Disclaimer: With the exception of the characters found within the temples (Although some are based on Legend of Zelda villains), Legend of Zelda is owned by Nintendo.
Link slept badly, almost entirely because of his worry about Ilia. It got to the point where, about three in the morning, Link found himself seriously considering trying to get in and see Ilia in the Intensive Care unit of the Hyrule Royal Hospital. However, Link remembered that not only would he have to sneak out of the house, but he would have to wake Epona and get her to ride, combined with how tired he felt it was very unlikely.
The following morning Zelda, Midna and Auru are sitting at the table. Link then comes in, and Zelda comments "You look tired. Didn't you sleep well?" and Link sat down and said "I slept very badly, I'm worried about Ilia" Auru nodded and said "Ilia will be fine. She's very tough, like you" and at this Link nodded, although he still seemed down. Midna and Zelda then sat down on either side of Link, and rubbed his back, trying to keep him calm. Auru said "How about you two take Link to see her, I'm sure seeing that she's OK will calm Link down a bit" at this Zelda and Midna nodded, and Zelda said "Come on Link, they may let you see Ilia" Link nodded, and they started heading back towards the castle.
Two hours later Link, Zelda and Midna were at the hospital, watching over Ilia. One of the doctors came in and said "We've been able to stabilise Ilia, but we can't remove the Poison in her body without a pure Abanaka's Potion"
"A pure Abanaka's Potion?" Midna and Link asked. Zelda responded with "A pure Abanaka's potion is a very old potion. Its power was to cure a patient of any toxin. It was created in direct response to Vexona's poison abilities. I read about it in some of the books I had read recently in the library" the doctor nodded, then said "Link, if the Fire Demon Normak has been unleashed, your sword and shield will be all but useless against him. Only magic works, so in this case, Zelda and Midna, you two are going to have to retrieve the rock required to brew a pure Abanaka's potion"
"I was going to stay here anyway and be with Ilia" Link said. The doctor nodded, then said "Well what are you waiting for? Get going" and both Zelda and Midna stood up, and departed. As they left, Midna asked "So where is Death Mountain anyway?" to which Link replied with "You have to cross Hyrle Field and the Bridge of Eldin to reach Death Mountain" Midna nodded, then completed their departure. Before they left, Zelda moved to her room and picked up a large staff to take with her.
"Good idea" Midna said. Zelda nodded, then they headed for the stables.
Zelda and Midna decided to take a particularly large horse to travel to Death Mountain, but they were interrupted by a group of Fire Demons on the Bridge of Eldin. Zelda climbed off, while Midna floated off to confront the beasts.
"I'll hook up the horse so it doesn't run away" Zelda said. Midna nodded, and Zelda moved to do that. The group of Fire Demons turned around, and they started attacking. They all fired off Fireball attacks, which Midna barely managed to deflect. One of the demons charged in, but was stabbed by Zelda, who had just thrust her staff into it, knocking it back straight into one of his friends.
"Now, take this" Midna said, firing off her electrical energy to take those two out. Another demon charged forward, firing off his fireball attack, this one exploded between Zelda and Midna, dealing 1.5 hearts of damage to both of them, dropping both Zelda and Midna to fourteen and-a-half hearts each. Zelda used her teleporting technique to dodge a claw from the Fire Demon, and fired off another electrical attack to take it out. Zelda then struck down one final Fire Demon by flipping it over onto it's back with one end of the staff, before stabbing it twice with the other end.
"Well, that wasn't the easiest in the world" Midna said, picking up two of the four hearts that had been dropped. Zelda picked up the other two hearts, and picked up a Heart piece.
"So, we now have, one and a fifth heart containers?" Midna asked, to which Zelda shrugged. Midna thought about it briefly, then said "Yes, I think so. I'm up to 16 hearts, Link's up to 26, and you're up to 16 as well" Zelda nodded, then said "We had better hurry to Death Mountain" to which Midna nodded. Zelda unchained the Horse, they climbed on, and headed for the mountain.
After another hour or so, Midna and Zelda arrived near the entrance to the Goron Mines, next to a sumo wrestling ring. A Goron was waiting for them, and said "Ah Midna, Zelda, we've been waiting for you two" Midna and Zelda climbed down from the horse, and Zelda said "We need access to the Goron Mines" the Goron sighed and said "You're not going to get far. There's a new area that has opened up, and in that area, is where the Fire Demon has been resurrected. That area is currently sealed off, and there's only one song that will clear it up"
"The song of time" Midna guessed, and the Goron replied "Correct, great guess, so do either of you know the Song of Time?" too which Midna shook her head but Zelda nodded. Smiling, the Goron said "Good. You two had better get inside then, and watch the lava, it's gotten more aggressive since that Fire Demon reawakened" Zelda and Midna nodded, the Goron then moved the rock blocking the Mines, and both Zelda and Midna entered.
