Exams suck.
I recommend 11-22-63, a book by Stephen King, check it out.
Please enjoy, and review!
Ch.12.
Link cut a bit of brush away from the doorway to the nearest structure, and entered. He found that this was the only shack in the surroundings, the other "shacks" he'd seen were actually walls.
He stepped forward, and squished his boot into something, and felt a crawling feeling race across his foot. He looked to the floor, and found hundreds of fist-sized spiders racing across the floor…towards Link. He bolted out of the structure, flinging the spiders off his boot as he went. He looked back, and to the ground, and saw no spiders.
He had faced many a spider in his days, but never that many at once. He shivered lightly. He decided to go back there if he had to, but unless it was absolutely necessary, there was no chance.
He looked around, and found that unless he were to break the walls down, he couldn't go anywhere. He inevitably delayed the search of the shack for a minute while he mulled his options over, and realized that if this was bad, the Temple of Courage was going to be awful. He steeled himself, and decided to go over to it search through it. He groaned as he walked near it. He prepared to step in when the brush above his head caught fire from his torch. He pulled the brush out and batted the fire out, an idea forming in his head. He took his torch, and tossed it into the shack.
He didn't think about the result of his action. The spiders that weren't burned scuttled out of the shack, and headed to the edge of the brush. Link stepped back even further when a few spiders headed near him, but skewed off away. He waited a minute or so, grabbing a new torch as he did, and then ran into the shack, new torch in hand. He peaked in, and saw a smoldering floor, but no spiders. He searched it over, and found an iron ladder in the corner of the shack, which was blackened on the bottom rung. Link looked up, and saw a weak roof, made out of woven moss and branches. He lifted his torch to the roof, and it lit quickly. He exited the shack while the fire burned and the embers fell to the floor. When it cleared, he re-entered the shack, and inspected the empty space where the roof was. It was clear, so he went ahead and climbed the ladder, his gloves protecting his skin from the now cooling iron.
After an extraordinarily long climb, he finally he hoisted himself onto the new floor, and found himself in a stone hallway. He walked down it, and through the door at the other end.
He was in a large cave-like room, twenty or so meters high, and roundish, probably half of the height in its width. The thing that made him curious, though, was the large sphere in the center of the room. It was suspended by what appeared to be spiders thread. It was strung to the walls from both Link's left and right, and the ceiling dangled an attaching thread down as well. To Link's left and right there were doors, and parallel to him, on the other side of the room was another door. He stepped forward onto the mossy stone, and inspected the ground below the sphere. It was simple stone, with some overgrown moss on it. He stamped his foot down hard, and heard a strange sound coming from below the floor.
He got onto his stomach, and pulled his shield from his back. He knocked against the floor with it, and placed his ear against the stone. He knocked again, and the sound still echoed from beneath the floor.
"Hang on," he muttered, He knocked again, and the echoing rang out from below. "If that is echoing, this must be hollow," He said, and stood up, placing his shield on his back. He looked up to the sphere. It looked of considerably large weight, so maybe…If he could just cut the thread, he could drop the sphere, and it might bust through into the area below…
He looked back to the thread. It would be hard to cut, if he could even try. The Thread appeared to go into the wall, so he could possibly go into the rooms and try and find the thread…He turned, and headed to the room left of his entrance.
He pulled the door open, and his instincts told him to duck behind the door, and duck behind the door he did.
A ball of green bubbly acid spewed past him and landed into the ground behind him, fizzling on the stone, and creating a small indent in the floor. Link gulped, and peeked around the side to get a look on his attacker.
It was a spider, freakishly large, about two thirds a meter across and twenty kilograms on Link's estimate. It was gray, with brown fur lining the chinks in its armor-like skin. It hissed, and spat out another glob of acid towards Link. This glob hit the door, and Link stepped back. The center of the door melted under the effects of the acid, and Link sidestepped another blast that went right through the gaping hole in the door. He gathered his nerves, and ran into the room.
The spider spat at him, and he jumped over the flying glob, and landed a meter from the spider. He pulled his sword from his back, and jumped over the spider, and before it turned, received a blade to its innards.
