Link's Awakening

Chapter Thirty: Ballad of The Wind Fish

I remember wishing to myself that I had taken some more time to look for an easier way up the mountains, because the road I discovered behind Eagle Tower was better than some of the ones in Hyrule. Perfectly smooth, no sharp curves or inclines, just a long, gradual path that brought me and Marin closer and closer to the Wind Fish's egg. The walk still took a while, though, with the sun moving through the sky toward its inevitable setting, but I didn't mind… in fact, it felt like nothing in the world could bother me as long as I had Marin by my side.

Even though Link had seen the large purple and white egg from time to time at a great distance, he had never understood just how gigantic the thing actually was until it was up close, and this thing was massive. Definitely shaped like an egg, with huge purple spots decorating the pure white surface, the structure dwarfed even the largest castles that the young man had ever seen, both in height and circumference to the point where it was almost bigger than the part of the mountain it was sitting on.

The road went right up to it before splitting off at a three way junction that went toward the other side of the range, as well as straight down the slope toward Mabe Village. However, unlike the rest of the road that the two of them had traveled upon, the junction was not empty, in fact quite the opposite. A small gathering of people were just sitting around as if waiting for something, and it took Link a second to realize that it was Tarin and the others from the village, each with one of the Instruments of the Sirens in their hands… even Agahnim, who was carrying a drum that Link hadn't seen before.

"I was starting to think you got killed, Junior." The wizard said as they approached. "Tarin told me about the rider when I got back from Turtle Rock, but I knew you could handle it… plus, I didn't want to ruin your chance to impress your girlfriend."

Everyone was glad to see that the young woman was okay after her experience at Eagle Tower, and it was suggested that they come back another day to do the Ballad of the Wind Fish, but it was Marin who wanted to do it right away. She was tired of the mountains, and would probably never set foot on them again after what happened with the rider, so the young woman insisted on just getting all this over with so that they could all go home. With a couple hours left before sunset, no one really had an argument against it, so everyone started asking Link what they were supposed to do, and… he wasn't exactly sure.

"Um… I guess… everyone grab an instrument." The young man said, trying to sound like he knew. "Just kind of, uh… gather around like in a circle, I guess, and then Marin has to lead."

At least that was what the rider told him; the instruments were worthless without a voice to lead them, so after checking one more time to make sure that the young woman was really okay to do this, everyone gathered in a circle around her. Just like she had done back at the honey festival in Animal Village, Marin started to sing the Ballad of the Wind Fish, and then something strange happened. Link had chosen the Coral Triangle, since he had no musical ability whatsoever, but as the young woman started to sing, he began to play along as if he were a lifelong expert.

The same thing was happening with all the others; Tarin, Agahnim, and everyone from the village were playing their instruments like masters, creating a beautiful symphony that went along with the words. During this performance, it was like all other sounds on the island were being drowned out by the music, and as they played it seemed like the sun was setting a lot faster… like a lot faster as it sailed the rest of the way before his very eyes, leaving only a dim red light in the western sky by the time the song was finished.

Link wasn't sure what he expected to happen once the song was done, and for a moment it seemed like nothing at all, filling him with a brief dread that there would be no way to escape the island. But then the ground started to shake, and the wind picked up enough to blow Marin's hair around while everyone had to brace themselves to keep from falling over… was this it, the young man wondered? Was the egg about to hatch, allowing the Wind Fish to finally wake up and break the curse on Koholint Island?

Everyone gasped when a loud cracking sound came from the surface of the egg, with Marin holding onto Link as it got louder, but when the shell broke open it was… it was only a small piece of it at the very bottom that almost looked like a doorway falling open, or maybe the entrance to a tunnel. Was that it? Really? Again, the young man wasn't sure what he expected to happen once the music was finished, but this was kind of disappointing, to tell the truth. No one else seemed to care, however, with Tarin and the others slowly setting their instruments down and then absent mindedly starting to walk toward the road's downward slope.

"Link, it's getting late." Marin said, taking his hand. "Come on, let's go home."

This was strange, as if all the villagers had become sleepy, no longer caring about the Wind Fish's egg, and the young man had to admit that he was feeling the same temptation, although not as strong as it was for them. Agahnim seemed completely unaffected, setting down his drum and walking over to join them, and even suggesting that he could handle things there if Link wanted to go home with her. For a moment he was about to agree, but then he remembered the owl's warning about not trusting the wizard. Was his friend really somehow up to no good?

