Welp, that AP I mentioned before was way easier than I thought it would be. Now I can work on this more, right?
Haha, nope. I got about thirty projects the instant I finished my exams. And that's not even taking my English essay into account.
I'm going to be lucky if I have this thing done by Christmas of 2020.
Thanks for sticking with me, even though I'm uploading these things after the fact. It's the thought that counts, right?
RRRP:
ChangelingRin (FF): Gibdos are the mummy ones, while Redeads are the zombie ones. I've always found it weird that Redeads are in all the wet places, but are also almost nowhere in Majora's Mask, which has a desert area crawling with Gibdos. Thus, my headcanon. Also, I totally get why people wouldn't like BotW [I was today years old when I learned that Bottom of the Well and Breath of the Wild have the same acronym] due to the creepiness factor, but I think MQ version is slightly better because Dead Hand is optional if you know what you're doing.
ChangelingRin from the Past (FF): Yeah, I'm counting these as two. It should have been two. What of it?
This Malon's pretty good at being an awesome character. Sooner or later, I'll update the tags of this story to have the pairing be a bit more overt. The decision to do Malink for this fic was planned from the very beginning, as this Link kind of holds this whole second loop against Zelda in the first place. I do believe that he may have had romantic inclinations towards Zelda in the first loop, maybe, but given how Malink is canon, and the whole second loop thing… well, you get the idea. Ivan is Ivan, and he's not dead. Link is more stable now than he has been… well, ever in this story. Also, yeah, the Shadow Temple is full of spooks this time around… more so than usual.
Guest (FF): Yes, that was intentional! The titles in italics (like the one below) is the one I came up with first, and the other was conceived later, after I reread the story and worked out a few (read: tons of) tonal inconsistencies. The first titles still apply, but I wanted to add the second one to give another sort of inkling into what sort of chapter this was going to be.
Chapter XVII: Temple of Darkness
Holy light surged forth from the Pedestal of Time, bathing Link in its energy as it slowly faded away. It felt good to be back in his adult body. His child body limited him, making him weaker and less competent. In his adult form, he was confident. Strong. Less of a man and more of the idea of a man. He felt perfect, even though he knew he wasn't.
Link was well aware of just how flawed he was as a person. He was snarky, argumentative, quick to anger and slow to forgive. He still hadn't come close to forgiving his first Zelda for sending him back in time in the first place. He was rash, reckless, and quick to jump to conclusions. He only felt normal on the battlefield, where everything was chaos and only one's skills and wit could save oneself. It had gotten to the point where he could barely stand actually sleeping in a bed, like a normal human being. Idly, he wondered if he would ever change, or if this was how Link was always supposed to be, regardless of age or time. Then he remembered how he hadn't remembered feeling any of these things as an adult in his first quest, and the thoughts subsided.
"Ivan will never forget this sensation," the reawakened fairy commented. "The feeling of suddenly being displaced in time. Do you know what Ivan is saying?"
"Yeah, Ivan, I get it," he replied tiredly, playing the Nocturne of Shadow in order to warp into the Kakariko graveyard. A dazzling display of purple light swept down from the heavens and whisked Link away into the Sheikah village.
He ended up on a raised part of land, behind the Royal Family's Tomb he and Ivan had explored a few months ago. It was raining heavily, just like it always seemed to be here. Frigid water leaked under the bandages protecting his bad eye, chilling Link to the bone. Eventually, he gave up on trying to protect it from the rain, and instead cast it off and chucked it into the graveyard proper. It left his damaged eye exposed to the world, but it didn't matter, in the end.
The pair descended down a set of stairs behind the graveyard. There was a massive amphitheater at the bottom of the stairs, with a tiny dais surrounded by unlit torches.
"These torches… they seem to have been lit about seven years ago…" Ivan commented. "Odd, considering the fact that we jump forwards and backwards in time seven years every time we draw or sheath the Master Sword in its pedestal. Do we have to come back here in the past?"
"No, that's the Spirit Temple's gimmick," Link explained. "At least, it was last time. The first time I went into the Shadow Temple, there was a bottomless pit right at the beginning that I had to Hookshot across. Maybe it will be different this time. Only way to figure out is to do it."
"Ivan supposes… it's just a bit odd, is all."
Link stepped onto the raised platform and cast Din's Fire, lighting all of the torches in unison. This caused a gargantuan stone door to slowly and ominously raise into an opened position. A blast of disgustingly humid air burst out of the Temple as soon as it opened, causing Link and Ivan to shudder. Even still, they forced their leaden feet to carry them into the Shadow Temple itself.
It began as a cramped corridor which instantly triggered Link's latent claustrophobia. He forced himself to move forwards and take a left, coming across a bottomless pit with a Hookshot panel on it.
"Okay, so we've confirmed that I can't, in fact, have come here in the past for whatever reason," Link affirmed. "Let's just forget about it. It's probably not our problem."
He approached a ghoul painting identical to the ones he had seen in the Bottom of the Well.
"The Shadow will yield only to one with the eye of truth passed down through Kakariko Village," Ivan interpreted from the undead whispers echoing through the dungeon. "Ivan assumes that it's the Lens of Truth?"
"Precisely," Link replied, strolling straight through the painting and into the rest of the room.
"Wait, what happened?!" the sprite said, panicked.
"It's fine, Ivan. The painting is just an illusion," Link said. "Just fly through it. I'm fine."
The fairy emerged from the fake painting, shuddering. "Ivan does not like this place already."
"Nobody likes this place," Link said. "It was pretty straightforward last time, though."
"Hush, you. You're going to jinx it," Ivan grumbled.
"Alright, first order of business is to point this massive bird statue at that skull totem right there," the Hylian explained, indicating a pole before jogging over to the statue and laboriously rotating the edifice at the correct skull. On the other side of a bottomless pit, an iron gate in the mouth of some sort of abhorrent serpentine monster opened. But there was no way to access it until Link had received the Hover Boots.
"Ivan doubts you can make that jump," his partner informed.
"I know," Link replied, walking around the bird statue and marching towards another one of the ghost paintings- only to slam right into it.
"Wait, what? This has to be an illusion, right? Unless the layout of this temple isn't just reversed…" Link thought aloud, growing more and more horrified at the implications. Just to confirm that he wasn't crazy, he whipped out the Lens of Truth and peered through it- only to find that there was a weak wall hiding behind it. So the Hero of Time planted an explosive at the foot of the painting and backed away, allowing the ensuing blast to take the wall with it.
Vindicated, Link marched through the illusion, only to find that the door was locked. He'd need a Small Key to get through it, a key he didn't have.
As much as the Hylian wanted to use this as an excuse to leave the Temple, he forced himself to continue on.
!0*0!
He was back in the first room, facing the metal head stuck in the wall. Its mouth was wide open and its tongue was lolling out, like it was being choked by something. Two hands flanked the head, chained to the wall by-
Those were torches, weren't they?
