A Link to the Past
Chapter Eighteen: A Test of Power
Again and again the flying tiles struck Link's shield, momentarily stopping his efforts to low-crawl back toward the stairs, and each one putting another dent in the small shield mounted to his arm. Even with the glove giving him strength, the force of these tiles was unbelievable, and with only a foot or so gained in between hits, the young man didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep the shield up before either his arm gave out or it broke. But then everything stopped after one last sound of a tile smashing against the wall behind him, and nothing else moved, leaving this lower chamber just as dark and silent as it had been when he came in.
For a while he just laid there, not daring to move or to try and adjust the position of his shield in case this was some kind of trick, but after a few minutes nothing had happened. With the dying light of his torch far back against the rear of the room, Link couldn't see anything except a few shapes, but he could feel that the floor underneath him was nothing but exposed dirt all around as if… as if the trap sprung by removing the key had simply… run out of tiles. Taking a risk and getting to his knees first, followed by his feet, the young man couldn't help laughing at how the trap that killed so many others had run out of ammo, but he still didn't want to push his luck by remaining down in that chamber any longer than he had to.
There was still some pain in his stomach and leg from where the tiles got him, but Link was able to reach the stairs, and the light from the temple's first floor was a welcome sight. Now that he was safe for the moment, the young man sat down as soon as he was able to get the heavy door closed again, leaning his back against it as if he was worried the tiles might come back for him somehow. The old man was still there as well, kneeling down in front of the central alter as if he didn't know Link had almost died… oh wait that's right, he didn't know because he hadn't gone downstairs with the young man… and good thing too, or else the older man might have been killed.
"I was starting to think you got lost down there." The older man said, turning his head to look at him for a second. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
"No, just this key." Link replied, trying not to groan while holding it up. "I think it unlocks the door to the upper levels, so I'm going to look around up there."
His companion from the caves nodded before returning his attention to the alter, and as soon as the young man finished catching his breath, he got up and walked over to that first door he had seen. The key fit into the lock and turned easily, allowing him to push open this much more often used barrier whose hinges didn't even squeak, and there was no dust on the stairs when he climbed them. The second level didn't have much to it, looking like some kind of dining room with several small tables and chairs, probably for the sages and others who cared for the temple, and giving space for everyone to eat comfortably along the walkway that circled above the whole first floor. From there Link could see the older man down below, and still could when he reached the third floor.
This level contained dozens of clay pots and jars, most of the larger jars filled with water when he opened one, the young man figuring that all these sacks and jars were for emergency rations in case something bad happened. It had been a while since he had eaten, so Link took a little of the food, promising to himself that he would pay back the temple after this was all over, and now at least he wasn't hungry or thirsty anymore. Continuing up the stairs, the fourth level was the same layout, a walkway that wrapped around the temple where the young man could see the old man really far below now, and this floor was filled with valuables. Golden treasures, jewels and coins, statues and tables lined with silver, it was more wealth than one man would know what to do with.
"No wonder they keep the upper levels locked." Link said to himself, taking a closer look at one of the jeweled statues. "If people found out about this, every thief in Hyrule would be out to get his share."
Well, they wouldn't find out about it from him, the young man thought as he stepped away from it, and he certainly wasn't going to try stealing anything for himself, especially after already owing the temple for the food and water. So he stepped away from the treasures, focusing on getting all the way up to the top level, where the whole layout of the building changed dramatically. Instead of another, gradually smaller walkway that wrapped around the building, there was a rope bridge that extended out from the very top of the staircase to where a wooden platform was hanging in the center, and actually taking up quite a bit of the center, minus a space around it where Link was able to see all the way down to the first floor.
The rope bridge and the platform it was attached to swayed a little back and forth when the young man stepped onto it, grabbing onto the upper rope while it and the other ropes all around the platform that kept it anchored to the walls swayed just as much. He figured that if there was anything inside the temple that was related to winning the Master Sword, it was going to be on that platform since there was nowhere else to go, and as he approached there it was… something hanging up above the platform on a rope attached to the ceiling. The object was too far away for him to see what it was, but as Link reached the edge of the platform he noticed that there was something else at the far end.
