Chapter Two
The Stone Statues and an attack on Roster Island
Zelph held onto Link for quite a while, scared at first that he might be an illusion and that she was in fact dead but that didn't explain the giant bird man now crouched in the room with her and The King,
Aeolius' head still hit the ceiling even in this position,
"This is Aeolius, he actually came here for help" Link told the King
"Oh dear, you're people too have been affected by this discord?" The King asked
"Indeed, my sister, the new leader of Rooster Island has been taken, as has the Korok; Rown, but if we could reconvine in a spot more comfortable for me, I may be able to put to you a reason as to why I think this is?" Aeolius said
"Of course!" The King said loudly, then he hesitated, "Any suggestions?"
"The courtyard?" Zelph suggested, "The gardens...my arrows!"
"We won't all fit in one of them, not even the Tri-Force could pull off that trick" Link said with a wink,
"No! I need my arrows!" Zelph said, stomping her foot.
Until Zelph' arrows could be located Zelph just wasn't going to cooperate. Aeolius was trailing behind Zelph as she stormed in and out of each room on the second floor, Aeolius had sensitive feet and was being careful of his footing, he also had sensitive ears and Zelph' screeching was going straight through his head,
"You'll get used to it" Zane said, flying out of a pot and turning back into his Korki self,
"Oh my! What are you!?" Aeolius exclaimed
Zelph turned around and grinned,
"Zane!" She exclaimed, "Do you know where my arrows are?"
Zane rolled his eyes,
"Nice to see you too Princess, where's Link?"
"Oh he's around" Zelph said distracted
"How quickly you're love for that boy passes" Aeolius exclaimed, "You're just like my sister, I pity the day she takes over, her indecisiveness would astound you, "Drain the lake, don't drain the lake, drain the lake" Oh but I do miss her" He sighed, "I hope her abductors are OK"
Zelph stared at him in shock and Zane laughed
"I...wow, just wow" Zelph said, then to Zane she added, "Can't you sense them?"
"I don't need to Princess, I know where they are, that's why I need to find Link" Zane replied
Zelph gasped,
"The Sheika Clan of the Twilight have them!"
"Dew has been following this discord since just before the break in the Twilight Portal" Zane said, "Link, they have Zelda' light arrows, what do you suppose they intend to do with them?" Zane said in question
Link stood on the table with a stick and pointed at a chalk board they had all written and drawn on,
"They'll use them to kill Zelda but I'm not going to let that happen, I'm her knight, it's my job to protect her, I also know that she has a stong mind so there's no way I'll be able to persuade her not to join me for this quest" Link said
"I can't go with you this time Link" Zane said, "I can offer assistance but only from afar"
"That's not fair but if that is how it must be" Link said, then turning to Aeolius he said, "Would you like to join us?"
"I've never been on an adventure before" Aeolius said excitedly
"That's settled, now, problem one, Zelda" Link said
"Hmph!" Zelph excalimed
Link winked at her,
"Problem two these adbuctions, do we know, who else has gone missing?" Link asked
"Asside from Aeolius' sister and Rown, Borak, Aqua" Link and Zelph were horrified to hear this, "And Princess Ooccoo" The King declaired
"That creepy bird with a human face is real too?" Link asked
"Wow, just wow" Aeolius said as Zane shook his head
"So, Aeolius, you said you might know why your sister and Rown were taken too" The King said
"Yes, you see we have a wise owl, he used to embody the King of old Hyrule, he appeared before us not a moment after my sister was taken, you see both we, The Rito and Korok have on our person sacred stones for one of our three sacred stone statues but the Sheika have mistaken those for the secret three, all buried somewhere in old Hyrule. These stone statues have within them the souls of a forefather to three of the seven Sages of Light and hide the Great Fairies of which bestow abilities to the Hero of Time. They had the power to create a beast designed to hold off Gandondolf and his followers should he ever break free from the Sacred Realm, within which his body was transported upon his death, until the Hero of Time had the power he needed to fight him alone. Those abilities may help beat the Sheika and dispell their powers" Aeolius told them all, "That's not all, word is the Sheika had help, those helpers wanted the Phantom Hourglass, possession of the creators of our world. Our people are out their looking for it right now in case it's true"
"Your sacred stones awaken the trial tower don't they?" Zelph said in question
"Yes" Aeolius said
"So let them, while they are distracted by that they won't be watching your sister or the Korok. While we're tracking them Zane and Dew and his HOT team can locate the three mini statues, we'll plant a number of Gorons in the wrong places once we know where they are" Link said
"They have un-Godly creatures lurking all over Old Hyrule and even Hi-Range now" Aeolius said in dispair,
"I wouldn't expect anything less" Link said
"The place you live, wasn't that once Hyrule too?" Zelph asked
