AN: So, this one is done. Again, i am taking the story into my own hands in a very direct manner and i look forward to all your comments. I know you're all dying to see what happens so don't worry. I haven't started 17 yet, but 18 and 19 are both already done, as i would work on them when i got bored or tired of this one. So, 17 is the only one left untouched and it will be up soon. I am very anxious to get to the end of this story but 17 will be a compilation of most of your earlier requests so i need a little time to get that planned out. It will probably be fairly long but i don't see it taking longer then 5 days. So, stay tuned, the end of our Hero's journey is coming up fast!
Heart of Darkness
Outside the Spirit Temple, Link found Dark sitting on the front steps with Kaepora Gaebora the owl flying away. What they had talked about, Link had no idea. From what he'd heard from a Gossip Stone though, the old owl was actually one of the ancient Sages. What exactly he was the Sage Hof, Link also had no idea, nor did he want to think about it since he had far more pressing issues to attend to. Dark's eyes lit up when he saw his partner drop down in front of him.
"Oh hey, Link!"
"Not now Dark, we've got trouble!" Dark looked sad for about half a second before he understood what was going on. A quick explanation and they were off. Actually, Link was off and Dark was sitting in his Medallion prison. As much as he hated being locked away, it allowed Link to use warping songs while still keeping his partner with him. A quick tune on his Ocarina. The Minuet of Forest normally made him feel the familiar ease of the forest but this time even materializing amidst the ancient and noble trees of his childhood, Link felt only concern.
Pausing only to take out the Hookshot, a tool that would be needed to enter the Forest Temple since the stairs had long since crumbled away, he took the opportunity to also release his comrade in arms, who dropped to the grassy carpet with a dull thud. Dark saw the instrument in Link's hand and got his own out, rubbing his sore backside with the other.
As the hooks shot out of their holders to grab onto an overhanging tree branch and reel their hind parts in, along with the extra baggage that was Link and Dark, the black swordsman found himself thinking that it wasn't too high to get from the ground to the platform before the Temple entrance. Personally, he felt it would be much more fun to have his green clothed counterpart stand on his shoulders and get up that way, but sadly they hadn't the luxury of time.
Link marched into the Temple with sword drawn, fully expecting a pair of metallic grey wolves to rise out of the ground to greet him and was initially puzzled when they didn't appear. That was when he started to run. Even though it was a sacred place, for some reason the Forest Temple had a front door similar to how a normal house would have. Sprinting through the front door, the entrance hall was also devoid of the guarding spider he remembered, though the climate was just as humid and rapidly getting muggy. This would not be a pleasant stay.
The first enemies waited out in the central room of the temple. A four way intersection of halls centered on this room and the elevator in the middle surrounded by four torches that would descend to the focal point of the whole buildings; the Boss' Chambers. That was where he expected to find Saria had she not been standing at the other end of the room, standing at the top of a staircase with a bow in hand and firing arrows down into the horde of monsters that was advancing towards her. The young Kokiri girl was steadily losing ground and immediately the rescuing cavalry was running down the stairs, swords brandished against the troupe of Stalfos stalking malevolently towards her.
The entirety of the group was made up of animated skeletons wearing basic armor; helmets, boots, shredded pants and shields. However, the shields didn't help so much when the first several warriors were slashed through the spine, separating their upper and lower bodies. Once the rest of them realized that they were being flanked, they turned to fight.
Many of the Stalfos ended up trapped, with Saria on one end, Link and Dark on the other with railings pinning them in from the sides, but still they fought viciously. One actually turned to leap through the air over his comrades, down the stairs with its wickedly curved blade held high overhead to chop down with all its might against the raven-haired foe. With just a quick spin of his sword, the Stalfos' blade as well as the arm that held it went flying off into the distance. After that, the battle went quickly and soon it was just piles of bones littering the stairs, leaving Dark bored and Link with cremation duty. If Stalfos weren't incinerated, they tended to piece themselves back together. Not to mention how leaving such a mess in the middle of a staircase could hurt the unwary passerby.
"Thank you, Link. I knew you'd come to save me," Saria approached Link, shy and demure and flirtatious yet her eyes sparkled with excitement. This was the first time Dark had really seen "feminine charm" and it left him with the strangest urge to vomit. How could she possibly think that Link would be interested in her? For one thing, she was still a little girl and therefore only half his height. Not to mention that the Forest Sage, in some bizarre twist had bright green hair. He was the type of person who didn't really get into "out of the ordinary things," if it could be avoided. Maybe that's why he wouldn't take his clothes off; it socially wasn't done. In that case, having green hair also socially wasn't done so they should all be fine. Whether or not that was true, it made Dark feel better.
Saria led them to the elevator in the middle of the room that rose out of the floor at her command. Crowded thought it was, the technology fascinated Dark who marveled at the cool smooth stone sliding over his palms on its own accord. The elevator stopped a moment later to let the group off on a plush red carpet that lead down a solemn stone hallway to a large door. The last time Link had been down here, that door had been chained and sealed with a large gold padlock.
Scurrying down the hallway, the giant door slid silently into the ceiling as soon as Saria approached and they followed a winding staircase to the heart of the Temple. A deep ridge where the door was located spiraled up to a dais which rose up good height above the ground. Unlike the dais in the Spirit Temple, this one had only enough clearance between the wall and door for a single person to walk, though the top of the dais did have a similar multipoint star set into the ground. Eight points, each facing a painting. Under the rule of Phantom Ganon, each of them had been a depiction of a dark road at night leading up to a haunted castle; down that road would ride the phantom, he and his black horse physically coming out of the painting to travel to the adjacent painting and ride back up the road.
