Tests

The dusty, stale smell of the ancient, cracked stone filled Link's nostrils while the final echoes of the doors closing made their way down the short corridor chamber where he now stood and eventually left him in utter silence as they dispersed in a larger chamber up ahead. Every breath seem a shout, but thankfully his sight was not so deprived. Torches lined the walls and amply lit the path forward, and he wondered who kept them burning.

He took a deep, loud breath and studied his surroundings as he carefully stepped forward. Old jars and pots in various states of damage here and there along the walls indicated the temple had once bustled with activity. The traces of human activity only emphasized the lack of it now.

Link entered the main room. It was perfectly square with a ceiling that vaulted upwards. On the opposite wall was a formidable door with some adornments he couldn't make out from a distance. To his right was an arched recess; to his left was a wall. The floor was the only interesting element, showing off a two toned marble pattern. White marble had been used to fashion a perfect circle. Black marble formed into glyphs were inset along the circle's perimeter making Link wish he could read it. Three black marble triangles adorned the center positioned such that they created one triangle out of three.

Three in one. The goddesses. Link understood right away that it was a symbol of the Triforce. He examined the triangles more closely. They were not large. He judged each triangle as having roughly a breadth no greater than that of his chest. The black marble was not flush with the white, it was recessed slightly.

Link went to the door to examine it as well. More of the unrecognizable writing circled the perimeter, this time in painstakingly shaped brass. Above the door was a single gray marble triangle with a symbol: a small circle with consecutive crescent shapes emerging from it. He found himself wishing Zelda were with him. She would probably understand what all of this meant.

Link pushed the door but it would not budge. Of course. It wouldn't be much of a trial if it were easy. Link looked around for some kind of lever, but nothing obvious caught his attention. He decided to check out the wall with the arched recess. It was just a wall as far as he could tell. The recess was made from the same stone as the rest of the temple. Nevertheless he gave it a hefty push. Nothing. After a few more tries, he leaned his back against it and examined the opposite wall.

The other wall was even less likely to prove useful. It was just a wall. All the same, he went over and ran his hands along it hoping to discover a loose brick concealing a handy switch to end this tortuous puzzle. He liked tests. He did not like puzzles. After a few minutes of finding nothing, he let out a curse as he kicked the wall in frustration.

"Yeah, kick it. That'll solve all your problems."

Link was so startled out of this wits he stumbled backwards and brought his posterior hard to the ground.

Navi fluttered in front of his face. "Boy, if you scare this easily, there's not a chance in Hyrule you'll get through this place."

Link swelled with joy at the sight of her, and he smiled from ear to ear. "I am so glad to see you. I thought you'd left for good."

"Oh, don't get all sappy on me. I just needed to teach you a lesson."

Link got to his feet. "I'd hug you so hard right now if it wouldn't kill you."

"What makes you think I want a hug, huh?"

"It would be for me, not for you."

"Oh, I see. Just using me."

"Missing you," Link said sincerely.

Navi blushed in purple-pink light. He took that as a sign of reconciliation. "Well, this will be a short reunion if we don't figure this room out."

Navi sighed. "What would you do without me?" With that, she zipped across the room and somehow disappeared through the arched recess. As he followed he saw she had squeezed through a small crack in the wall. A second later she popped out her little glowing blue head and said, "It's a door. It's not a wall. Try lifting it."

Link looked down and saw there was a small gap at the bottom of the recess, enough to fit his fingers through. Squatting down, he gripped the wall firmly and pushed hard with his legs. The wall lifted, very slowly at first, but as it got higher he heard the sound of gears and chains, and the door sprung the rest of the way up without assistance.

"Brilliant, Navi," he said.

They walked the length of the hall leading to new chamber. As they neared, the rotten odor of decay grew increasingly apparent. "Yuck," exclaimed Navi, "what died?"

