PLEASE SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Day 2 – 5:35 PM
Ikana Valley
Link, Homura, Miyako, and Tatl headed toward the canyon, as the Sun began to set overhead. Having 'time-locked' the events at Zora Cape and the nearby temple, they'd headed here, to the opposite side of Termina, though stopping to complete a few minor tasks along the way. Link pulled out of his enchanted subspace-storage bag the 'Garo Mask' he'd won off of the Gorman Brothers earlier. As they walked through the rocks and over old fences, they heard a voice from up above.
"Yee-hee-hee! What are you kids doing in a place like this?"
They looked up, spotting a strange hooded figure sitting on the edge of a short cliff overhead, holding a wooden stick.
"Ikana Hill beyond here is the place where spirits with troubles and lingering regrets wander" he or she said. "Even now, the spirits wander in search of one who can save them. It is unfortunate, but it is no place for those such as you…"
Link pulled the Garo Mask out again, donning it.
"Oh? …That is the mask of the leader of the ninjas who once spied on the hilltop castle. With that, you may be able to call out their spirits that even now are still wandering. Perhaps you may be able to save the souls that wander beyond here…"
An old, bare tree emerged from thin air next to the seated figure, who then vanished. Link used his Hookshot to pull himself up with the tree, while the girls used chakra-powered leaps to join him. They started moving down the next path, dodging a few falling boulders along the way, and soon entered the canyon proper. A river ran through the middle, and as Link – still wearing the Garo Mask – approached the water, a hooded figure suddenly appeared, the hood and the glowing white eyes within looking exactly like the hood-mask Link wore.
"Master!" the figure said. "You called! Wait…" Curved blades extended from within the figure's sleeves. "What are you?"
The ninja-ghost conjured a ring-wall of fire around himself and Link, keeping the girls out, and attacked the young hero. Link used his gilded blade to skillfully block and parry the enemy's swings, and then took advantage of a split-second opening to land a deep slash across the ninja-ghost's chest. The hooded spirit fell back, and the flames faded away.
"R-Regrettable… Although my rival, you were spectacular. I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom… To cross the valley of Ikana, aim at the river beasts with the arrowhead that freezes. Belief or disbelief is up to you. To die without leaving a corpse… That is the way of us Garo."
The Garo ninja vanished in a burst of green flame. Nearby, there was a comparatively small gap across the river, with two Octoroks lined up perfectly. Link used a pair of Ice Arrows to turn them into stepping stones, and he & the girls crossed to the other side. A series of Hookshot-able dead trees enable Link to ascend up to the top of the nearby cliff (the girls simply chakra-walked up the side), reaching a higher level of the valley. They made their way along the left wall, up a natural ramp, and at the top were attacked by another Garo Ninja. Link deflected its blade swings and countered with a stabbing thrust, knocking the hooded enemy back.
"Although my rival, you were spectacular. I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom… To revive the dried-up river on Ikana Hill, you must go to the spring water cave."
The ninja-ghost vanished, and the trio moved on. To the north was a cave, with the dried-up stream bed leading into it. In the cave was a mountain spring surrounded by a ring of rock pillars, currently dried up and blocked by a faint purplish mist. As the trio approached, a disembodied voice echoed.
"What business have you in Ikana Kingdom, land where only the dead roam?"
Up near the roof of the chamber, a ghost appeared, bearing an orange mustache and wielding a conductor's baton.
"This is no place for ones as full of life as you. Or do you wish to join the dead? If that is the case, then sleep gently to the melody of darkness that the great composer, Sharp, shall play, and join the ranks of the dead…"
A mysterious melody, low and haunting, began to play from all around. The three young warriors staggered, feeling a pain in their chest.
"This song…" Homura said through gritted teeth. "It's draining our life-force! Link! Play the melody that the other one taught you, quickly!"
Link nodded, pulling out his ocarina and playing the Song of Storms. The magic of the spell-song coursed through the area, striking Sharp's restless spirit.