"Oh, I'm an idiot," Link grumbled, drawing his Fairy Bow. "Ignis," he whispered, and the arrow went up in flames. He nocked the arrow and carefully aimed it at the leftmost torch, causing it to catch fire. He repeated this process with the rightmost torch, and as soon as both torches were lit, a crystalline structure appeared right in front of the purple tongue, giving Link just enough room to leap across.
Inside of the mouth was a hallway that led downwards, deeper into the Temple. It exited with a small rotunda with a Beamos and three pathways, each blocked by what looked like a pile of compacted bones. Only one of them was real, though, so Link ran straight through the leftmost wall and went through the door.
There were two Gibdos inside, but Link could easily slay both of them with a Spin Attack from the Biggoron Sword. They instantly keeled over and died, dropping Magic Potions as a small chest appeared between two lit torches.
Link sighed. "That's really satisfying."
He opened the small chest and gained a Small Key.
"Oh, perfect! I can go back and explore the rest of the top layer!" Link exclaimed, leaving the tiny room and taking a right, going back up to the top. He leaped across the abyss and then proceeded to barrel straight through one of the face paintings adorning the walls, opening the locked door behind it.
He was immediately greeted by a wall with a light blue skull on it. He knew it was an illusion, so he disregarded it entirely and proceeded to walk through it. Ivan grumbled something about the wall trying to send him a message from the great beyond, but Link ignored his fairy partner for now.
He walked straight through another light blue skull wall, but Ivan Mind Hacked him just to force him to stop.
"Ivan, let me finish this Temple so I don't have to spend any more time here," Link groaned. "This goddess-forsaken place is why I'm claustrophobic."
"Ivan knows this, but this wall is practically screaming 'Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred'... Ivan figured you would want to know."
"What kind of greed and hatred are we talking about? The Unification War?" Link inquired, opening the metal door behind the illusory wall.
"It could be. Ivan doubts it, though. The Temples were constructed long before the War fully united the land," the fairy responded, narrowly avoiding a languid strike from one of the four Redeads populating the tiny room.
"Then when were the Temples made?" the Hylian asked, running the Biggoron Sword through the Redeads. Their redeath caused a large chest to suddenly appear. Inside of it was the Compass.
"Ivan is not sure… Ivan believes it was before the Vaati incident, but few records remain from that time period."
He left the room and moved to progress further, only for Ivan to give a short shout.
"There's a Song of Time block beyond that illusory wall. Leetle man was going to run straight into it," the fairy informed helpfully.
"Thanks," Link replied, withdrawing his Ocarina and playing the Song of Time to dispel the barrier. He moved forwards into the next skull-filled room. As soon as he entered, his body was engulfed in flames, courtesy of one of the fake eye switches lined up on the right side of the room. He took a moment to beat the flames off of himself, then backed up behind a pillar to change into the Goron Tunic.
"'Tricks you cannot see… Passages full of ill will… We will consume everything…?'" Ivan translated from the skull emblazoned on the pillar.
The Hylian chose to tune out Ivan, instead opting to load an arrow into the Fairy Bow and jump out from behind the pillar, shooting directly at the closed eye switch. It did nothing, despite landing perfectly on its mark. Then the eye opened, firing another ball of flames, before closing again.
"Ivan thinks you have to shoot the eye when it's open," Ivan suggested as the Hero of Time slapped the orb of fire into oblivion with his Stalfos Shield.
Link didn't respond, simply nocking another arrow and peering from around the corner at the eye switch. It soon opened, releasing a ball of fire, but soon sprouted an arrow directly from its cornea. The process soon repeated itself with the other eye switch.
The central eye switch didn't react to Link, so he ignored it, instead switching to the Lens of Truth to remind himself exactly where he was supposed to go. He was confused, however, when the path to the last room was covered with a crystalline barrier. There must be something else invisible that Link had missed in the room.
He combed the room several times to ensure that he hadn't missed anything. He hadn't. Link then assumed that there was a Diamond Switch hidden behind a wall or something, but that didn't work, either.
"Uh… there's still an eye switch that you haven't shot…" Ivan mentioned.
"But it won't open, so I can't kill it," Link explained.
"Ivan is not sure if it is a monster," he countered. "It might just be a normal eye switch. Try shooting it."
Link shot it, and it immediately opened. Checking the barrier revealed that it had disappeared. Convenient.
He marched through the door- and wished he hadn't.
!0*0!
There was another Dead Hand.
Because of course there was.
The eight hands were organized in a circle in the center of the room. Link withdrew the Lens of Truth and noticed a dark circle right in the left corner of the chamber. Doffing the Sheikah artifact revealed that he couldn't see the spot without it. Cautiously, he procured a bomb and placed it over the spot before sprinting away. The explosive detonated, causing a great tidal wave of decaying human material as the body of the Dead Hand emerged from the floor.
"Oh, thank the Goddesses I don't have to-" Link began, before he got too close to the hands in the center of the room and was ensnared by one of them. Fortunately, his lithe adult body was more than capable of forcing the hand off of his face, and cut the offending limb from the earth with the Biggoron Sword. He whirled around to see the Dead Hand's mouth closing in on him, which he barely had enough time to sidestep. The bloodsoaked corpse would have probably managed to get his hat, if he hadn't left it in the Water Temple.
He brought the Biggoron Sword down through the Dead Hand's neck, piercing through it into the earth to pin it there. Then, ignoring the arms that started writhing about madly, he grasped both sides of the abomination's neck and twisted hard, rewarded by a sickening crack as he broke the Dead Hand's neck. It died slowly, twitching and convulsing spastically as it slowly atrophied into the stagnant, wretched air.
The door unsealed, and a large chest appeared behind the Dead Hand's cadaver. Link opened it and procured the winged Hover Boots, which allowed him to walk on thin air for a short period of time for the cost of not having any traction.
"Let's head back," Link suggested. Then they departed, venturing deeper into the Sheikah Temple.
!0*0!
A short time later, they had returned to the lower level through the metal snakehead. He detonated the Beamos and picking up the bombs that it left in its wake, before placing one of the explosives at the real barrier directly opposite the pathway upwards. The wall of bones disintegrated to yield a locked door. Link reached into his pouch for a key, before remembering that he had used his only Small Key to get the Hover Boots. Sighing, the Hylian took a detour into the only other room on that floor.
Featured prominently in the room was a swirling pair of statuesque grim reapers, spinning their scythes about the room. The floor was strewn with knee-high logs that served to obstruct the movement of anyone trying to navigate the room. There were also several inlets in the walls, each guarded by a large Skulltula. Observing the room further, there were also a number of Silver Rupees scattered around the area, which would probably fill up Link's giant wallet.
He sprinted forwards, sliding across the slick stone ground to avoid a scythe. He picked up the first Rupee before swinging outwards, leaping over a wooden plank before ducking under another scythe. He had his Longshot at the ready as soon as he sprung up, allowing him to kill a Giant Skulltula without much effort. He darted into the now-revealed crawlspace and retrieved the next Rupees.
