fall away. He closed his eyes, playing the "Minuet of Forest", and Navi pretended not to see the tears that streaked down his cheeks at the familiar sound of Sheik's harp.
The Lost Woods was as friendly and helpful as usual. No sooner had he arrived but it noticed his distress, pestering him about it until Navi snapped, pointing her finger (not even truly feeling ridiculous doing so) around the clearing of the Sacred Forest Meadow, and shouting a long, and empassioned, condemnation of its senseless badgering, something to the effect that it should be ashamed of itself, and if it wanted so badly to help, then it should just show them the way to the Great Faerie's Fountain.
It ignored her, until Link piped up, in a broken, oddly toneless voice, "Yes, please, oh Great and Ancient Woods. Guide us to the Great Faerie's Fountain, that we know lies somewhere in your depths."
This placated the spirit of the Woods; a dim green light appeared in front of them, hovering before Link's face to ensure that he noticed it before zipping off into the maze of the Meadow. Link hastened to give chase, and for a few glorious minutes, there was nothing else to think about but following that dim light, not losing it. It parted trees and vines as it passed, the component trees of the forest yielding readily before the manifestation of the Wood's spirit.
At length, they came to an archway of bent-over trees, leading abruptly into a darkened stone corridor. Shortly thereafter, the arch squared off, becoming the familiar brick walls of the faerie fountains. And, here were the shimmering currents that made up the walls of the fountain proper, and the packed snow that served for a floor, and the coloured blue walkway leading up to the spring.
He stood between the twin blue torches, standing on the symbol of the Royal Family, and played "Zelda's Lullaby". Memory returned to him, and grief again threatened to overcome him, but I will save her, ruled his mind, firmed his resolve, enabled him to look up, to set aside that sentiment of failure, of loss, of doom, if only for a moment.
"Welcome, Link! I am the Great Faerie of Wisdom!" said the Great Faerie, similar in form to all the others, with bright blue eyes, and bright red hair in three parts, wearing nothing but boots and vines. Link almost didn't notice at all.
"I will bless your clothes to increase your stamina, and halve the amount of energy it takes for you to use magic. That should help you greatly on your quest. But, be warned: only the clothes you're now wearing will give you your added protection. The magic, naturally, affects your very soul, and therefore, will affect you even if you aren't wearing any!"
She laughed, then, and Navi, who ordinarily would have giggled at the comment, and at Link's resulting embarrassment, was conspicuous by her silence. A circle of red petals formed around Link, who felt exhaustion he hadn't noticed begin to seep away; grief and shame rob much energy even from the well-rested, and Link hadn't rested since fighting and defeating Twinrova, or, indeed, the iron knuckle who had been Naburu.
Then, a ring of blue light formed around him, replenishing the magical energy that he had forgotten he had spent. As far as he could tell, that was all it had done, but he trusted the Great Faerie's words. He straightened up, bowing to her, and raised his head to look at her expression, which was filled with warmth and compassion. He felt a renewed determination, fortified by the faith of the Great Faeries. Peace and calm returned to his heart, and he felt the tension that had pervaded his body dissipate.
"Link Sylvanus, you now embark on the final, most perilous part of your quest. But, we seven Great Faeries have faith in you. You shall rescue the princess! Have faith! And, remember, we Great Faeries are always here to support and to help you. When battle has made you weary, please feel free to return to visit me!"
With that, she spun back down into her spring, and Link turned to Navi, with a more genuine smile.
"Let's go back now, Navi. I'm sure we'll find a way across the sea of fire, if we work together."
He ran back out of the faerie fountain, into the Lost Woods. He took a moment, tilting his head back to breathe deeply of the smell of home. "And, thank you, Lost Woods. I will return here again, never fear. Maybe then, I shall have a surprise for you!"
The leaves of the trees rustled, and he knew that the forest was listening. He paid it little mind, absently reaching out to run a hand along the branches of the overhanging canopy, before he bowed his head, and withdrew the Ocarina of Time, perhaps for the final time.
He lifted it to his lips, and played the "Prelude of Light", and they disappeared in a flash of yellow light.
A few minutes later, he approached the gap again, heading without hesitation or consideration for the level area Navi had indicated before; it was his best chance of crossing. This time, as he approached, he heard a familiar voice. It was the voice of Rauru, the Sage of Light.
