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CHAPTER 5

Foxfire Fiasco.

The inside of the Temple was grown over in plants and vines, spider webs all over the place. Most of them hanging from the ceiling... Iris couldn't help but glance up at them.
"SO, this place creates mirages of our fears, right? Does that mean the flame's not working?" Iris asked.
Jace chuckled "They're just spiders, Iris, it's not the temple doing that."
Ilye snickered.

As they came to the end of the main hall, Jace looked ahead to see the large Statue of Minami, with a place on his chest in the shape of the Tear Vessel. Jace looked back at Iris to double check that she still had it. He looked forward again when Ilye walked ahead a ways. She began "Is that the shrine? I thought the Elder said it was a long and maze-like place in order to reach it?"
Jace shrugged. They stood in place for a time to take in the sights, Jace especially keeping an eye out for traps and dangers... The room was pretty clear. The stone and earthy walls clear, no monsters aside from small Skulltullas. Ilye eventually began taking a step forward, Jace glanced over at her, having a sudden feeling to call her back. Iris felt herself grow nervous.
"Wait, Ilye..." Iris called before Jace could.
Ilye turned back "I think it's safe. Can I see the vessel, Iris? I think I see where it's supposed to go." Iris had hesitated, but trusted her enough and gave her the vessel. Ilye turned back around, and began toward the shrine. As she stood in front of it, she examined it closely.
"Odd..." She said. The only source of light in here was coming from the doorway they came in and holes in the ceiling from moonlight, so her standing in front of the shrine should've cast a shadow on it, but her shadow wasn't hitting the statue at all.
"Hey, come check this out, guys." Ilye called back.
Jace shrugged, and walked forward, Iris and Skits following close behind.

When they reached the statue, Jace looked to Ilye and asked "What is it?"
"Look, there's no shadow..." Ilye looked over the shrine curiously.
Jace blinked, before examining it closely. He was getting ready to run his hand down the rocky statue, but stopped himself. 'Well, that's odd.' He looked up and around at the light sources. Ilye was right, there should've been a shadow. He soon looked down at his feet, and saw he had a shadow, until it reached the shrine's foot. The shadow was strangely cut off, it looked as if it was going under the statue…
Iris simply waited for Jace to come up with some logical explanation, because she was just as lost about this.
Ilye began "SO, what? The Foxfire thing was for nothing? We could've just walked in here...?"
"I don't think it'd be that simple, Ilye." Iris answered, Iris was about to speak again, but was cut off by Jace.
"Something doesn't seem right, the Elder might be old, but I'm sure he knew what he was talking about when he said the Temple was tough to get through."
Ilye sighed "Well, I for one was looking forward to a little adventure..." Ilye leaned on the shrine "Let's get the Vesse- Ahhh!" She fell through the shrine as is she'd leaned through smoke. When she disappeared, it only left a small brief ripple on the shrine's surface.
"Ilye!?" Iris and Jace called out, as they jumped. Jace approached the shrine closer. He put his hand to it, but his hand went through it like smoke. "It's not even solid!" He pulled back. "Ilye! Can you hear me!? Are you there!?" He waited for an answer, but nothing came.
"Hey, Ilye!?" Iris yelled.
Jace glanced at Iris "We have to follow her Iris..."
"Maybe there's a way around?"
"No, we have to make it quick... She has the keaton's flame..."
Iris shouted "What!?"
Before she could stop him, he jumped through, followed by a brief sounding yell. "I swear-! JACE!" She ran through with Skits. She was caught completely by surprise when she fell through a hole in the floor. Though, for a short moment, she saw that ahead was the real shrine beyond the hole she fell in… Had they walked around the mirage statue, they may have just gotten right in to the real one... But she was already falling by the time she'd actually fully realized it.
She held Skits closely, as she slid down the slick tunnel way. She was a little freaked out when she noticed it lead through different corridors further on. Ilye and Jace could've easily fallen down a different one.