"…N-No, it can't be. This song…"
Sharp's spirit vanished, as did the evil mist clouding the chamber. The spring in the center returned, water flowing up from the ground and out through the channel. Downstream, it turned the waterwheel attached to the lone house in the middle of the canyon, surrounded by mummy-like 'Gibdos'. The spinning wheel powered a giant speaker atop the roof, which began to play a loud, circus-like calliope tune. The mummies crowding the canyon moaned in distress, and retreated underground. Back in the mountain spring chamber, Sharp reappeared, but he now looked different, lighter.
"My dear brother Flat… Forgive your foolish brother who dreamt of the revival of the Royal Family… You children who do not fear the dead… With my brother's song, you have broken the curse that was placed upon me. We dead should not be lingering here in this land. It was all the work of the masked imp. If you truly do not fear the dead… I wish for you to go to the temple in this land and sever the root of the evil curse that torments us. I, the only one who knows the way into the temple, shall direct you to the King. He is in the ruins of Ikana Castle, waiting for one who can break the curse. …I have made my final request."
With that, Sharp vanished once more. The trio headed out of the cave, finding the area now free of the bandaged zombies. They approached the lone house with the speakers and waterwheel, now spotting a little girl, no older than six, inspecting the returned stream. However, upon seeing them, she turned and ran into the house, locking the door.
"My Pointer Spell is telling me something's in there…" Tatl said. "What'll we do?"
"…You three, stay in physical contact with me" Homura said. "Link, throw a bomb off to the side."
Curious, Link complied, pulling an explosive out of the subspace-storage Big Bomb Bag he carried. The bomb was thrown a fair distance away, where it exploded. A few seconds later, the house's door opened, and the little girl cautiously came out, heading down the steps to investigate the noise. Suddenly, she froze, along with everything else, as everything lost its color. Homura, with Miyako and Link hanging on to her sleeves and Tatl on Link's hat so that they were immune to her time-stop, headed into the house. She disengaged the time-stop, and they headed downstairs.
On one side of the room was a large white cabinet, and as they drew close to it, it rattled. Link moved a little closer, and suddenly the doors of the cabinet were thrown open from within. Out shambled a man, half-covered in mummy-wrappings, with a dead, glazed look in his eyes, with protruding lips and a voice that was only partly human. Homura and Miyako jumped back, summoning their weapons, but Link's heart guided him to do something else: he pulled out the ocarina of time and played the Song of Healing. The powerful magic of the spell-song enveloped the mummy-man. Behind them, tiny feet hurried down the steps, their owner arriving just in time to see a flash of light envelop the half-mummy.
When it faded, a mummy mask clattered to the floor, landing at the feet of a man in green slacks and a white coat, looking at his own body with surprise. He looked around.
"What… have I been doing all this time?" he wondered. "Why am I down here?"
"D… DADDYYYY!-!-!"
The man looked up in time to see the little girl come running into his arms, clinging to him for dear life as she cried.
"Pamela? What's… What's wrong?"
"You were cursed" Homura spoke up, getting the man's attention. "You had been partially turned into one of those mummy-things that were wandering around outside. Link's spell-song healed you and broke the curse."
The man was silent with horror as it sank in – why his memories were blurred, why he was in the basement, why he remembered the inside of a closet, why his little girl was crying her eyes out and clinging to him. He tightened his embrace of his daughter, holding her close. As this was happening, Link quietly grabbed and stowed the Gibdo Mask, and he & the girls made their exit.
Tatl's spell now led them to an old well atop a nearby hill. They headed down into the tunnels and, after a series of item trades with local Gibdos which the author finds entirely too silly to elaborate on, they came into a circular chamber with a shaft of sunlight from directly ahead, and four unlit torches. Homura used a basic Fire spell to light the torches, and a large treasure chest appeared to the side. Link opened it, and pulled out a shield with a reflective face… as well as an actual face design, locked in an expression of shocked horror.
"O…kay…" Link said, leaning back a little from the shield-face as he held it. "The Mirror Shield in my last adventure didn't look like this… Well, whatever."
Link walked into the beam of sunlight, and angled his new Mirror Shield to reflect light into the Sun motif on the side wall. A ladder magically appeared nearby, leading up to a path blocked by a large stone block with the same Sun image on it; again, the Mirror Shield was put to the work, the reflective light triggering the stone block's magic and making it vanish, clearing the way. The trio moved up the ladder and down the path.