"Link Sylvanus! You have come far, and endured much. Don't let this obstacle bar your progress! We six Sages will create a bridge for you, to enable you to cross to the other side. Wait for it to fully form, and remember what I said about haste and planning!"
Even as Rauru spoke, a shower of bright lights in the colours of the rainbow fell like rain from the sky, compacting themselves, flattening out, and melding together until they formed a beautiful, translucent bridge of light. He stared at it, as if it would vanish any second, and then reached a foot up, gently pressing it against the surface, which seemed solid as rock.
"Thank you, Rauru, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, Naburu. I owe you all so much. Please help me as I face this. Be by my side and lend me your strength. I am sure that we can do this—together!"
He straightened up, trusting his weight to the rainbow bridge, and then put his other foot onto the bridge. He smiled, nodded to Navi, who landed again on his shoulder, and ran across the bridge, and into the gaping archway that formed the entrance to Ganondorf's Tower.
At the bottom of a flight of purple-carpeted steps, two beamoi guarded the door leading into the next room. Thanks to the steps, it was difficult to properly position himself to throw the bombs at the beamoi without the bomb rebounding off the low stairwell ceiling. He pulled out a bombchu, instead, wound it several times, and set it down so that it traveled in a more-or-less straight line to the beamos on the right. They both exploded on contact, leaving one beamos behind to guard the door. He wound a second bombchu, and set it down, watching it scurry forwards across the floor, and then up the plinth of the stone statue, exploding on contact with the roving eye.
With the way clear, he descended the rest of the steps, walking up to the door and ordering it to open. He was certain that, unlike the earthly temples, this dungeon held no sympathy for him, and would do its best to obstruct him—assuming, that was, that it even had a mind of its own. Maybe it didn't. Hmm.
Thinking of such matters, Link didn't realise the immense scope of the task that lay before him right away.
He stood at a landing at the top of two flights of stairs, to left and right, in a room filled with such landings and staircases, stationed around a circular room. To his left, he saw a door, and above it, an orange coin, embossed with the design of the Spirit Element, a huge replica of the medallion itself.
To his right, another door, and above it, a green medallion shaped like a pinwheel. And in the centre of the room, a tall, violet barrier of pulsating energy, fed by variegated streams leading from whatever lay beyond each of…six…doors, blocked the way to the centre of the tower. That must be his goal. Reaching that central spire would doubtless only be possible by somehow cutting off the streams of energy feeding the barrier. Which didn't stop him from running down the stairs, past a huge boulder blocking a door, above which a yellow beam of light fed the barrier, and hacking at the solid magical barrier with the Master Sword.
He conceded defeat, climbing the next staircase, beyond the door blocked by a boulder. At the top of the second landing was a door above which hung a depiction of the Fire Medallion half as tall as Link. Further along the landing was a second door, over which hung a considerably larger rendition of the Shadow Medallion. To his left, the door; above him, a stream of indigo energy connecting whatever lay beyond to the wall of wavy violet energy. To his right, a bridge providing access to the spire. The barrier cut through the bridge without harming it. It was, after all, a magical barrier.
Another flight of steps led down, and at the bottom was a door, with a blue band of energy above another huge representation of a Medallion, this one the Water Medallion. Overhead, a second bridge overhead led to an unguessable destination. Then, a final flight of steps led up to the landing he had entered onto, this time on the side of the Forest Medallion. Looking up, he was unsurprised to see the beam of green light feeding the central barrier.
Well, what to do now? The obvious choice was to see what lay beyond each of these doors, to see if he could discern what was feeding that central barrier. Remembering Naburu, and unwilling for the moment to see what lay beyond the forest door, mindful as he was of his strange status, and grieving heartily enough without being reminded of what else he'd lost, he headed instead for the orange barrier, resolving to work his way clockwise around the circle. It was as good a plan as any, right?
Beyond the door, it turned out, was a series of corridors set with traps. In this first one, a set of statues shaped like armos knights provided a way to keep from being impaled by spike traps as they shot back and forth across the room. There was also, naturally, a spike trap circling a beamos. The trick to this room, however, was refreshingly simple: gather the five silver rupees to lift the bars across the door on the far side, without being impaled or incinerated. Simple.