Iris and Skits soon reached an ending, when they were thrown out into a dark dungeon-like room. Iris having hit the rock floor, she sat up and rubbed her butt where she fell roughly. "...Oww..." Skits flew up. She stood back up with a groan. It was sort of smelly down there, and dark, the area's walls were covered with old torches that hadn't been lit for years. A lot of them were dry rotted, and probably would've broken apart if even touched. Really, all the room was was a huge square room lined with unlit torches and a few corpses, that over time, had been decomposed to skeletal remains. Iris made a silent "Ew..." When she walked passed them. A good lot of them were forest beast corpses or unfortunate animals that got trapped no doubt. A few were so mutilated and scattered that she couldn't tell what they once were though, and looked ages old. She walked into the center of the room. Each side of the room had a door way that was dark... "Well shoot." Out of nervousness, she played with her engagement necklace as she glanced around the room. A small bit of movement caught her eye, when she turned to a door way at her left... She was a little shocked to see someone standing there in the dark, watching her hard. It sent shivers down her back, before she called out "Who's there?"
They ducked at having been notice, and looked afraid.
"... Are you lost...? Jace, is that you? Ilye?" She stepped toward them once.
The little shadow soon stood, they were a little taller than a deku scrub. Soon, a small light was flicked on, to show a child-like figure with pale yellow eyes and a pitch black face, and a beak-like mouth it seemed. It wore forest plant clothes that had straw lined around the collar of the shirt. He wore a large hat that was orange and made of plant leaves, that were tied together by string at the top. He was holding a lantern. There was some straw in the hat as well.
"A Skullkid?" Iris perked up a little. "... Are you lost here too?"
The child giggled, and jumped.
Iris smiled. But Skits seemed to look at Iris like she was crazy...
"Do you a know a way out of here?" Iris asked kindly.
The Skullkid nodded quickly, before walking back through the tunnel. Iris followed carefully, but surely. Skits had no idea what she was doing, but followed her anyway.

"Wait up, I can't keep up so easily." Iris tried running to follow and kept following for as long as she could, but the child only sped up before soon, the light was out of sight. Iris continued on however until she reached another dark room. "Okay, this isn't funny! Where're you at!?" She examined the room... The room had grown darker to the point she couldn't see anything, despite her glowing eyes. "You have a light, I saw it. Please light it again."

Upon this request, a large light soon formed at the roof of the room. She saw the floor once more, but was completely shocked to see lush green grass beneath her feet. The light grew, and grew, and grew, until by now... She saw large towering trees that all looked exactly the same as one another and a beautiful blue sky. She'd nearly fallen backwards in horror to this surprise. She looked around, and recognized this place from her childhood... "The Lost Woods...?" Her voice squeaked. Skits only gave a deeper look of concern...
She backed up, when she tripped and hit the ground. "No. This can't be right." She got back to her feet shakily. It was real, it had to be real, there was a breeze and sunlight and warmth. Not that old stinky dark cold dungeon.

Her eyes were fixated on the deep forest. It was as beautiful as she remembered. She still didn't think it held a candle to her Swamp home in Termina, but still... It was beauty she wished Jace could at least see once. She stumbled through the forest and reached to touch a tree, but a low sound from behind her stopped her. She turned. It was a deku scrub. So wild looking, certainly looked like a Hyrule scrub that lived everyday of it's life hiding from people... It glared at her, and made low squeaks and sounds. It didn't know very good speech. She never ran into many in Termina, but the ones she did run into in Hyrule were often cold and selfish, or rather they were very primitive. It looked at Iris with a look she knew. Most deku scrubs in Hyrule looked down on her for being so different. Iris could talk clearly, walk straight, she lived differently, she had a bird for a brother and even hung around the Hylian towns. She just wasn't one of them.

They always thought she liked people because of it. They were afraid of people, thus, feared those who lived among them. Iris had feared people at the time she lived in Hyrule as much as they did, however. She turned and ignored the wild deku. But it followed her, and soon, more and more began following her, having looks on their faces that clearly showed they didn't want her around... She turned and spat a deku nut to get them to leave her alone, something she hadn't had to do a long time. They simply moved, before returning fire, spitting deku nuts rapidly. Iris shouted, before hitting the ground to duck. She knew very well what they were doing now, they were either going to tell her to leave, or make her. It'd happened before, and she didn't want it to happen again. She soon hightailed it out of there, forgetting Skits was even with her.