Two of the eight paintings remained that same scene of the night castle, however under the much more fashion-conscious Saria, the interior decoration was being changed out. The remaining six walls instead of paintings had gilded mirrors of the exact same size in their spots.
"Now then…I heard that Rauru told you to come and give some backup." Saria smiled almost sadly and shook her head. "I wish there was time to catch up but there isn't. Maybe after we get this little situation taken care of. So, here's how things stand. Five of the main energy conduits have been cleaned. The two that are left I haven't been able to get to; those thugs keep on attacking me."
"Is there something we can do? We could escort you where you need to go and protect you while you work," Link suggested.
"No, I can work from here. Link, since you have the Master Sword, I need you to go to the conduits. All you have to do is kill all the monsters there. Once there isn't anything counteracting my power, I'll be able to clear the rest of these.
Nodding, Link headed back towards the door. "Alright. I'll just give the Temple another run through and kill any monsters I see. Dark, stay here. I do not feel comfortable leaving Saria alone."
"You don't have to do the whole temple. The conduits will be marked on your map," she interjected.
Much as he wanted to argue, Dark knew that Link wasn't specifically out to get him this time and was simply being practical so he sighed and nodded and pulled out his blade to combat the imaginary forces that he expected to be fighting. Namely, he didn't expect to be doing anything. Once again, he was demoted to the rank of guard dog.
Slightly disgusted with himself, Dark sat down by the stairs as soon as Link was gone. Saria knelt in the middle of the star in the center of the room facing one of the three dark paintings. Once she closed her eyes, the room grew dark and heavy with foreboding, the painting suddenly covering over in a thick complex web of tangled black vines; the symbolic representation of the energy conduit. One by one the Forest Sage untangled the mass on knots that obstructed the flow of magic through her domain.
Assumption number one; being a Sage is easy. Dark had been quite mistaken. Saria looked like she was concentrating hard and the vines moved so slowly. It certainly didn't look easy.
Assumption number two; he wouldn't get to do anything. Also incorrect. Outside Dark heard the sound of the elevator hitting the ground and he leapt to his feet to run out the door. Sure enough, another group of Stalfos was marching their way to assault the Sage and reclaim the temple. Needless to say, they weren't happy to see an interloper.
In fact, the skeletons all seemed to have the same idea for they all drew their weapons at the same time. Dark was way ahead of them. While it wasn't easy being attacked by eight undead skeleton warriors at once, they still didn't hold a candle to the skill with which the Gerudo fought and Dark had bested more of them.
True, it was Link's weapons only that could destroy the remains of a monster; the Master Sword in particular, but just because Dark didn't have any sacred powers didn't mean he wasn't a threat. On the contrary, his incredible agility and strength made just as efficient a match for the creatures of Ganondorf as Link, if in a much more violent manner. Fluid and graceful, Dark slashed through the group, snapping off ribs left and right, yet each swing taken back would miss by but a scant inch. For a living breathing Gerudo Warrior, fighting Dark was the most frustrating thing ever; all their training brought to nothing by one insolent kid.
Stalfos however, equipped with only enough basic thinking capacity required to effectively use a sword and shield had no such worries. One of the smarter Stalfos decided to bypass Dark altogether and head right for the door. "Get back here, fucker!" Dark yelled, relishing in the ability to swear as loud as he wanted. He threw his sword. The blade spun through the air, slicing through as it spun and collapsing the creature in a pile of bones just a few feet from the door.
Even unarmed, Dark was far from defenseless. The next Stalfos to attack he darted in, grabbed its wrist and brought the creature's arm down over his knee. The brittle bone snapped like a dead tree branch and its hand fell to the floor, leaving just the sword in Dark's grasp. From then, that was his mode of operation; chop their hands off so their swords were useless. With no weapons; the monsters were easy pickings. After their sword arms were removed, he focused on slashing through the spinal column and then, he'd set his heavy leather boot on his fallen enemies skull and crush it mercilessly beneath his heel.
Link was having a similar time as he strolled again through the halls of the Forest Temple. It was nostalgic in an irritating sort of way; he hadn't liked it the first time he'd visited. It was horribly humid and he was already sweating. Not to mention how the hordes of biting flies that plagued the larger rooms loved to feast upon his exposed flesh. By tomorrow morning he'd have itchy welts all over the place. At least this time he knew where the poison ivy was and how to avoid it.
Still, in spite of its many abrasive qualities, looking at the ancient stone arches that had collapsed from the wear of time and the high towering walls with thick ropes of ivy climbing up them, it was easy to imagine the place as having been majestic back when it was first built all those years ago. This place was a testament to the endurance of life; its vitality, its vigor. Nowhere was this so abundantly clear as in the forest.
That was why he didn't mind so much, until he came across a group of Stalfos sitting in a circle around a flickering black flame, chanting in some harsh guttural language. Link took that as a great insult to his work. He'd put in a great deal of time and effort to come in and make these Temples clean again. He certainly wasn't about to sit back as a band of nobodies came in to defile it again. The quiet whisper of steel leaving its sheath was the only indication before Link stuck, jumping through the air to cleave one of his opponents in half before the rest could do anything to stop him.
From there the battle was short and brutal, his sacred blade eating away at the skeletal bodies. Each cut corroded bone until there was one thing left to do. Reversing his blade, Link stabbed it down into the heart of the unholy flames brought by the Stalfos and watched it shriek and spasm like a living creature. Faced with its antithesis, his sword glowed white hot to sear away all impurities it touched and the black fire snuffed out like a candle in the wind.