He withdrew the blade of his sword and pulled a cloth from his belt. He wiped the blood and bits off of the blade, and stuck it in his scabbard. He looked around, now that he had the chance, and saw a staircase to his entrances left. There was nothing else but a column towards the door, He climbed up the stairs, and arrived at the second floor. He figured he would be seeing the thread, which he did. It was connected to a large metal column, which drove in the ground far enough to make the column from the lower floor. He walked over to the thread, and looked over it. It trailed along through the wall, and into the room with the sphere, where it would hold the sphere up. He pulled his sword out, and chopped it down hard on the thread, only causing his muscles to tense. He almost dropped his sword in astonishment. The thread must be of some adapted form of spider, because this was nothing typical, not even of a skulltula. He tried cutting it again, and failed.
He spent the next few minutes hacking away at the Thread, but his efforts were in vain. He finally gave in, resigning his effort, and sheathed his sword. He sat down next to the column, and stared at the wall adjacent to him. His eyes flickered for a second, and he closed them. His head lay back on the stone for a minute, his mind figuring this out, while he regained his energy.
Unknown to him, a small creature with the shape of a lizard loomed in the darkness above. The creature crawled down the wall away from their ceiling perch, and sat silently, contemplating Link's movements, which were not existent, save for the moving of his chest. The creature smiled, baring its fangs, and stretched its short stubby legs. It began to twist, and disfigure, as its body grew to Link's size. It flexed its lean muscles as it became used to its present form, and approached Link. It kneeled over, and prepared to sink its teeth into Link's throat, when Link's left hand flew, up, his wrist flicking the hidden blade directly into the creature's skull, straight through its eye. It screeched and flung itself backwards, landing on the ground as it began to morph back into its small form. Link locked the blade back into place on his wrist, and pulled his rifle from his back as the creature began to scuttle towards the wall. He quickly loaded the weapon as the creature latched itself onto the wall, and began to climb. He rested the butt of the rifle against his shoulder and took aim, following the creature up the wall, and stopped his sights a distance away from the creature, but in its direct path.
He pulled the trigger to the rifle, and it kicked back as the small explosion occurred inside the rifle, propelling the small bullet out the barrel, and through the air, spiraling towards the creature, when it stopped, and leapt off the wall, dodging the bullet entirely.
It fell through the air, and instead of splattering on the ground, it simply raced to its feet and ran away from Link down the stairs.
Link followed it, balancing running and putting his rifle on his back as he bounded down the stairs. He ran around the column and through the door, which was hanging open slightly. He flung it open, and looked around, trying to find the creature. He couldn't see anything, until the door adjacent to him opened and shut within a second. He barely caught a flash of the creature moving through the doorway, but he didn't pause.
He ran across the room, and flung the door open, not remembering what happened in the previous room. He had to fling himself sideways in the split-second that he remembered the acidic spider, and a spread of spikes flew into the door, where he would have been.
He rolled over on his shoulder, and pulled his sword out as he stood. In front of him was not the creature that tried to assassinate him, but an armored dynalfos. It pivoted towards Link, slinging its tail forward, and sending another volley of spikes in his direction. He sidestepped the spikes, and noticed the dynalfos' tail was capped with a steel mace head adorned with spikes, some of which were missing, having been slung at Link.
He pulled his shield from his back, and it raised its arm, which had a large gauntlet built to be a multi-use shield. It spun a mid-size dagger into its hand, and clutched it tight.
It charged after him, and he leapt forward, surging his blade forward. Their blades clashed, and Link slipped his sword over the dynalfos' dagger, and into its torso. His blade pushed the dynalfos back, and it stumbled for a second, which is all Link needed to thrust his blade into a chink in the waist of its armor. His blade sunk in, and he yanked it out as the monster fell to the ground, dead.
He looked around the room. It was quite identical to the room on the other side of the sphere room. He climbed up its stairs, and found the shape-shifting creature waiting for him.
It stood at his height. It wasn't wearing any armor, just a brown hood that concealed its face, and a leather tunic that covered its torso and legs. Its forearms, hands, and feet were exposed, leaving Link to see its mottled grey-green skin. Its feet were webbed, and its hands held onto a steel short sword. It hissed, and flipped its hood back, revealing its face, which was the kind of face Link would imagine a humanoid lizard to have. Its head was bald, covered in scale-like skin, like the rest of its body, and some of its teeth crept out of its mouth, pressing against the sides of its snout. Its left eye was missing, replaced by an eye patch, and Link's wandering gaze found a suspicious looking acid-green ball on the floor a few meters away. It hissed loudly at Link.