Skits cawed, and followed. She kept running, but only ran into more of the same areas! She forgot her way! The scrubs had by now stopped following by the time she got lost, but now she was panicking, hoping she'd somehow bust out into a clearing to face the Swamp. It was all the same, like a nightmare. She soon came to stop, to look up at a tall figure in front of her. This big burly figure was clad in armor, and held a sword and shield and wore a battle worn tunic. For a moment, she was thankful to find someone, but soon remembered what usually happens to supposedly "wild" deku scrubs in Hyrule: They were often killed. The dark faced man rose his sword, and swung it at Iris. She cried out to dodge. "Please, stop! I-I'm not who I used to be!" She yelled "I swear, I've changed!" She backed up against a tree, and soon saw the knight was accompanied by others. Hunters, stocked with gear. Along their sides were pouches for the collected deku nuts they harvested from the wild deku and mad scrubs they poached for. She was horrified, but the ghost practically left her at the sight of tightly coiled barbed wire latched to the side of one man's gear belt for setting traps. She pressed her back desperately against a tree and shook her head, as if not believing what she was seeing. Her glowing eyes were wide as dinner plates, and she was near losing her composure rapidly. At any moment, she was sure to let instinct take the reins.
"Please sir, can't you hear me!?" She was trembling, memories came flooding back to her of encounters with men like them. "Would you please just listen to me!? Don't make me hurt you!"
The Hylian men looked down on her as if she was just some filthy forest monster. One raised a bow and arrow to her, as others readied their weapons in her direction. The hunt was on.

Elsewhere

Jace coughed, as he swung his hand through a spider web to clear it out of his path. He was more than irritated by now. He'd been searching for a while to find Ilye and the keaton's flame.

He'd found himself walking through small tunnel ways. The only life he saw in these tunnels were skinny rats. They crossed into new tunnels sometimes. There was no way he'd get out it seemed, the tunnels were endless. Jace looked down at a rock and kicked it with disinterest.
"Jace?"
He froze. A voice called his name. That was clear as a bell, and had an echo through the tunnel. "..." He looked around.
"Over here."
The blond boy seemed to glance at a dark tunnel, to see two beautiful glowing fire-colored eyes looking over him. He smiled "Hey babe..."
Iris walked out and toward Jace with a flirtatious look on her face- Which only caused slight confusion to Jace. This certainly didn't seem like the kinda place Iris would act this way in, and certainly not at such a time... She approached him with a cute smile bubbled on her cheeks and chuckled "So, find Ilye at all?"
"Uhh, no." Jace leaned back slightly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, are you okay?" She asked.
Jace blinked "I'm a little irritated that I have no idea where I am, but yeah..."
"C'mon, we'll find our way out sometime soon..." Iris walked off after, swinging her leafy hair.
"... Okay." Jace walked up next to her. "Why're you acting so... Flirty?"
"I'm just trying to cheer you up."
Jace gave a silent "Hmm..." before looking ahead. They'd walked for a good time, before he soon realized that the tunnel was changing. "... I don't remember seeing this kind of texture anywhere in the Temple..." He looked at the clay walls. He wasn't quite sure where he'd seen this old wall texture before. Before too long, Iris had grown oddly quiet. He looked over, and was completely dumbfounded... And a little scared. Iris was shorter, and so was he. She didn't at all look nineteen, she looked sixteen. Jace realized the texture on the walls was that of the Pirate Fortress'. She looked at him, her eyes not having that same softness they usually had when she'd see him, but she looked a little scared and nervous. She'd been scratching her arm. Jace only now realized Skits was gone. Such a dramatic change was a little alarming.
"Iris!? What happened to you!?" Jace shouted, his voice echoing.
"What do you mean what happened!? I'm stuck here with you!" Iris responded with a rude tone that cut Jace deeply. "Of all places, I'd rather be back home."
"... In the swamp?"
"No! Are you nuts!? I wouldn't stay here, I meant Hyrule!"
Jace jumped... "But I thought you hated Hyrule?"
"What put that crazy thought in your head?" Iris asked.
Jace replied "You did!" It was like time had reversed… They were in the Pirate's Fortress, and Iris had no interest in Jace at all.
"You're losing your dang mind..." Iris looked ahead "I think that curse is doing something to your brain..."
He froze, she didn't know about his curse at the time that they went to the Pirate's Fortress… Then it hit him, that she even mentioned the curse at all! Her necklace was gone, and so was his. He didn't have all his new gear that he had come into the Temple with, like his gloves and new rucksack. And Iris just seemed more... Hateful, like she used to be. A long time ago, he thought it was cute, but now it really stung after getting so used to her real side, because he was so used to a truthful and calm, but sarcastic attitude… One thing remained though, and that was his dagger that was sheathed at his side. He unsheathed it and looked at his reflection on the clean blade. He gasped and dropped the the dagger at what he saw. His eye was marked by the old X shaped birthmark! He stared at the dagger on the floor, Iris looking at him like he was crazy. Jace was breathing hard and standing frozen in place. He shakily rose his hand to his forehead and rubbed his eye. "No."
"No what?"
"No, the curse was gone!" He shouted.
Iris blinked.
Jace looked ahead, and began forward "Time's turned back!"
"What do you mean!?"
"We're not supposed to be here! Where's Ilye!? A-And my engagement necklace!?" Jace ran ahead, and tripped. He stood shakily, trying to think of what all just happened... He looked back, and Iris was fading. She'd reversed even more, she was wearing her blue petal shawl she'd been wearing the same day they met.
"Who're you?" She asked.
"... It's me... Jace!" He called "Your fiance', you have to remember me!" He called out. "You saved my life, don't you remember!?"
Iris backed up, looking almost too scared to say anything, as if Jace was a stranger who lost his mind. Her body faded more and more, Jace called out "Iris, don't go! IRIS!" before long, she became transparent. Soon enough, she was gone. He stared wide eyed and panicked, before shouting out loud and slamming his fist down. He really DID feel like he was descending into madness. A sharp pain seemed to shoot through his head, making him swear aloud and hold his head tightly. Now, it was as if Iris never existed. His curse was tearing him apart, because there was no cure. He looked at his hand, it looked old and shriveled. He shouted in shock, before falling to his knees. "No, what's happening to me!? My curse was gone! I-It's killing me!" He looked nineteen again, but his skin looked as if it was old. He felt weak, and his birthmark was still there and felt as if it was on fire. He held his forehead, when suddenly, he noticed something... "What the-?"