At first it looked like a small statue on six supporting legs with a red jewel or something displayed on top, but as soon as he started moving toward the item hanging over the center of the platform, it became clear that the object was no table. It's six yellow colored legs were moving toward him like the feet of an insect, the red plate now looking more like an armored shell that glistened in the orange light of the fires below, and now that it was scurrying right toward him the young man realized that it was almost as big as he was. First Link attempted to simply move away from it in a circular motion around the platform, but it followed, so he attempted to push it away with his damaged shield, only to find himself stumbling backwards when it suddenly butted him with its red armored shell like a goat.
If the young man had his back to the edge, then he would've fallen off the platform for sure, but instead he managed to catch his balance back after moving back toward the center. The creature was pursuing, though, giving him only a couple seconds to get out of the way and draw his sword in order to defend himself with. Making a wild swing while moving to avoid it's next butting attack, the silver sword simply bounced off its red shell, as it did the next two times the young man attacked. The yellow legs were also grabbing at his feet this whole time to try and make him lose his balance, and this almost caused him to take a butting attack right to the chest. Instead the attack only grazed Link's chin, giving him the chance to stab downward with the sword, and now the creature shrieked when one of its legs was severed.
It still attacked him, but without all six legs its strength was lessened a bit, allowing the young man to push with his shield into the creature's body for a moment before being knocked back once again. This time he almost fell over the edge, and there was no way he would survive a fall from that high up, so Link crouched down and charged forward, stabbing at the creature's exposed legs while holding up the shield to keep from getting his teeth knocked out by that shell, and after pushing it from the side was able to make another stab at its legs. This one wasn't quite cut through all the way, so the young man tried cutting again, only to have his vision go white for a second when the creature's shell struck him in the side of the head at full force.
By the time Link's eyes could see clearly again, he had landed on the very edge of the platform, and now struggling to grab onto the side to keep himself from slowly tumbling over. He had to let go of the silver sword in order to catch himself, hearing the distant whump of the blade crashing to the ground on the first floor a few seconds later, followed by the old man's startled voice demanding to know what he was doing up there. There wasn't any time to apologize, since Link's legs were dangling off the sides while the creature crawled over to him, its remaining arms grabbing at his wrists in an attempt to make him lose his grip. He was too low to the platform to be hit by the shell, but those legs kept grabbing and pinching, and the only thing the young man had left to defend himself with was the damaged shield.
Because of the damage the flying tiles had done to it, parts of the shield's edges had been turned into jagged metal, and now Link was bashing and cutting at the creature, making it hiss and shriek as its exposed legs were damaged. Unfortunately the shield was now breaking apart, big cracks forming across the barrier's front to the point where the shield was loosened from the young man's wrist on the next hit, sending it along with another of the creature's legs down to the first floor. Now there was no way to stop the creature from using its single remaining leg to get his wrist, so in desperation the young man reached up with his sword hand to grab onto its red shell, before pulling it toward him.
Out of instinct, the creature butted at him harmlessly, but the forward motion was enough to cause it to lose it's balance, shrieking again as it tumbled over the side, and again startling the old man after the sound of it crashing to its death echoed through the temple. Now that the threat was over, Link pulled himself back up onto the platform, and now there was nothing left to stop him from getting that item hanging from the rope. There was no way that he could have grabbed it while the creature was attacking him, since it took a few well timed jumps with the glove's power to reach it, and when he pulled it down onto the shaking platform, the silvery blueish item turned out to be… some kind of chainmail?
Other than how pretty it was, this looked no different than the kind of undershirt that any knight of Hyrule would wear, but there was literally nothing else inside the temple, so the young man took off his shirt and put on the blue mail underneath it. Like with the glove and the flipper, the whole thing started moving, shrinking down until it almost became invisible against his skin except for the blue tone, and it actually didn't feel any heavier at all when he put his green shirt back on over it. Well, that was it, he supposed… that should've been the last trial, and now all that was left to do was get back down the mountain and have Princess Zelda tell him where the Master Sword was hidden.
Agahnim wasn't going to know what hit him.