"Why don't you go back with the others?" Link suggested, giving her a hug. "I just need to check something, and then I'll be home before you know it."

The young woman nodded while yawning, and then after giving him a kiss, she joined her father and the others, who were lighting their lanterns for the walk back to Mabe Village. A few moments later they were gone, leaving only Link and Agahnim standing there as the last lights faded from the sky. Not even the moon was out tonight, and if not for the small flame igniting in the wizard's hand, the young man wouldn't have even been able to see the giant egg in front of him.

"So… are we supposed to… go in?" Link asked, pointing toward the opening. "Just like… walk into the egg?"

"It sure looks that way, doesn't it?" Agahnim replied, turning toward it. "Don't be scared, Junior, it's just a giant egg that could have literally anything inside."

Both of them laughed at this joke, and even though there really could've been anything at all inside of the egg, the young man felt good to be working together with his best friend again. Yes, they had split up to handle Turtle Rock and Eagle Tower, but that was different… now they were cautiously walking up to the egg, and stepping in through the shell at the same time. It was thicker than Link imagined, with the opening being more like the entrance to a cave. For a while as they walked, it was like moving through a silent, white cavern, but then the tunnel ended, opening up into a chamber that was so wide that Agahnim's flames could only illuminate the floor.

The air was really warm and humid inside of the egg, to the point where the young man was sweating, and the floor no longer looked natural, more like a stone platform that had been carved into a perfectly smooth surface. Suddenly the floor shook, startling both of them as they braced themselves to keep their balance, and then the whole thing started to move upward. Slowly the floor began to glow with blue light, just a bit at first, but gradually making it unnecessary for the wizard to keep the flame in his hand. Even with the whole platform lit up, the walls and ceiling of the chamber couldn't be seen as they rose higher, but it was probably a long way down if they fell off the edge.

It felt like they had been rising upward for an hour, even though probably only a minute or two had passed, and then another blue light became visible from above. It was smaller than the platform, and at first Link thought maybe it was the top of the chamber, but instead the new light was coming from something in front of the platform. It was some kind of stone carving, a very large one that kind of resembled… the strangest looking fish that the young man had ever seen. It had a curved body, with a shark fin and what looked like wings coming off its back, along with a mouth full of teeth that appeared to be smiling. There was something else, too… something that Link hadn't noticed at first.

"Welcome, welcome my two young castaways." The owl said happily from where it was perched on top of the carving. "I am grateful for your dedication to freeing the Wind Fish, Link, and Agahnim… I am happy that you have finally seen reason."

"I certainly have." The wizard replied almost too quickly. "I just regret it took me so long to figure everything out… so where is the Wind Fish, anyway?"

The platform and carving were steadily glowing brighter now, and in response to his question, the animal explained that the Wind Fish was right in front of them. The carving represented the great beast's physical form, which was bound in cursed slumber, while it was the owl itself that represented the Wind Fish's mind. Only the music of the eight instruments gathered by an outsider, led in song by the voice of a dream could break the barrier of nightmares, and allow them to become one.

As the animal spoke, the carving it was perched on started to move a little bit, with small cracks forming in the stone as if the great beast really was trapped inside. The owl continued the explanation, saying that once the stone was completely shed, then it would merge with the body and all three of them would awaken from the dream together. The carving was moving a lot more now, with pieces of stone simply falling off to reveal the brightly colored creature that was trapped inside, but then all of a sudden there was a new light… an intense, brightly colored green light that was gathering around Agahnim's hands.

"Dormir!" The wizard yelled, aiming his hands at the carving. "Dormir para siempre!"

The light erupted from Aghanim's hands like green bolts of lightning, striking its target, and making the owl scream as it and the carving were frozen in place. The green energy flowed up and down both it and the carving, replacing all of the blue light even on the platform as it stopped moving up… and after a moment of being motionless, it slowly started moving back down the way it came… back down toward the bottom of the egg.

"What is this?!" Link demanded as the owl's screams got weaker. "Agahnim, what have you done?!"

"I've saved the island, that's what." The wizard coldly replied as he released more energy. "Did you really think I was going to sacrifice my wife and children for this… this monster? No, Junior… I'm putting it back to sleep… I'm putting it back to sleep forever with the same curse your mother once used on the original Princess Zelda."