He rubbed his hand over his face... It felt smooth still... He looked down at his skin, and noticed that it looked old. He felt his arm, it was smooth, and then he felt for his chest. He still had his old scar that was nearly healed over... And he felt his necklace was still there but couldn't see it, and upon touching the necklace, he was reminded that Iris and him were engaged, it made him feel a little happier knowing he was still wearing it. Now realizing this, he noticed that the pain was dying off... "I... I don't understand..." He'd had tears in his eyes from earlier, as he looked around himself... The walls were back to normal, and once again, was lost in some old stinky tunnel alone. Before long, the pain was gone, and he felt as if he'd literally gone insane for a few moments. The memory was so vivid, he could've sworn it was real! He was shaky and trembling when he fearfully reached for his dagger again, and dusted it off before looking at his forehead in the reflection. He released a heavy sigh of relief when the sight of his young adult face had shown no shrivels, and most importantly: No birthmark. And was overjoyed to know Iris hadn't gone back to who she used to be... He grabbed his necklace and spoke quietly "Thank heavens..." He was convinced that none of it had happened now. He stood, trying hard to pull himself together from that short frightening experience.

"What on earth was that?" He'd trembled "... This Temple..." He ran his hands down the wall. "It was screwing with my head, wasn't it? That's what the Elder was talking about. I-It all felt so real, even that pain... I thought I was gonna die right then an there. Was that really all in my head!?" He had to think about it, but he came to a realization: That was exactly what had happened. He remembered hearing that the Temple digs into your mind and reads through everything. It uses your deepest fears and nightmares, and creates mirages, and apparently also can make you imagine feelings that aren't even really there. Like pain. This mirage was fed by his fear of having never met Iris, or the fact he would have died had he not met her.

