Oii. You guys ready for an unorthodox temple? yee.

Warnings for violence


Leaves and twigs snapped and scattered under Link's feet as he walked through the rotting wooden entrance into a long and decomposing hallway. A musty smell permeated the very walls; the air reeking of decaying plants and mold. The smell was worse than that of skyview temple.. This place smelled as if it hadn't been aired out in around a century. It was pitch dark when they entered; almost as if a smoke hung in the air. Unperturbed, Ghirahim started down the hall. Link followed the faint glowing of his skin and the sound of his footsteps in the leaves that was almost...dainty.

The footsteps halted and so did Link. All at once there was light; almost as if the place had recognized their presence and accepted them. The huge room they now found themselves in was remarkably light, despite the only visible light source being a chandelier hanging from the rooted ceiling. Link decided not to question the seemingly magical luminescence. He instead decided to inspect the area around him. He was standing in the entryway of a large castle foyer with two staircases that wound up the back end onto a higher level of the very same room. It was hard to picture the room any other way than it was: overgrown and rotting... However, if Link looked hard enough he could make out smooth black floors and stone walls behind the copious vines and vegetation. A red carpet wound around the floor below them; climbing up the stairs much like the plants that clawed their way up the railings. By the stairs were two large statues of the Demon King Demise; large and intimidating. The vines had found their way onto those too, expectantly.

Ghirahim's face was scrunched up in distaste. He huffed "All this disgusting foliage.. It was never like this before. It was clean… Immaculate.."

Once his eyes landed on the statues he was gone in a flash; appearing in front of them in an angry flourish to rip the vines off. Link expected nothing less. Deep down, he knew Ghirahim was always going to be loyal to Demise. He knows the bond of sword and master runs deeper than that. He KNOWS Ghirahim must hate him for killing his master... he decides he doesn't like that thought. So he puts it on the back burner.

Link finds himself gravitating up the stairs as Ghirahim finishes his task. On the upper level there were three doors and a hallway off in the corner. The largest door which was directly in front of them had collapsed under some rubble.

Ghirahim arrived by his side and cursed "Damn.. That's the stairwell.."

Link observed that the door to the right had a padlock on it. Not out of the ordinary. Once he moved to look down the hallway he could see that some ways down it had collapsed by an un-leapable margin. Leaving that for the time being, Link ventured to the door on the far left that he saw to be unlocked.

Once he worked the door open it lead into a large storage room full of aged barrels and rusted weapons. It seemed the whole castle was effected by the strange luminescence. Link scanned the room for anything of visible importance but found nothing other than the archway to the left that lead into a large and rather foreboding hallway. As link stepped into the room properly Ghirahim followed behind

"This was the weapons storage room.. The soldiers dropped their weapons here and retired through that very hallway to their barracks.." With Ghirahim here, one hardly needed a map...

Looking at all of these abandoned weapons and shields filled Link with a sense of sadness he couldn't really pinpoint...He quickly moved out through the archway. The two followed the long hallway which was generally uniform until a three way fork was reached. Ghirahim continued straight without much thought so link followed.

The hall opened up into a huge room lain with raggy cots. The first thing link noticed was the fact that there were 10 or so bokoblins on the far side of the room. As he went to draw his sword he halted when he realized that there was far more than 10... More began to emerge from the shadows.. 20.. 30.. Ghirahim raised his brow in surprise. The bokoblins advanced toward them.

As Link took on a defensive stance, Ghirahim held out an arm in front of him as of to stop him. He raised his voice. "You dare advance toward your superior? Don't tell me you driveling dogs have forgotten me?"

Ghirahim's words managed to halt the mob. They chittered to each other in confusion. A pulse of commanding energy left the demon, forcing the bokoblins into silence.

"It's been a long time.. I imagine that a few of you were left here and just kept reproducing new generations, hm? Some of you must remember your Demon Lord.."

Some of the older looking bokoblins garbled in approval, seeming to recognize Ghirahim and urging the younger ones into submission.

A pleased look came over his face as the bokoblins bowed before him. He nodded "Good. You know when to throw in your cards... You." He pointed to a single bokoblin "Go make any others aware of my presence. If they should attack me I'll have their heads.. And yours. And this human boy is with me too.. Understand?" The bokoblin nodded and hustled out of the room.