-Break-
Ikana Castle
Day 2 – 5:58 PM
The high ladder at the end of the catacombs brought the group up inside the courtyard of the ancient castle. They went around and entered the castle, and the first room inside was populated by a quartet of ReDeads. Miyako immediately blasted one with an ice spell that froze it solid, allowing her to shatter it with her hammer. The other three reanimates turned to face her, and one of them took a fireball to the face from Homura, taking it out. Link used a jumping strike to decapitate the third ReDead, and a series of slashes to disassemble the fourth. With the area clear, he looked around and soon spotted a diamond-shaped 'eye switch' frozen in ice up on the room's northwest pillar. A single Fire Arrow melted the ice and hit the switch, and the north door unlocked.
The next room had a checker-pattern floor, with a barred door across the room, a pillar with a switch on top halfway across, and a glowing-hot 'ceiling' overhead that would obviously move down to crush them if they tried to cross. Link, Tatl, and Miyako watched as Homura 'flickered', reappearing atop the pillar and pressing the switch, unlocking the far door. She vanished again, and the other three again found themselves in a grayscale world as she grabbed hold of them, pulling them across to the door. She unfroze time, the heated pseudo-ceiling pressing down behind them, and they went through the door.
In the next room, Skulltulas and spike-mines hung from the ceiling, over what looked to be a bottomless pit with a few small scattered platforms. However, a glimpse of floating dust clued Link in, and he pulled out his Lens of Truth, spotting an invisible floating platform to the left. He hopped across, hitting a switch in the corner of the room and unlocking the next door. He and the girls hopped across, using a few magic blasts to clear Skulltulas out, and soon reached the door. The next room had a pair of 'Blue Bubbles' – huge floating skulls with bat wings, surrounded by blue flames. Link used a few arrows to take them down, and the group headed up the stairs and onto the roof. Once on the roof, they were attacked by another Garo Ninja. As usual, Link parried its strikes and countered with a stab.
"Although my rival, you were spectacular. I shall take my bow by opening my heart and revealing my wisdom… To counter the rage of the king of Ikana Castle, burn away that which disrupts the light, and shine the sacred rays on the king."
The Garo ninja vanished. The group climbed up onto the ledge of the castle roof, Link using his arrows to take out a pair of Guays that tried to fly at them. Miyako hopped across pillars and stepped on a switch, moving a huge stone block from atop a hole in the southern roof. They then hopped down and reentered the castle. This time, Link melted and hit the switch on the southeast pillar, unlocking the south door. In the next room, a huge skeletal hand skittered across the floor at the group. Link brought up his Mirror Shield to block its tackle, bouncing it back, and as he moved forward he inadvertently stepped into the shaft of sunlight, bouncing the light off the shield and at the Floor-Master, which burst into flame and crumbled into ashes. He then shined it on the Sun-block up ahead, and then used the Mirror-Shield light to kill a quartet of ReDeads behind the block, allowing the group to move through the next door.
Once they entered the next room, the doors locked. The group looked around, noticing the four warp tiles in the room's corners, and sure enough a Wizzrobe emerged from one of them, but this time with a staff charged with Fire-type magic. He did his weird little spinning dance, launched a fireball that forced the young heroes to scatter, and then vanished into the warp tile. Soon, he reappeared from another title, but as he was charging his attack Link rushed in and swung his Gilded Sword, the enchanted blade dealing significant damage to the evil creature. The Wizzrobe warped away again, reappearing across the room and sending out illusory duplicates; Homura's crossbow bolt went through one, and she barely dodged the real Wizzrobe's blast from behind her. When the dark-magic being appeared again, however, he was struck by an Ice Arrow from Link, freezing him in place just long enough to Miyako to get in close and hit him in the face with her hammer. This did enough damage to finish him off, and the Wizzrobe vanished in a burst of green flames, the doors unlocking.
In the next room, a barrage of Fire-type Sagitta Magica from Homura dealt with the waiting ReDeads, and the group took the stairs up to the roof. On the roof, they rounded a corner and, guided by Tatl's pointer spell, were led to a cracked section of the roof. Link dropped a bomb on it, but that wasn't enough, so Homura pulled out a more powerful, 'modern' explosive, and that did the trick. They jumped down the hole, landing in the castle's entrance chamber; the Sun was almost set, but there was still enough light shining down through the new hole in the roof to redirect at the Sun-mark block straight ahead. The group hurried down the new pathway, entering what looked to be an empty throne room. As they got halfway across the room, the door behind them locked, and a deep voice came from nowhere.