"How'd I get out of that?" He thought back. The last thing he remembered, was being happy. He'd thought happy thoughts when thinking about him and Iris, and the necklace and what all it meant. Not to mention, he started to realize his physical changes weren't real. "That's it... That's it! The Temple feeds off negative thoughts and feelings, but positive thoughts and emotions could keep my mind on track I bet, the mirages wont effect me as long as I have something to keep me focused on the task at hand, and if I can tell the real from the fake... Well, maybe not effect me badly anyway."

It soon hit him. Iris and Ilye were alone in this messed up place... Ilye had the flame at least, so possibly, she wasn't even being effected. But Iris didn't know a thing about this place, and had no protection against the Temple's magic, and had no idea that her thoughts and feelings could possibly be the key to blocking the magic without the flame. "I'm sure Ilye's fine... If she's got the flame and a sword, then I'm not concerned... I've gotta find Iris, and quick... She could be in trouble right now if she lets this Temple get the best of her!" The blond Deku soon kicked into a run down the tunnel, hoping to find Iris eventually.

Path to the shrine

Ilye looked bored, as she held the flame out in front of her. "Sheesh... I'm so stupid. I finally meet up with them and get my plan in motion, and I screw it up by falling down here. I need to find them, they're the whole reason I'm here anyway- well, letting me come along with them anyway." Ilye sighed "I'm sure... Jace is ticked off. Well, then there's Iris, her temper's worse..."
Ilye hadn't realized that the stairway she was on was taking her to the shrine, whilst Iris and Jace had fallen down to try to find Ilye below level. Ilye continued up until finally reaching a door at the end of the stairway. She opened it carefully, and glanced around. The whole room was round, the walls were covered in paintings that had chipped and aged through time. On each side of the room carved into the walls were images of different creatures that Ilye wasn't familiar with... Centering the room was the real shrine of Minami. The room was a little torn apart, and cracks covered the ground.
"... Minami's shrine?" She held out the flame, it was burning slightly lower than before "I better hurry and get the vessel in there before the flame goes out." She looked back, seeing the front room where they all walked in from when she first fell down the hole. "... Iris and Jace, where are they? They didn't fall below, did they? If they did, shouldn't they have met up with me?" Ilye was a little scared, and looked ahead at the shrine. "..." She walked ahead, not quite knowing what to do...

As she got closer to the shrine, she grabbed the vessel that was hanging around her shoulder, and was about to try and put the vessel into the Minami statue. The Minami statue was standing tall with his head and left leg raised. His antlers were grown over in vines, as well as most of his body. The ancient object was supposed to sit in the chest of Minami. Ilye was a little short, but tried standing on the tips of her feet. She soon groaned in irritation, when the statue proved to be too tall... She soon reached Minami's front left leg- which was being held up in a valiant way- and climbed up it poorly. She balanced on the statue's leg once she stood, and walked to the chest. She reached to slip the vessel into the hole, when a piece of the leg broke off!
"W-Whoa!" She slipped, and fell off the leg, hitting the ground and rolling. The vessel's necklace string had gotten caught around Minami's antler, which was curled downward and toward the chest. "...Ughh..." She groaned painfully as she sat up. She rubbed her head, and upon hearing a glass shatter, she looked toward the sound that made her jump. Her eyes had grown wide. The flame's jar had been dropped and broken... The tiny flame flickering weakly. Being apart from the keaton elder too long paid it's price.