Link reentered the greater chamber, careful to stay out of the range of the scythes that was so helpfully engraved onto the floor. He Longshotted up onto a little wooden platform, grabbing the Silver Rupee there, before maneuvering to the other side of the room and killing both Skullwalltula. Behind one of them was a plaque that presided over an illusory floor, but the other contained a Silver Rupee, which Link grabbed.
He then heard an iron grate ascend, and upon further inspection, another divot had opened. There was a Skulltula inside, as well as a large chest which contained the Dungeon Map. But there wasn't anything else inside, not even with a sweep from the Lens of Truth.
"Go back to that painting… Ivan thought there was something there," the fairy suggested.
"How about we don't? The more time before we go to the Other Side, the better," Link explained.
"'Other Side'?! Is leetle man telling Ivan that we must die in this Temple? That sounds like it defeats the entire purpose," Ivan questioned.
"Not like that… There's a Ferry to the Other Side. I'm not kidding, that's what it's called."
"Ivan isn't sure how that's any better… Regardless, there might be a Small Key down there."
Groaning slightly, Link returned to the crawlspace and carefully felt at the floor to determine which part of it was illusion and what wasn't. Finding where the hole really was, Link slowly found his footing in the iron bars below it and climbed down to find… nothing.
"There's nothing here!" Link wailed morosely. "This was a waste of time!"
It was no sooner than he said this that the sounds of a giant Skulltula made themselves known. Link swiftly drew the Lens of Truth and peered through it, finally seeing the skeleton hovering over a giant block with the Gerudo emblem emblazoned on it.
He drew the Longshot and shot it in the face, killing it instantly. But this didn't solve the problem of the fact that the rest of the room was empty. The Skulltula's corpse had dissolved into a small health potion; it must have been digesting one from its last victim, and Link would have partaken in it had he not tripped over something just before he reached it. He toppled gracelessly into his face, a trickle of blood oozing out of his nose. The poultice solved the bleeding issue, but didn't spare him the shame of having stumbled over something.
The Hero of Time prodded at the offending area with his foot, only for it to connect to something invisible. It felt like wood. Another gander through the Lens of Truth revealed that there was an invisible small chest right there that he simply hadn't noticed somehow. He kicked it open, and received the exact Small Key he needed.
He turned to leave, before he realized that Ivan wasn't following him. Link turned to see that Ivan was staring, practically slack-jawed, at the Ferry to the Other Side through the derelict iron bars. Link casually walked up to join him, staring at the ancient boat floating on the mist. The last time he had seen it, the prow was the shape of a metal raven of some kind, but this time, the raven had been replaced by a charred black skeleton with the most ridiculous shade of red hair he had seen- and he was friends with Malon and Anjou. He wondered how they were doing as he literally gawked at a floating boat of death.
"Leetle man never told Ivan you were a death pirate," Ivan mused. "That explains a lot."
"Death Pirate?" Link questioned, raising an eyebrow. "The thing on the front of the ship is supposed to be a raven, not some redhead skeleton. Although I do admit that the skeleton is more fitting."
"Yup. Edgy," Ivan quipped, tearing his eyes away from the boat. "Let's finish this dungeon already. This priton gives Ivan the heebie-jeebies."
"If me swearing makes me lose ten Rupees, shouldn't you swearing give me Rupees?" the Hero of Time questioned.
His Guardian Fairy blinked. "Ivan does not make a habit out of it. Leetle man does. That is why."
Link only grumbled in response as he turned on his heel, climbing back up the iron bars into the second-level room. He then left that room, entering the central rotunda, and used his newly acquired Small Key to open the formerly locked door. He entered a hallway that gently sloped downwards, leading Link further into the Shadow Temple's clutches.
Already, he could feel a tempest of dark energy surging from deeper inside of the Temple. He hadn't been able to feel it during his first adventure due to not having his Stalfos Hand, but the other Temples were weak in terms of dark magical output. Bongo Bongo evidently dwarfed Ganondorf's other minions.
He rounded a corner and ran headfirst into a Beamos, which he opted to simply run around. The Hylian jumped over a pair of Spikes bouncing around the hallway and barely managed to roll under a Giant Skulltula that descended from the ceiling.
There was a short, sheer cliff in front of him that he had to jump down, but the remainder of the hallway was guarded by a pair of guillotines that repeatedly rose up and slammed back into the ground again. There was also a Beamos that somehow hadn't noticed him sandwiched between the two guillotines. Link drew the Longshot and aimed for the wooden supports for the second guillotine, latching onto the old wood and yanking him across the gap. From there, it was just a quick sprint until he was out of danger.
He followed the corridor until its end, where it opened up into a massive underground cavern with a seemingly bottomless pit. The Hero wasn't particularly keen on discovering whether or not it was actually bottomless. So instead, he surveyed the room itself, searching for anything that would help him finish the Shadow Temple faster. There was a gold eye switch to his right, in the wall on the other side of the abyss, but shooting it with the Fairy Bow didn't seem to activate it. There was probably something invisible blocking it, Link reasoned as he traversed the precariously thin strip of floor that spanned the room. All along it were several guillotines, three of them to be exact, slamming themselves into the earth at erratic and unpredictable intervals. Once again, Link readied his Longshot and was wrenched to the last guillotine. He was immediately beset by a Fire Bubble that leapt out of the void below him, but Link merely whacked it with his shield back into the darkness.
There was a platform in front of him, but there were two Beamos on top of it surveying the area. If he tried to leap for the platform, he'd just be shot right off by the lasers that the robots shot. Fortunately, there was also a Bomb Flower right between them; shooting the flora caused an explosion that forced their eyes shut.
Link timed his jump to just after the guillotine fell, and successfully made it to the other side. However, a swarm of Keese from his left caught him unawares and nearly swept him off into the abyss. He probably would have been thrown into the dark depths had he not had the presence of mind to don his Iron Boots.
He would have seen them in the first place if he wasn't missing his left eye.
The Beamos had reactivated and were both staring at Link, blinking to ready their lasers. Link summoned his Stalfos Shield, hoping to fend off the blows, but the beams hit with enough force to shatter the Shield altogether.
They were readying another blast. The Hero wouldn't be able to defend himself, and the knockback from the beams would push him off the platform into the darkness.
Then one of them stopped, eyes glowing dark blue. It swiftly turned around and blasted a laser at its companion, causing it to explode. The blast also caught the Mind Hacked Beamos, destroying it.
"I thought you said you couldn't Mind Hack things that don't have a brain," Link said.
"They're robots, leetle man," Ivan explained. "They have minds, just not ones made of flesh."
"... Alright, then," the Hylian replied, dropping the subject.
Link then turned to his right, realizing that the gaping hole to his left was too large for him to jump across. Granted, so was the pit to his right, but Link knew from experience that there were invisible platforms there. Explaining the situation to his guardian fairy so he wouldn't have a heart attack, Link swandived off of the platform and grappled for thin air, eventually finding solid ground where there should have been none. He also realized that the golden eye switch from earlier was simply covered in ice. "Ignis," he whispered to the tip of one of his arrows, causing it to burst into flames. He then shot the fire arrow at the frozen switch, melting the ice and causing it to close. Link wasn't quite sure what it did, but he'd surely find out later.