Navi settled onto his shoulder, realising that there was little need for her assistance in this room. She kept silent, and a wary eye on the spike traps, intending to warn him if he was taking too big of a risk. He never was. He carefully positioned the statues to take the assault of the moving spikes, and safely collected all five silver coins, and then walked over to the now-unbarred door leading deeper into the spirit trial.
In the next room were several torch slugs, two diamond switches, both inaccessible to him, on account of being on the other side of a wall of iron bars. There was a door leading to the far side, but it too was barred off. Not until he'd defeated all of the torch slugs did he have the liberty to see the hole in the bottom of the wall of bars, which provided a means to trip one of the two diamond switches, which raised the bars. Because arrows were more useful than bombchus, and because he wasn't sure that he could shoot that well, lying on his belly, he released a bombchu at the diamond switch, raising the bars. His choice was further vindicated by the treasure chest with more bombchus in it that the other switch deposited in the corner of the room.
Then, there was an archway, and a room with heavy wooden beams covering a conspicuous hole in the ceiling. Of course, it was only conspicuous because of the sun sculptures stationed at regular intervals around the walls. He pulled out the bow, filled an arrowhead with fire, and took aim at the beams of wood above him, knowing full well that it mattered not one whit that it was perpetually dusk here around Ganondorf's Tower.
Sure enough, light flooded into the room, its origins forever to remain a mystery to Link. He had the sense that Ganondorf might have provided it himself, somehow, but if so, how and why? The more plausible explanation was interference on the part of the Great Faeries, or the Sages themselves. But it wasn't worth dwelling on overmuch. He shone the light of the sun onto one of the sun sculptures at random, and dove out of the way in time to avoid being snatched up by a wallmaster, which he hastily impaled, and then clove through with the Master Sword. Nasty.
He collected the rupees it dropped (as always, a small fortune), and then returned to the patch of light, shining the light on the next sun, in a clockwise circle. This one lit up, with its customary hum, depositing a small treasure chest. He ignored the chest, for now, to shine the light on the third sun. This one raised the bars across the door. Opening the treasure chest revealed a bundle of ten arrows. His quiver of fifty arrows was nearly full, but he picked out the two arrows his quiver could carry beyond what he already had in it, and then turned back to the door.
On the far side of this door, a tall column of orange light protected a strange orange ball. The light was precisely the same as that he had seen streaming from above the Spirit door to the barrier, and Link's eyes narrowed. He had to destroy the barrier somehow, and given the inability of the Master Sword to pierce the barrier, he suspected that it would be insufficient. That didn't stop him from climbing the steps, passing the two torches flanking the strange, malevolent ball as if at an altar, and whacking at the ball. Nothing happened.
He took a step backwards, and then remembered the light arrow. Sure, Ganondorf might have protected it against any ordinary means of destruction, and somehow, impressively enough, against even the Master Sword (when he reflected upon it later, he suspected that this was only because the Master Sword was only damaging a small part of the barrier), but it was highly doubtful that he would have had the time or knowledge to protect it against the light arrows. Even if he had been spying on, and had overheard the entire conversation between Link and Zelda, he still hadn't had that much time to update these defences, which had clearly been created and maintained over a long period of time.
Link nodded to himself, walked back away from the barrier, down the steps, and then whirled back around, calling the bow and quiver to him, removing a gerudo arrow and setting it to the string, and aiming for the seed that lay at the heart of the barrier. When it hit the seed, both exploded, in a blaze of white light, and a shower of tiny orange lights. The translucent image of Naburu appeared where the barrier had stood. She faced him, expression grim and severe, most unfitting for her, and clasped her hands before her chin.
"The Spirit Barrier is dispelled! You'd better hurry up, kid!" she cried, and then she turned into a ball of orange light, and the world faded away.
And a moment later, Link was standing back in the room of the barrier. He looked overhead, knew a moment's despair when he saw the orange beam of light still feeding the central barrier, but as he watched, it shrank, thinned, and disappeared. The barrier, however, looked to be as strong as it had ever been.
Still, he'd made some progress; he knew he had. He descended the steps, approaching the blocked off door warily, and then edging around it. It was never a good sign when he had to remove a barrier just to enter a room. That was the sort of sign indicating the presence of a miniboss.