Right as that was happening, Dark was walking back up the stairs to check on Saria. She was still sitting meditatively inside her circle, eyes closed as the vines on the wall writhed like a pit of snakes. The bottom half had been entirely cleared of the vines and showed mirrored glass while the top half showed a castle at night. They were moving much quicker then when Dark left, and once one of the vines was fully removed from the others it fell to the ground in a cloud of ashes along with a section of painting. It was almost as though the mirrors had simply been covered over and Saria was only cleaning them off.
Soon, another vine fell charred to the ground, then another; they were falling off consecutively until the entire mirror was free. The Forest Sage opened her eyes, pale and sweating from the ordeal as she got unsteadily to her feet and walked towards the stairs. "Woah, hey, are you alright? Should you…really be up?" Dark asked, worried less about Saria and more about what Link would do to him if he allowed Saria to overexert herself.
"I'm…fine. I just need to take a break. That took a lot out of me," she assured him and from the satisfied smile on her face, he believed it. Together they walked down the stairs but only into the preceding room. "My, you sure are thorough aren't you?" Saria commented, uneasily eying the shattered pieces of broken bodies that littered her halls.
"Yeah, they don't disappear like they do for Link but I can't have 'em following me around so I make sure they can't do any harm," he replied with a shrug and flopped down on the ground while Saria eyed him pensively.
"It's strange…you and Link look so much alike but the way you two act couldn't be more different."
Dark responded with a chuckle. "Yeah. He thinks I'm irresponsible and I think he's a prude. We have our ups and downs but I love him anyways." Dark made his answer sound casual but he was watching her face for any signs of what she could be thinking. He wanted some idea of what was running through this girls mind. A grimace he expected and got as he leaned her head back against the wall.
"Yes I know. Don't look at me like that, it doesn't take a Sage to see the way you look at him," Saria teased at his look of complete surprise. "No, I lied. Actually I am…pretty clueless when it comes to things like that. Back…when we were kids, I always thought I would be the one to break Link out of his shell. I wanted to be the girl for him. I guess, I have my own destiny so that isn't possible. Besides, Nabooru explained what was going on to me and I understand. If I can't have him, I suppose you have my approval. Take care of him."
Dark felt a grin spreading a cross his face in spite of himself. Nabooru was not only on his side, but she was knocking the competition out of the running! "I knew I liked her!" Sighing contently, Dark made a mental note to thank the Spirit Sage the next time he saw her. Saria giggled at his antics.
Sadly though, the little break wasn't to last. The pile of bones by the door formed back into warriors and stood up. Even the bones he'd broken formed back together to make an entire brigade of Stalfos. Instantly, Dark was on his feet with blade in hand to defend his charge but the Stalfos didn't go after them. Instead, they turned and ran through the door. Dark took off after them with Saria on his heels.
Back in the Boss Chambers, the Stalfos all sat in a circle in the middle of the star diagram. A vortex of dark energy leading to the void between dimensions. Dark just made it to the top of the stares as the decomposing form of Phantom Ganon rose from his imprisonment. The ice blue flames from his initial defeat at the Hero of Time's hands still consumed his body even now. At this rate, he would soon be completely destroyed. Roaring his challenge, the phantom jumped into the painting as the vines of magic became visible, coiling around the former boss as he entered the one portal he still maintained control over. From there, all the Stalfos stood and jumped into the painting, bursting into flames and vanishing as soon as they touched it.
"Oh no! He's sacrificing the monsters and feeding on their energy to extend his life long enough to retake control!" Saria pushed past Dark to run towards the center of the room and sit in the middle, hands clasped as though she were praying. Up in the painting, Phanton Ganon also sat, chanting in the same harsh dialect of the Stalfos.
Sighing, frustrated, Dark bit his lip and paced back and forth. This was a contest of wills; a battle to see who had the stronger strength of mind. Having survived so long in the void, that Phantom certainly had an impressive desire to live but it left Dark with nothing to do but sit back and cheerlead. That was when the Stalfos started showing up and that was enough of a threat to make Dark hold his blade in both hands and fight seriously for once. If it was just him, he'd be fine, but for protecting someone else he would not take any chances.
Dark stood in front of Saria as she meditated, blade held ready as the first Stalfos ran right past to jump into the painting; another sacrifice of life to Phantom Ganon to sustain the fading ghost for a little while longer. That more then pissed off the swordsman. Who did they think they were to just ignore him like that? So, to take out some frustration he run up and kicked the next incoming Stalfos down the stairs. For a warrior of Dark's caliber, it wouldn't be too hard to hold off the entire pack at the stairs. He could see them flooding in down on the ground floor. "For Din's sake, where are they coming from!"
It seemed a good system; after smashes a few skeletons, kick one down the narrow stairs to take all his buddies with him. It cleared the stairway and gave Dark a few seconds respite. He didn't need to kill them all; just hold out long enough for Saria to finish her little Sage battle. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to hold the stairs. The undead legion almost pushed through had Dark not grabbed the two side poles and thrown himself feet first down the stairs. His grip on the rail prevented him from going down all the way and keep his balance. It did break the momentum of the skeletal wave that threatened to crash down on him so this time Dark too the opportunity to counter attack.
Taking the offense, Dark flowed down the stairs in a deadly dance of blades, hacking apart enemies left and right. Switching back to just using his sword with one hand, Dark grabbed one of the enemies to use in his left to make his attacking more efficient. With every swing of his arm he felt bone coming off, heard the snaps as they broke apart.
A sudden movement caught his eye as one of the vines dropped to the ground and where it hit the ground he noticed some of the Stalfos running in the opposite direction from the stairs. Running back up, Dark hit the top of the stairs in time to throw the secondary blade he'd picked up at a Stalfos who was running toward the painting. With the force he threw it, the spinning blade decapitated the undead warrior and Dark ran up to kick the rest over the side. Then he saw it; Stalfos ringing the raised dais and climbing on each other's shoulders to reach to edge of the platform. "Shit, they're coming up the sides!"