He leapt across another chasm and into a tiny alcove, in which there was a single door. The teenager stepped through the rusted iron entrance and rounded a corner, only to be greeted by a completely empty room. All that was in it was an iron gate, a multitude of Silver Rupees, and a Like Like. However, a quick peek through the Lens of Truth revealed that there was another pair of spinning Grim Reapers, scythes tracing the perfect circle embedded in the floor.
He nocked a Fire Arrow and shot the Like Like from across the room, making the undulating gray cylinder of pain and suffering burst into flames and melt. From there, all Link had to do was run around the room like a headless cucco and grab every sliver of silver he could find.
But nothing happened.
After darting out of the range of the scythes, Link discovered that the last Silver Rupee was floating in the air, out of reach. Ivan declined to just grab it, citing tiredness as his justification, but mentioned that Link could just summon a Song of Time block and then nab the currency that way.
Six notes emanated into the cold, dank Temple, willing a Block of Time into existence right underneath the Silver Rupee. Link pondered it for a moment. A song so personally tied to his personal grief fit the Shadow Temple to a T. Refusing to continue thinking about his own failures, Link grabbed the last Rupee, causing the iron gate at the other end of the room to open. There were two chests in the room, according to the Compass, but one of them was invisible. The visible chest contained a Blue Rupee, which Link threw to the wayside because his wallet was once again stuffed. The other chest contained a Small Key, which the Hylian would probably need to descend further into the Temple.
!0*0!
The eye switch from before turned out to not be completely useless, as it had apparently summoned several suspended crystal platforms on the left side that Link could jump across. He ended up on a lower platform, which housed two Spikes and a Beamos, along with a good number of Silver Rupees. Link ignored the Rupee puzzle and proceeded towards an iron gate, which blocked off a room from the remainder of the house of the dead. There was a diamond switch right behind it, which Link could trigger just by poking it with the Biggoron Sword. This caused the steel bars to raise up, allowing Link access.
He followed the corridor to its end, which was a smaller room with two giant spiked apparatuses slamming themselves down on an engraved stone pathway. There was no way Link could possibly get past it without finding something to sandwich between the spikes and the ground.
Fortunately, there was such a thing. Right next to the beginning of the path was a massive stone block, hidden from view by an illusory wall. He beelined for the false wall and grasped it with both hands, intending to pull it out of the wall and use it as a stone umbrella to protect him from the hail of metal spikes. However, he came across a rather problematic predicament.
He couldn't actually move the block of stone.
It was his Stalfos hand, of course. If it could barely lift something as light as a Deku Shield, it certainly wasn't going to help Link lug around massive stone blocks. The blocks in the Forest, Fire, and Water Temples were significantly lighter, probably due to the fact that they weren't weighted with the undying torment of the thousands of people who had died here, and Link had had the added benefit of being able to throw his entire weight at the blocks to push them, rather than pull them around.
"Well, I'm f… screwed, aren't I?" Link questioned sarcastically. Ivan applauded with significantly less sardonicism.
"Now, Ivan isn't exactly justifying the abuse of dark magic, but… maybe you can use those falling spikes to Backapparate over there, and then hop on top of it to get to the upper area?" the fairy suggested.
Link blinked. "That's going to hurt, Ivan. A lot. It probably would have killed me last time I did this Temple, and everything hurts twice as much now."
"Ivan knows. Consider it a last resort. Besides, Backapparating reduces the harm dealt to you, da?"
"Not that much," Link confessed. "There's got to be a way to, like, rappel on top of this thing…"
The Hylian eyed a ribbed pillar in the center of the room. "Hello there," he said, ducking beneath the spikes and grasping the pillar. Just as he suspected, it was ribbed to such a degree that it provided perfect footholds to climb up. From there, it was merely a matter of Longshotting to a chest on the other side of the room. It contained bombs, something Link actually needed.
He then stepped on a conspicuous gold button, causing another small chest to drop from the ceiling. Opening it revealed that it contained another Small Key, which was precisely what he needed.
He returned to the great abyss room and blew up the Beamos with one of his Bombs. He collected all of the Silver Rupees scattered about the small platform, making sure to avoid the Spikes spiraling around. Collecting the last Rupee caused another small chest to fall from somewhere, but it only contained a large bundle of arrows.
There was only one place left to go- across a vast expanse of nothingness blocked by a guillotine. The sign next to the guillotine stated that only those with sacred feet, the Hover Boots, could cross the gap. Donning the aforementioned boots and nearly sliding straight off of the platform, Link dashed underneath the guillotine and soon found himself standing on solid ground again. Obviously, there was an illusory platform below his feet. The Hero of Time glanced through the Lens of Truth to find the other platform, only to realize that it was oscillating back and forth in front of the inlet where a locked door sat. Link stepped onto the moving platform when it was touching the one he was already standing on, then he waited for the floor stopped moving on the other side. From there, he was able to sprint off of the moving platform towards the alcove, a disc of light appearing under his feet as he traversed the abyss. The Hover Boots only lasted a short time before dissipating, but it was enough to get Link across the chasm.
He unlocked the door and stepped through. It was filled with Silver Rupees, collecting which would probably unlock a door to his left that was currently sealed. Link wondered if he actually needed to enter that room, and after consulting the Compass, he realized that there wasn't anything useful inside and disregarded it entirely, Longshotting onto an invisible panel on the ceiling and unlocking the other door in front of him.
Link then found himself in a long, twisting corridor. He hadn't realized that he was still wearing the Hover Boots until he rounded the corner and was promptly slammed along the opposite wall by a fierce gale. The strong winds were coming from a particularly annoying metal gremling head with a fan in it. Sighing to himself, Link acquired the Iron Boots and doggedly dragged himself down the hallway, sure to avoid the Spikes bouncing back and forth. The winds buffeted him, but due to his increased weight, they couldn't do anything to him. After punching a Giant Skulltula in the eyeball so hard that it died, the time traveller Longshotted across a long gap and dropped himself down a sheer cliffside. He was now on a long, thin catwalk buffeted by more devil turbines on both sides. Fortunately, there wasn't a fake eye switch on the far side of the room, raining fireballs down on him from above.
He tore open the door at the end of the catwalk, and immediately slammed it closed again when he realized that there were four Redeads congregated in a semicircle directly around the entrance. Worse, the Compass confirmed that there was a chest in there...
"Well, cra… crud," Link grimaced. "How do I not get my face eaten off here?"
For some reason, his mind flitted to his first Zelda, and a wave of confused negativity washed over him.
"Redeads are very perceptive to sounds and vibrations, but have lackluster eyesight," Ivan explained. "Try opening the door very slowly and playing the Sun's Song."
Link did as Ivan suggested, then unleashed a fully powered Spin Attack after the zombies had been stunned. A golden Fairy conveniently appeared, which Link touched, causing it to shrink up and swirl away out of sight. There was also a Golden Skulltula in the room, which Link killed.
