My first impression of Eldin Volcano? Hot. Hot and smelly. My opinion did not improve as I trekked through smoke, flames, ash, and fumes with no reward with another blasted temple at the end. What did I think of the temple? Too long and too hot.
Who wants to be the first to guess that I hate heat? And getting chased by a giant boulder on the way to the last room, forcing me to sweat even more? I almost hoped that they room was filled of bokogoblins that I could take my frustration out on.
As I twisted the cubic key so it would fit in the blasted lock, Fi flew out of my sword. I glared at the blue spirit, displeased that she had ignored my order to stay in the blade until called.
"If it's useless statistics," I snapped, "then I don't want to hear it."
"Mistress Zelda, I sense a great evil behind that door," Fi whispered in that wavering voice of hers. "Also, Master Link's aura has not entire faded from this place. I believe that you may not be ready for whatever awaits you behind this door."
"Being ready is for amateurs," I replied coldly. "I left behind all my readiness as soon as my feet touched the surface. Now, are you going to be helpful, or are you going to shut up and go back into the sword?"
Fi tilted her head, watching me with an expression that resembled...pity? Sorrow? Before I could examine her more closely, she pirouetted into a ball of light and vanished back into my sword. I felt a little guilty for my snapishness, but shrugged it off. I could apologize later, once I was out of this frikkin' heat! As the doors swung open, I unsheathed my sword, trotting through as quickly as possible.
When I'd entered the chamber, I froze in midstep. A chilling laugh echoed in the space. If darkness had a voice, this is what it would sound like. I tightened the grip on the sword's handle as the door swung shut behind me, and carefully walked up the short steps. I heard a rumbling noise from above and glanced up, watching as the boulder I had narrowly dodged just before coming inside rolling along inside the ancient ribcage of a dragon. When I could see the room properly, I froze in place.
At the base of a large, steep hill, a circular floor space held the worst scene I could have imagined: the demon lord, Girahim himself, stood in the center of the floor, surrounded by bokogoblin minions and looking absolutely pleased with himself. At his feet, bound in chains, was none other than Link.
"Oh you don't know how good this makes me feel!" the pale demon lord said to Link. "The Spirit Youth, mine at last! I thought it would be more difficult, seeing as how you are supposed to have the strength of the Goddess. But no matter; you are all I need, so I can leave this filthy temple behind at last."
My friend looked absolutely terrible: his clothes were torn, his hair had all sorts of filth matted in it. A bruise was forming on his cheek and various scratches and cuts crossed every bit of exposed skin. But he glared at Girahim with that never-give-up look in his eyes. All at once, I forgave him for running as fast as he could to this place; I'd have done the same thing. The temple might be sweltering, full of magma, and sunk into a smelly, hot volcano, but it had a sacred spring, a place of safety from Girahim and his hoards of monsters.
Girahim snapped his fingers, and I half expected him to vanish in a flurry of diamonds, but instead a bokogoblin leader stepped up, awaiting orders.
"Call all the monsters here. We shall revive the Demon King tonight at midnight!"
The bokogoblin chattered in acknowledgment, then turned and jogged towards me. Without thinking, I seized my sword and drew it as the creature jogged in my direction. Once it caught sight of me, it froze, reaching for the horn hanging from its belt with a stupid expression on its face. It never had the chance to give the warning signal: I knocked it over with a spin attack, then stabbed the fatal blow.
I looked up as it died, glaring at Girahim, who could now see me. He watched me with a faintly amused expression, a smirk crossing his features.
"Oh, it's you," the demon lord said, his tone mocking. "Let me see...No that's not it. This is very embarrassing, but I seem to be at a loss for your name."
"Well, that's just great," I snapped, letting my sarcasm run free. "Because I couldn't care less what you think."
"You are very bold to say something like that to me when you are so obviously outnumbered by my minions."
"Your minions are crap," I scoffed, tossing my head in an attempt to get rid of some hair that had fallen into my eyes. "I kill them in droves."
The bokogoblins chattered angrily at my words, as if they were offended. Girahim threw his head back and laughed again. I shivered involuntarily at the sound, and as I glanced down, noticed something at my feet: a bomb flower. I glanced over at the bokogoblin cluster, measuring the distance between them and Link. Then, before my common sense kicked in and I realized exactly how bad an idea this was, I snatched the bomb and tossed it into the knot of monsters. With a colossal BOOM, the bokogoblins went flying before, one by one, they all blackened before exploding into wisps of purple smoke.
