Chapter Six

Link entered the cave slowly, finding himself in a room with strange statues with one eye staring at him. Shrugging them off, he walked forward, into the next room.

He drew his sword and slashed to his left and right, destroying two blobs that were crawling toward him on the floor. He hurried along to the right and found two Stalfos, which he dispatched as well. Pushing upwards into the next room, he not only found another Stalfos, but he heard the door slam shut behind him. He killed the Stalfos with, again, little difficulty. He heard a lock click open and the door to his right swung ajar.

Being a curious person, he shoved the door open wide and walked in. The door behind him slammed shut and something on the other side of the room stirred. Suddenly, a large spiked cylinder rolled toward him. Link leaped over it just in time to see a pink blob jump onto the other side of the cylinder. Link again leaped over the spikes and this time slashed at the thing with his sword. It shrieked and ran away, to the other side of the spiked roller. A third time, Link leaped over the roller and attacked the blob with his sword. He repeated this procedure three or four more times, until suddenly the blob fell to the floor. It started melting. When it finished melting, the liquid seeped out of the room through the door Link had come in. The north door came open with a click and Link walked through.

Link jumped over the Traps that came toward him and walked to the north side of the room. He saw a large door with a keyhole almost as large. He was about to turn back when, in a puff of smoke, the door completely vanished.

"Come, Link," a voice echoed. "Come and face me."

Link walked north into the room, but this time when the door slammed shut, it didn't surprise him. He walked toward the middle of the room, instantly noticing the ring of pits that surrounded the room.

Link froze when he came to the middle of the room. In the direct center was a statue. The person on the statue looked exactly like himself!

"What's going on?" he demanded.

There was the sound of flapping wings and a large owl landed on the statue.

"Kaepora?" Link asked.

The owl hooted. "Not quite, though we have met on occasion. It is good to see you again, Link."

"We've met?" Link inquired.

The owl shook its head. "No, not in the real world."

"Then where'd we meet?"

"I heard that you were having memory problems, so I don't expect that you remember us. Link, when you were sailing toward Labrynnia, do you remember being struck by lightning not too far away from the islands?"

Link thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Good. Now, do you remember waking up and feeling like you had just had a very, very long and tiring dream?"

Link nodded.

"You dreamed this island, Link," the owl said. "You dreamed of Marin, and Tarin, and Richard, and Ulrira, and BowWow, and Mabe Village, and especially Mount Tamaranch. You also dreamed of the Wind Fish, a great whale that was trapped within an egg in an eternal slumber. Through this dungeon, and seven others, you traveled and defeated eight Nightmares, collecting the eight Instruments of the Sirens. You woke the Wind Fish and thus awoke yourself. That's why everything seems so familiar."

Link considered this. It was a good possibility. Sure, a lot of his memory was still fuzzy, but he remembered the shipwreck and waking up afterward. It also explained the déjà vu and the events a half-hour ago with Marin.

"So then, what do I do now?" Link finally asked.

The owl looked behind him. "Go through that door."

Link shrugged and walked into the next room. There were stairs leading up to a raised platform. Link climbed up to the platform and found a small chest sitting there. He opened it and pulled out a small tablet.

THE WIND FISH IN NAME ONLY, FOR IT IS NEITHER

Link read the tablet and almost instantly dropped it. He fell to his knees; his head felt like it was on fire.

Link slashed at the Moblin. It fell and vanished as the door to the right came unlocked. Inside was BowWow, a large chained ball. Link carefully unfastened the chain and took BowWow outside.

Link drew his sword again as BowWow ate another one of the plants. He tied the chain to the plants in the swamp and entered the Bottle Grotto. Inside, he walked forward, into the next room, and onto a platform. He sprinkled a touch of magic powder onto the lamps and they burst into flames.

Link groaned and stood slowly. His left arm felt like his blood had been replaced with liquid fire. He looked at his left arm and noticed nothing visibly different, at least, on his arm. His hand though, was glowing. The Triforce was etched onto the back of his hand, the bottom right piece pulsing. The pain, and the glow, quickly faded and soon all that Link could see was the Triforce mark, though even that was barely visible.

Link looked around as he stood and realized that he was standing outside Marin's house. He had no idea when he had arrived there, or how, but he was glad to be back there so that he could rest. He stumbled into the house and fell asleep almost instantly, the Triforce still glowing with a pale light in the darkness.