There was no chest, but consulting the Lens of Truth revealed that it was one, merely hidden by an illusion. Kicking it open caused its invisibility to disperse, revealing that the chest held a Small Key.
They left the room again. The winds had stopped temporarily, but would soon begin again.
"Well, what do we do now?" Ivan wondered. "Maybe we should go back down that hall. There was a Silver Rupee puzzle that we completely ignored.
"Nah," Link vetoed, already summoning the Hover Boots. "Just trust me."
"Okay… Wait, what are you doing?"
Link had stepped into the path of one of the massive fans and was instantly carried with it off of the catwalk. However, the wall on the other side of the vast abyss was an illusion, and Link was just fine.
In retrospect, he probably should have told Ivan.
"What were you thinking?!" the guardian fairy demanded. "You gave Ivan a heart attack!"
"I'm sorry…?" Link replied hesitantly.
Ivan took a deep breath. "It's fine, leetle man. Just don't do that again. Ivan still isn't really used to having a partner. How long has it been, anyway? Three months? Four?"
"Five months and four days," Link corrected. "Not including the seven year gap."
"Whatever. Point is, don't scare Ivan like that. Khorosho?"
"Yes, Ivan," Link grumbled, ashamed. He then unlocked the door behind the illusory wall, and proceeded deeper into the Temple.
!0*0!
When Link thought about it, he was kind of a pushover.
Not when on the battlefield, no; a Link with his sword drawn was a Link that refused to pull any punches. The dead Gibdos at his feet were proof enough of that. But that was what made Link such a pushover to begin with. When he wasn't decapitating something, he always overcompensated for his innate connection to violence, allowing a more passive side of himself to take control. He would ceaselessly concede his own opinion when talking to people because he was never confident that the side of him that lived for combat wouldn't come out and crush whoever he was talking to.
People were like roses; squeeze them too hard, and they'll be destroyed, but you'll have a few thorns in your hands, too.
Link doubted anything exemplified this any better than his concession in his final conversation with Zelda. He had tried to tell her that he didn't want to go back, only to realize that she was having none of it. And like the pushover that he could be, he rolled over and accepted it, lulled by her promise that she and the rest of the Sages would remember everything.
They hadn't.
He could still blame her, though, for not listening to him. He had expressed his worries that everyone would forget everything, and she had practically laughed him off. He had every right to be mad about that.
He kicked open the newfound Small Chest for a useless Blue Rupee, but before leaving the dank room with walls made out of rotting flesh, the swordsman made sure to bomb both piles of ash in the corners of the room, garnering him a Gold Skulltula and an invisible chest full of Arrows. Done in the cramped room, Link used his last Small Key to unlock the door, finding himself facing the Ferry to the Other Side: Pirate Edition.
There was half of a ladder descending from a raised stone area, way out of Link's reach. Meanwhile, there was a smaller stone block situated just below the little jail cell he and Ivan had been in hours before, gawking at the massive ship floating in the mist. He turned to the stone block, hoping to push it below the ladder so that he could climb up, but the swordsman came across a problem.
He couldn't actually move the stone block.
It was embarrassing. He supposed it must have been weighed down with the souls of the damned, because this particular block felt somehow heavier than the other stone cube in the Shadow Temple.
He blamed his undead hand.
"Maybe you could Hookshot onto the boat itself?" Ivan suggested, thoroughly understanding Link's predicament.
"It's not made of latchable wood," the Hylian explained. "See?"
He moved the Longshot to point at the side of the ship before stopping, laser reticle pointing at the ladder itself. He had had no idea that he could Longshot onto the ladder. He most certainly wasn't complaining, though.
He activated the device, throwing him at the ladder. He only barely managed to grab onto the last rung of the ladder, not really thinking to account for gravity when he launched himself. Regardless, even with the critical weakness in his Stalfos hand, the Hylian was able to haul himself on top of the stone parapet. From there, it was a simple jump from the stone to the ship.
It had a Triforce engraved on it, prompting the Hero of Time to dutifully pull out his Ocarina and mournfully play Zelda's Lullaby, longing spiking in his chest as his brain mindlessly focused on the people in his first adventure. He loved them, he supposed, but their replacements were just as good. Better, even; they had all of the quirks and traits they did from his first excursion, but they seemed to know him better than they had before, and vice versa. The only exception to that was Ivan, who was… well, Ivan.
Link was shaken from his reverie by the echoing sounds of bells, which seemed completely foreign to the vast expanse of derelict rot and decay that seemed to pervade the Shadow Temple. The Ferry suddenly lurched under his feet, sinking into the mist before soaring back up again, actually succeeding in throwing Link into the air and making him faceplant into the Triforce of Courage. And just to make his day even worse, as soon as he managed to get to his feet, a Stalfos dropped down onto the boat.
Then another, because fighting one Stalfos on a constantly undulating platform was just too easy. Link readied the Biggoron Sword, but had to leap back when a massive chained hairball descended from the rocks above Link and crushed both skeletal swordsmen underneath its massive weight. As it shifted and scuttled about the deck of the ship, it left a revolting trail of blood and pus in its wake. Its abundance of eyes swiveled about madly in their disgusting sockets, locking onto Link in a heartbeat.
"Okay, Ivan, you're the history buff. This is the Miqau, right?"
"Maoqiu," Ivan corrected.
"Whatever, how do we kill it?" Link said, diving out of the way as the ancient abomination suddenly charged at him. Its multiple eyes were all narrowed into slits so thin that no arrow could possibly hit the eyes lurking beneath. Deku Nuts proved to be ineffective, as was Din's Fire.
"You have to disorient it! Its eyes will open as it tried to reorient itself," Ivan suggested. "See if you can flip it over or something!"
"Flip it over?! Ivan, that thing has to weigh more than three times as much as I do!" Link argued, nearly being incinerated by a sudden laser blast the Maoqiu unleashed from one of its infinite eyes.
The ship lurched again, throwing both Link and the horrendous living hairball up into the air. The resulting change in acceleration caused Link and the Maoqiu to collide with each other midair. The Hylian had to grab onto one of the Maoqiu's chains in order to prevent himself from flying off of the boat into the void, even activating the Iron Boots as an extra precaution.
"Ha!" Ivan laughed suddenly, darting over to the other side of the demon while glowing crimson. "Pulling on the chains causes the eye on the other side to open! Otlichno!"
All of the Maoqiu's uncountable eyeballs suddenly snapped open, glowing an eerie dark blue. Link tried to whack it with the Biggoron Sword, only to learn that it was still protected by a filmy substance that repelled his blade. He tried using the Master Sword, only to have the same lack of effect.
Sighing, Link took the opportunity to shove the Maoqiu onto its back, revealing that its underbelly hid a massive tunnel to its interior systems complete with writhing tendrils of darkness that tried to suck Link in. As soon as he saw it, though, it disappeared and was replaced with the chains and eyeballs that marked the Maoqiu's upper half.