He nearly jumped at its next action.
"You took my eye!" It snarled loudly, and Link could tell it was male. You tricked me! You wanted me to think you were asleep! Damn You!"
Link gulped as it started walking towards him, spinning his short sword, and Link drew his sword from its scabbard.
The creature then changed its gait, and, as Link could tell its next move, he brought his blade up, just as the creature swung his blade forward. Their swords clashed, and Link pushed down on the creatures blade, and began to gain ground when the creature fell backwards, sliding to his left to avoid Link's oncoming blade.
It quickly slashed at Link while he was stumbling, and barely glanced Link's shield. Link turned, up righting himself, and slashed towards the creature. It hopped backwards, and thrust it's blade at Link. Link blocked the attack with his shield, and the creature began to beat down on Link, forcing him back, and tiring Link's shield arm.
Link turned his head as the creature launched another blow, and saw the rail behind him. He had to get away from the creature before he was pinned against the rail. Link blocked another blow from the creature, and spun his left arm forward while the creature prepared for another strike. Link' sword slashed directly underneath the creature's, and cut his side open, spilling blood on the ground, and causing the creature to keel over.
Link took his chance, and struck his blade at the creature's neck. He heard a satisfying thud as his blade tore through the flesh of his neck. The creatures head rolled, and his body fell limp to the floor.
Link wiped his blade on the creature's hood, and sheathed it, sliding it easily into its scabbard. He looked around, and saw a replica of the other room, save for the corpse. He found a big chest with a dagger inside. A pair of boots were strewn near it, and a pair of gloves were sitting under the dagger. He figured that the creature hadn't finished putting its armor on when Link arrived. He found nothing else inside the chest so he walked over to the thread. It wasn't any different than the other thread, and he didn't even bother trying to cut it. He thought for a second, and blinked, looking over to his left. He caught a glint of something on the other side of the column.
He walked over, and found a small wooden chest with cheap iron framing its sides. He kneeled down and inspected the lock, and saw it was quite shabby. He stood, and kicked it hard, busting it open. He opened it up, finding a small glass bottle with a blue flame sitting inside. Link held the bottle away from him, and uncorked it.
The flame shot out of the bottles opening, and away from Link. It flew over the massive thread, and the flame stopped, and caught onto the thread, spreading wildly.
Link dropped the bottle as the flame burned away the thread, and it shattered, the rest of the flame spreading around his feet. He dove away, rolling over his shoulder and looked over as the last of the thread burned to wisps of string.
Link walked over to the hole in the wall where the thread went through and looked into the sphere room.
The thread had burned all the way to the sphere, and it now dangled from the thread adjacent to Link, and the thread connected to the ceiling.
He went ahead and jumped out of the hole, landing a few meters below with a smooth roll. He ran over to the other side of the room, and entered that room. He climbed up the stairs in a hurry, and searched the column on all sides, but found nothing.
"Damn," he muttered, and kicked the column, succeeding only in stubbing his toe. "Damn."
He walked back down the stairs, and to the sphere room. He glanced over to the door to his left, which he assumed was the way to the ceiling thread. He pushed through the door and found himself in a room identical to the previous rooms. Nothing was there waiting to kill him there, though. He climbed up the stairs, which were leading him even further up than before. He found himself in a large cavern, with one door each on the left and right side of the cavern, one of which had a lock inside of the door.
There wasn't an exit to the spherical room, but adjacent to the area where it would have been was a door with a large lock inside of the door. Link walked toward the door to his left, and opened it easily.
The room he was now in was a large dome. The sides of the dome were embedded with stairs that lead near the top of the dome, where a set of bars hung on the ceiling, allowing access to the platform hanging by chains hooked to the ceiling. He walked to the stairs, and heard a 'click' as his foot landed on the first step.