Growling, he ran to the other edge of the dais to kick another that was just climbing to the top before running back to hold position on the stairs again. "Damn it…I can't hold out forever…" Rampaging his way back down the stairs, Dark gathered a small collection to bring back up to the top of the stairs. He couldn't hold the stairs and defend the entire perimeter but projectile weapons were better then nothing. Whenever a Stalfos would climb over the edge he'd chuck the left hand blade he was using and just grab a new one.
The problem was that more and more were appearing over the sides and he simply didn't have enough weapons to throw to take them all out. He could see how Saria was doing by glancing up at the painting. Cut off from his external life source, Phantom Ganon was rotting away and still putting up one hell of a fight. Still, one by one the vines were falling and his territory was shrinking. Phantom Ganon was trying to hold onto his final mirror and Link was trying to keep the Stalfos army at bay; both on opposite sides and somehow both fighting losing battles.
That was until an explosion sounded from outside. Link, Hero of Time and secret pyromaniac extraordinaire. "Alright, the cavalry is here. I can't mess up now," Dark muttered, slinging himself down the stairs again to knock everyone off balance before running up to hold the top. One Stalfos was already up there and advancing with a drawn weapon at Saria's undefended back.
Dark ran in and stabbed, barely intercepting the enemy just a scant inch above Saria's head. From there, his blade slide down to slice through a knee as more enemies were coming up the sides. Snarling, he grabbed the hilt of its blade and threw, ripping off skeletal fingers in the process. More were coming up. Thinking fast, he picked up the severed leg and threw that before ripping the creature's head off its shoulders to use as a weapon.
The skull smashed against another skull but it bought the boy enough time to get over there and cut the enemies down properly. On the edge, he saw a flash of green down below going in the other direction. So Link was down below tearing down the Stalfos ladders; nothing more then a bunch of skeletons standing atop the other's shoulders until one could reach the top. With those gone, all Dark had to worry about was the stairs and soon enough those were clean. All around, bones lay scattered in piles, the skulls leering up tauntingly at those who had defeated them.
Without any way to revitalize himself, Phantom Ganon lost his grip, tumbling out of the painting along with the rest of his vines, leaving the final mirror whole and undefiled. For all those weeks, the phantom had been clinging to life in spite of the holy fires consuming his very being. With his last hope of life lost, the ghost looked like a frail old man; a mere shadow of his former self. In this case, the shadow of a shadow. It was Ganondorf's face but horribly withered ,with holes in his flesh as though he'd been buried for some insect to come and devour.
Saria stood, stepping out of the middle of the circle and sudden wind swept the room, making a dust storm of ground bone fragments to fly around and sucked down a vortex in the center of the room. Phantom Ganon clawed at the floor, desperate to hold onto existence the inexorable pull of the seal was too much for his exhausted strength and he, along with all his army succumbed to its power.
When the dust settled, there was no trace at all that a battle had ever taken place. Only when all the possible threats were eliminated did Saria allow her knees to buckle, leaving her faint and panting. "Thank you… for all your help… but we're not out of the woods yet." A tired smile graced the Kokiri girl's features. "No pun intended. Now go on, I'll be fine now. Everyone else needs your help."
"Alright. Come on, Dark. Next we will go to the Fire Temple to help Darunia."
Dark grimaced, wanting nothing more then to stay away from any place hot if at all possible. An active volcano crater was the last place in Hyrule he'd want to be. "Erm…actually, could you drop me at the Water Temple? We gotta defend them all so we need to split up," he added earnestly in response to Link's questioning look. He understood. After all, he'd seen how utterly miserable Dark was in high temperatures and it wasn't anything the boy could help. He might as well be accommodating.
-F-I-R-E
Link materialized in the Death Mountain crater and immediately stripped off his tunic in favor of the heat-resistant Goron Tunic. It didn't negate the heat; only make it non-fatal. The super heated air would still burn his lungs and his sweat would still sting the many insect bites that now graced his body from the escapade in the Forest Temple.
Actually getting into the Fire Temple required a long climb down an iron ladder that descended deeper into the depths of the volcano. Had he not had a thick pair of leather gloves for just such occasions, Link's hands would certainly be burned by the hot metal.
Unlike the Forest Temple, this deep mountain sanctuary was very harsh and very straightforward about it. While both were old buildings, the Fire Temple lacked any sort of grandeur that existed in its wooded counterpart, it still exuded a feel of the stirring of ancient secrets in a place that had existed since a primeval age. At the top of a low flight of central stairs, three statues with perpetually burning flames in their mouths hinted at darker rituals that may once have been practiced there.
One nice thing about this temple was convenience. Though it held several shortcuts to prevent excess walking, the main convenience today was that Darunia's chambers were a very shot walk distance away. All he had to do was climb the stairs, open the door on the left and there was the entrance to the room he sought sitting right in front of him. It was just a short jump onto a pillar and then to the door. Of course, getting there had been a great deal more work since it involved collapsing the ceiling to make said pillar, but now he was definitely appreciating the fruits of his own labor.
Inside the chamber he found Darunia. Previously the chief of the Goron tribe, he was a large, heavily muscled Goron who even bore spikes growing out of his back. The spikes grew on only the strongest of Gorons, or so Link had heard. The Fire Sage sat cross legged with his knuckles pressed together out in the center of the room. This one was very simply an earthen island in the middle of a roiling sea of magma. A circular swath of earth rose about ten feet out of the lava and across the top were eight round holes where more magma shown through from the inside of the earthen platform.
