Hey everyone, sorry it's been a while since I posted last. I've been more focused on trying to get everything together so I can graduate. Anyhow, here is chapter 19 of Clockwork Darkness. A word of advisement, I'm not sure if it will work since it isn't registering in my preview, but there is some use of the Hylian alphabet in the original document. You can download the font here .?n=fonts, and it is the Twilight Princess version. That way if it works, it will show up. It isn't necessary, but it looks good. So there you have it. So presenting ch. 19. R&R plz.
The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness
Chapter Nineteen
"Eoghan!" Siobhán shouted. She barely had a hold of his ankle, and she was holding on with all she had. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and his ankle slipped out of her grasp. She watched her brother vanish into nothing before her eyes as she fell into a wide, yellow oblivion. Her vision fell out of focus, and everything went black.
Wake up, Siobhán, said an all too familiar voice inside her head. You've got work to do. She got to her feet, and immediately pressed herself against the wall behind her. Before her was a seemingly endless expanse of wooden beams, intersecting at random places, and some higher and lower than others.
"What the hell is going on," she breathed.
I'll tell you what's going on, Zagros' voice answered. You see, I like your attitude. The way you handled yourself after you escaped from your cell, it was brilliant. You have such tremendous skill, I thought I might put you through a little test. You see the beams before you. All you must do is make it to the other side. However, there is a catch. One wrong move, he said, and at those words the area beneath the beams was lit by torches, and she could see massive spikes protruding from the floor far below, and the consequences are clear. You have two options, Siobhán. Either make your way through to the end, or die where you stand. Make your choice, and for what it's worth, I have confidence that you will succeed.
"Well, that's nice of him," Siobhán said to herself. Carefully, she extended her right foot out onto the beam in front of her. Careful to keep her balance, she made her way entirely out onto the beams, leaving safety behind. She was painfully aware of the spikes below her, waiting to impale her should they be given the chance.
Ten steps and she came to an intersection. She turned right, careful not to let her center of balance go off of the beams she was standing on, and continued on. Eventually she came to a point where she could walk no more, as the crossways beam reached from wall to the other. Her only option was to jump up to the crossways beam above her.
"I sure hope this works," she said to herself. She took a deep breath and jumped straight up. She was just tall enough to be able to curl her fingers over the beam. With an impressive display of strength, she pulled herself up onto the beam and continued her dangerous trek. She carefully made her way across the beams until her goal was in sight: perhaps not quite 30 yards away was an outcropping and a door. Maintaining her balance, Siobhán headed for the beam nearest the outcropping.
I can make that jump easy, she thought to herself as she made her way across. I just have to – "Shit!" she exclaimed aloud. Just as she let her foot come down on the crossways beam in front of her, it gave out beneath her. Just barely was she able to keep her balance. "Well…I guess now I have to find another way." Luckily, hope was not lost. She had stepped to the right of the junction created by the two beams, but the left side was left intact.
"Hopefully this one won't give out on me like that did," she said aloud. She hesitated, and then stepped out to the remaining portion of the beam in front of her. It held, and she continued on her way, although the route she was now forced to take took her far out of her way. Eventually she reached her goal. With a mighty push off, she easily cleared the gap from where she perched to the outcropping which held her escape.
"Thank gods," she said to herself. "I'm ready to be done with this place." She turned the handle of the door and opened it. Then her stomach dropped out when she saw what was waiting for her.
Oh no, said Zagros' voice in her head. You've still got a ways to go before you're finished.
Before her was a massive expanse, the bottom of which was too far below to be seen. The ceiling, however, was visible, and from it hung a platform in front of her. On the wall nearby was a silver diamond shaped placard engraved with an eye.
"Ok," she said. "I see what this is. I remember Dad talking about these." She drew her crossbow and fired a bolt directly into the eye, which shut upon impact. Immediately, and with a thunderous jolt, another platform fell behind the first, suspended by a long chain. "So I guess I have to get across here. Alright, well, let's do it."
Siobhán took a running start and then hopped across to the first platform, and then again to the second. "Ok," she puzzled, "there has to be more of these eye switches, so where are they…" Finally she saw it, up on the ceiling. She fired another bolt, and once again a platform fell from the ceiling, this time a bit farther away than before. She cleared the gap, and then stopped again to find her next target. Once she found it and fired a bolt into its eye, another platform fell, but stopped sooner than the last ones had. Also, two massive slabs of stone came out from the walls and slammed together in the middle, creating one massive wall directly in her path.
"Well now what the hell am I supposed to do?" she puzzled to herself. After a moment of thought, it came to her. With as much of a running start as she could get, she leapt off of the platform where she stood and jumped directly into the wall in front of her. Once her foot touched the wall, she mustered all the strength she had and actually ran up two steps before pushing off from the wall back in the direction from which she had come. She stretched out her arms and just barely was able to grab hold of the edge of the platform that had just fallen a moment before. From there, she pulled herself up.
"Qac nwafa," she said to herself. "This is ridiculous." She continued on through the chamber, shooting eye switches and jumping from platform to platform, until eventually she came to another outcropping with a door.
"Alright," she said, clutching a stitch in her side, "now let's get out of here." She stepped through the door, and again all her hope was shattered.
I'm afraid you're not done yet, said Zagros. You still have this left to get through before you're done. Don't worry though, after all you've been through so far, this should be easy.
Siobhán made her way forward. She was in some type of cavern, from the looks of what she could see; the area was nearly in total darkness, lit only by a handful of torches. She treaded across the rough, uneven stone floor until she came to where the torches stood; they marked the perimeter of a significantly smoother area. Upon further inspection, she could see that the area inside the perimeter of the torches was comprised of massive stone tiles. She stepped out onto the first one, but then immediately drew her foot back; she barely dodged having her foot impaled by about ten huge spikes that darted up out of the floor and then a moment later withdrew back to where they came from.
"Well, that complicates things," Siobhán said aloud. She looked around for something that might help her, and then spied a chest nearby. She went over and opened it to find it empty save a rolled up scroll. She unrolled it and examined it, but was only even further puzzled. It read:
X X M A T F
K J M M O X
L R X M M R
M M M D M Q
M H M M M S
M F A B G L
"Huh…" she puzzled. "I wonder what that's supposed to mean. It's Hylian, but it doesn't look like it means anything." She sat and puzzled over the scroll until finally she understood.
"I've got it!" she exclaimed in triumph. "It got the path written on it!" Having finally understood the path she needed to take, she easily made her way across the tiles. Once on the other side, she headed toward the other end of the cavern, which was filled with yellow light.
Well done, said Zagros in Siobhán's mind. I knew you'd make it through, though.
"Well, thanks, I guess," Siobhán answered, not sure whether to be pleased with this reaction or not. Then, without another thought, she stepped into the light. There she found door just like the one that had brought her to the beginning of her trial. Without a second thought, Siobhán stepped through.