"Our Hyrule was hidden beneath a vast and magical water, there are three versions of the same place overall, very few hold the power to go from one to the other. Though all of us can, if we need to, reach this place, Hi-Range, for it is what centres us all. Each version of Hyrule has it's own version of the same historic event. Where Shade failed, where Shade succeeded and became a child once more and where Shade just carried on with his life after helping your ancestor seal Ganondolf away. There were three Godesses to begin with and there for they summerised that there too must be three versions of Link, three versions of you and three versions of Hyrule, this way everything would even out and would not effect the lives of the humans we lived among but while in battle mode your counters do not exist for your outcome dictates their own path" Aeolius told her
"Wow" Zelph breathed
"How do we get to your overworld or Rooster Island?" Link asked
"You can't on your own and I can't carry you to that realm but I know someone, who can" Aeolius said
"Hold on one minute, Hyrule 1 the failed hero realm had Low Rule, Hyrule 2 the child hero realm had Termina, you are of Hyrule 3 the adult hero realm, after the great flood...has anyone seen...?" Zane began, then he stopped,
"You think that's where Aeolius' sister and or the Korok might be being held?" Link summerised
Aeolius looked down and a tear rolled down off his feathered face,
"We'll get her back, we'll get all of them back, won't we Link?" Zelph said, looking at Link
"Uh huh!" Link said with a nod, his Korki side coming out for show, then to the King he asked, "Do you have my sheild?"
"Yes, I had it sent off for repairs and to be modified once word of the first abduction reached me" The King said, "That's in old Hyrule, the child hero realm"
Together, the King, Link, Zelph, Zane and Aeolius went out into the gardens and up to the plynth at the entrance to the training ground. The King opened a portal and all but the King stepped through it in order to stand guard.
Link, Zelph and Zane were pleased to be back in old Hyrule, Aeolius, who had never been to this place at all was in complete awe and a little nervous.
The portal had taken them to Hyrule Castle, which was sat atop of a hill overlooking Castle Town. The windows of the Castle were currently being repaired by men from Kakoriko Village,
"Hello" A guard said, coming over to them, "Who might you lot be?"
"I'm Link, this is Zelda, we're from Hi-Range" Link said, he was a little embarrassed by the bow he now received, "The King sent on my Sheild to be repaired and modified by a welder in Castle Town"
"You received word of our misfortune?" The Guard said in question
"Several leaders have been taken, two from Hyrule 3" Aeolius told him
"This news is most alarming!" The guard exclaimed, "Forgive me, but what do they call your species?"
"We are the Rito, after the great flood and the contamination of our waters we had to evolve, the Goddesses there for granted us wings so we might fly, my name is Aeolius" Aeolius told him.
"Welcome to old Hyrule" The guard said
"I'm a little confused, why guard this Castle if no one lives in it?" Zelph asked
"My dear Princess, there are secrets within these walls that must remain hidden" The guard said with a shiver,
"Like another gateway?" Link asked
"Shh" The guard said, then lowering his voice he added, "A pathway to all three versions of Hyrule and their counter, the temple above and the Twilight Realm"
A thought crossed Link' mind but for now he would keep it to himself.
They bid the guard farewell and ventured down the hill to Castle Town. Zelph zoned in on a shop that sold Royal style outfits, Zane wanted to play a game in a circus tent but he needed a hookshot for it,
"I'll lend you mine, just as soon as I've got my shield back" Link said
Zane grinned, it was his job to guide Link on quests but Dew rarely let him have any down time and Link knew this. In fact, though Dew was on their side he had to admit he was a little afraid of Dew himself, besides he quite fancied playing a few games himself, if only to get back into the swing of things.
"Have we lost Zelph?" Link asked, Zane used his senses to find Zelph then shook this sense off as he realised she was in the middle of getting changed into a new outfit, "Zane?" Link said in question,
"She's fine, that's all you need to know...it's all I needed to know too" Zane said, "I haven't seen her that sparce of garments since she was a baby"
Link laughed,
"She's in the dress shop then" Link said
"Yes, yes she is"
Link and Aeolius went into the welders as Zane splashed water from the fountain on his face,
The heat of the welders was a little stiffling at first and the man behind the counter didn't look all that friendly,
"Got anything needs welding or fixing or scrap you want getting rid of?" He asked
"Uh no, no, I've come to pick up my sheild, it was sent on by the King of Hi-Range" Link said a little nervous
"Ah! Link! Yes you're shield is ready and waiting for you but I'm afraid your bird will have to wait here, if he catches fire Castle Town will disappear and it won't be him that gets the blame" The welder said,
"Fair enough" Aeolius said with a shrug and went outside
Link followed the welder into a larger room just behind the counter, and there on a large wooden workbench was his Hylian Shield,
"I have lined the rim of the shield with magic to add to its strength, it will now repair itself if damaged" The welder told him
"Thank you...do I owe you anything for this?" Link asked
"Just stop the Shieka clan ressurrecting Ganondolf and their rescuer stealing souls we don't want a new War" The welder replied
Link nodded, took his modified shield and left.
