Chapter 7

No time was wasted after I fully caught my bearings. A shadowed figure of a Goron challenged me, I did not disappoint it and rushed it head on. We locked hands and were stuck there for a minute neither gaining any ground on the other, until I finally dug my feet in and got some leverage, shoving the Goron back he vanished and I was quickly thrust into another challenge as Gorons curled into rocks came rolling out of thin air and came at me left and right. I had been dodging until I realized that was wasting my energy as they simply vanished and came at me from another direction after passing me. I found an opening and planted my feet firmly down and grabbed onto the next Goron coming at me, the force of this boulder hitting me shoved me back but I used this momentum to hurl him directly into another Goron which sent both flying in different directions, in turn knocking down every Goron. "Well, not such a hard challenge so far," I said, regretting it not but a second later. I turned to see a literal statue facing me.

To my utter shock the statue spoke, "To prove your self you must come at me, with everything you've got!" I stood there for a moment wondering how powerful a statue could really be, I mean most are made for decoration and so are just strong enough to stand up to the elements. I had a strange feeling about this statue however.

"Tell me, why must I come at a weak statue, unless, that statue is not merely a statue but a foe I could not possibly hope to defeat in a contest of pure strength," I continued with my theory, "would I be correct in assuming the third and final part of your test is to not only have strength but to know the limits of my strength so I do not push myself against a foe which will most likely not have mercy?" The statue stood down and smiled, then exploded in a flash of red light.

"Very good young warrior, you may yet have the potential to be of great help to our chosen Hero, for completing my test, I shall not only reward you with a new power but I will actually inform you more on the powers we have bestowed upon you so far, do you like the sound of that," the goddess asked me to which I could only respond by bowing gracefully. "Listen carefully then, Farore has given you the power to communicate even when you can not speak, I'm sure that is enough information for you to determine what she has given you," she paused but only for a short moment. "I, Din, goddess of power, will now bestow upon you two gifts, the first of which shall be immense strength so that you might defend all those you deem worthy of defending, and the second, is a power you have some choice in," she said pausing again. I decided to speak this time.

"What exactly do you mean by, 'I have some choice'," I asked with a befuddled look on my face.

The goddess let out a small laugh, "The next element you come into dangerous contact with, you shall acquire its pure power," she said laughing again and before I could even ask what that meant she had but made a simple motion and sent me back into Kakariko village, however I now felt useless as Link had already returned with Colin. I stood there in deep though for a moment, All the promises I made to people in Spira, by leaving that world entirely I broke them all... Well in that case, I hear by promise to myself and to the goddess who govern this world, along with any other gods or goddesses in Midna's twilight world, or any other world in this area that I will not break any of the promises or vows I make in this world.Meaning to keep my vow I instantly ran off towards Death Mountain. As I expected there was a Goron waiting for any human that showed up.

To my surprise however Link and Midna showed up at the bottom of the cliff just as the Goron began to charge me. "Chris, what are you doing, he'll shove you right off that cliff," Midna yelled but I held my ground and clasped my hands around the spinning mass of rock as it hit me. He managed to push me back about an inch before I proceeded to heave him over my head and toss him over the edge of the cliff.

"Not as heavy as I thought," I said laughing at how much my strength had increased, before that Goron would probably have flattened me like a pancake, unlike the weaker shadowed versions Din had sent upon me. "Shouldn't we get moving up the mountain, oh and by the way Midna, to your earlier request, I was simply tired, but I promise I won't tell anyone at least not until you tell them yourself," I said causing Link to look slightly curious but he dropped it when Midna gave him a look telling him to mind his own business.

