"….o, no, no, no, Link! Don't fall asleep! Wake up, damn it." Zelda's piercing voice cut through the darkness of unconsciousness that was folding around me. She slapped my cheek a few times until I focused on her. "Good, look at me. Don't stop looking at me and don't you dare close your eyes." She reached out and gently touched one of the multiple claws embedded in my torso, mumbling quietly. I tried my best to stifle my hiss of pain, but it didn't really work.
"That's…the last time….I go with…one of…your plans," I wheezed out through the pain lancing across my chest, barely able to get the last word out before coughing as gently as I could, flecks of blood dotting my lips.
"Shut up and hold still," Zelda said quietly. "I need to pull these talons out. Which is going to suck, but tough it out. And don't pass out."
"That's a lot of things to remember…" I said weakly before the pain rendered me mute again.
"Just let me work," Zelda mumbled before beginning her careful extraction.
The claws were curved, which meant she couldn't just yank them out. Not without causing all sorts of problems at least. Instead, she had to rotate them out of the wounds. Which, let me tell you, made the whole thing so much worse. Like having to listen to nails on a chalkboard with every nerve in your body.
Fortunately, the constant reminders to myself to not pass out actually made the agonizing seconds speed past. Before I knew it, the last claw was sliding free, the slightly serrated edge pulling one last time at my skin before it came away. I couldn't help but take a deep breath as Zelda threw the claw to the side, but quickly found myself with a new problem.
I couldn't breathe.
Or rather, I could, just not very well. One side of my lungs refused to fill, leaving me to conclude that one of the talons must have pierced it and left it collapsed. Fortunately, it was relatively easy to fix. Zelda slowly knitted it hole back together with her magic, leaving me with the strangest desire to itch my organs to get rid of the odd feeling her healing left. She then helped me with reflating the lung by giving me a little mouth to mouth. Normally, that would have been the best part. However, the sensation of having someone pour air into your lungs is extremely weird, which kind of put a damper on the moment.
One reflated lung and a brief coughing fit later, Zelda was finishing weaving my skin back together. The moment she was done, she tackled me and punched me in the shoulder.
"You absolute idiot," she said angrily, punching me again. "Don't do that to me, I'm too young to have a heart attack." I gave a short, pained laugh before I realized my tunic was dampening with her tears as sobs gently shook her body.
"Zelda, Zelda, it's okay. I'm okay," I said hurriedly, wrapping my arms around her and trying to make her stop crying. "You fixed me, I'm fine."
"You need to stop doing that, Link," she said quietly before looking me in the eye. "I don't know what I'd do without you. You can't keep almost dying."
"Even though it was your idea to throw me at the giant flaming monst-" I was cut off as Zelda clenched fist slammed into my chest.
"I don't fucking care who's idea it was! You are never allowed to die on me! Do you hear me? NEVER!"
"Okay, okay, I get it, I'm sorry Zelda. I'll be more careful," I said quietly, trying to calm her down. "We'll be okay. It'll all be okay, I promise." She burst back into tears, hugging me and burying her face in my chest.
"I just….I can't….without you…." I could only pick out a few words between her sobs, but they were enough to understand her.
"Me too, baby, me too."
A little while later when Zelda had calmed down and recomposed herself, I actually had time to inspect the room we were in. Up until then I had been busy trying not to die, dying, and comforting my girlfriend. All of which left little time for sightseeing.
The rectangular room was mostly unimpressive, save for a few specific things. First were two slightly raised portions on opposites sides of the room. One held a chest that had appeared when I killed the giant Keese. The other remained empty. On the opposite wall from the door were two recessed cavities, one holding a ball like we had seen in the room that thought it was from Hyrulean Sheikah Warrior, and the other with a matching bowl. Both cavities were blocked off by thick chains held together by padlocks that we'd most certainly need keys for.