Thus, instead, he climbed the next flight of steps, heading to the bright red door, with the stream of bright red energy above it. He opened the door, and walked through into a room that was so swelteringly hot, even from this distance, that he felt as if his skin was on fire, as well it might. He retreated back into the previous room, switching out the kokiri tunic for the goron's one.
Navi settled onto his inflamed skin, and he winced at the increased sensitivity. He'd been there for not more than five seconds, but he knew he'd been lucky to escape with just slight sensitivity. The heat had been so intense, he hadn't been able to even breathe. He pulled out a bottle filled with the medicine of life, and took a sip.
And then, he turned back to the door, walking back through into the room he'd just left. The dungeon must not have a life of its own; the doors would surely have refused to open for him, or if they had, would have slammed right back down behind him. These instead rose and fell at a measured pace.
He stared at the course that lay before him. There were no visible enemies, except for a torch slug on the far side of the room. From this, and from the lava saturating the floor, he assumed that that meant that the room was guarded by red bubbles, which would pop out of the lava as he sought a way across. To make matters worse, this was another room in which he had to collect a bunch of silver rupees to open the door on the far side. And he couldn't even see all of the silver rupees.
The moment he leapt onto the main causeway, he discovered another problem: it was sinking under his comparatively slight weight. He frowned, but, the first chance he got, he left the causeway for a circular platform sticking up out of the lava. This one had one of the rotating statue heads shooting out a constant gout of flame (or in this case, two gouts of flame), But it also had a silver rupee; Link didn't mind too much.
From this distance, he could see the causeway rising back up out of the lava, which was another good thing about his detour. He bent down, snatched up the silver rupee, switched out the hover boots for his kokiri ones, and returned to the causeway.
The hover boots, apparently, didn't make him any lighter. They did, however, allow him to cross over holes in the causeway over the pits of lava, which in turn enabled him to give the causeway a break, which in turn allowed it to remain more-or-less stable. Well, less stable, but stabler than it would otherwise have been, and at this point, Link was counting all of his blessings.
He barely noticed the red bubbles that intermittently crossed his path as he journeyed across the corridor, too focused on the task at hand.
He grabbed another silver coin that stood on a narrow ledge on the far side of the causeway, near the exit door, and from there, climbed onto another circular platform, with a conspicuous boulder sitting in the middle of it. He swung the Megaton Hammer at said boulder, twice, and the boulder shattered into shards. There was another silver rupee underneath.
Then, Link visited the torch slug, where it guarded the fourth silver coin, and then used the hookshot to cross to another platform, nearer to the door through which he'd originally entered, that held the final jewel. Thence, he returned to the causeway, making his way back across, and using the hookshot to latch onto a target stationed near the now-unbarred door.
Thankfully beyond was another room, this one with two pink torches flanking the steps leading up to the altar, with its bright red casing of energy surrounding another orange seed. Energy led up and down, from floor to ceiling, making it impossible to tell by logic alone which end fed the barrier in the central chamber. Link stood near the doorway, and then approached where the corridor broadened out into the room itself. He lifted the bow, shot an arrow at the seed at the heart of the barrier, and watched as it exploded in a flash of white light, and a rain of red sparks.
Darunia appeared, translucent as Naburu, leaning forwards, hands on his hips in an aggressive stance.
"The Fire Barrier is dispelled! Hurry up, Brother!" he said, wasting no words.
Link was beginning to feel a sense of urgency, despite his efforts at calm. Still, he knew that Darunia's intentions were good. He watched as Darunia transformed into a ball of red light, and then the world exploded in red light, and suddenly he was at the entrance to the fire barrier's corridor. Above him, the beam of red light thinned and then broke. Link nodded, beginning to understand how this all worked, and continued on to the next barrier, the shadow barrier. This reunion should be interesting.
Beyond the door was another long corridor, patrolled by green bubbles. There was a plain-looking torch off to his left, which he couldn't hope to reach from this distance; he wasn't sure that Din's Fire could even be extended that far out, but he knew how much it would drain him to try. He already was beginning to feel a bit of strain at the amount of energy that had been drained by his use of two arrows of light.
