Chapter 10: mayhem at the temple
Author's note: this chapter is going to be short, but this is the most important chapter I have written yet. It will also be the last I put up on until I get a review. Please! Just tell me what you think! Please!
Red could hardly wait to see above the clouds.
Actually, it was easier to control the wind up here. It could blow unhindered for miles at a time. Red could almost hear it laughing as it breezed past them.
Blue and Link were a little frightened, however. Something was bothering both of them, and neither knew why. Link wondered what Red wanted to check out. After all, they all had beaten their temples.
As soon as Red made a gentle landing on a cloud bank next to the large temple, the other two gasped at its majesty. It was a very simple, yet very attractive design. It had obviously been lovingly thought out by its creators. However, as beautiful as the outside was, the inside blew them away.
The main room had a very high ceiling, and, looking very similar to the temple of time, it had a domed ceiling with the very top missing, allowing the light to shine through to a single figure on the mounted dais.
This figure was a statue, obviously of a Link. He had longer hair (slightly) than the rest of them, and was lean, yet muscular. One could tell he was built to run. He seemed to be holding a sword in his left hand. In his right, he was shooting out a ray of light from his palm.
"Vio, bearer of veil power," Red read the plaque quietly. So he was that boy in purple. But where was he? Could he be farther along in this temple?
"Guys, come look at this," Link cried suddenly. The other two raced up to him, looking at his panicky face.
"What's wrong?" Red asked.
"This puzzle's been solved!" Link replied. "And this chest has been opened! Whoever was here was sure in a hurry!"
"You mean—" Blue was silent for a moment before Red spoke.
"Someone beat us here? Vio? For some reason, I doubt that."
"Yes. Why do I feel so uneasy?" Blue asked.
Link looked at his clones in shock for a moment before breaking into a run into the next room. This time, Red didn't disappear. Rather, he pointed out that in every room, what was left of monsters provided a creepy trail, as well as solved puzzles and opened chests. However, Red also noticed that the mosaics in this temple were unusually beautiful. It was as though Vio would appreciate them more than the other Links.
"I think we'd like Vio," he said to the others in a hushed voice. "See all these puzzles? And these mosaics? I think he's a very smart one."
"Why do you think we'd like him?" Blue asked, also quietly.
"I don't know. I just get that vibe from how the temple is designed," Red replied.
The other two were too unsettled to admire the temple or think of if they'd like Vio. Whoever had been through here hadn't left a single monster alive, a single puzzle unsolved, a single chest unopened. In other words, he'd been very thorough.
"If this person's got the dungeon map, then he'll know we're coming," Link warned. "We'll have to be really careful.
When they finally got to the entrance to the boss chamber, they found to their shock that the door was blasted open. When they entered the boss chamber itself, they noticed in shock that it looked as though it had been pillaged very well. It also looked deserted.
Until out of nowhere, an arrow nearly hit Link.
Red screamed and pulled him aside just in time.
"Well, well, well. I have company," Shadow Link descended out of the shadows, though still cloaked in them. The other three Links jumped.
"Why aren't you showing us your face?" Link asked angrily.
"Hmm. That is a question," Shadow Link laughed. "Well, we are now on even ground. Might as well, show you your opponent."
He clapped his hands together, and all the shadows around him began swirling around him, faster and faster, until all of a sudden, the disappeared. The figure they revealed shocked the three, and that was with his head down.
He was tall, as tall as Blue, but far slimmer. Red guessed that the little weight he had was muscle. He was wearing all black. Even his cap was black. Link noticed that he was holding the hero's bow. But all of their thoughts were interrupted when he pulled his head up to face them.
He was almost identical to the other three, but had a slightly more attractive quality. His hair was also longer than even Red's. But it was his eyes that shocked all of them. They were bright purple, and glinted with slight madness.
At least, that was what the other two saw. Red could sense an almost pained feeling in his eyes.
"Vio?" the three cried in shock.
"Yes, and no," the figure replied, soaring halfway up the wall. "I'm known as Shadow Link. See if that means anything to you!"
"No…" Red whispered. He couldn't believe that a noble clone of Link would truly switch to the dark side. However, all thoughts ceased when Shadow Link notched an arrow aimed at him, seeming to charge it with dark energy for a moment, before letting it fly.
Blue tackled him, and all three Links then stood up to face Shadow Link.
"It appears you're outmatched," Blue shouted.
"Then I'm off! To Hyrule castle!" Shadow Link shouted. The other three gasped when all of a sudden, he disappeared.
The air was more subdued around the Links as Red summoned their balloon.
"So we can't even trust ourself any more…" Blue whispered.
"I suppose not," Link replied.
"Take heart, heroes," Red smiled at the two. "We'll find a way to get Vio back! Our Vio, not this horrible version of him."
"How do we know that this isn't Vio's normal state?" Blue asked.
"Zelda will," Link replied. "She knows a lot about this sort of thing."
Little did Link know that he'd never get to ask her.