Inside the chest, we found something that seemed to be some sort of metallic glider. It was made of the same weird metal as the Sheikah Slate/Master Cycle and folded out with the flick of a wrist. There was also a button on the handle of the thing that launched a gust of air from the front of the glider. Unfortunately, Zelda happened to be standing directly in front of it when I discovered this, knocking her backwards and onto the floor, hair blown in every direction.
Once she was done combing her hair back into place, Zelda and I made our way back out into the hallway. Figuring the keys we needed were in the side rooms we had passed earlier, we walked to the first one we had passed. Hauling the door open, we had to make a quick stop to avoid falling into the abyss that opened up in front of us.
"Well," I said, peering into the void, "that was close." Wind buffeted our faces and wayward embers floated in the air as we considered the extremely fatal drop we had almost taken. "You know, I understand everything here is trying to kill us, but couldn't they at least make what finally does us in intentional. Way too easy to accidentally fall into some infinite abyss." Zelda, to her credit, ignored me.
"Look, the room turns around the corner." I looked up and saw there was indeed a corner to the room, the rest of it hidden from sight. "But how are we supposed to get over there? There's no path, not even the ruins of one." The errant sparks floating in the air caught my eye. It seemed weird that they were floating around like they were. There didn't seem to be any source of them, and nothing burned forever. I watched them for a minute longer before noticing something.
"Oh for the love of…" I groaned, pulling the new glider from my belt. "I almost hope I'm wrong about this. Well, not really, looks like a long fall, but still." I snapped my arms and let the glider extend.
"Link, what are you talking abou-Link!" Zelda cut herself off abruptly as I jumped into the pit in front of us, the glider catching the air enough to slow my decent. A moment later, my suspicions were proven correct as an updraft caught me and propelled me back upwards.
I breathed a quick sigh of relief before angling the glider so I could float along the updraft and into another one, navigating across the room as carefully as you can when you're suspended who knows how far above certain death. In any case, after a tense minute, I managed to safely land on a platform that had been hidden around the corner out of view. A small chest sat there, almost taunting me with its normalcy. As if I didn't just navigate a massive chasm on a flimsy looking glider.
With a short grunt of irritation, I kicked the chest open and pulled out the small, unassuming key. I spun around and prepared to float back across the gap before I noticed two things. First, a small alcove sat off to me left, another chest sitting in the recessed area. Second, at some point while I wasn't paying attention, a swarm of flaming Keese had appeared from somewhere and we're floating around on the updrafts, making the path back that much more treacherous.
All in all, it wasn't that bad. Quick stop at the chest, grabbing another vitality boosting Heart Piece for my trouble, then a quick flight back around the corner to where Zelda was waiting. I managed to avoid most of the Keese by hugging the wall and blasting one of them out of my way with the air jet on the front. It careened into the wall and exploded into Ash. I was just feeling pleased that I had managed to deal with the whole challenge by myself when a spiral of rock zipped past my head and I heard a pained shriek from behind me. Turning as best as I could without flying off course, I saw the remains of a bat dissolving behind me. Quickly turning back around, I saw a peeved Zelda with her arm outstretched, clearly the source of the stone spike that came remarkably close to taking my head off.
From the expression on her face, I wasn't sure if she was trying to miss me or not.
A moment later, I was back on solid ground, tucking the glider away and warily watching my incensed girlfriend out of the corner of my eye. "What was that?" she asked in a deadly cool voice that made me flinch instinctively.
"I was going to get the key?" I said hesitantly, my answer coming out more as a question than a statement.
"Then let me make myself clear, Linkoln," she said lowly. "The next time you pull some stupid shit like that without telling me first, I will kill you. And then I'll do it again and again until you either stay dead or the message gets through. Got it?" I didn't bother pointing out the obvious nonsensicality of her threat, because at the moment, I had no doubt that she would live up to her every word. Instead, I merely nodded and let her lead the way out of the room, hoping I survived our adventure with all my organs intact.
We quickly moved through the hallways and through the other adjoining door to find a massive grate covered in a fine mesh in the ground covering a pool of lava. In typical fashion, as soon as the door impacted the ground a large hand appearing to be made of lava rose up from the seething liquid and started wildly groping for us.