But. as he stared at the gap patrolled by the green bubble, he gradually saw a couple of platforms form, with a gap between them too wide for him to jump across. He pulled out an arrow, shot the green bubble out of the sky, and then raised the bow higher up, to aim at the far platform where, without the bubble's movement and proximity to bar his sight, he noticed the squirming, slithering form of a likelike, straining to reach him even from this distance. He shot three arrows at it in swift succession, and then clamped his hand around a fifth arrow, filling the head with fire, and turning to the torch to his right.
With the torch lit, a platform appeared between the two platforms that had been there (invisibly) before. Link was still wearing the hover boots, and therefore raced across the gap with greater confidence and speed than he might have otherwise used. He ignored the rupees left by the monster, instead continuing to another platform floating in the middle of the abyss, the last one before the door at the far end, which was still barred. A flight of steps to his right led down to a rusty steps. He descended the steps, and withdrew the Megaton Hammer, slamming it down onto the rusty switch. The bars lifted, the torch he'd lit fizzled out, and the stairs providing a way back up disappeared.
He huffed, expelling a violent puff of air, and then withdrew another arrow, clamping his hand around it, feeding fire into it, and then aiming it at the torch on the far side of the room. From this distance, it seemed a tiny twig, a line on a page, a crease in a garment. He aimed for the top of the brazier, fired, hit, and climbed right back up the steps, back to the last platform before the door, and then followed the winding path leading from the opposite end of the ledge to the door.
But, again, he was relieved by the fact that there was nothing beyond but the room of the Shadow Barrier. He stood in the entrance to the room proper, glancing at the violet torches flanking the stairs before turning his attention to the bulge in the barrier, where an orange seed provided energy to the Shadow Barrier.
He clamped his fingers around another arrow, filling it with white light, aimed, fired, watched the flash of light and the shower of violet sparks, and then Impa's translucent image appeared, hands folded in their usual pose. She stood, looking just as she had the first time they'd met, albeit much more transparent.
"The Shadow Barrier is dispelled! Hurry and save the princess!" she cried, and he raised an eyebrow at her, as if he couldn't help himself. He cocked his head, intending to ask an obvious question, but before he could, Impa turned into a violet ball of light, and he was engulfed in its brightness. The next thing he knew, he was looking up at the thinning stream of violet energy feeding the central barrier. He didn't know why, but he expected the central barrier to change colour with the energy of the shadow barrier gone. It didn't.
He huffed, hands on his waist, as he reflected upon recent events. Well! That was one way to avoid an awkward conversation! Whom did Impa think she was fooling? She herself had told them that Zelda was her daughter…although, they hadn't realised that at the time.
He shook his head, glancing at the bridge leading into the heart of Ganondorf's Tower, and then continuing down the stairs, to the water door.
In this next room was a familiar snow-packed floor, with plenty of icicles protruding from the floor, and plenty more waiting to fall on him from the ceiling. Seeing the already slick ground, he replaced the hover boots and the goron tunic with his familiar, kokiri ones. He glanced around the room, trying to decide his next move.
Let's see…. There was also a wall of red ice blocking the barred door leading forward, and a torch full of blue flames in the dead centre of the room. He heard the howling, windy sound of freezzards, and sighed. First things first, eliminate them. And since, apparently, he needed an empty bottle….
He ran over to the centre of the room, glanced to left and right, saw two freezzards patrolling the room, and swung his arms to the right, and then to the left, murmuring a prayer to Din, and letting the bubble of flames that surrounded him now expand outwards. Freezzards, sensibly enough, melted under the onslaught of heat.
He let up when one collapsed with a horrid, guttural groan, and he heard the frozen bars retract from their position across the door on the other side of the room.
Then, he pulled out one of his bottles of the ultimate medicine, downing it all at once, and then filling the bottle with blue flames. Then spread the flames at the base of the sheet of red ice, which melted. Not that Link stayed to watch; he was too busy filling the bottle with more flames. Where there was one sheet of red ice, there was bound to be another.
On the other side of the door was another frustrating puzzle, this one made entirely of ice, and icicles, with blocks of ice that he could push around across the slick floor. He glanced around the room. The door on the far side was blocked. It stood directly across the room from him.
On a high shelf to his left was a wall of red ice. He suspected that that was his next destination, especially since he could see the flickering, leaping blue flames of the torch in the right hand alcove from here.