"Everyone," said Link as they entered. The large room had no furniture or doors, just stone from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, except for a pedestal at the far end with something on it he couldn't make out. The floor was covered with hundreds if not thousands of human remains: bones, scraps of armor, old weapons. Link presumed these were the previous hopefuls that never made it out alive. Did they all die in this room or were some of the remains brought here from somewhere else?

A portcullis slammed shut in the doorway behind, and Link knew things were about to get ugly. The sound of clattering bones began to echo as once still bones began to rattle and shake. Bone after bone began to slide and shimmy through the piles, finding other bones and meeting at the joint. Legs attached to feet, ribs found their spines, arms met hands, and skulls jangled about looking for their necks. It wasn't long before a full skeleton formed and forced itself wobbling to its feet. Then another and another until there were no remains left, only fifty or so skeletons standing about the room.

Link was taken back to a distant memory, of stories young boys shared. The older boys in the villages had loved to frighten the young ones, but Link had loved the tales. They elicited exhilaration, not fear, and the older boys would tire of telling them to him. It wasn't any fun if the little kids weren't scared. One story came back to haunt him now: the stalfos. A stalfos was a dead soldier trapped in the afterlife, doomed for all time to roam the world with only their bones. They had no stomach to stop the hunger and no heart to love; slaughter was their only satiation.

The animated skeletons scavenged for swords, axes, and clubs. A few of them sliced at the air, acclimating to the feel of their former weapons. Link drew his sword in preparation, and the sound of it caught their attention. They all moved at once, but not towards him. Instead, they created a formation in front of the pedestal at the opposite end of the room. Guards, thought Link.

"What do we do? You can't fight them all," said Navi turning orange.

"No, I can't," said Link. No one could. In fact, this didn't seem like a test of courage at all. Even the bravest man has limits. He could maybe whittle away at them with his slingshot, but aggravating them might just send the whole hoard at him. He double checked the door behind him and observed the portcullis was still firmly in place. "So, I just fight them?"

He tightened the grip on his sword and took a step forward. The skeletal warriors twitched at his movement, ready for his attack, but they did not come for him. "Well," said Link, "this is it." He moved slowly toward the center stalfos, keeping a ready fighting stance along the way. When he reached melee range, he braced for an attack, but none came.

"I guess I get to swing first." Link tensed his muscles and began to trust his sword at the monster.

The sword pierced bone, knocking the stalfos back, and all at once the other enemies rushed in to attack. Link engaged the nearest one and quickly dodged its incoming axe, spun to his left, and gave the stalfos a horizontal chop to the midsection. To his delight, the bones smashed to pieces and dropped into a pile of bones.

With increased moral, Link engaged the next enemy, and dropped it like the first. Then the next, and the next. He found himself taking on two at once and was taken back in time to the joys of beating more than one cadet during training. Within seconds, both of them fell. Minutes and minutes passed as he engaged them, always mindful to ensure no more than two of them could attack. When the last one fell, he put his hands to his knees and gasped for air. He was utterly spent, but it didn't matter. He'd done it.

"Nice, huh?" he said to Navi panting.

She fluttered to him and gave him a tiny fairy hug on his neck. "I'm so sorry I left you. Please don't die here."

Link laughed. "Hey, I took care of this lot. How much worse can it get?"

It was then he heard the rattling. Just as before, the bones slid and shimmied until every single stalfos reemerged weapon in hand. As before, they moved into formation in front of the pedestal.

"Are you kidding me?!" Link exclaimed. "This just goes on forever?"

Link walked casually up to the center salfos, this time not bothering with the proper fencing stance. He got up so close to it he could smell its rot. He yelled it, "Round two? I'm ready! Come at me!"

The stalfos did not budge. Link considered this a moment, then he lifted his sword over his head. "I'm going to chop you in half, so you better do something!" The stalfos did not attack.

Link let the sword fall and began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked Navi.

"It all makes sense," he replied. "Fighting a hoard isn't about courage, it's about skill. The test is not about beating them, it's about not beating them." He picked up his sword and sheathed it.

Navi gasped as he began to push his way through the formation.