A few minutes later, I had successfully demolished the thing with a few well aimed wind blasts at its base, scattering the molten droplets around the room as the thing fell apart, leaving us as safe as we could be while standing extremely close to a lake of lava. Another door awaited us on the left side of the room, and with little else to do, we dutifully went through it.
Immediately, I noticed something different about the room. For one thing, it was absolutely stifling. Second, mesh covered almost the entire floor, with only a small section at the end made of solid stone, shimmering magma flowing beneath the mesh. Third, an ominous bubbling was coming from the lava directly beneath us in a way that didn't bode well for us.
"Shit, run!" I yelled, kicking myself into high gear as the first lava hand started to emerge beneath where I had been a moment before. Zelda caught on just as quickly and we both sprinted towards solid ground. Multiple molten hands poured through the mesh, grasping for our rapidly moving forms. I idly wondered how they knew where we were before having to dodge around the grasping fingers of a hand that had emerged in front of us. We skidded to a stop as soon as we reached the safety of the rocky platform, having to make a short jump between where the mesh of the floor ended, and the stone began. For a terrifying moment, we were suspended over a glowing pool of liquid rock as equally molten hands reached up for us. And then we were safe, and the hands retreated back into the slag.
"I really hope the Goddesses think I'm worth after all this. Because I'm not really sure how to top 'running away from sentient lava' as far as the whole courage thing goes. Plus, it'd be pretty stupid to come out of this whole mess with no mystical power to show for it," I panted as we caught our breath. The heated air made breathing comfortably a challenge to begin with, not to mention the impromptu sprint.
"Agreed," Zelda gasped out. A minute later we were one key richer and making our way back into the big bat room. Another minute and we were behind where a previously hidden wall was and pried open a way too big chest, pulled out a way too big key, went out into the hallway, opened the way too big door with said way too big key, and made our way down a way too big flight of steps.
Finally, the dim tunnel spit us out into an echoing circular chamber. If previous experience was any indication, this was going to be the last fight of the dungeon and the two of us advanced accordingly, on guard against any attack. We both started at the booming voice that rang out from the darkness.
"Welcome, seeker who would hold the Triforce of Courage. You stand before the final test." The voice paused a moment before continuing. "Your companion must be excluded from this challenge. She does not pursue the indomitable strength of the Triforce." Before we could say anything, Zelda was suddenly against the door we had entered through, walled off behind a shimmering barrier. She appeared to be yelling in anger, but the golden wall surrounding her kept any noise from coming through.
"Seeker, heed my words," the disembodied voice continued. "Courage takes many forms. It is the strength to fight against all odds. It is the ability to retreat and come back stronger. It is more than bravery. Courage is determination, to surmount any and all obstacles in your path, no matter the stakes or the cost. It is not being immune to fear, but the ability to fight through fear and overcome." The room suddenly grew brighter until I could see the whole chamber, including the hulking dark shape in the center of the room. "Show your courage now as many have before you and prove yourself worthy of bearing the Triforce of Courage." The voice's last words echoed for a moment before fading entirely. I looked around the room cautiously, prepared for a sneak attack, but none came. The only thing in the room other than me and Zelda's shimmering prison was the colossal shape in the middle of the chamber.
Suddenly, the shape jerked and grew. Or rather, I realized, stood up. It straightened as best it could, arms bulging out from its sides, one enormous hand gripping a gigantic sword, the other holding a gold encrusted trident. Coarse fur seemed to cover the creature's back and parts of its body. A tail coiled from the thing's backside and its feet were some amalgamation of Hylian and pig feet. As it raised its elaborately horned head and brandished its fiery red hair, the monster turned slowly, facing me for the first time. Its beady eyes burned with hatred as it focused in on me and its roar nearly deafened me as it shook the room. I hardly had a moment to recover before it was swinging at me, its sword burying itself in the ground from a single swing.