"Ah! Brother! It is nice to see you again, but don't you think you would be better placed elsewhere?" the Goron Leader greeted him in a rough gravelly voice. "Did you think Big Brother could not handle himself?"
Link tilted his head to the side as he leapt across the short stretch of lava to his sworn brother. "Huh? I was only thinking that since you would be the second closest to completing your temple that you would be-"
"Bah! You were right to help that little girl. Saria is a sweet child but I cannot think she would be able to defend herself…but twice now misfortune has visited the Gorons and twice you have been the one to save us from it. This time, Darunia will be the one to save his people! I would not be able to live with the shame if I had you do this. Go now, and do what you must do. But remember to come back and visit!" Laughing heartily the Fire Sage walked to the edge of his island as the doors opened and Stalofos started flooding into the room, speckled with the occasional lizalfos.
The intruders outnumbered Darunia by a great deal but the Goron warrior stood his ground, even when the first one jumped over to his island. All it took was a casual back handed slap to send bones flying off into the lava. Apparently cleaning up wouldn't be an issue here. "Brother! Do you seek to insult my strength? I told you, the offer is appreciated but I find it slightly insulting that you think I need protecting more then a human girl," he scoffed playfully and with Link had to agree. Reluctantly, he played a melody to warp him out to the next location. The last thing he saw before vanishing was Darunia bellowing his challenge to the 'little cockroaches' to try and best him in battle.
-S-P-I-R-I-T-
Once again in far too short a time period Link arrived in the desert. True, he'd just come from an active volcano but the types of heat couldn't be more different. The fiery volcano heat was just hot. It burned everything and made life difficult on a very physical level. The dry scorching heat of the desert didn't have the same intensity but something about it was just exhausting, as though the sun itself was sapping the energy of whoever wandered beneath its gaze.
Across a short stretch of sand, Nabooru sat most conveniently out on the front steps of the Spirit Temple, talking to none other then Kaepora Gaebora, but when he saw Link, he flew away before the blond could get close.
"Hey there handsome! You here to play body guard for the poor defenseless woman?" Nabooru asked teasingly as Link approached and he nodded slowly, not realizing he was being made fun of. "Well be careful sunshine, underestimate me and I'll knock you out in ten seconds flat. Come on in out of the heat!" Nabooru called over her shoulder as she strode inside with a bewildered Link behind.
Off to the right sat a pile of weapons of all shapes and sizes. Link had never seen most of them but Nabooru seemed to know what they all do. "Impressive isn't it? I found these when I was cleaning out the back room. I need to be properly armed if I'm gonna send you packing when our friends arrive."
The slight emphasis on 'friends' along with her pointed look out the front door said that she was referring to the columns of Stalfos marching across the sands. Regardless, she didn't seem all that worried, instead going to her weapon pile to sheathe a pair of gold hilted scimitars to her back. Two short wooden handles connected by a length of chain hooked onto a spike at the back of her belt, a collapsible wooden staff, a chained sickle and some fingerless gloves with spiked brass knuckles. "Listen, Nabooru, I know you think that you can handle yourself but -" Link's sentence cut off abruptly as a four-pointed metal star went whizzing by his head to embed itself with a thunk in the far wall.
"I'll have you know that we Gerudo are given only the very best training and I am the best of the best." Much as he liked her, Nabooru's smug grin was just irritating.
"Yeah? Well Dark beat Gerudo in battle. All of them. At the same time." Link's casual claim had Nabooru raise her eyebrows as she went to retrieve her shuriken from the wall.
"Really? I'll have to fight him someday. In the meantime, you really do need to leave. You're a very charming boy but a Gerudo would still rather die before accepting help from a man. It's nothing personal hun." As one last touch, Nabooru raised her veil, leaving only her eyes uncovered. "Now I am ready for battle. Oh wait, one more thing…"
With a snap of her fingers one of the large axes used by the Iron Knuckles appeared in her hand. "There. Perfect. Now get outta here. Impa needs you more then I do. Just thing about what she has to deal with." Link really couldn't argue with that. Off in the hellish Shadow Temple, a Stalfos would be the least of anyone's worries.
After Link disappeared, Nabooru set the ax off to the side. Much as she could wield it, using scimitars like she'd been trained just felt right. "Welcome boys. Don't take me lightly."
-W-A-T-E-R-
Dark stood on his island out in the middle of Lake Hylia and took a deep breath. It was cool again! Thank the Goddesses for getting him out of that damned desert! True, he had a job to do be he did allow himself a laugh as he leapt off the wooden bridge to dive into the deep blue water of the lake. Ahh… It's so good to be back he thought as he twisted around to swim down to the bottom of the Lake and the Temple that waited there; the Temple that was his home.
Though he would have loved to take a few laps around the lake, Dark swam his way straight into the Temple gates that were set into the very bottom of his island. The entire Temple was actually inside the island which perhaps explained why he was so attached to it. The first room of the Temple was actually also the central one, the beginning passage starting off at a tower in the middle that had three floors. Each floor had a door in each of the four cardinal directions. Dark took a running jump from his ledge across the divide to land on the ledge that surrounded the tower. True, he could have just swam across since the water level was at its highest but still. A short walk to the other side of the tower and there was the door to the Bosses Chambers off to the right and there was Ruto the Water Sage sitting on the ledge across from him. She was not only the Sage, but also the princess of the Zora, a race of white skinned fish people.