He leapt down into the pit, and stared at the puzzle that lay before him. He traced the paths that each block of ice would have to follow to enable him to both access the wall of red ice, and the far door, walking the path himself to make sure as best he could that he made no mistake. Then, he began pushing and pulling the square platforms of ice around the room. When the first platform insinuated itself in the narrow corridor of ice leading up to the red sheet of ice, he climbed up onto the platform, and thence to the wall of ice, pulling out the second bottle of blue flames, hoping he didn't need a third. The ice sheet melted, revealing a rusty switch. He climbed into the narrow alcove, shaking his head, and swung the Megaton Hammer down on it, heavily. He heard the bars retract—a bonus of the frigid atmosphere—and then climbed back down, setting to pushing and pulling the remaining ice platform until it provided a path up.
He climbed onto the platform, ordered the door to open, and walked into the room beyond. On the far side, another familiar room, identical to the previous three, but with blue torches flanking a blue energy column, with an orange seed in the centre. He pulled out the bow, filled an arrow with light, aimed, drew, fired, hitting the seed at the heart of the column, shattering it in an explosion of white light and blue sparks. The translucent form of Ruto appeared, crossing her arms in front of her face, she narrowed her eyes at him.
"The Water Barrier is dispelled! Hurry up, Link!" she said, in her usual, clipped voice. Before he could respond, she turned into a ball of blue light, which seemed to explode.
When the bright light cleared, he was standing before the water door. He glanced up to watch the water energy feeding the barrier thin to a trickle, and then break off. Considering the barrier now had only two elements feeding it, it sure looked sturdy. But Link huffed, hands at his waist, again. He understood that everyone was in a hurry, but he also needed guidance, some knowledge of what lay ahead, and of what to expect. But, perhaps none of them knew that, either. Still, their panic was starting to overrule his usual caution; he was perhaps more frightened for Zelda than they were.
He shook his head, climbed the flight of stairs, and took a deep breath before requesting in his politest voice that the forest door open. It obliged.
Beyond was a room with five torches. The one he noticed first sat above the door directly in front of him. The other four were closer, but set on the floor (a much more reasonable location for a torch), in a circle around a circular purple rug. The door on the far side was barred; but the room, at first, seemed straightforward. But, as he approached the four torches, a white wolfos appeared.
He drew the Master Sword, thinking to himself that he should have expected matters to be not-so-straightforward, and waited while it swung its arms at him, somersaulting out of the way of its blow, and then swinging the sword down on the back it exposed as a natural consequence of its attack. The Master Sword bit deeply into the monster, spreading blue flames from its point of entry, consuming the monster, until nothing remained.
Link blinked. This was the first sign he'd had of just what effects the Master Sword when charged with the power of all six Sages, combined with the blessing of the Great Faerie. Truly, the Master Sword was a blade worthy of respect; even Navi was gaping at the speed with which it had slain the wolfos. To think, that had constituted a miniboss in the Ice Cavern!
A treasure chest appeared in the centre of the room, slowly formed by a ring of green light. The arrows inside, however, were of gerudo make. Ganondorf, ensuring that he made it to the final confrontation; he would drain as much of Link's energy as he could, but he wanted Link to survive, to make his way to where Ganondorf waited, to extract Link's Triforce of Courage. Link shuddered, but resolutely turned his mind back to the task at hand.
Link shook his head, pulling out the bow, clamping a hand over an arrowhead, and then aiming at the torch above the door leading to the next room. He hit on the first try, naturally, and then could direct his attention to the four remaining torches. This was a location for Din's Fire. He swung his arms to the right, and then the left, murmuring the prayer to Din, as he focused the energy, and spread it outward from its epicentre. Each of the remaining four torches lit at once. The bars across the door leading onward rose.
On the other side was a room that was mostly a series of platforms hanging in a bottomless pit, of which there were too many in this dungeon alone. Silver rupees were, again, scattered on various of these islands, with a beamos patrolling the centre. A fan each was stationed in the wall in each of the four corners. The strong gust of air emanating from the fan directly to his left, combined with the moving platform that shot back and forth from wall to the shelf upon which he stood, provided a first hurdle to overcome. There was a silver rupee to his left, only accessible when that platform was underneath it. Or, perhaps, he could use the hover boots, but he would have to time his journey well, lest the fan would not blow him off, far into the endless darkness filling the room.