I focused on dodging, moving around the pig demon's attacks, trying to find weak points and watching for tells on its attacks. Unfortunately, its really hard to find a weakness on a thing that is several times larger, stronger, and angrier than you. If the sword twice the size of me wasn't coming at me, the trident was boomeranging its way around the room, forcing me to either duck or throw myself out of the way of it, leaving me open to attacks from claws, swords, and tusks. Plus, it breathed fire, further limiting my movement, if only for a moment, as the blaze scorched the floor.
To make matters worse, I was completely alone. In all my other fights, I had Zelda in the wings, able to back me up, serve as a quick distraction, or, in the notable case of the Slime Behemoth, obliterate the monster by herself. Now, I had nothing but a sword, a shield, and a bag full of tricks. None of which were particularly effective against the abomination I was facing, especially if I couldn't get close to it without getting minced. Any long-range option I had was almost completely ineffective, the only purpose being to annoy the beast. Not that I had many. Zelda was holding the Divine Scepter behind the impenetrable barrier, decidedly out of reach. Which left me with my glider, a few rupees, and Zelda's enormous bottle of shampoo.
To be brief, I was short on options.
Finally, I saw a slight opening. The reach of the golden trident left the creature's right side vulnerable. If I could get in close, it wouldn't be able to get to me as easily. Without giving myself a moment to question the sheer insanity of getting closer to the pig monster, I ducked under a swing and carved my blessed blade into the creature's calf. I was rewarded for my efforts by a roar of pain from above me and a surprisingly swift hoof-foot trying to crush me. Barely able to get out of the way in time, I took a moment to cut at the slightly wounded leg again before retreating as best I could.
The further enraged roar told me I was doing something right, so I kept going, trying to find a new opening every time to keep from being predictable. One notable case was when I did a quick roll between the thing's legs to quickly hack at its hamstrings and tail before dashing away.
Eventually though, the monster caught on to what I was doing. Its eyes gleamed with deceptive intelligence as it watched my movements and adapted. It thrust with the trident more than threw it and took swings along the ground with the sword instead of the large overhead swings it had taken before. More fire further limited my movement, and I was beginning to tire while it seemed just as fresh as before, except for a slight limp in its legs. At least it couldn't chase me very well, forced to rely on its limited ranged attacks in order to keep assaulting me. Unfortunately, I was even worse off in a ranged fight.
Just as doubt began to creep into my heart, questioning whether I'd be able to beat the monster, I saw an opportunity. Remembering my trick with the updrafts earlier, I noticed the same kind of embers flying upwards near where the creature's fire landed. If I could use those, I might be able to use that. But I'd only get one shot at it and I didn't have that much maneuverability in the air. I'd have to get it to stop moving. And the only way to do that was going to suck.
With no other option, I ducked under another swipe from its sword, deflected a blow from the prodding trident that made me loose half the feeling in my right arm, sidestepped the follow up swipe from the trident, and finally reached the monster's legs. Swinging as hard as I could, I brought the keen edge of the Master Sword down on the ankle of the beast. As I had hoped, I had done enough damage that the sword cut deep into muscle and the demon immediately lost support from it. Back stepping as fast as it could, it swung its long sword at me, and I braced for impact.
It was probably only thanks to all of my magical reinforcement that I didn't immediately explode into paste. That said, it still hurt like a bitch. The sword crashed into the Hylian Shield, which managed to deflect the blow slightly, making it veer off course and miss my head by a few inches. Pain immediately screamed up my arm and I felt a few of my ribs break as my shield was pushed back into my chest.
The agony was almost overwhelming with its intensity, but I was forced to push it to the back of my mind as best I could to dodge a stream of fire shot from the demon's mouth. From what I could see, its legs were crippled for the moment, exactly what I had been hoping for. Fighting down my nausea, I made myself run towards the injured beast, jumping just out of the way of another fire blast.