A stone panel fell in front of the door he had come through, and it melded into the doorway, sealing it off. He heard the clacking sounds of gates opening, and he looked around, but found none. He then heard a pouring sound, and his eyes shot to the floor. The floor was parting, revealing a pool of acid-green liquid. The walls of the pool were lined with the gates Link heard opening, and they were spewing out acid. Link stepped a few stairs up, and estimated from the pouring speed that he had about a minute till the pool rose to the height of the ceiling platform.
He started jogging up the stairs, away from the pool, when about fifteen or so stairs up he heard another 'click' from the step, and the pool began to rumble.
He stopped jogging, and looked down to the pool, which was only at the bottom step. It rumbled for a few seconds, and a monstrous moth shot from the pool.
It reared its head back and spat a glob of acid towards Link. He dodged out of the way, and started running up the stairs, and away from the rising pool. The moth fired another glob of acid this time not towards Link, but in front of him, to the stairs.
The acid plastered itself to the stairs and they began to dissolve. Link leapt over the gap, and continued running.
The next blast hit directly in front of him, and he stopped quickly, his momentum almost carrying him into the acid. He stepped back, and leapt over the puddle, and kept running.
The next blast was followed up almost immediately by another one which created a gap too long for Link to cross. He stopped at the puddle, and ducked as the moth fired a glob towards him. It flew into the wall behind him, and he shielded his face with his arm as it splattered. He shook the driblets off before they ate his arm, and looked for something he could use to get across. An idea formed in his head as he noticed the short height of each step.
He pulled his clawshot from his belt, and fired it across the way from him, the chain carrying its load upward to the stairs. It latched on firmly, and Link was yanked through the air. He used his other hand to grab hold of the stair, and he pulled himself up. He unhooked his claw from the stair, and hooked the gauntlet on his belt.
He started running up the stairs again, and reached the ceiling after dodging a few more globs of acid. He didn't stop to think when he reached the last stair, he just leapt off of the step, latching his hands onto the bars attached to the ceiling.
He climbed to the platform quickly, and jumped to it, and the platform rattled and shook as it absorbed his landing.
He steadied himself, and looked to the ceiling. A hole was opened up, leading Link to another room. He tried jumping to grab hold of the ledge, but his fingers fell short by a few inches. He looked carefully, and saw a grate embedded in the ceiling. He pulled his clawshot out, and fired it up to the ceiling. It latched on, and Link soared up, stopping a little bit from the ceiling. He shifted his weight a little as he looked around. He saw himself to be in a small circular room.
He swung his body a little bit, and unhooked the clawshot from the grate after he built up a bit of momentum.
His body carried itself onto the floor of the room, and Link looked for a switch of sorts to shut the hole up. He found a small button on the wall near a frail looking door. A stone slid into place on the floor, and it sealed itself into the hole, closing the room off. Link went to open the door, when the wall across from him rumbled slightly. The wall began to crumble, and revealed a small wooden chest like the one he had found the blue fire in.
He walked over to the chest, and kicked it hard, busting the lock. He cracked it opened, and lifted the lid back, revealing a key.
He pocketed the key, and opened the door up. He failed to check in front of him, and found himself falling forwards, and flailing to the ground.
He landed hard on his right shoulder, the impact jarring him greatly. He shifted a little, and probed his shoulder. It seemed out of place.
"Damn," Link muttered, as he used his other arm to push himself up. He looked around, and found himself in the room he had been in prior to the acid room. He looked over his hurt shoulder, and saw that the door to that room was holding tight, and not dissolving.
He walked to the room to his left, and inserted the key, finding it wouldn't budge the lock. He wrinkled his nose, and headed over to the door adjacent to where he fell, and inserted the key into the door, twisting it slightly. He pushed the door open, and found an eerily quiet dome room. The room was illuminated by few torches that hung up on the walls, which cast small firelight onto the soft grass which carpeted the room's floor.
He walked forward and looked around, the scent of burning wood and sweet grass filling his nose. Bits of the floor were cast in lightless shadows, and as Link neared the center of the room, the flames dancing upon the torches began flicker lightly, and soon, the light was all gone save for the torch hanging above the door he entered from. Link looked around, his left hand creeping towards his sword. He stood in the center of the room for a moment.
The darkness seemed to whisper to him, the tendrils of his shadows rising from the ground and filling his head with fright. He shifted uncomfortably on the grass, and looked over his shoulder to the door.