To his right was another platform, again directly in the path of a fan. This rupee, however, was stationed atop a spire rising out of the infinite depths. Link didn't care that the spire was small, and barely large enough for him to stand upon; at least it wasn't moving. He'd still have to be careful, lest the wind of the fan blow him off into the depths.
Although, he rather suspected it was the only way to reach that next platform, halfway between the fan to his right, and the fan on the other side of the room, but to the right. That one, in turn, provided the easiest route to the beamos….
Link turned to the platform to the left, as the wind died down, walking off the cliff onto the moving platform, bending down to pick up the rupee, and returning right back to the shelf he had started from. Navi seemed to consider, and then decided that she would do the most good waiting over by the beamos. He hoped that she noticed something that would make this task easier, on her way.
In the meantime, he turned his attention to the second silver rupee, and stepped off the shelf, walking on air to the second silver rupee, and then waiting for the fan to start pushing him before running off to the next platform. Navi patiently bobbed on the nearby next towering pillar.
He withdrew the bomb, even from this distance, and cocked his head at Navi, who nodded. He threw the bomb at the beamos, and it exploded, freeing up its platform. There was another silver rupee beneath where the beamos had stood. Link ran over to this next platform, picking up the silver rupee, and then turning to survey the rest of the room. Right now, he was near the still-barred far door. To the right of it was a fourth silver rupee. To the left, lower down, was a switch. Once he stepped on that switch, there was no obvious way to return. He'd just have to hope that a way presented itself. Say, that hookshot target hanging next to the door. Or the other, across the room, near the first of the silver rupees.
Link nodded to himself, walking across to the far door, and then to the spire rising up out of the darkness right in front of the fan. The fourth rupee sat there. He bent down, picked it up, and then had to hasten back across the gap, to the shelf upon which stood the second door.
Hence, he easily made his way to the sunken pillar holding the step-on switch, which in turn raised up a hookshot target on a column situated near the door through which he had entered. Thence, he used the hookshot to reach the high pillar, and snag the final silver rupee, before running off the higher platform, just barely managing to catch himself on the pillar that had held the beamos.
He pulled himself up to safety, and turned to face the now-unbarred door. He turned to Navi, who shot him her most worried look, but she landed on his shoulder, and then launched herself off for the door, as if she thought that her added weight would be enough to cause him to fall into the pit, rather than run safely over it. He sighed, smiling and shaking his head in fond exasperation.
On the other side, she landed on his shoulder again, breathing heavily as if from exertion. He asked her, repeatedly, if she was alright. Her response was that she was rather in a panic about him.
"That was so dangerous…don't scare me!" she cried, but there was no heat to it. Link turned to the next door, instead of replying, told it to open, and walked into the short corridor leading to another of the barrier rooms.
Two bright green torches flanked the steps leading up onto the altar for the green energy barrier. Link didn't have to think about what to do. He pulled out a kokiri arrow, filled it with light, and took aim at the seed at the heat of the barrier. The arrow hit in a flash of white light, and a shower of green sparks, and a moment later, Saria appeared, staring down at him with her old, old eyes.
"Oh, Link…you've grown so much since I last saw you. You've made me very proud," she said, eyes dark with some sort of emotion.
A new, and different guilt rose, when Link realised how long it had been since he'd even played "Saria's Song". When had he last spoken to her?
She seemed to read his mind; she placed her ghostly hands on her hips, quirking a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"No blaming yourself, Link! There will be time to reunite after Ganondorf's defeat. The Forest Barrier is dispelled! Hurry, Link!"
There was definitely a tone of urgency in her voice in those last two words. Link nodded, as Saria returned his nod, and then, raising her arms over her head, became a ball of green light, which expanded, and then seemed to explode, encompassing his entire field of vision, until a moment later he stood under the energy stream of the Forest Barrier. As he watched, it thinned, and broke. There was only one element feeding the barrier now, ironically, the element of light.
And there was really only one place for it. Link turned to Navi, who nodded back to him, and then he jumped off the steps, running across the circle to the light door. Then, he took out the Megaton Hammer, slamming it down, twice, onto the grey boulder that blocked the door. It shattered, crumbling into a million pieces, revealing the plain wooden door behind it. Link turned to the door.