A moment later, I could feel the updraft I was looking for. Snapping the glider open as best I could with a probably mangled right arm and hand, I let the vigorous wind catch and lift me, preserving as much forward momentum as I could to get above the pig monster. My plan worked and I was floating just above the abomination's head.
It peered up at me and for a moment we made eye contact. The sheer hatred in its gaze nearly made me falter. How could so much hatred be contained, much less stopped for good? This was a menace that didn't know when to quit. Unfortunately for it, neither did I.
With a final yell, I released my grip on my glider and aimed the Master Sword as I fell. The beast tried to move, but his crippled legs wouldn't let him. Before it could try anything else, my sword was hilt deep in its forehead.
"Gotcha bitch," I said to it before jumping clear as the 500-pound monster crumbled to the ground.
In typical fashion, all my pain I had been blocking out seemed to hit me at once, sending me to my knee before I got it under control. I turned to look at Zelda, hoping she would be able to heal me, but she was still trapped in her cage of light. Suddenly on edge, I spun back around to look at the pig demon, afraid I hadn't really finished it off and I was a second away from becoming pulp.
Golden light was streaming off the creature's corpse, slowly turning the thing's remains into a flowing mass of golden ropes, which were slowly consolidating at the center of the room. They wove themselves together in infinitely complex ways until the last one fit into place and the whole bundle flashed blindingly golden.
When my vision cleared, the tangle of golden thread was gone and in its place was a shimmering perfect triangle. Awestruck, I couldn't help but be entranced by the shine of it, its brilliance, and the overwhelming energy radiating off of it. It glimmered and gleamed, daring anyone to lay their hand on it and claim it as their own. As if in a trance, I raised my left hand and pressed it to the crackling surface of the triangle.
In an instant, I felt my very soul probed and tested. The feeling was as indescribable as it was fleeting. Another bright flash imprinted itself on my eyes and the triangle disappeared as I felt overwhelming determination fill me. In that moment, I could have done anything, conquered any challenge, faced any trial, overcome any enemy. The bones in my arm and chest righted themselves in an instant and I felt stronger than ever before. And then the feeling faded, and I was left with nothing but a shimmering filling the previously shaded bottom right triangle on the back of my hand.
The Triforce of Courage was mine.
So I understand that its been about two months since I've updated this story. I am sorry about that. School was kicking my ass, I almost failed one of my classes, and the inspiration for this story just wasn't flowing. I was having a tough time looking forward to anything I was going to write and so had no motivation to continue where I was. Dungeons are really hard to write. On the plus side, that is now blessedly over, I have no more school for a few months, the chapter is updated, and I have a really good part coming up that all you fluffers are just going to eat up. That said, I make no promises for when its going to come out. Depends on how my inspiration flows. Plus, I now have a really solid idea of another story I want to write that I might spend a bit of time on now that my guilt for leaving you guys hanging is gone. Again, I'm sorry about that.