Ivan was forcefully expelled from its brain and landed on the cold, wet deck with a shout of mixed pain and anger. The Hylian temporarily ignored him, instead opting to saw off one of the rusted iron chains that encircled the giant hairball. It came apart with surprising ease, but it caused the eldritch abomination to squeal in agony as it leaked more blood all over the deck of the Ferry. The Ferry itself started shaking violently, a sensation that Link remembered all too well from the last time he had ridden this Goddess-forsaken boat.
"Leetle man, this ship is sinking! Leave the Maoqiu! Get to solid ground!" Ivan warned. Evidently, the Maoqiu realized this too, and it randomly started pushing Link backwards. The Hylian realized too late how little of the boat was left for him to stand on in that direction, and both Hero and demon sailed off of the ship, into the void.
Link flew straight through the coarse stone wall and into a small alcove; evidently, there had been an illusory wall there he had had no knowledge of. Slowly, he came to the realization that he wasn't dead. The Maoqiu was nowhere to be seen, obviously having been less fortunate.
"Chert poberi, what has Ivan done?!" he heard Ivan's voice emanate through the illusive wall that separated him and his fairy. "Link… O Bogini, Link… Ivan is sorry he couldn't have been a better partner…"
"Ugh…" Link groaned, pawing at the hot, sticky place at the back of his head. He drew his hand back to realize that it was covered in blood, presumably his own. Given that there wasn't anything else in the room that had the capacity to bleed, he logically assumed that it was, in fact, his blood staining the base of his neck.
The Hylian greedily freed his last Healing Fairy from one of his bottles, allowing it to fully heal all of his wounds. Oddly enough, it seemed to be accompanied by a tiny scream, but Link assumed that it was just the Shadow Temple messing with him.
As he felt the wound at the base of his cranium close, he dared to call out through the illusory wall. "Ivan?" he inquired once. Then again. He checked the Lens of Truth to ensure that the little sprite hadn't flown away. He hadn't. Stowing away the illusion detecting glass, Link peeked his head out of the illusion and waved at Ivan's miniscule form, perched precariously on the edge of the stone catwalk on the other side of the misty abyss.
"Ivan, I'm not dead! This part of the wall is an illusion!" Link hollered, waving madly at his partner. From Ivan's perspective, it must have looked like Link's disembodied head was casually hovering at the other side of the room.
The fairy looked up and stared for a while before slowly fluttering across the void. It was obvious that he didn't quite trust Link, given how the Shadow Temple seemed far too fascinated with screwing with people's perceptions of reality.
Ivan was muttering something to himself, but was unprepared for when Link's physical hand reached out of the illusion, snatched the fairy in one palm, and dragged him through the faux wall. He stared incomprehensibly for a few seconds before starting to laugh in earnest.
"Leetle man, you have to be the luckiest person Ivan has ever met," Ivan managed to get out between raucous guffaws.
"Yeah, in all the things in which not being lucky would result in death," Link replied, turning to the rest of the alcove. It was black as pitch, and the Hero of Time couldn't see his hand just a few inches from his face. He nocked a Fire Arrow into his bow but didn't loose it, using its light to illuminate the darkness.
"What is this place?" Ivan wondered.
"I don't know, I just discovered this now. Like, it's not even on the Dungeon Map."
The pair slowly and carefully made their way through the cramped, dank corridor. It reeked of death and decay, causing Link to sneeze several times on his sojourn. After what seemed to be years of carefully creeping down the hallway, it finally opened into a comparatively small chamber. Link used his arrow to light a torch on the wall, shedding light on the room and revealing its true nature.
Link was creeped out. Ivan was flabbergasted.
There was a marble humanoid statue in the center of the room with no face. It held a hand up to its stone head like it was wearing some sort of mask, but no veneer was actually present. It had an elaborate-looking red cloak on it, bespeckled with gold and black diamonds. All around it, little strings were connected between the statue and various parts of the floor, each covered with several small strips of paper with indecipherable characters on it.
"Ivan… what am I looking at?" Link whispered. "Even I can feel the dark magic spewing from this statue."
"There should be so much more," Ivan whispered. "Where is it all?"
"What?" Link ejaculated, shocked. "This place is almost as dark as Ganondorf was last timeline!"
"Remember that demon Ivan mentioned before you drew the Master Sword? Demise?"
"Yeah," Link said, shivers crawling along his back.
"Well, Demise possessed a blade that had a sword spirit in it, much like the Master Sword does. After the Demon King's defeat at the hands of the first Link, his sword spirit attempted to revive his master. Fortunately, the sword spirit was apprehended and sealed.
"That statue is a near perfect match for what historical documents say it looked like- excluding the fact that this statue has no face. Therefore, it is only logical to assume that this is the site where the sword spirit was sealed. Yes, it makes sense! This is why the Shadow Temple is so consumed by dark energy! This is why the Sheikah put their village at the foot of an active volcano! Because it was right next to the internment site of one of the most powerful dark magic artifacts in Hyrulean history!"
Maybe it has to do with these things?" Link mentioned, pointing at the various strings tying the statue to the earth.
"Hm… Strange. These are ancient wards to protect against evil spirits… yes. Perhaps these are the reason why we feel so little dark energy. At least, Ivan hopes."
"We ought to leave it as is," Link suggested. "Kakariko has enough problems without an ancient demon lord wreaking havoc."
He turned to leave, narrowly avoiding tripping over a ward that appeared cut on his way back out of the chamber.
!0*0!
Conveniently, there had been an invisible Hookshot Panel right at the precipice of the abyss, as if to ensure that someone could leave if they happened to somehow stumble across the Hidden Chamber. But now Link had discovered another issue; he was stuck on this tiny catwalk with a locked door at the end. Fortunately, he already knew what to do. He nocked an arrow, mentally kicked himself for accidentally making it a Fire Arrow, and loosed it at an outgrowth of Bomb Flowers that laid beneath a giant raven statue akin to what was once the prow of the Ferry to the Other Side. The already weak supports of the edifice gave way, and the statue face planted beak first just inches from Link's feet. The back of the statue would serve as a bridge across the great gap blocking Link from moving forwards.
Unfortunately, he lacked the Boss Key to actually get to Bongo Bongo's drum set, meaning that he might as well not go for the unlocked door that sat there.
"Hey Link, there's a gold button all the way up there," Ivan mentioned, gesticulating towards a tiny ledge overlooking the abyss.
"Can't exactly get there, Ivan," Link replied, climbing up a Block of Time and then using it as a stepping stone to get on top of the remains of another raven statue.
"Maybe play the Song of Time… that's the only thing Ivan can think of," the fairy suggested.
He played the Song of Time as requested, hoping that the block would teleport to a spot where he could use it as an in-between to get to the ledge. Unfortunately, the Block decided to teleport out of the room entirely, which didn't exactly help the Hero with his problem.
"Well, now what?" Link asked sardonically. When Ivan didn't respond, the swordsman followed up with "Ivan?"
"Do you remember that eye switch in the Forest Temple? The one that you spent more than two-thirds of a day trying to find?"