The journey up the mountain wasn't that difficult, any Gorons that came at me were heaved high in the air and tossed aside like awkwardly heavy reed baskets. Link using the iron boots he had gotten from the mayor was able to catch the Gorons like the run-away goats in Ordon and heave them aside. A large volcanic rock nearly crushed us as we neared the Goron village but after that Link was able to knock over the Gorons using his iron boots and a new attack he had obviously learned in Ordon called the shield attack, the name was obvious as all he did was give his foe a prompt whack with his shield. We reached the Goron's "village" in no time, although it looked more like a small fighting rink with not much else but what I guessed was the entrance to the actual volcano since I could practically see steam, or smoke, I was unsure of which, billowing out of the door. As we entered a horde of Goron prepared to run us down but their elder stopped them and proceeded to challenge Link to a test of power.

It was kind of funny to watch Link sumo wrestle a man made of rock while wearing boots made of iron. I regretted picking the "seat" that I did because the Goron elder ended up getting knocked down right on top of me. For a moment I honestly thought I was going to be crushed but the elder was quick to get off and help me up. He did not wish to challenge me however as he said any friend of a man with such great power must be either very strong himself, or very brave. He allowed us entry to their mines where the next Fused Shadow was, but the Gorons wished us to save their patriarch. Something told me in order to get what we wanted we would need to do as they hoped. The first room was probably the worst room I later realized, and yet the best room for me as well. We had to cross a smoldering pit of molten lava with flaming geysers. Link broke down a wooden barrier and we continued a little farther and Midna popped up and looked around rather in awe.

In this state however she lost track of where she was going and was about to wander directly into a storm of flame caused by some kind of fan and who knows what else. "Midna, watch out you fool," I yelled leaping over her head and practically kicking her towards Link just before she even so much as touched the flame, I however was pulled by the natural force of gravity into the middle of the flames. Crossing my arms to attempt uselessly to block the heat I landed and then suddenly realized I was not being burned.

"Chris," Midna yelled out.

"Uh, shouldn't these flames kinda, you know, burn me," I asked causing Midna to lose her voice, "you know what, Link run through on my signal." I pointed my clawed glove directly at the source of the flame, I'll fight fire, with fire, I thought sending out a huge blast of flame and ordering Link to run across and then stopping to let the flames hit me again, and still they did not burn, and I simply walked out.

"What was that about," Midna said gawking at me, I merely shrugged acting like I hadn't the foggiest why it happened, but I knew that it was exactly why Din had given me that power. My new flame shooting power, which I discovered was even more powerful if I tried breathing flame instead came in handy now and again, as did the fact I was wearing magnetic armor. That fact was also a pain in my ass a few times as well, as it made it hard to walk on some of the odd magnet walls without doing a face plant. Regardless, it wasn't long before we discovered the key was in three shards that each of the elders in the dungeon had, the second elder told Link to take the heroes weapon in the next room, after talking to the guard however. Link and the guard had a good "talk" and the guard ended up with a scorched backside. The guard then told Link to take the weapon as long as he saved the patriarch. Link called me over and I followed. He opened the chest to find a bow and quiver full of arrows, and another strange weapon that seemed to take a liking to me as it forced itself into my hand the instant I saw it.

To my shock I had another flash of random memories that were not my own similar to the ones when I got my cloak. This new weapon had a handle that extended maybe about an inch past my hand with a curved blade attached, much like a very short sickle. My memories now told me otherwise though, somehow this weapon drew off my power and extended a chain that allowed the blade to slash very distant enemies, the more power I used the more distant an enemy I could hit. The rest of the dungeon was really simple, especially now that Link and I could hit distant things. I was trying to hurry Link to the end though, because I always loved boss battles. We did reach the end rather quickly too. The door unlocked and we rushed in.

We found a large dark figure chained up inside a circular room with pillars spaced out evenly about one quarter of the way towards the center of the room from the walls. The large figure which I guessed to be Darbus, the patriarch, did not seem happy to see us however, as he let out a bellowing roar and begun flaming to yank off his chains. Plainly obvious before he heated up however was the eye inside the gem on his forehead, after heating it began to glow brightly making his weak point stand out like a sore thumb. Link clearly saw it too as he took quick action to shoot it with his bow. The creature begun to stumble around blindly and I took notice that it had chains still attached to its feet. I quickly ran and grabbed hold of one and yanked hard as I held my ground. The creature took a tumble and Link slashed away at its forehead. As it got back up it turned to face me and heat up, I pulled out my new weapon and swung hard with my left arm, it extended and did exactly as I commanded and smashed hard the gem. Link then grabbed hold of the chain and threw on his iron boots sending Darbus down again, I smashed away at the gem now and Link came in with another leaping finishing blow just before it got back up.