"Oh, insolent ones who have brought the unthinkable into a land as dark as Ikana…"
The windows allowing sunlight in were blocked by thick curtains, plunging the room into darkness.
"My servants have fallen namelessly before the light that guides you. However…"
The trio's attention was drawn back to the throne, which now had a skeletal being seated in it, wearing a headpiece and the old, faded, tattered remnant of a royal robe. Flanking the throne were two skeletal warriors.
"The darkness in which my servants live is, after all, fleeting" the King of Ikana Castle said. "You shall see with your own eyes… just what kind of thing true darkness really is."
The two Stalfos Warriors, with swords and shields in hand, charged. Link brought his shield up to block the taller one's downward sword swing, while the shorter one staggered back after using its shield to block Miyako's hammer. Homura leapt over the shorter one's shield and dealt a magic-powered punch that knocked it back, scattering its component bones, but they quickly began to pull themselves together. Link managed to de-limb the taller Stalfos Warrior, but the leg quickly rejoined with the rest of the body.
Remembering the latest Garo Ninja's words, Homura fired a pair of Fire-magic bolts at the curtains, burning them away and letting the orange light of the setting Sun shine in. Link rolled under a horizontal swing of the taller Stalfos' blade, and countered with a Spin Attack that broke it apart. He then hurried into one of the shafts of light and reflected it at the fallen Stalfos, which burst into bluish flames and vanished. Miyako smashed the other one apart again, and Link repeated the process. Seeing his lackeys dispatched so easily, the Ikana King got to his feet, drawing a huge blade and a square-shaped shield. He growled, and then charged at Link.
Homura and Miyako stepped back as Link engaged the Ikana King in a duel. The young hero's small size and speed enabled him to get around the King's defenses and land a few solid blows, before he then brought his shield up to block a swing of the large foe's blade that knocked him back a few feet. Link rushed back in, ducking under another swing and then landing a stabbing blow, knocking the Ikana King back. He followed with a barrage of strikes, finishing with a heavy blow that scattered the King's parts. Quickly, Link ran into one of the shafts of ever-fading sunlight, and reflected the light into the pile of animated bones. They quickly burned away, leaving the sword and shield behind.
As Link and the girls dusted themselves off, however, they got a surprise, as one of the lackey's skull-heads floated up off the ground, glaring down at them. Suddenly, the other came flying in, shoving the first one aside.
"You're blocking me!" it said. "Get out of my way! I can still get him!"
"Blocking you?-!" the other one snapped. "The reason they beat us is because you were so feeble! Don't blame this on me!"
"What?-! Just try saying that again!"
"ENOUGH!-!"
The two floating lackey skulls went silent as a third floating skull – that of the Ikana King – came closer.
"Haven't you two begun to understand?" he asked. "Our kingdom being in this state… Isn't it because of petty little battles like this?" He turned to face Link's group. "Believing in your friends and embracing that belief by forgiving failure… These feelings have vanished from our hearts. It all happened after somebody thrust open the doors of that stone tower. You who would bring light into darkness, I am Igos du Ikana, last King of the Ikana Kingdom. The spell that had been cast upon us was broken by that light which you carry. To return true light to this land, you must seal the doors of Stone Tower, where the winds of darkness blow through. But the tower is a nigh-impenetrable stronghold; hundreds of my kingdom's soldiers would not be able to topple it. It is far too reckless for one to take on such a challenge. And so… I grant to you a soldier who has no heart. One who will not falter in the darkness. Remember this song, the Elegy of Emptiness…"
The floating skull moved about, resonating and letting out a progression of low notes, a solemn melody. Link played the song on his ocarina, and directly in front of him appeared a statue of himself.
"This soldier who has no heart is your twin image – a shell of yourself that you will shed when your song commands it."
With that, the King and his underlings vanished from sight.
"On my kingdom… shine the light of justice…"
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: the Stone Tower Temple