"Yeah…" Link answered, unsure of himself.
"Well, Ivan doesn't want to repeat that. Just turn around."
Link whirled on his foot, and there was an eye switch right on the side of the decapitated raven statue. It had been hidden by the Block of Time so well that Link somehow hadn't noticed. Shooting it caused a pair of Hookshot pillars to appear right next to Link and on top of the stone awning fifty feet up. The Hylian Longshot to the pillar and stepped on the golden button right next to it, causing the door on the other side of the smaller abyss to creak open.
"Well, that wasn't so bad," Link remarked. "Thanks for your help, Ivan."
"Don't mention it…" Ivan replied, a bit slower than usual.
"Is something the matter?" the man replied, concerned.
"Nonsense! Everything is fine! Ivan, uh… just doesn't want you to jinx it. Da, that's it."
"Okay…" Link said, noting his partner's odd behavior as he crossed the fallen raven statue to the other side.
Behind the door was a large room filled with pillars, two Blue Bubbles, and a Like Like at the center. One of the doors was locked, and it happened to be the one with two chests behind it. It probably was the one with the Boss Key, meaning that one of the other two rooms connected to this one had to contain a Small Key.
"Okay, so… eenie, meenie, minie, mo…" Link proceeded to say, alternating between pointing at the door furthest from him and the one closest to his right. His finger eventually landed on the rightmost door, and he maneuvered through the illusory maze. All the while, he was constantly donning and doffing the Lens of Truth as a way to cheat its magical drain.
The door opened and then slammed shut again. Link was greeted by a room full of Bomb Flowers and a wooden crossbuck, but beyond that, the room was empty. But having been trained by the Shadow Temple, Link knew to gaze through the Lens of Truth when all seemed hopeless. Unfortunately, he was only greeted by a rather large circle on the ground, which he instantly recognized, with some level of horror, as the hiding place of a Dead Hand. At least there weren't infinite hands to latch onto his head.
He plucked a Bomb Arrow from its place and gently set it over the dark spot before darting away. But it was only when he reached a large distance from the lit explosive did the Hylian see a problem.
The room was filled with Bomb Flowers. And he had just set one off.
The explosive plant burst, causing the flowers around it to explode, which in turn caused more explosions. A chain reaction of fiery conflagrations swept the room, eventually reaching Link himself. Pain flared through his body as the Bomb Flowers all around him detonated, but he wasn't harmed all that badly due to his panicked usage of the Stalfos Shield. The shield itself had quickly exploded, but he wasn't dead, and that's what mattered.
The same could not be said of the Dead Hand, however, who had been situated at the epicenter of the fulmination. The blasts had been so powerful that the bloody corpse had literally come apart at the seams, spraying blood and body parts everywhere. The head of the beast had collided directly with Link's torso, which only served to distract him from the pancreas that promptly hit him in the face. Looking down at himself, the Hero of Time noticed that he was absolutely soaked in demonic blood, a problem compounded by the fact that he was still wearing the Zora Tunic, which absorbed almost all of the liquid it came across.
Link wouldn't have noticed the chest that appeared after the Dead Hand's defeat had Ivan not pointed it out. Inside of the container was a bundle of arrows, but they seemed to draw in the light around them and never let it go, giving it a dark appearance.
"Void Arrows," Ivan commented. "Ivan never thought he'd see one, much less a whole bundle."
"What do they do?"
"Basically, these arrows are extremely powerful. Once they hit their victims, they'll be infected by Void energy itself, and will be significantly weaker for a sizable period of time afterwards. The danger of the Void Arrows is compounded by its own power, nearly thrice that of an unenchanted Arrow. However, they'll drain leetle man's Dark Magic on use, and you only have… uh, four of them."
"I'm going to have fun with these," Link exclaimed, an evil grin forming on his face. "Just not with Bongo Bongo. Void Arrows probably won't do much against a foe that is so deeply rooted in Dark Magic, not to mention already dead.
"Now, where is that Small Key?"
!0*0!
It turned out to be tucked behind a skull carousel in the room straight from the catwalk. Because it wasn't in a chest, it didn't register in the Compass.
The last room connected to the invisible labyrinth contained two spiked wooden walls slowly and dramatically closing in on Link the instant he got there. Just to get some adrenaline flowing for the battle against Bongo Bongo, the Hero of Time took his sweet time killing the Keese scattered about the room, played the Sun's Song to stun the two Redeads on either side of the room, and waited until both spikes were practically touching him to cast Din's Fire, immolating both dry mobile walls in a heartbeat. The flaming sphere also happened to take out the other two Redeads, allowing Link to stroll out of the room with the Boss Key and a Red Rupee under his proverbial belt.
He exited the maze of illusions and traversed the raven statue to the other side of the chasm. He eased open the final door and was met by a massive abyss to the Shadow Realm separating him from the Boss Door. There was no visible way to get across the massive gap, but the floating Golden Skulltula on the other side gave Link some ideas. The Lens of Truth revealed that the structure of this final room was almost identical to the last time he had crossed this void; it was secretly populated with thin stone strips stretching up from the darkness below. Link strapped on the Hover Boots and made it to the other side as quickly and efficiently as possible before unlocking the Boss Door and stepping through.
It was at that moment that Link remembered that he had used all of his Dark Magic to protect himself from a bunch of explosive watermelons. He probably should have bought a Hylian Shield when he was in Kakariko. Then again, he'd probably be fine. Right?
Right?
The room Link found himself in was empty, but it contained an enormous gaping hole in the floor, surrounded by those ghoul paintings that were scattered all over the Shadow Temple. There was nowhere to go but down, and Link unhappily backflipped into the dark depths.
Light was seemingly absent in the great cavern Link now found himself in. Suddenly, the space before him manifested into a cream-colored wall, which stretched slightly as Link collided with it. It threw him into the air a few feet as it reverberated with a resounding boom. The Hylian managed to get his feet under him by the time he landed again. But even with his bearings restored, the room was completely devoid of illumination. In fact, the only source of light appeared to be the acidic lake below the giant bongo drum.
The fabric beneath him convulsed again, throwing Link into the air. Oddly, he didn't see either of Bongo Bongo's hands slamming on the drums. He spun as quickly as he could and was greeted by the abomination's glowing red eye smack dab in its neck. It had no head and it hung from the ceiling in a seemingly uncomfortable position. It had stumps for arms, but Link very well knew that its hands were merely disconnected from its body. Speaking of its hands, there were nowhere to be seen, despite the beat of the drums only increasing over time. A quick peek through the Lens of Truth revealed that they were invisible, unlike how they were the first time he fought the phantom shadow beast.
The beat of the drums reached a feverish tempo as Bongo Bongo's body, like its hands, dissolved into the void. Wearing the Lens of Truth made it visible, at the cost of magical energy. However, peering through it while loading an arrow was extremely difficult given the fact that Link only had two working arms and one working eye.
"Ivan! Can you hold the Lens of Truth up to my eye?" Link asked.