In obvious pain the creature reared its head and clutched its forehead until it froze and something shot out of its forehead and it fell to the ground dark pieces breaking off and forming the fused shadow. The expulsion landed directly in my hand and I found it to be the gem with the eye inside. This eye much like the first stared at me, as though it was analyzing my very being. I sneered at the thing and crushed it, causing another heart container to land next to Link and more power to infuse itself into my armor. The creature reverted to Darbus as Midna popped up to grab her second Fused Shadow.

"Eee hee hee! Well done! Now we have two Fused Shadows... Hmm... You know, you two have been very helpful so far, so as a reward, I'll tell you an interesting story. Zant. That's the name of the King of Darkness who cast this pall of shadows over your world. He's very strong. Both of you would be nothing to him in your current state..." Midna finally paused and I considered her last remark. Then she continued, "But Zant will never be my King! I have nothing but scorn for his supposed strength. Not that your Zelda is much better... It still appalls me that this world of light is controlled by that princess. A carefree youth, a life of luxury... How does that teach duty?" Oh, and your so much better, you think yourself better then everyone so far... I thought as she paused again. She obviously thought her last statement to harsh as she seemed to regret it as she spoke one last time, "...But I guess I shouldn't begrudge her the circumstances of her life. She didn't choose it, after all. And I would never wish harm on her... No, as long as I can get my hands on the Fused Shadows, I'll be just fine. Well, just one more left... Shall we?" she finished with one of her giggles and waited for Link to grab his heart container and make sure Darbus was okay. She then warped us outside where the light spirit told us to head North to the lands guarded by Lanayru, which again as expected was also the name of the area. It also mentioned that was where one who Link seeks is.

Link then had a very inspiring conversation with Colin, even though Link, being Link, didn't actually converse, Colin finally realized Link's strength wasn't brute force, but courage. The shaman insured Link he would watch after the children until he could take them safely back home, which I guessed would probably not be for a long while at least.

Not long before our departure from Kakariko Link, Midna and myself had tie for a quick private discussion. "I can't believe this next spirit is the final light spirit, I mean this journey feels like it just started and already we're nearly done, something... doesn't feel right," I said feeling uneasy about the predicted length of the rest of this journey.

"Well after we free the last light spirit, we still need to get that last fused shadow too so we can defeat Zant," Midna said to which Link nodded.

"I know, but did you notice the last two creatures that held the fused shadows both had strange eyes that survived shortly after the battle until I crushed them," I said remembering the elusive plant eye and the hard gem eye of Darbus' rampaging evil form.

"What about them," Midna asked.

"It felt like they were staring at me, almost as if they were taking in my existence, like I should not have been there..."

"That's ridiculous, if you weren't supposed to be there then where were you supposed to be?" Midna said giving me a strange glance.

"I know, it's silly, but," I stopped and laughed, "I think I'm over reacting, and besides I can talk more about this once we free that last light spirit."

"Right, now..." Midna started to say but everything froze once again. Argh, now what, I thought rather frustrated.

"I have a way for you to keep up with the Hero while he rides his horse, search your pocket once you find some of the grass he uses to call his horse," Farore's voice echoed through my mind.

"... let's head for the last of the land covered in twilight," Midna finished her sentence like time had not stopped for even a fraction of a second for her at all, because it hadn't. That's going to take some getting used toI thought standing and heading for some of the horse grass to find out what Farore had given me.

If this chapter seems to rush through this part its because it does. It's mostly because I plan to write in much greater detail after the next temple so I'm trying to rush to that point, plus this part of the game does rather bore me XD. Haven't had any reviews in a while but oh well.