Link was looking around as Ghirahim spoke to his newly found underlings. The barracks showed obvious use; more so than the rest of the areas. The cots were well worn and a contained fire burnt in the corner. A pile of bones lay beside said fire. Link could identify them as bokoblin. His face scrunched up as he was forced to entertain the thought of bokoblins eating their own.

Ghirahim had just finished up his orders by this time. He sent a majority of the troupe to clear the rubble from the stairwell door. He sent others to see if they could find an alternate path to the upper level. The demon pivoted on his heel and headed back out the door. Link followed.

Ghirahim addressed him as they walked. "Now I know you're curious but the other two rooms down this hall are also barracks. That fool I sent should have told them everything they need to know. I doubt there's anything important down there."

And so, the two found themselves back in the main room. Bokoblins had already begun to clear away the splintered wood and stone of what used to be the stairwell door. Link was at a loss. Its not like this had never happened before.. Hell, this need for backtracking happened often at all the temples he'd traversed. While Ghirahim stalked over to bark orders at a lazy minion, link decided to take one more look at the crumbled hallway.

Ambling over cautiously, he saw that a section of floor had indeed collapsed. The reason why was something he didn't know or particularly care.. All he knew is that the gap was larger than he felt confident jumping. He inspected the other side and noticed a large root hanging from the ceiling.. He got his clawshots out and shot across the gap. It was a bit too close for comfort but he made it over.

In front of him was a fragile looking door. When he entered he found himself in a rather small room. He couldn't derive the purpose of such a room now that it was covered in vines, but it didn't really matter. All he knew was that it was a dead end. Sighing, he was about to turn back before a glimmer caught his eye. After shuffling closer Link could make out what looked like a key under some vines. Well hallelujah.

Reaching down he grasped the end of it before tugging it loose from its leafy prison. Grasping it victoriously he shot back over the gap and into the main room.

Ghirahim was perched on the railing, ripping some poor bokoblin a new one for something most likely trivial.. Perhaps he was enjoying having underlings again a bit TOO much. Link rolled his eyes and tapped his shoulder waving the key in front of the demons face.

"Hn? Ohhh.. Where'd you find that? Well I'm not that surprised.. You're pretty resourceful!" He hopped down onto the ground and took the key over to the door with the padlock. "This wont really get us anywhere because this room was barracks for the commanders.. Also a dead end. But why not check, hm? We're up to our ears in futility as it is.. What's a bit more?"

The room was large and spacious. There were four small hallways that lead to bedroom nooks. Peering closer; Link could see that each was about the same and had a large bed with a cabinet for storage. This area was much more regal than the barracks.

Ghirahim snorted and looked around "This was the space for those four. Heh.. They were rarely in here, as their personalities clash so much that even being in such close quarters as this was bound to cause trouble. In Demises Castle they have their own damn wings to themselves..'

Link stepped closer to investigate the areas without having to go into them. The room on the far left was a dark blue color with green and brown accents. A large mirror stood along the wall. If he had to guess, he'd say that was Sables old room. The room closest to that was a muddy shade of red with silver accents. The bed had shreds along the sheets and it seemed that there were chains attached to the bedposts... Link hoped he'd never meet whoever had inhabited that room.

The next room over had a concept of white and black with crystal. Tapestry hung over the walls that looked to be made of some sort of...reptile scales? And it looked pretty real.. The final room was almost all black with gold accents. The bedding was sewn with large black feathers and a rusted bird cage sat in the corner..

Wanting to explore closer, Link advanced toward the center of the room before halting when he heard.. Or rather felt something that was off.. A few feet away, Ghirahim froze as well. Link had hoped it was his imagination, but when he shifted his weight and felt the ground give under his foot, he knew he was pretty screwed. He only had a moment to glance at Ghirahim before the floor collapsed under them and they were falling.

Link came to not long after he hit the ground. He could tell this because dust and debris was still settling. He sat up slowly, running a hand through his hadn't been a long fall. He wasn't injured any more than he was when the stairs had crumbled under him.. Licking his lips he glanced around to the best of his ability. He saw movement and jumped, but relaxed when he saw it was Ghirahim. The demon huffed and dusted himself off, looking up at where they had fallen in distaste.

"Ugh. It figures.. This place is falling apart. I have no idea where we are.. This place doesn't have a lower level.. To my knowledge."

The area they now found themselves in was dark and barely lit by the hole above them. It was mostly formed by compact dirt and leaves and seemed to be a.. burrow of sorts. This made link feel on edge..

