Well here it is. It's super short, but a chapter nonetheless. I can't promise another chapter for a week or two cause AP tests are coming up, but I'll try to do what I can.

Chapter 9

"Power worthy…"

Link opened his eyes. He was back in Din's sanctuary, laying face down on the ground in front of the Goddess' statue. The left side of his face was wet from the damp floor, and he wiped it off nervously as he pushed himself into a kneeling position.

"What happened?" he asked the statue shakily, only half expecting a response. However, the Goddess was not long in responding.

"YOU HAVE PASSED MY TEST," she said. Just as before, the orb pulsed wildly with her words, but to Link, the light seemed less ominous, less mystifying.

"That was all a—a test?" he asked unbelievably. "But I was there! I saw Ganon. I saw him kill Sam." The memory hurt him more than he'd expected. For a short time he had been happy again. He had truly thought that Sam was alive and that Malon was with him. Now the void that they'd left in his heart seemed larger than ever.

"It seemed so real," he muttered desolately.

"IT WAS A PATH YOU MIGHT HAVE TAKEN."

Link was silent for a while, lost in his thoughts. He had so many questions, but he felt many of them were not questions that the Goddess would choose to answer. There was one though, that seemed to outweigh all others.

"How did I pass?" he asked. "I…died." The orb began to glow warmly, illuminating the chamber.

"TRUE POWER IS NOT MEASURED BY STRENGTH OF BODY, BUT STRENGTH OF WILL," Din replied. The words seemed to ring in Link's head, reverberating as nothing less than pure truth.

"BY SACRIFICING YOUR OWN LIFE FOR ANOTHER'S, YOU HAVE SHOWN MORE POWER THAN GANON COULD EVER HAVE." Whether from the comforting heat of the orb, or the words of the Goddess he didn't know, but Link began to feel hope blooming anew in his heart.

"YOU HAVE PASSED MY TEST," Din repeated.

Link got to his feet. He had even more questions on his tongue, but before he could voice them, the air inside of the cavern began to move, swirling around the walls like a tornado, slowly becoming faster and faster. Link's clothes flapped noisily, and he put a hand up to protect his eyes from the fast moving dust.

The spiraling air began forming tighter and tighter circles, all the while accelerating and closing in on the irradiant orb. The condensing energy was massive, causing the room to tremble as the circles grew even tighter. Just as the concentrated vortex was about to touch the glowing ball, the pent up energy exploded, sending out a powerful gust of wind and a brilliant flash of light.

After a moment the chamber stilled, and Link cautiously lowered his arm from where it had been covering his face. Everything seemed untouched by the strange phenomenon; the shimmering crystals still hung from the high ceiling, and the feminine statue still stood in the cavern's center, holding its red orb high. Except now the once bright ball was faded and dull, reflecting the departure of the Goddess' omnipotent presence from the room.

Link didn't smile as he left the cavern, but hope now accompanied resolve in his heart.