Zelda and Midna found themselves in a large volcano, columns of lava everywhere, the very volcano itself shaking.
"Whoa, this volcano's even worse than when Link and I came here six months ago. How is that possible?" Midna asked.
"It would be the demon" Zelda replied. The two of them then started traversing the Mine.
It turned out to be a lot more challenging than they had expected. After nearly falling into the lava for the third time, Zelda said "I've got to give Link credit. This whole jumping around on platforms thing is not as easy as it looks" too which Midna replied with "He makes it look easy. But we have to progress, we have to get the stone for Ilia" Zelda nodded, and they proceeded.
Midna led the way around the dungeon, having kept a very rough map of where they needed to go, having been there in Link's shadow before. Their first obstacle came at the base of the construction site, when a Chaos Dodongo appeared. Midna fired a shot of electricity at it, and found that the Chaos power it had obtained had made it resistant to Magic.
"Let me" Zelda said. She stepped forward, and the Dodongo lunged. Zelda caught its mouth with her staff, then flipped it onto it's back. Midna then fired a few Telekinetic Pulses at it, and it died.
"That staff has come in really handy" Midna said. Zelda nodded, and they proceeded further into the Mines. However, almost immediately, the volcano shook again. The lava level began to rise, and both Zelda and Midna had to go to the top of the construction site to avoid being burned. After a few moments, the lava level receded.
"We're going to have to find a way to shield ourselves from that, because we're not always going to have higher ground areas to get to when the lava level decides to increase" Zelda said. Midna nodded, and they descended.
Shortly afterwards, they found their way blocked by a fire port, breathing fire across the route. Midna looked around, and found a large block which they could use to press the switch. Using her telepathic abilities, she was able to put a block onto a nearby switch to press it. Once the switch was pressed, the two girls charged through. They had to do this twice more, and eventually found themselves in an area with several floating platforms.
"Are these collapsible platforms?" Zelda asked Midna. Midna replied with "Almost certain. It's amazing how much this place has changed since Link and I were here last" but they knew they had to press on. They took another step, then saw two large fire snakes appear around the first platform.
"Let's get them" Zelda said. Midna nodded, and they fired off Light realms and Twili magic attacks off at the Fire Snakes, who, despite flashing rapidly between Twili magic resistance and Light magic resistance, was unable to stand up to the barrage and were destroyed.
"Were you thinking what I was thinking then?" Zelda asked Midna. Midna turned to face Zelda, then said "I thought that if I timed my Twili magic to hit the enemies at the same time that your Light magic does, the chaos enemies can't block both, they have to decide on which one to block. That may be why the snakes flashed so rapidly between Light and Twili magic resistance, trying to block both at the same time. This will help us immensely" to which Zelda nodded, and they proceeded further into the mines.
After one final dash to avoid the fire port, they found a partially concealed entrance. Looking at Midna, Zelda asked "Do you think this is where the entrance to the Fire Demon's dungeon is?" too which Midna replied "I think so. We can't seem to go any further into the Mines because of the lava fall there" and she pointed at the lava falls falling over the nearby area. Zelda nodded, said "It would seem that would be the case" before they climbed through the hole.
Meanwhile at the other end of the Goron Mines, Fire Demon Dungeon:
"I built my dungeon so that Link couldn't traverse it. I honestly did not expect Zelda and Midna to be challenging my domain. But no matter, I will still destroy them" came the voice of a giant Lava Golem, the Fire Demon himself, Normak. A giant Fire thing looking like a Goron then enters, and asked "Boss, do you need me to alter the dungeon in any way?" Normak thought about this for a moment, then said "No. The dungeon doesn't need to change because Link's not trying to traverse it. I do, however, need somebody to go and find out why Zelda and Midna are even here in the first place, I mean other than to fail at destroying me" the Fire Goron nodded, then rolled out. Then a call came in.
"Hello?" Normak said, taking the call. The "lord" appeared on the call and said "Normak, I have received intelligence that Zelda and Midna are inside your little dungeon" Normak nodded, and said "They won't be able to defeat me, that is, if they even reach me, which I'm also fairly confident that they won't"
"Remember, Midna travelled with Link when he saved Hyrle from the Twilight Realm six months ago. She'll remember the route, and she'll probably know about what you have in store for them" the "lord" said. Normak considered it for a moment, then said "I'll let them come. I've sent one of my minions to find out if there is an additional reason why they're here" the "lord" nodded, then said "You had better be right about being powerful enough to take Zelda out. Bur remember, you can't kill Midna" Normak nodded, said "I'm aware of that, I'll make sure that Midna doesn't die" then the communication was cut.
A/N: I had a bit of writer's block about what need there was for Zelda and Midna to head to Death Mountain, I'll try to post more often in the future. Also University's a bitch. See you next time for Chapter 8. Lava, Stones, and a mysterious relic.