"No!" Ilye jumped up, and ran to grab the broken bottom holding the flame. Upon realizing the fire wasn't hot, she reached for it with her bare hands, and lifted it. It simply sat in her hands, feeling like a ball of mist. It started to die. "Don't die, please don't die!"
It soon went out, leaving a small faint stream of smoke. "No! Jace is gonne kill me!" Ilye slapped her hand to her forehead and looked at the Minami statue "I gotta get that vessel in there, and fast!" She ran toward the statue again, and began climbing. She reached up and grabbed the vessel, and carefully pulled the necklace string off from the antler. A shadow out of the corner of her eye caught her gaze though. Standing at the side of her was a large bird-like creature with a flat almost exploded-looking and mutilated face, it was pitch black, and soon screeched at her. Ilye screamed, and dropped down the statue before nearly being hit by the birds wing. She landed on her feet, and began running.
"Where'd that thing come from!?" She shouted. She reached for her sword, but it was gone "WHAT THE-!?" She looked forward, seeing the creature in the light of the broken roof, it was a shadow creature, or Twili Beast as Minami had told Jace and Iris. She'd looked over and saw several other kinds of shadow creatures creeping out towards her... One, looking like a biped dragon, who's face couldn't be seen, and was holding an item she held dear to her from her past... She was frozen in fear for a moment, before clenching her fists, and a look of anger took over her spirit-lit eyes. "A Tw-wili..."
"You got away from us, child..." The creature spoke lowly. "Why'd you leave your village behind...?"
"YOU FORCED ME TOO!" Her eyes teared up "How'd you find me!?"
The creature laughed "You can't escape us! The Twilight Realm is your future, as well as everyone elses." It held up the item, it was a battle-worn sword with a green hilt and wide blade.
"Give that back! That was my father's!" She yelled.
"Oh really?" The creature smirked for a moment, before glaring "I know..."
Ilye answered "What did my father ever do to deserve what you did to him and my family and friends!?" She was crying now "We were in peace! We were happy! Then you all came, and took over everything! And now… You all want all of Termina..."
"He had it coming, as did your mother! The whole village did!"
"BUT WHY!?"
The creature ran his hand down the sword blade "... We have deep history, you wouldn't understand. This blade... How I hate this blade..." The creature refused to step into the light, all that could be seen was it's beastly-shaped body and light glimmer off the sword. "I can see your escape has brought you to your new heroes... Well, not so new, I guess... But just the same, they'll pay the price for even meddling with Twilight, just like your village did." He pointed the blade at Ilye. "My minions, show this girl what we're capable of."
Ilye gasped, as all the shadow creatures came at her.

Elsewhere

Iris screamed a squeaked in terror, shooting deku nuts everywhere. She tried her hardest to dodge the swinging blades from the Hylian men.

Skits looked down, seeing Iris swinging and screaming at nothing, and was cawing at her in worry, but no matter what, she never heard him.
"Iris!?" The sudden voice caused Skits to look toward a tunnel way. Jace came running in. "Iris, stop! Iris!" She never heard him. He walked in front of her, but all she saw were the Hylian men and the Lost Woods surrounding her. Jace tried walking toward her, but she swung her arm, and hit him in the chest. He gave a wheeze, before quickly reaching for her. "Snap out of it!" He grabbed her arm when she swung again toward him, but what she saw was a Hylian man bending down and grabbing her arm forcefully.
"GAH! LET ME GO!" She violently ordered.
"Iris, it's me! Calm down!" He tried hard to not make himself seem forceful, but she was trying everything in her power to hit him and kick him. After getting hit across the head and her threatening to shoot a bubble in his face, he soon grabbed both her arms, and pulled her toward him, where his snout was next to her face, and said loudly, "Iris, calm down, it's me, Jace... Alright?"
She only lightly heard it, as it sounded like a faint echo through her head. "Jace, help me, please!"
"I am, I'm right here, in front of you..."
"But the men, they're trying to kill me!" She cried.
Jace hugged her "No, no, this all in your head! Remember, we're in the Ruina Temple, this Temple's messing with your head..."
She was a little confused. The images of the men before her and the forest all froze, and she felt a very real embrace around her, though couldn't see who it was. She knew the warmth, however. Jace's voice became clear, and soon, all the images began fading, and finally saw the dark tunnel ways and walls of the Temple, and saw Jace. "... Jace?"
He let go of her, and looked her in the face "I'm here now, okay?"
She dropped to her knees, breathing hard. It was all a little too much to take...
He sighed and bent down, she was crying.
"It was so real! THAT WAS REAL, JACE!"
"No, it wasn't, you were never hurt. It was all in your head." Jace rubbed her back "The Temple's magic, it causes you to see things."
She leaned up and hugged him "B-But, I don't understand..."
After hugging her back for a moment, he had to wonder just what she had been seeing earlier to make her this terrified? He soon let her go "C'mon, we gotta find Ilye... She has the keaton flame. If we find it, there'll be no more moments like that, okay?" He stood, gently pulling her up with him.
"Okay…" she answered, rubbing her hand. Come to think of it, her hand hurt… Did she hit Jace? Even if she asked, Jace would never tell her.
He wiped her face "This place isn't as big as it seems... I saw a stairway earlier, It might lead to the surface."