But let's distract you all from your rage by answering some reviews, shall we? Oracle of Hylia, thank you so much. I know I love a good romance and I do my best, but I often question just how good it actually his. Rose-tinted glasses and all that. Not my glasses are tinted. That'd be so weird, seeing everything slightly red. Hard pass on that. I'm conflicted on the first hero. On one hand, yeah, he's cool. But on the other, Skyward Sword Link being the first and setting up the reincarnation cycle is just so good. I guess I'm okay with it if SS Link is not a reincarnation, but then some of that magic is lost. Especially from the manga perspective. Whatever, yeah, he cool. Twilit Lord, bit of advice to you, but I want it to be for everyone else as well, so see below for that. No, Moroth is not alive. He is very decidedly dead. He was a sword demon and when your sword gets atomized by sacred energy, there's really no coming back from that. Not sure what you mean by his own dimension though. He's really just a dude made of swords. Because that's cool. Silverblood Writer, thank you so much, hearing that someone enjoys the dungeons makes them much more bearable to write, because honestly, I hate them. Easily my least favorite part of the story. They serve a purpose, but damn if they're not annoying to come up with. Level design is hard. I too prefer original stories not bound to a specific game, makes the characters so much more interesting and you can really make them your own. Retellings are just kind of lazy sometimes. I will agree with you though, cliffhangers are only fun for the author. Everyone else just suffers. Side note, I read a bit of your Zelda story, I definitely enjoy it. Keep going with it. Sand Seal, I have been gone for a while, but this time I was gone even longer! So hah? I win? Maybe, I'll get back to you on that. Glad you enjoyed the cliffhanger, they are ever so fun to get a reaction out of you...I mean, serve a vital role in my storytelling. That's what I meant. Obviously. Good luck finding that trebuchet after all this time! SuicideGuy, I agree with everything you say in your reviews, thanks for weighing in on the chapters you like, I love to hear from new readers. As far as your last comment about the trials being made for Link, yes, he's technically cheating. Zelda is a massive help to him. He could definitely get it figured out eventually, but I don't have time for that. Besides, one guy talking to himself as he solves puzzles and kills stuff doesn't make for a very interesting story. And I hope this last chapter answers a bit of your question about his relative strength. Yeah, he relies on Zelda, but that doesn't mean he isn't capable of kicking some very serious ass all on his own. Maybe he's weaker, but I don't really think so.
Okay, so I've got a bit of advice to anyone else looking to write fanfiction, since I am obviously the resident expert on the topic and am qualified to so such a thing. Do it for yourself and stay determined to do it. You can't count on other people to flock to something just because it exists. Make it worthwhile and unique and above all, stick with it. It took me a good while before I got anything more than a dozen readers. I suspect the only reason that happened at all was because I put the first couple chapters out within a few days of each other. In any case, don't just throw something out and expect people to love it. I've had a dozen different ideas for stories over the past few months and do you know how many of them became an actual story in that time? One. Exactly one. Do not rush into it, make a plan for a story and then stick to it. Improvise when you have to and add stuff if you can, but make sure you have a solid idea and, if you can, an ending in mind before you start to write anything. And I'd recommend writing a few chapters before you start to post anything. I had a solid idea for a oneshot that I ultimately scraped because I didn't think it worked in the end. I'll be reusing the idea somewhere else, but in the framing I had set up, it just didn't work. That's okay, that's called trial and error. The important thing is to not give up. If you have something good, people will find it. Running blinding in the dark rarely works out very well, so figure out what your story is going to be before you write anything. That one story that worked out only did so because I spent roughly a week writing out short character bios, a timeline, and solidifying a theme for the whole thing before I even considered writing anything down. Preparation is never a bad thing when it comes to writing. Anyways, that's just what worked for me and what I've gathered from reading other stories, good and bad. I reserve the right to have a disclaimer here saying I don't know the secret formula for writing a world-shaking story, this is my own opinion. Good? Good.
In other news, I am again sorry that I took this long to write this chapter. Hopefully the next one will come more quickly. Also, as mentioned above, I have another story in the works, though I probably won't be posting it for a while. I want to get more of it written first. Plus I have to finish this story first. But if you guys are a fan of fluff and Darling in the Franxx, keep an eye out. Which is easily done by following me as an author, but you know, whatever. I'll also casually mention that you reviews mean the world to me and I love to read every single one. In fact, sometimes I go back and reread them just to get a little bit more motivation to write. It means a lot to me, so thank you. Also, I just missed it, but it has officially been a year since I posted the first chapter of this story. Doesn't feel like that long ago. Of course, I'd been working on this story bit by bit for probably a year before that, but whatever. Still a big milestone. Let's just hope it doesn't take another year to get it finished.
Thank you all again for reading, I hope you enjoyed and will come back for more. Next time we get a little break from the action and exchange it for some...other kinds of action. You all remember those hot springs on Death Mountain? Yeah... Anyways, don't forget to review and read my oneshots if you haven't already. I like them, though maybe that's just me. Cheers all, and don't go parachuting in a hurricane!
~Aro