"Welcome back Dark. How is the mission I gave you going? Tell me all about it." Suddenly Dark found himself magically sitting next to her. He didn't bother questioning it; this was her Temple and she could do whatever she wanted. So, he told his story. For the most part the Zora listened quietly but every so often she'd squeal and clap her hands together, like over Link and Dark's first kiss. "That is so adorable!" she screamed, making Dark wince. While he did feel that he had to show a certain amount of respect, the boss really was annoying. How did she get along with the other Sages? Thinking about that, Dark couldn't help the grin as he imagined Ruto getting her ass kicked by Nabooru.
Of course, Ruto thought that the storyteller was thinking back fondly of the days of having his lips glued to her one-time fiancé. While she was still a little jealous about it, at least she knew that Link cheating on her with another woman was a non-issue judging by the grin on Dark's face. He looked so happy that he had to be thinking of some juicy romantic encounter with the blond. If only she knew the truth…
They talked for several more minutes with Ruto pestering Dark for all the juicy details lf his journey when the water mysteriously stirred, "They're here. Well don't just sit there, you have work to do!" she commanded haughtily. Dark rolled his eyes and got to his feet to follow her through the door. When Link cam through, this room was an upward slope with spikes moving back and forth to protect the door. This time however, Dark was suddenly back in his room The decrepit old tree sat in the middle of the sand bank right where he'd left it. "Perfect…"
The Stalfos had their mission: secure the Boss room. In this temple, trying to reach the four minor conduits would be an exercise in futility; a Stalfos could not go underwater. They'd had to penetrate the Temple from above, dropping down from a hole dug in the ground on the island to land in front of the doors to the Boss chambers. Above the Temple and on the other side of the lake, the fisherman who owned the pond was stepping out to enjoy the weather stopped dead in his tracks. Hundreds of Stalfos marching single file across the long wooden bridges to the central island. The line stretched off up through the pass in the mountains for as far as he could see and the man spent the rest of his hiding behind his desk.
Dark was sitting, just waiting casually against his tree as when the door opened and the skeletal warriors started filing in. He gave up on ones and counted them in sets of ten. When they stopped at 150, he grinned, unsheathing his blade. "Well, we have ourselves a challenger. Alright, bring it on!" he shouted and ran into battle. Before reaching the first one he through his weight back to slide across the floor and rip through their legs then flipping onto his feet to parry in incoming attack.
Twisting his body to the side, a blade came down right where Dark's shoulder had been as he spun in the opposite direction, chopping the creature in half from behind and immediately swinging back to the left in a low wide arc. The ebon blade sang a high pure note with each foe struck down, as joyful as its master to be in battle. "Weak! You're all so weak!" he yelled, pouncing on one of the lone skeletons and ramming his blade through its head, leaving his hands free to snap its arm off and claim the enemies weapon before wrenching his blade free.
With two weapons he charged head first into the thickest area of enemies, his black hair fanning around him as he twisted and spun to slash in a whirlwind of blades. Just when it seemed they had him surrounded to all attack at the same time the boy vanished, dropping straight through the ankle deep water to shoot out like a cannonball several feet away. He only fell several more before dropping through the ground again, vanishing like a shadow on a sunny day and reappearing just as quickly.
"Come on. You think you can beat me on my home turf?" Dark laughed as he danced through the battle. Every slash, every spin was both graceful and deadly. Crimson eyes glittered with a fierce delight. It wasn't often that he got to take his leash off but now that he could, nothing would be held back.
His incredible speed and precision allowed him to pull off increasingly flashier moves; knocking someone up in the air with one blade and smashing them into the ground with the other. A Stalfos came bellowing at him only to get stabbed in the mouth and knocked to the ground as Dark hammered his sword through its skull with the heel of his foot. On and on the hours passed with never a break but Dark never tired. This was his world. Nothing could beat him.
-S-H-A-D-O-W
Link appeared in the Kakariko graveyard and as usual, it was raining. He headed down the stairs to find Impa waiting for him on the pedestal before the front door. That was certainly convenient since getting to her chambers from the front door was a good two hours walk. "Link. To what do I owe the honor?" Impa greeted cordially.
"Only the fact that the previous Sages all deemed my help as an insult to their warrior's pride," he grumbled and Impa laughed.
"Ahh, yes. Though Sages, none of use has really changed as a person. As it happens, I could use your help, though it will be very dangerous. The former Boss…I believe he was in the middle of working some kind of spell when you interrupted. I have a great many things to do so I cannot find out myself…"
"Wait a minute," Link cut in. "I would know if he were using magic. There were no traces of it."
"You play a song on that Ocarina the Princess left to you and travel across the country in the blink of an eye, change night to day and conjure up storms at your whim. Is it so hard to believe that similar things can be done on a drum? As far as I can tell, that song is one of resurrection. I want to know what he was trying to bring back down there."
Sighing, Link shook his head. The same concept crossed his mind before but it had been disregarded. The Shadow Beast was slain and was therefore no longer a problem, or so he thought. "Go into the Tomb below us and look at your map. It should update and then you can see what we are up against." Nodding, the Kokiri ran up the stairs and vaulted over the wooden fence to drop several feet to the pavement below, and then down the hole where the members of the Royal Family were buried.
Link scrunched his nose at the cold stale air that suddenly met his nose. The smell of mold, dust and bat droppings filled the air, along with another seemingly native to such areas, though he still couldn't put a finger on just what it was. Before plunging into that next room that could hold anything, he did as Impa suggested and took out his Shadow Temple map. "Farore help me…" he whispered, glancing over the parchment. The place was huge! Having full access to the entire map, Link saw for the first time just how extensive the Shadow Temple was, including not only the central Temple area and underneath the well but a sprawling network of tunnels that spread beneath the entire town.