"Da!" the fairy replied, procuring the magical item and affixing it in front of Link's right orb. This sudden ability to see Bongo Bongo's hands gave Link the perfect opportunity to see the oversized backhand slap careening towards him. He tried to Backapparate, given that he couldn't make it away from the attack in time, but because he was out of dark magic, he was forced to take the attack head on.
Link finally managed to land an arrow on one of Bongo Bongo's paws, but wasn't able to subdue the other before it curled up into a fist and flew at Link's face. He rolled out of the way, and somehow managed to hit Bongo Bongo's other hand from the awkward position along the tarp of the drum. Writhing in pain, both hands backed off and flew into the void, the ghost's crimson eyeball snapping open as it prepared to fly across the stage. It made a noise like a lit explosive as it tore along. However, Link was able to simply shoot the tumorous eyeball with another arrow, causing Bongo Bongo to snap back into reality in pseudo-paralysis. He asked Ivan to take the Lens of Truth off of his face, in an effort to conserve magic, before drawing the Biggoron Sword and repeatedly driving it into the beast's eyeball.
Bongo Bongo quickly recovered from its stunned state, however, and resumed beating its invisible palms on the drums again, throwing Link up into the air every fourth hit. This constantly forced Link to reset nocking an arrow into his bow, because he needed to use his arms to ensure that he didn't fall flat on his face. This allowed the ghoul to unleash an attack of its own, spreading both of its hands in an effort to snatch Link into its grasp and squeeze the life out of him. It spewed a metallic laugh, as if taunting Link.
It missed Link, but grabbed Ivan in his stead.
The Lens of Truth fell from his grasp, clattering onto the floor. Without the Lens, Link couldn't hope to accurately aim with his Bow and Arrow, which made him effectively blind.
At least his partner served as a sort of beacon for one of the hands. Ivan's tiny light shone in the darkness like the sun on an overcast day, but as for the whereabouts of the other hand, Link had no clue. The hand was evidently squeezing, given Ivan's protests and occasional grunt of pain. Rage boiled in Link's veins as he darted forwards and cast Din's Fire right next to Ivan, managing to hit both hands with its fiery wrath. Once again, both hands darted off into the darkness, dropping Ivan in the process.
Momentarily forgetting about the giant zombie drummer currently intent on ripping his face off, Link scooped up Ivan's body and gently placed him in his pouch. He could drop by a Fairy Fountain somewhere and give him time to rest up before the Spirit Temple. They both probably needed a break, honestly.
Their current situation looked nothing like a break, however, as the shadow proceeded to slam Link all the way across the bongo drum into the pool of acid below. Longshotting back onto the platform, Link spent a solid five minutes loosely encasing the handle of the Lens of Truth in bandages before putting it on his face, allowing him to see through the eye of truth even without Ivan's assistance.
Shooting the hands again was a relative breeze, as was its bulbous eyeball. From there, all he really had to do was ram the Biggoron Sword through its eye before the beast started writhing about on the stage, hands slamming rapidly into the bongo drums before starting to slow down, melting away in a sea of blue flames that then disintegrated.
"Urgh… What happened? Did we win?" Ivan groaned from within Link's pouch.
"Yeah, Bongo Bongo's dead," Link supplied. "What do you say we take a break after this?"
Ivan chuckled weakly. "Never thought… leetle man would ask…"
They warped away, whisked into the Sacred Realm from deep within the darkness.
!0*0!
"The man with the noble Zelda's ocarina… as I expected, you have come," Impa said. "I would introduce myself, but I suspect you already know me as Impa of the Sheikah, Princess Zelda's caretaker, and the Sage who guards the Shadow Temple."
"More like the Sadistic Temple," Link grumbled.
"On that day seven years ago, Ganondorf suddenly attacked… and Hyrule surrendered after a short time. His target was one of the keys to the Sacred Realm… the hidden treasure of the Royal Family…"
"The Ocarina of Time, I know," Link said. "You took Zelda out of reach, she gave it to me, I betrayed the plan to prevent more bloodshed. I know, I was there."
"Yes, but there has been a gap of seven years," Impa reiterated. "Back then, you were just a lad… a mature lad, to be sure, but a lad nonetheless. Now, you have the body of one fitting that maturity. You've come to terms with something, haven't you? I can see it in the glint in your eye. Is it that you are the Hero? That you were outwitted by Ganondorf, just like everyone else? I cannot say. But whatever it is, I need only to look at you to know that it has saved you.
"You will meet with the Princess soon enough, and she will explain everything… it is then that we Sages will seal the Demon King and return peace to Hyrule. I must linger here… you must go to Princess Zelda and protect her on my behalf. Now, I shall put my power…"
"Hang on, before we do that, can I ask you something? It's about something I saw in the Shadow Temple… who was that marble statue of? Behind the illusory wall at the end of the Ferry to the Other Side?"
Impa stiffened. "The what?"
"The statue. It was covered with these strings with a bunch of little paper strips with some insignias on them that I didn't recognize.
The Sheikah sighed. "That is Ghirahim, the sword spirit of Demise. Shortly after the Demon King's defeat, the first Impa sealed Ghirahim in a mask to prevent him from attempting to revive his master. Those wards tied down to the statue were intended to hide its dark energy, so that nobody could sense the magic Ghirahim gave off. Does that answer your question?"
"Not quite… there wasn't a mask. On the statue, I mean."
Impa froze, somehow growing even more pale than usual. "Oh my Goddesses. Were the wards cut?"
"I don't know. I thought the spirit was sealed inside the statue itself… They may very well have been cut, but I don't think they were cut. What does the mask look like? Maybe I'll run into it."
"It's shaped like a heart, and it has a number of spikes on its sides. It's multicolored, and has two vibrant, crimson eyes," Impa explained. "It's impossible to miss. And whatever you do, don't let anyone put the mask on. I will inform the other Sheikah of its disappearance. Meanwhile, we must focus on the task at hand. Ganondorf takes priority over Ghirahim, because we Sheikah know Ghirahim well. We used to perform hexes through him, to ensure that the seal on Demise was still strong. Ganondorf, however, we know less of. I shall put my power, which should help you, into this Medallion!"
A purple coin emblazoned with the symbol of the Shadow Temple fell out of Hammerspace and into Link's hand. The Sacred Realm began fading into white, and the last thing Link heard before the light took him was "Please look out for the princess!"
Don't you worry, Impa, Link thought. I was already doing that.
If you're not terrified by the end of this chapter, you should be.
Anyway, that was chapter 17. Hope you all enjoyed.
NOOTTD: The extra room in the Shadow Temple only serves to house Ghirahim's Mask. You've seen the artifact before. [Spoiler: It's Majora's Mask.] It is my belief that Ghirahim was sealed in Majora's Mask; I mean, everything we know about both characters fits with it. Even the moon. I mean, who but someone as flamboyant as Ghirahim would decide to end the world by summoning a giant celestial object with a face to crash into the earth and destroy everyone within a massive radius?
Review Please!