"Open," he said to it, and it obligingly rose.
The first room had a circle of treasure chests around the edges of a circular rug, a locked door on the far side, and no readily apparent threats. This only served to rouse Link's suspicion. He stared around the room, and monsters began to appear out of thin air. There was a shadow in the centre of the rug, and hanging above the shadow was a skulltula, its back, with its design like a human skull, facing him. Three of the treasure chests held keese.
Link continued to stare around the room, until nothing more appeared. Not taking his eyes off the keese, he pulled out the bow, notched an arrow at random, and began to shoot the keese, one by one. He followed this by withdrawing the hookshot, impaling the hanging skulltula. As the skulltula fell to the floor, consumed by blue flames as invisible as it was itself, a yellow light began to shimmer around the middle of the room. In a second, a seventh treasure chest appeared there. Link kicked it open, found the small key, and peered at the treasure chests in a circle around them.
He and Navi examined each chest in turn. A couple of chests, as Navi warned him, felt as if there was something frigid cold inside. These, he avoided. Of the others, two contained bundles of arrows, one contained several bombs, and the last contained nothing at all. Link took what supplies he needed, and left the rest, venturing into the next room, hoping it was less complicated.
Naturally, this meant that the next room had to be more complicated. It was small, and circular, with a narrow triskelion wall in the centre, creating three alcoves for each of its three angles. There were two alcoves on the outside perimeter of the room, a barred door to his left, and probably five silver rupees scattered around the room. One of them was atop the nexus, the centre of the triskelion.
His first step was to use the hookshot to latch onto the target directly above the rupee, thus landing next to it, and avoid the boulders patrolling the sides, at the same time. He picked up the rupee, and took advantage of this position in the centre of the room to scout out the location of the remaining four. As expected, two were in the triskelion's angles, and the last two, in the alcoves round the edges of the room.
He dropped off into one of the angles holding a silver gem, picked up the rupee, and headed for the nearby alcove, nearly getting hit by a boulder as he did. He picked up the third rupee, and ran to the next angle of the triskelion, working counterclockwise around it. He waited in the safety of this narrow space before running into the other alcove, picking up the fourth rupee, and then waiting for the boulder to pass him by before running to the last angle of the triskelion-wall. When the picked up the final rupee, the boulders paused their relentless rolling so that he could hear the shink of the bars retracting. He ran for the door, ordered it to open, and raced into the next room.
To all outward appearances, this was another of the rooms with the barrier seeds in it. However, there was nothing but two yellow torches flanking a short flight of steps leading into an empty altar. Link stared, disbelieving, and gradually a hole in the wall appeared, with a rushing whoosh.
Wait a second. That wasn't caused by the appearing doorway.
Link threw himself to the side, rolling to his knees, and standing, as the wallmaster fell where he'd been standing not a moment before.
Navi squeaked. She'd been just as distracted as he. Link marched over to the wallmaster, impaling it with the Master Sword, and then wrenching the Sword free, to slice clean through the monster, which, as usual, left behind a small fortune in fairly valuable rupees. He gathered the rupees, smiled at Navi to reassure her that he didn't begrudge her her inattention, and marched through the hole in the wall.
On the far side was the familiar short corridor, opening into the room proper. Here was another short flight of steps, flanked by yellow torches, leading up to the altar. Link wondered whether this particular door had been so troublesome all along, or if Ganondorf had redoubled his efforts once Link had destroyed the other five barriers. Did it matter?
He withdrew the bow, pulled out an arrow, filled it with light, and aimed at the seed at the heart of the columns of energy. The seed exploded when the light arrow hit it in a burst of white light. Yellow sparks rained down around the room, and then the translucent, ghostly form of Rauru appeared, hands held down at his sides.
"The Light Barrier is dispelled. Hurry!" Rauru cried, and then turned into a yellow ball of light, giving Link no time to observe how unusually blunt he was. A moment later, in an explosion of yellow light, Link found himself back in the room with the barrier. As he watched, the energy flowing from the Light seed thinned, and dissipated. After a few more seconds, the violet barrier in the heart of the room itself flickered and disappeared. The way to the central spire of Ganondorf's Tower was open.