The monsters did not strike; they only tried to frighten him, snapping and snarling. Link smiled and snapped back at one. Some of them brushed their weapons lightly against him hoping to break his resolve, but it was too easy now. He'd figured it out.

He reached the pedestal upon which lay a gray marble triangle. It had a symbol on it also, but not the same one as the triangle above the door in the previous room. This one had three small circles equidistant from each other with curved lines between them. The symbol meant nothing to him, but clearly he needed this artifact to progress, so he grabbed it.

The moment he touched it the skeletons crumbled to the ground, the clang of the tumbling metal weapons echoing through the room. The portcullis at the far end retracted into the ceiling.

"See?" he said casually to Navi as he walked back to the main chamber of the temple.

Navi turned red, caught up with him ,and began to punch his shoulder. "Don't you ever do that again!" she scolded.

"Do what?"

"Scare me like that!"

"Chin up, Little Sprite," he said playfully. "Have courage." It was good to have her back. Truth be told, having her around made courage a little easier.

Back in the main chamber, he knew instantly what to do. It was obvious the marble tile in his hand matched the recessed triangles in the floor, so he dropped it in place. It was a perfect fit. The tile sunk in with a click, and Link heard the sounds of machinery clunking and grinding. The bare wall on the left of the chamber split apart, each side retreating to reveal another passage.

"Time to get another one of these triangles, I suppose," he said has they made their way through the passage. The room was the same size and layout as the one with the stalfos, complete with a pedestal at the far end. To his relief, there were no bones upon the floor.

"This looks easy," quipped Navi.

"It's never that easy," Link commented. He took a step forward, and as he did so, the torches that lit the room snuffed out. He had never experienced such pure darkness. He waved his hand before his face and couldn't even tell if it was there at all. Even Navi's light was gone. "Navi? You there?"

"Yes," came her voice next to his ear. "I'm right here, no thanks to you." Her voice was icy.

"What you are on about now?"

"You sent me away, Link. Your best friend. You were ashamed of me, and you sent me away."

Link's heart sank. "I know. I'm sorry. I thought we were past this."

"Are we? How do I know it won't happen again? I can't trust you anymore."

"Nor should you," said another voice.

"Who's that?" asked Link as he felt around in the blackness. "Where are you?"

"Oh, come on, Link. Are you so into yourself you can't remember the fellow soldier you let die at the hands of that Gerudo monster?"

"Lance?" said Link breathlessly. "You're alive?"

"No!" exclaimed the voice. "No! I'm not alive, thanks to you. How can you trust them over your comrades? Over your own people?"

Link winced at the pangs of guilt. "I'm sorry. I told him not to. He didn't listen."

"Oh, you told him not to," said Lance mockingly. "I guess that makes you so very innocent now."

"There is no innocence to be found in this boy," came another voice, deeper and more authoritative. It was King Harkinian. "He is a traitor. He cannot hide his guilt."

"I was only trying to help you," retorted Link, desperate for his understanding. "I thought if I could get the princess back, all would be forgiven."

"Forgiven?" laughed the King. "But you did not bring her to me, did you? Don't try to fool me, boy, with your deceit. You chose to be your own king and my sovereignty meant nothing to you."

"I just wanted to take action before it was too late."
"Oh, but you did take action, didn't you. You waltzed brazenly into my home, attacked my men, stole my prisoners and my horses, and took them straight to my enemies. Those were actions indeed, the actions of a traitor."

"You're right. I should have thought it through. I'm sorry, but it's not too late to make this right."

"Some things," came a new voice, "are too late to fix." There was no mistaking this voice.

"Father?"

"You spent more time chasing fairies in the woods than you did at home, never concerned that one day I might not return."

"I know," said Link, and his throat swelled with emotion. "I'm sorry."

"We should have spent more time together. I could have taught you. I could have passed on my training, and you could have truly been my son."