Also across his map, it showed the locations of all the focal points that needed to be cleared. The same thing happened back in the Forest Temple where he'd been extinguishing dark spectral fires. Back there, he'd had two to contend with. Here, there was no fewer then twenty. Taking a deep breath, Link headed down into the next room to begin his new assignment. As before, what he'd thought was the main room was filled with an acrid green smoke that stunk his eyes and throat. "It would probably be easiest to just purify the place room by room."
Coughing, the Hero walked over to kneel in a corner to get at least enough of a breath to play a song on his Ocarina. All the Redeads in the room had been killed the last time and if any new ones arrived since then, he'd have heard them by now. First to take care of the smoke, Link took out his Ocarina and played the melody for the Song of Storms. Immediately, he felt a gust of wind playing around his ankles and stirring the air around him. The Ocarina of Time amplified the inherent power of the songs so he only had to play it three times to get a gale moving the stagnant air of the Tomb for the first time in decades. The strong winds swept through the room and when they subsided, the smog was gone, though the bubbling pools of acid from which they'd come remained.
Without the visual impediment, the room was only a moderate size; he could jog a lap around the entire thing in about thirty seconds. In the back was a small corridor to the tablet where the Sun Song was inscribed. There was also a door off to the left that he'd missed the first time; understandably because his partner and a pair of innocent children were in danger of their lives. Such times were not appropriate to go exploring. Of course he wanted to leave but the task of cleaning up still remained. The blade of the Master Sword gleamed in the dull light as he drew it from its sheath, as though it sensed impurities that needed correcting. Slowly, Link lowered the Master Sword into the first pit of acid and watched both the Triforce on the back of his hand as well as the blade of his sword shine with the same holy radiance. The acid frothed and bubbled as though it were boiling, steadily lightening in color until it was nothing but a shallow pool of water. One by one he cleansed the pools until all of them held nothing more then water.
As soon as the door opened a chorus of moans reached his ears. Redeads. With his blade in hand, Link crept down the ramp to come to an underground river or rather, more of a wide contained water way with stone pillars rising along the sides to hold greasy burning torches. Five Redeads stood in the water at various points along the river, but none were close to him. According to the map, this river fed out into the skull fountain at the bottom of the well and was the source of the water that filled it. Link paled, feeling even more ill at the thought of all those villagers who drank that water.
He sidled down towards the river and hesitantly stepped into the water. Nothing horrible happened to his foot but with the quiet splash, five wooden masked heads raised to stare at the intruder and slowly plod their way over in a desperate attempt to get their rotting lips on some fresh human prey. Cursing lightly under his breath, Link darted to the side to try and get some more movement room when another Redead appeared from around the pillar, its silent scream freezing him in his tracks.
That was how a Redead hunted; its gaze induced a paralytic fear in anyone who met its eyes. The Hero of Time could overcome that fear only because of the Triforce of Courage, and even then it was difficult. The hard rap of footsteps against the slimy cobblestones that lined the riverbed sounded closer and closer as Link struggled to make his muscles respond. The empty soulless eyes drew closer and closer with five more behind. By now the Kokiri was seriously starting to worry. Once a Redead caught its prey, the only way for the person to survive was for someone else to dismember the mummy. "Come on…come on…move!" Link shouted, swinging his arm in a hard backstroke that slashed through its neck and sent the head falling to the ground but even that wasn't a fatal blow. The headless corpse would continue its relentless march and hold the target down for one of its brethren.
A series of quick and brutal slashes reduced the creature to a pile of bloody limbs on the floor. Reaching into the wellspring of his magic, Link poured power into his blade, charging it and further darkening the air as the group of five drew closer. Step, step, he waited until all were in range before spinning and releasing the built up energy in an orange shockwave that knocked them off balance and giving him enough time to dart in and lop off the head and right arm of the leader before jumping back to safety. From there he reached into this tunic to lob a lit bomb into the center of the group. The explosion knocked three and leaving two of the zombies alone. Jumping into the air, Link slashed diagonally down through the whole Redead, shearing off the shrunken arm and head before twisting around to finish dispatching the earlier target and then tearing its partner to pieces.
Back by the door, the pile of severed limbs would be excreting a green ooze to put itself back together and it would be risky to wait any longer so Link ran to the side and played the Sun Song. As always, its bright cheery melody was accompanied by several shafts of light that incinerated to wounded Redeads. The other three quite literally froze. Their bodies were left immobile and covered in what seemed to be snow. If they were paralyzed, he could tear them apart one by one without fear of being snared and a moment later he was playing the song again to cremate the bodies of the last Redeads.
Off to the left, the water tumbled in a crashing falls that Link had no desire to follow. To the right, the river also fell down from higher up, leaving his only option of travel to cross the water and exit out a door on the other side. Again a thick cloud of acidic smog greeted the Hero, stemming from a pool of acid long and wide that blocked the only way forward and with the smoke, he couldn't see the other end of the room. Sighing, he again dipped his blade into the acid and drew upon the sacred powers of the golden triangle branded on him.
Perhaps it was the amount of acid but this time it took much longer to boil and even longer to cleanse. When only clean water filled the pool, Link leaned back against the wall feeling oddly lightheaded. Overusing his powers could be spiritually exhausting. Still, this wasn't a place for a Hero to linger so he again played the Song of Storms to disperse the smoke and trek his way down the watery path to the door at the other end. Creeping silently through the corridors of the Tomb, Link came across a large room with rows of coffins on shelves reaching to a high domed ceiling. Finally, the actual tomb. In those caskets would be the earthly remains of Hylian Royals who once ruled over the country. This was supposed to be a sacred place, and yet everything about the place reeked of corruption. Especially down at the far end of the hall. Link's magical senses twitched at a robed figure chanting in front of one of the coffins. Even from the distance, he could see basically what the druid was attempting to do and it infuriated the Hero.