As Link stood up he could see Ghirahim bristle out of the corner of his eye. ".. I think you may want to back up.."

Not someone to ask questions Link acted before he thought and backed up quickly to where Ghirahim was. Good thing too. From here, Link had a pretty good view of the two gleaming eyes nestled in the shadows of where he was just standing.

A sound cut through the air. A sharp hiss followed by a deathly rattle that left the hair on the back of links neck on end. Link grabbed for his sword but found it gone; sheath and all. An unpleasant feeling of dread shot down his spine as his eyes frantically searched the space. As soon as he saw the glimmer of the hilt it was gone, tugged into the shadows. Ghirahim growled and snapped his fingers, glowing daggers embedding themselves in the dirt walls and illuminating the space in an eerie red.

Revealed was this.. Beast. Upper body of a human; if you could call it that.. And lower section of a snake. The monster had just finished swallowing the shiny trinket that was Links sword, forked tongue flickering out.

Ghirahim gasped at the audacity. "A naga just swallowed my sword. Unforgivable... Boy, stand back. You're useless without a sword..."

The demon summoned his dual blades, hell bent on getting that sword back before any stomach acids damaged it.

Link was disturbed and puzzled. A naga? While he resented being called useless, he let Ghirahim take over. He didn't wanna get anywhere near that thing if he didn't have to..

Ghirahim took a fighting stance; walking around the enemy and eyeing it. "I take it you aren't capable.. Or perhaps willing.. to speak. Pity.. Even if you did speak and begged for forgiveness.. I'd slice you open never the less.." Bloodlust shone in the demons eyes. The naga hissed in retaliation; coiled body slithering over itself as it accepted the challenge.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Ghirahim took on this 'challenge' instead of him.. Because the beast lunged forward with an open maw at such a speed that Link surely would have been trapped between its jaws. Ghirahim however was gone in a flash, reappearing just out of reach. The beast snarled and kept up with its lightning fast bites while Ghirahim kept flickering about. It was rather enthralling to watch.

The naga eventually tired of the pointless nipping. When Ghirahim appeared this time, the naga had it's tail wrapped around him before he could so much as blink. He grunted as the naga wound itself around him and squeezed, grinning and flicking its tongue out at the victory. Before Link could so much as twitch a finger the beast had detached its jaw and had its mouth around Ghirahim's head.

In the seconds following it felt as though time was slowing down. Link had started to run forward without much thought. He expected to hear something from Ghirahim.. A yell, a scream.. Perhaps the sick sound of crunching bones and flesh? So he was startled out of his advancing when he instead heard a loud and pained screech from the naga itself.

The beast reared its head back and dropped Ghirahim back on the ground. The demon was in his sword spirit form down to his shoulders.. Looking positively pissed off. His metal skin gleamed with saliva and venom as his mouth opened into a snarl. Ghirahim wasted no time filled converting to his true form, standing a head or two taller. He was done playing. Link was oddly relieved he was alright.. And for the record he had (secretly) found Ghirahim's true form rather alluring.. Not that he'd admit it.

The naga snarled as blood dripped from its broken fangs, eyes shining red in Ghirahim direction. The demon practically spat in the creatures direction. "You dare subject me to the conditions of your filthy mouth? Oh, you're going to pay."

Ghirahim summoned his large sword before he started a flurry of attacks too fast for Links eyes to follow. A few moments later the creatures head was across the room; blood splashed on the walls. Link almost whistled in admiration.. But the sword spirits ego was through the roof already. Ghirahim shed his true form in a flourish of diamonds. He glowered down at the creature and Link had no doubt he would have destroyed it utterly if they weren't pressed for time.

Link turned his head when Ghirahim made to cut the monster open, not wanting to witness that. All he cared about was that a few minutes later his sword was back in his hands safe and sound. When Link nudged the demon and asked if he was okay.. He was met with an amused smirk and a laugh.

"Come now.. Did you really think that was enough to do me in? I don't doubt that it looked gruesome.. Your concern is quite adorable though.." Link huffed and would have made a dramatic exit.. If he were able.

He looked up at the hole they'd fallen through "...How do we..?" Ghirahim clicked his tongue and noticed a few bokoblins peering into the hole. "You! Don't just stand there! Get some rope!"