Link fell to his knees. The voices took turns haunting him. When one voice became nothing more than a dull noise, another would take over. One by one they pointed out his failures, and after a while Link began to shake.

His body convulsed, but what sounded like sobs turned out to be the crescendo of laughter. He stood as he laughed harder and harder.

"What's so funny?" asked the voice of the king.

"You. All of you. You think I can be so easily humiliated? You are making a huge assumption."

"Oh, do tell us," said the mocking voice of Navi.

"That I'm ashamed of what I've done. Sure, I've made some bad decisions, but those were my decisions. So, go ahead, mock away. I've done what I've done and there's no point looking back."

The torches in the room reignited one after another, the only voice being that of Navi. "Where were you?"

"Right here," said Link. "Where were you?"

"Right here? You just vanished."

"Interesting," said Link. "Looks like I passed." He went to the pedestal where another triangle awaited him. This one had three wavy lines that made him think of wind.

Back in the main chamber he placed the second triangle into the floor next to the first. The marble tile settled with a click, but nothing else happened.

"I need one more," he said thinking aloud.

"Look! What about that one?" asked Navi flying to the triangle above the main door. It was at least ten feet high and there didn't appear to be a way to climb to it, but it looked about the right size and color.

Link moved in to get a closer look. "Does it look loose or anything?" he asked Navi.

Navi zipped back and forth, tapping on it with her knuckles. She looked back at him waringly. "Well, don't expect me to move it."

Link chuckled and removed his slingshot. "Let's give this a try." He took careful aim at the bottom right corner, drew the slingshot to its fullest, and let fly its missile. The deku nut hit it with such force that the triangle shifted.

"That worked!" exclaimed Navi. "It's poking out the other side a little. Hit it there again."

Link hit it in the same corner with precision several times, and eventually the triangle's weight shifted forward and the tile fell to the floor with a sickening crack. He winced, fearful he'd broken it, but was relieved to see it intact.

He placed it into the final slot on the floor. Gears and pulleys made their familiar mechanical noises and the mighty door opened. "Well, that wasn't so bad," said Link.

The door entered not into another chamber, but into another reality. There were no walls and no ceilings, just an endless sea of water as far as the eye could see. The sky was crystal clear blue with a noon sun that wasn't overbearingly hot, but the brightness of it made him wince as his eyes fought to adjust. He turned around, but instead of the door through which he came it was just more of the sea. It wasn't a normal ocean with waves and sandy shores. The water here was still as ice and so shallow he could walk freely. Some distance away was a small island with a lone tree.

"What is this place?" asked Navi to no one in particular.

"I dunno," said Link, also lost in the strangeness of it all.

The soft sound of music began, a pleasant melody. It was coming from the island. He walked toward it, and as its details came into view, he could see a figure leaning against it playing a wind instrument. An ocarina. It was an instrument that reminded him of home. Many of the village elders would pass the hours playing dozens of traditional tunes.

"Hello?" Link called cautiously.

There was no answer. The figure kept playing while Link kept moving forward. The figure's details emerged bit by bit. He was dressed in dark green and had a long tapered cap just like his. In fact, Link was sure it was a uniform. He was a cadet, but he still couldn't see his face.

"Who are you?" Link asked again.

This time the figure stopped playing and gazed at the horizon beyond as if enjoying the scenery, clearly not interested in bothering with Link's trifling questions.

Link reached the edge of the island and stopped. "Who are you?" he asked again.

The figure stretched as though he'd just awoken from a long slumber, tossed the instrument he'd been playing aside like garbage, and drew a beautiful sword from a sheath at his back. The figure turned.

Link gasped, the answers to his questions plainly answered in this person's face. The skin was the color of dark ash, but the features were unmistakable. He was the spitting image of Link. The tunic was a dark shade of green, but it was just like his. His hair was jet black but hung in identical waves. His eyes were red but had Link's shape. He had his clothing, his hair, his face, his build, his height, everything. He was a darker, sinister looking Link with a much better weapon.

"I'm you," said the man with a wicked smile.