Just one small pulse of energy from his Triforce to verify that the thing in the robe wasn't human, or at least wasn't human anymore and Link drew his bow and fired. His arrow took the Druid through the throat, silently dropping it to the ground. Whatever foul visage lurked beneath the hood of the fallen creature, Link didn't know and didn't want to know. He slashed through where its neck would be and watched the body burn beneath the heavy cloth robes.
A quick examination of the coffin showed that the spell had been unsuccessful. All the Royal caskets had been heavily sealed and protected at the time of their burial from just such occasions. He didn't even need to touch it to feel to powerful defensive enchantment that protected the body inside, though part of it was corroded. Perhaps the Druid had been coming here to slowly wear away the defensive spells to reach the hidden treasure. To break a spell such as this would take a great deal of time. And yet, some of the caskets had been broken into already, their enchantments worn away and the cover slabs smashed to pieces.
"Ten. There are exactly ten caskets with broken slabs…who…" Link laid a hand on one of the shattered rocks of the broken crypt and groaned as his magical sense broke down what was going on. Ten broken caskets, ten enslaved spirits and each of them felt familiar. Gohma, King Dodongo, Barinade, Phantom Ganon, Volvagia, Morpha, Koume, Kotake, Bongo Bongo. So each of the broken caskets had created a creature that had served Ganondorf's evil ambitions but it was the tenth that disturbed him the most.
"Dark. This one was Dark…" he whispered, horrified. What could it all mean? He had Nabooru telling him Dark was good, Sheik saying he was evil when Dark himself didn't know the answer. What if the Spirit Sage was wrong and Dark did turn on Ruto? No, by now it would be too late to worry about it. "We have a job to do, focus Link."
The presences in the room, the residual essences of the monsters he'd fought in battle…something about this place was affecting his Triforce. It pulsed, pulling him along and beckoning him deeper. Something was calling to him. Farther into the mausoleum he went until the coffins thinned out and only one remained, raised up on a central pedestal a few feet off the ground. A thick coating of dust rested over the top and he gently blew it away to read the inscription. "Hero of Seasons?" The emblazoned Triforce on the coffin lit up in the bottom right left no doubt. "This is…this is my grave."
The sudden knowledge that he was standing right in front of his own dead body had the Kokiri boy's knees feeling weak. Knowing abstractly that he was reincarnated from Heroes long past and standing before his own grave were very different. He could open the coffin…he could see his own corpse. A hollow chill built in the Hero's chest as he slowly stepped back away from the casket. The top was scratched and scuffed like the others. Someone had tried to steal his corpse…
The very thought of someone using his body in a loathsome ritual like that was absolutely unacceptable. Laying his palm across the top of his casket, the golden triangle emblazoned on the back of his hand glowed as he pushed his power outwards to repair the damage done to the protective enchantment. No one would be opening that any time soon.
But something was still calling him…
Curious, Link passed his coffin and passed through the next door and down a long twisting flight of stairs. The cool air grew hot and fetid as he descended like the breath of a malevolent presence hissing in his ear. At the very bottom of the stairs sat a door surrounded by wards, locks, binds and more other types of magical impediments then he'd ever seen… and yet, even those were full of holes as though they'd been eaten through. He could feel it, the dark presence leaking out of the holes. IT was the same power that had corrupted the rest of the Temple in the first place. This was the same power that manipulated Bongo Bongo. Thinking back, Link was amazed that he hadn't seen it before. Though the former Boss of the Shadow Temple, in its vaguely humanoid shape had a head, arms and a torso, below that it just faded up into the darkness. Feeling the mix of powers, it was clear that Bongo Bongo had been nothing more then a puppet. This was where the true threat lurked. This was where the real battle would be.
All it took was a simple touch for the binding spells to collapse and the heavy iron door to slide open. Link pulled the Mirror Shield off his back and strapped it to his arm, holding his sword at the ready and cautiously slipped into the room.
A system of low stone ditches crisscrossed the floor, carrying a flowing supply of acid to other parts of the temple and thick toxic fog permeated the air. Both foul substances seemed to come form one source. Behind a wooden X which sat over stains of human blood sat a figure more ancient and decrepit then any Link had seen before. Its ragged skin hung off its bones and dirty white hair hung limp and greasy in front of eyes such a light blue they may well have been blind. And it was breathing and staring at him. Hard as it was to believe, after having traversed a Temple where the living dead was a commonplace sight, that this ancient and foul creature could still be living didn't come as much of a shock .
It sat frozen in a block of solid concrete from the waist down and everything not cemented was shackled to the ceiling with golden chains infused with powerful spells of paralysis. All except his left hand which was a severed stump.
"Well. You finally got here. Come to kill me, have you?" the creature rasped, wheezing through lungs long disused. Something wasn't right here and it had the hair on the back of Link's neck prickling uneasily.
"It was you…the entire purpose of taking over the Shadow Temple was to release you. That was the spell on the drum, the desecrated tombs, the Redeads, the other monsters…you were behind all of it." The accusation drifted across the poisonous smoke as the remnants of spells cast and all this monsters dark arts appeared before him, flashing across his vision like a book he had no choice but to read. He saw how the bodies of the Royals had been twisted beyond all recognition. He saw how the Temple had been so corrupted. He saw how the Redeads were created and the disgusting images had his blood bubbling like the blobs of green acid dripping down the man's spiked and rotten teeth.
"But…how? I thought…it took a Triforce to make a Redead…and you aren't Ganondorf."
"You're right." Blue eyes stared into blue eyes as the prisoner flipped his right hand around to show the glowing mark of the Triforce of Courage on his right hand. "My name is Link."