Warning! There's going to be a lot of exposition in this chapter, so if you were expecting a lot of action I apologize.
Chapter 58: Goron Prison
Link made his way into the mountain made of metal without too much difficulty as there was an entrance at the base. Though it was being constantly patrolled by Clockwork Policemen, Link managed to slip by unnoticed inside Tin-Kan. Once he was inside, Link removed himself from Tin-Kan's body and stored him behind a boulder. After that, Link made his way through dim-lit corridors and passages without trying to get spotted by patrolling Clockwork Policemen. Eventually, he found the Goron prison cells which were tight and narrow. But there was one cell that was bigger than the others at the far end, which Link investigated.
"Darak!" Link exclaimed, recognizing the Goron inside the large cell.
The Goron turned his head wearily and then he blinked rapidly. "Sworn Brother?"
"What are you doing here?" Link asked.
"Our Sworn Sister betrayed us," Darak explained. "She imprisoned me for being affiliated with the Twilight Wolves, whom she called terrorists, and forced my people to build this prison for her. Then later, a blue-haired sorceress and the Sheikah Leader attempted to set me free."
"You mean Lana and Impa?"
"Yes, but they were caught," Darak said shaking his head. "I'm not sure what happened to them, but the blue-haired girl left me this to give to you."
Through the bars, Darak handed Link a small rectangular item with several buttons on the outside and a pair of wheels with black stuff wrapped around them.
"It's a Recording Device," Darak said as Link looked at it with a baffled expression. "You press the button that says, 'play' over it to listen to the tape inside."
Scanning, Link found the button Darak was talking about and pressed it. The wheels inside turned as Lana's voice came from the device.
"Link, this is Lana. By the time you hear this recording, I will probably be dead. A few days after you left for Skyloft, several attacks started occurring throughout Hyrule. Naturally, Lana and I decided to investigate and we soon learned that the attacks were coming from Skyloft itself. So I created a flying machine called the Loftwing to take me and Lana up there, and what we found was horrifically terrible. It seemed that Ganon had captured Zelda and tortured her to the point where she was no longer living. Then he had Cia kill him and transfer his soul into Zelda's body thus turning her into his own personal puppet. Afterwards, he killed Cia as he had no more use for her and sought to control the world below.
"I blame myself for all of this, and regret getting you involved. You see, a long time ago, Cia and I…were once the same person. Cia was a powerful sorceress who lived in the Valley of Seers and watched the history of Hyrule unfold across the centuries without aging nor interfering with the events as they happened. She could also see into the future, and what she saw was so frightening that Cia could no longer bare to sit idly by. According to her vision, the great evil known as Ganondorf that was thought to have been defeated in the Time of Twilight would return and destroy Hyrule for good. So she sought to further the technology of Hyrule, hoping that the absence of magic might prevent Ganondorf's return and with the help of Gaetano, the Hyrulean King's brother, she created the technologically advanced Skyloft from the ruins of the old one.
"But much to her dismay, she still saw Ganondorf coming into this world and so she sought to summon the Triforce from the Sacred Realm to take possession of it before Ganondorf could. Yet as she brought Hyrule's most treasured relic into existence, Cia didn't possess all the necessary characteristics to wield it. These characteristics included Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Because of this, the Triforce split into three parts and though she obtained the Triforce of Power the other two left to their respective hosts who had yet to be born which were you, Link, and Zelda. Even then, Cia could not control the Triforce of Power as it costumed her soul and caused her to split into two. The good half of her manifested in me, while the other became the Cia that you met. Instead of using her newfound power to stop Ganondorf, Cia instead aided in his resurrection as he promised to bring her the soul of the one she secretly loved.
"Then after that, Ganondorf wormed his way into a position of power as Gaetano's advisor only to poison him a few months after Zelda was born and become the next Mayor. Cia had originally planned to kill Zelda as well, but Impa and I interfered. The rest you already know concerning Zelda being locked up in the Goddess Statue and Impa and I fleeing Skyloft, but I feel that I must clarify some things regarding your origin, Link. When Ganon came to power, he disbanded the Knights of Skyloft who protected the skies on the backs of Loftwing birds because Cia had told him that the legendary Hero of Infinite Possibilities would be born from this group.
"Fearing the Hero would ruin his plans, Ganon had all the well-known Knights of Skyloft eliminated including their Loftwings but a single female Knight managed to save her child by sending him down to the world below on a flying cradle. That child was you, Link, and you were subsequently found in Ikana Valley in Termina by the Romani Ranch family. But while you were being raised as a young farm hand, I was busy experimenting with gateways into alternate timelines which Zelda would later perfect in the form of her Infinity Gauntlet. During one such experiment, I managed to obtain the Master Sword and Hylian Shield from a timeline where the Hero perished and Hyrule was destroyed. Please don't meet the same fate as that Hero, Link, and save Skyloft from Ganondorf's evil for good."
The wheels stopped turning and there was an echoing silence throughout the caves except for the sound of heavy footsteps.
"It's the guards," Darak said. "They're coming back from their lunch-break."
"But I'm not leaving here without you," Link said urgently. "You're the only one who can help me find the Sage of the North Wind before Ghirahim and Zelda's Watchman do."
"Well, you don't have to look no further," Darak said as he stood up in the cell. "Because you're looking at him."
"Just as I thought."
Link and Darak looked down the corridor and saw Ghirahim walking steadily toward them with the Watchman by his side, who had bright yellow eyes shining underneath his bird-helmet, and an escort of Clockwork Policemen.
To be continued…