Girahim wasn't laughing now; in fact, he looked rather annoyed.
"Like I said," I repeated, smiling, "killed in droves."
"So what you can kill a few measly monsters?" the demon lord said dismissively. "What matters is that I have the Spirit youth, and you can do nothing to stop me."
Girahim seemed to take encouragement from his own words, and by the time he'd finished his sentence, he looked rather cheerful again. My enjoyment of the situation was fading rapidly, and I glared at Girahim. He didn't seem upset, but rather content; it was like he thought I would stare at him hatefully all day, and he could just sit there and enjoy it. Refusing to give this crazy man anything that he might have wanted, I shifted my gaze to Link, and studied the chain that bound him.
The links of metal were tightly entwined, but there was one unusually prominent link in the chain: the one attaching it to the floor. A crazy, half-formed idea shot into my brain, and I turned back to Girahim, still watching Link out of the corner of my eye. My friend glanced back at the chain when he realized what I had been looking at, then glanced back at me as if to ask, What are you waiting for?
"I wouldn't be so sure," I said, forcing my tone to sound confident. At least, I hoped it sounded confident, and not foolish. Girahim raised his eyebrow and opened his mouth to reply in what would no doubt be a sarcastic manner, but I spoke louder, cutting him off.
"Link, do you remember what we did that one time during training, when Groose tied you up?"
"Yeah," he called back. "It hurt."
"Well, that I can't help."
I took my sword and held it tightly, pointing the tip at Girahim. The Demon lord didn't even have time to appreciate the stupidity of this action, because in the next moment, I had thrown the sword.
Girahim vanished in a flurry of diamonds, as he had during our last fight, leaving the path of my blade clear: the sword flew at Link and tangled in the chain binding him. With a quick motion, Link stood and wrenched himself away from the chain. The Goddess Sword easily sliced through the metal links enough for my friend's momentum to do the rest of the work freeing him.
I hear the scream of rage, and know that wherever Girahim has gone, he can still see us. Link does the smart thing and makes a break for it, grabbing the sword, leaping off the circular dias and onto the base of the hill, charging up the slope as fast as humanly possible. I chased him, but Link has a huge head start, and was all the way at the top by the time I had reached halfway. I heard an echoing snap, and Girahim appeared behind Link, ready to seize him.
"Behind you!" I yelled as loud as I could, my voice echoing in the large space. Link whirled around and slashed the goddess sword. Taken off guard, the Demon Lord stumbled back away from the blow and straight into my tackle. Girahim vanished as soon as I touched him and I scrambled to my feet, expecting him to be directly behind me, but he wasn't. I heard the heavy sound of stone hitting stone and saw a door materialize in where there had been only empty space before; it could only be the entrance to the Sacred Spring. Suddenly, I heard an explosion of curses above my head.
Jogging down the hill, I turned and saw Girahim standing atop a carved dragon's head, clearly beyond himself with rage. I could hardly understand him, he was speaking so quickly. Then, he abruptly fell silent, and turned around to look at me. A thrill of dread ran through my veins as I realized that Link had taken my sword with him into the spring, and I was defenseless.
"I got a little carried away there, didn't I?" the demon lord asked me. His sudden calm was more frightening than his rage, and the hair on my arms stood up. Girahim continued, as if nothing were wrong.
"I don't deal well with...complications to plans I've laid out so carefully. It's a character flaw of mine."
You're a character flaw, I thought bitterly. I was far too afraid of what he might do to say it out loud, lest I bring fierce punishment upon myself.
"Ah, but something good can still come from this day!" Those words confirmed my fears and I shifted uncomfortably. "I have all this anger built up inside of me, and now I can finally release it. There's someone special I'd like you to meet."
"If you want me to meet him, then I certainly don't," I informed him, trying to edge my way up the hill while his eyes remained solidly on, like a bird of prey.
"Oh, don't be shy!"Girahim laughed. "I need to vent all of this unhealthy anger, and your agony is such a great stress reliever. It won't take more than a few moments with my friend before you're charred to a satisfying crisp."