She swallowed hard, and followed him, trying hard to get back into reality and forget what just happened. Skits landed on her head, cawing softly. Though Iris stuck pretty closely with Jace in case the hunters came back...

Jace walked on, mirages continued to try and grow in his view, and his mind kept trailing off, but he managed to keep his head in reality. Iris was having a hard time doing so.
"Don't think negatively Iris, only think positive and about now. It helps a lot." Jace added.
Iris nodded. Skits was the only one not being effected by this.
Along the way, Jace held Iris' hand and lead her through the maze-like tunnels, and took her to the stairway he was talking about before. "Those mirages and mind games make this place seem endless." Jace added "I can bet Ilye's already up at the next level, since I haven't seen her down here yet. I think I've been all the way around this place now." Jace looked up the stairway "You holding up alright, hun?"
"... Yeah, I'm good." Iris responded.

Shrine Room

Ilye dodged a Twili Beast's attack. Only thing she could do was dodge and spit deku nuts, but they all missed. She soon saw a Twili Bird coming down at her, and she shot a bubble directly at it!
"What the heck!?" She dropped and rolled to dodge, when the bubble went straight through it as if it was a ghost, and the bird dive-bombed her. Her laying on the ground, another beast came to attack her, but when it attacked, the attack went through her. It didn't effect her, and she didn't even feel it... "What on earth?" She stood up, and flinched when a beast jumped at her, going through her- again... "How is that possible?"
The Lead Twili looked displeased... She glanced at him, noticing this slight irritation. She vaguely remembered the keaton elder saying that the Ruina Temple was the Temple of Mirages, and made mirages of your fears, and Ilye's highest fear was Twilight. And they didn't appear until after the flame went out, so all this must've been a mirage! She smirked, believing her mind to be playing highly-believable tricks on her "So, why hide in the shadows? You're not even real."
The beast grunted, before laughing "You might be right... About my friends." The beasts around the room vanished. "But I'm as real as I can possibly be. But stepping into the light can ruin my complexion... Us Twili look better in the dark."
"Trying to make me believe you... Pathetic." She felt behind her back, and could feel her sword. She unsheathed it, and it became visible. Before, it was hidden by the mirage of her sword being gone, but upon realization of it still being there, it appeared. "Then I'll just see how real you are!" She yelled. She held the sword in her left hand, and went running at full speed. She jumped as high as she could- and pretty high for a deku scrub- and sent a heavy slash straight at the Twili's chest, and he vanished. She landed firmly, knowing it would happen. She seemed pleased with herself on figuring it out... She sheathed her sword and dusted off her hands. The room fell silent, and it was calm again. "I knew it..." She looked ahead, and saw the Minami Statue. "… At least it wasn't real. But had it been real, it'd have wished it hadn't..."
She walked to the statue, and noticed the vessel was gone... And also noticed the antler piece it was hanging on was gone. A ways off, there it lay off by the wall. "Oops... I must've broke the antler earlier and hadn't noticed..." She walked over, and bent down to pick up the vessel. She dusted it off, and smiled.

CLANK-ANK, ssskk...
Ilye was silently lifted off the ground, and her snout was cupped off. She was lifted up, as she watched the Vessel roll off a ways as she still held onto the broken stone antler. She seemed terrified, not being able to speak... Out of the corner of her face, she saw massive jaws open wide, large serpentine fangs dripping and a long forked tongue. The creature whispered "I told you, I'm very real..." He chuckled lowly. "You had a good try, though... You actually cut me a little... But, dear Ilye, this isn't your game. You should've stayed home. Now, this Temple will be your tomb, and no one will know. What an empty death..."
Ilye stared at the huge beastly head next to her, before seeing a blade show up in view, and was held to her short neck. She squeaked under her breath.
"Oh shut up, I'm doing you a favor. I wont give you the torture of a slow death like your folks. Well, it was long for your mother. We gave your father the benefit of a pretty quick death..." He hissed at the end "But regardless, I'll kill quickly and painlessly... You'll feel something for only a second."
The blade being held to her throat was her father's old sword. She closed her eyes, seeming as if she was about to just let him do it, before quickly smacking the beast across the face with the statue's broken antler. He screeched and dropped her, and she cried out. She held onto right above her chest, but just below her throat, before moving out of the way quickly. The sword gave her a cut, but not enough to need a lot of medical attention, more like a major cat scratch. He turned, before moving to chase Ilye, but when she ran out into the light, he made the mistake of following her. Immediately, he screeched out, spreading his wings, and the light showed a massive scar on his chest, a terrible-looking hole or wound. The beast disappeared before it could be hurt anymore. Ilye was breathing hard, and stared in that area... She soon looked at her blood-sap stained hand where she'd held her neck, which was bleeding sap lightly. She stood slowly and scared.