Once outside he took in a deep breath and performed a few practice swings with his sword,
He, Aeolius and Zane then went into the tent to play, for what at this moment they had no notion. Zane had a go first. The object of the game was to collect the rupees dotting around, using only one item, in an alloted time. While Zane was playing Zelph came in with a leather breast sheild and back shield over a beautiful sky blue satin shirt, with a skirt, that acted more like a coat would, stopping mid shin and revealing some pink shorts, she also had a new bow of white and gold and a quiver of gold tipped arrows, she also had blue, white, pink and leather boots that went up to just below her knees.
"What do you think?" Zelph asked
"Ask me when I'm 21" Link said and with that he looked back to see how Zane was doing.
Zelph knew what that answer meant and sat down beside him to watch Zane too.
Using the hookshot Link gave him he was able to get his hands on all the ruppees to win the game. Zane backflipped down from a ledge and met the man in charge,
"What do I win?" Zane asked
He was presented with a small statue and a look,
"For you and your knight. I only let you have this because you used Link' hookshot but next time it must be him that plays the games you find the others to be housed"
Zane nodded and he, a baffled Link, Zelph and Aeolius left the tent.
"I don't get it" Link said once they were back at the Palace of Hi-Range
"The statues have been hidden in games, their energy will help me help you locate the leaders" Zane said, "And the Great Fairy it hides"
"We need a map from all three realms" Aeolius summerised
"All six you mean" Link said
"We only have five, no one has ever been to the sixth" Zane said,
The maps to Hyrule 1, Lowrule, Hyrule 2, Termina and Hyrule three were located and spread out across the long table in the dining room. Link then placed the small statue in the centre and it hovered above the Lost Woods in Hyrule 2, then a light shot out of it and burned a hole in the table, just off from the map of Hyrule 3,
"We have a problem" Zelph said
Link, Zelph and Aeolius ventured out into the gardens once again but this time Aeolius summoned the wise owl,
"These two need to be on Rooster Island" Aeolius told him
"Link, I have watched you grow since your last adventure and Zelda too, your anscestors would be proud, are you both ready to take on the task now awaiting you?" He asked
"We are" Link and Zelph said as one
"May the Gods shine upon you" The owl said
With that he seemed to grow to an enormous size and his wings wrapped right around Link and Zelda, before he vanished in a self made twister. In what seemed like no time at all Link and Zelph were stood on the beach at the bottom of a volcano otherwise known as Rooster Island. The owl tilted it's head as Aeolius landed beside him. There was a shudder underfoot and a roar from above, "Oh dear!"
The owl flew off and Link caught sight of a purple dragon with green eyes, it landed atop of Rooster Island and started clawing at it, making rocks fall.
Link dodged them as Zelph and Aeolius yelped in fright,
"It's back! It's back!" Came a startled cry from inside the cave system that sat around the volcano itself
"Zelph, quickly, your arrows, we must kill that thing before he takes anyone else!" Aeolius cried
"No!" Link called over the noise, "We need to hitch a ride on it's back!"
"What?!" Zelph called out as Link started scaling the outter rockface of the cave system, that circled round and up to the just before the summet,
"Wherever that thing came from is where we'll find Aeolius' sister and quite possibly the Korok too!" He called back, "Come on!"
Zelph followed,
"I'll distract him!" Aeolius called,
As Link and Zelph struggled to the top, nearly stumbling a few times Aeolius flew to the top and fired rocks at the dragon,
Once Link and Zelph had reached the dragon' tail they used it to get onto it's back,
The angry dragon belted Aeolius with his front claw, sending him hurtling into the water far below,
"Aeolius!" Link cried but he had no time to worry about his new friend for this dragon had not taken kindly to having two new passengers on his back.
Link had an idea, he took out his whistle and played the sun song, this turned the dragon into a zombie, that then flew calmy back to where it came from.
The Realm of the Wind Waker' Shadow.