The bokoblins jolted and ran off. Moments later they returned with rope; tossing one end down to the two. Ghirahim smiled at the turn of events and hefted himself up onto the rope. Links followed. Once they made it through the hole and back up onto solid ground they tread carefully until they were back out in the foyer.

The rubble had been cleared away to reveal the staircase which looked equally unsafe. Ghirahim didn't seem to care much. After only a moment he was climbing up the stairs. Link eyed said stairs with caution before proceeding up. They came to yet another large room with two staircases leading to the upper level that housed an ornate looking door. That must be the goal. One of the stairwells had collapsed but the other seemed to be intact.

Just as Link turned to ask Ghirahim, he saw the demon was practically running down a hall to the left. At a bit of a loss for words, Link went to follow him but stopped when he heard small cackles and footsteps behind him. He turned to find a group of bokoblins leering at him. Great. The one moment Ghirahim leaves his side.. It looks like they won't leave without a fight... Link drew his sword, glancing back at the hallway where Ghirahim ran off to..

Ghirahim bit his lip. It was just down this way.. There would be a door... Yes! His hand sought the knob and practically ripped the door off its hinges in his haste to enter. The familiar smell and nostalgia overtook him. Everything was as he'd left it.. His room was a deep royal shade of purple with gold and silver here and there.. His old red capes hung on the rack.. His bed still made.. Ghirahim stepped inside fully, much slower than his previous pace. He couldn't help but smile as he took in all his books.. He ran his fingers along the dusty spines.

He stepped over to his bed and sat down gingerly on the satin sheets. His eyes fell on something sitting on the pillow and he paused. He picked it up with shaky hands. It was the ring Demise had given him.. How could he have forgotten about this?! It was one of his most cherished memories.. Right before the last battle, Demise had called him into his chambers. He lay his hand down on Ghirahim's head in a rare display of respect and affection.

The words he uttered had always stayed with the sword. "...You're my sword. You're indispensable... Take this. Wear it with pride."

Ghirahim had almost cried with joy. Revisiting the memory caused tears to prick in the corners of his eyes. He looked down at the ring. It was gold with a beautiful purple stone. His favorite.. He slipped the ring on his finger, willing himself not to tremble. He had left it here, not knowing what would happen.. He had fully intended to come back...! Demise... God, Demise..! His MASTER was gone.. The anguish hit him deep in his being. He wouldn't cry.. That was weak. What would his master think?

Even what he'd told Link to get his cooperation.. The words practically burned his tongue. Most of what he'd said was true.. Except about Demise.. He would never go against him. If he could be brought back again in this life, Ghirahim would do it all again.. But the thought that someone else was trying to take his spot as king made anger boil in his blood.

Nobody could take Demises place. After he'd come to and realized that had transpired.. He seriously considered ending his life. What was a life without his master? He may have done it too.. Had he not thought the single thought of "What would master think?". What WOULD master think? He would be ashamed that his sword ended its existence just like that. He would be disgraced! His sword had let his emotions and weakness take hold. So he decided to fight.

Link appeared in the doorway, sliding his sword back into its sheath. Ghirahim looked at him. A slew of emotions overtook him in that moment. Anger.. Pain.. Outrage.. And something else.. nagging at the back of his mind as the boy looked around and seemingly understood the situation. He disappeared out into the hall. That.. Boy.. Ghirahim looked to the side. 'I'm sorry master.. I sided with the very brat that ended your life.. And I'm not completely sure how much I hate him anymore.'

Link looked at the wall in the hallway as he heard Ghirahim stand and move about in the room. It wasn't hard to put 2 and 2 together and figure out that was his old room.. That, coupled with the look that he gave link.. He couldn't explain that look. Ghirahim went around and grabbed a few of the things he knew he wanted and sent the bundle away in a flutter of diamonds. The demon slowly backed out of the room and closed the door. He and link made eye contact. For once, no words needed to be exchanged. Not about that, at least. Ghirahim didn't feel up to a conversation.


Sooo that's that. Uhhhhg sorry I don't update often..;; I never really forget. Just planning takes a lot out on ya. So this is honestly the 'temple'. Unorthodox in the sense that it doesn't have traps or puzzles.. but does a castle outpost really need one?;; This one was ment to be more simplistic.. and I'm happy I thought up the part with Ghirahim in his room.. His little monologue helps to characterize him, I think.. show where he stands..

I wanna thank everyone for their support so far! Comments and reviews are welcome!