"... Ilye, what's wrong!? I heard something up here!" Jace came running out of a door with Iris and Skits.
Ilye remained without response, before turning, and answering. "... I'm... It's nothing, it was just a forest Wolfos..." She couldn't speak of what she'd just seen, she didn't know how, exactly. "He was guarding the statue, but he's gone." She sheathed her sword silently, and walked off to pick up the vessel.
Jace couldn't help but wonder why she seemed so different, so serious. But when she turned to his view, he saw the cut on her neck "I-Ilye, you're bleeding-"
"I know, it's nothing. The Wolfos scratched me." Ilye handed Jace the vessel.
Jace raised an eyebrow… The wound wasn't jagged, it was thin, like a blade.

"Anyway, the vessel goes in the center of Minami's chest." Ilye answered. She handed the vessel to Jace "Ya' know what? Maybe you should do it, y'all are the heroes here."
Jace simply shrugged, concerned for her odd behavior. He looked up at the looming statue, and grabbed the leg to pull himself up as he swung the vessel around his shoulder. With a grunt, he managed to pull himself up and balance as he gently began placing the vessel in the chest of Minami. The statue shook briefly, making Jace jump off and back up. Soon, a loud thud occurred as dust fell off the walls all around. The Vessel began to sink inside Minami's chest, and as if it was a heart beat, began pulsing light throughout the entire statue. The eyes lit up and the entire floor lit up in a glorious gold light. The light sunk into the walls and into the plant life and pulsed outside the Temple. They all stared in awe, Ilye especially being breath-taken by it. She felt the wound on her neck heal when pulsing light climbed Iris, Jace and herself.
"Look!" Jace pointed to the walls. Creatures on the wall's engraved images were glowing. A two-tailed wolf, a hooded sea dragon and a wooly beast's images were carved into the walls and glowing. Jace looked outside, and soon motioned everyone to follow. Once outside, they saw the light seeping into the ground like water. The keaton was still waiting for them. He looked thrilled to see them back. "I've never seen the temple activated… It's just as the tales describe.." He spoke.
"What exactly is it doing?" Iris asked, Skits tilting his head with the same question in mind.
The keaton cleared his throat "Minami is now back to power here at the temple. The Tear Vessel is a part of Minami. That Temple itself is connected to Minami as well, and was created for the purpose of surging his amazing powers throughout the South at once to heal it. This Temple is the heart of Minami, which is why it's protected by that magic. Where ever Minami is now, he's refilling the earth with his sacred tears to repel the Twilight Realm from the South. It can only repel it enough to release the dekus and other forest inhabitants from Twilight, though. For now, your work here in the South is done."

Jace asked "Is everyone who was caught in it fine?"
"They'll awake perfectly fine, Jace." Keaton smiled.

Ilye soon asked "So where to now...?"
Silver Keaton smiled "To the Elder, of course. He'd be furious if we didn't bring the Temple key back. You do not want to see an angry six hundred and eighty seven year old keaton at full spiritual power..." He laughed. Jace merely looked a little freaked out at the thought. Iris chuckled at this...
"Well, I'd say this played out quite well for the start of our adventure, wouldn't you say babe?"
Iris merely glared at Jace on the babe part.
Ilye looked back into the Temple as the others followed the keaton back to Yuriko… Her spirit-filled eyes were fueled with fear when the thought of her attacker surfaced... "How was that thing here in the light realm...?" She looked ahead as everyone walked away.

To Be Continued...