He advanced towards the door, turning around, and withdrawing his hand from the hilt of his sword. He placed his hands on the door, and went to push the door open. It held in place, despite him unlocking it. He took a sharp breath, and whipped around, to find his shadow crawling from the ground, stretching to the sky, taking eerily real shapes. He placed his hand on his swords hilt again, and looked on as the shadows formed into an identical figure of Link, only like the form he saw in the Temple of Power.
Link drew his sword, and the Shadow Link followed the action, drawing his own blade, which was identical to Link's. Link stepped forward, and the Shadow Link copied his actions again, placing them only a sword swing away from each other.
Link tested the Shadow Link, moving his arm up, slightly, and the Shadow Link did the exact same movements, even copying the slight tremble that was ripping through his arm.
Link put up his guard, and advanced half a step, before feinting left and slashing to the right. His blade connected with the Shadow Link's, and he stepped back, before sending out a flurry of strikes that would only be mirrored by the strange foe.
He circled around the room, continuously looking for ways to slip past the impenetrable defense of his enemy, and began to tire, which, to his dismay, was a plot he found out too late.
The Shadow Link changed his gait bolt-like, and had Link not noticed the slight change, the Shadow Link's sword would have run him through. Link stepped back, bringing his sword up to deflect the Shadow Link's next unexpected blow, which sought Link's neck.
The Shadow Link flashed his blade expertly, making any opportunity of Link's now often gaps in his defense. A small slice here or there in his arm or leg left Link sore within a few minutes, and he began to retreat from his foe, desperately trying to think of some way to fight him off.
Link was about to lose in a battle of locked blades when he remembered his hidden blades. He pushed his foot back into the grass, helping support his aching right shoulder, and pushed hard against the Shadow Link, only causing the Shadow Link to push harder, and forcing Link to bend back to push the Shadow Link's blade away.
Link then let his foot slide from underneath of him, and the Shadow Link fell forward, onto Link's hidden blade, which slide around his gut and pulled out his back, leaving a three inch gash wrapped around the right side of his body. Link locked the hidden blade into place quickly, before the Shadow Link collapsed, and thrust his sword into the Shadow Link's back, which sunk into the grass below, impaling Link's foe completely.
The Shadow Link began to drip a black blood onto the grass, which evaporated into normal shadow as it touched the pure object. The body around Link's blade began to evaporate too, and after a few seconds, the Shadow Link had disappeared, leaving no traces of his exist save for Link's wounds.
Link stepped back, and the room began to lighten, as the torches re-lit. Link grimaced, and turned to leaving when the grass at the center of the room began to push away from itself, creating a hole in the center of the room. Link peered into it, and found a chest slightly bigger than the one he found the keys in. He judged it to be of the same binding strength, so he merely kicked it, which broke open its locks. He lifted its lid, and found a small rod with a bit of heft to it. It was encased with ruby and gold, and its pummel was a dim red sphere. He swung it experimentally, and the top of the rod sprang open, revealing an extension to the rod which held a ruby opening, which held a small flame that was reaching for the world outside of the rods interior.
He swung the rod again, and the flame shot from the rod, twirling around him and flowing freely, but also scorching the ground around him. He noticed the sphere that made up the pommel was glowing furiously, small flames fighting within. He swung it again, and the flame stopped its spinning and snapped into a straight line, flying directly into the wall. He wielded the rod for a few minutes, getting the feel of it, before figuring out that clasping his hand on the pommel would extinguish its flame and close the rod up into a smaller form, which he then placed on his belt.
He moved to kick the chest back into the hole before seeing a small glass bottle inside. He reached down and picked up, seeing a red potion inside. He uncorked the bottle, and gulped down its contents. Within moments, his wounds had healed and his should clicked painfully into place.
Link kicked the chest back into the hole from whence it came, and turned back to the door. He tried pushing it open again, and this time, succeeded.
He headed to his left, down the stairs, and back to the sphere room. He walked to his right, to the room with the thread that he couldn't burn.
He pushed through the damaged door and climbed the stairs and pulled the Fire Rod from his belt as he neared the undamaged thread. He whipped it lightly, and the rod extended, shooting a small gust of flame forward.
He whipped more heavily next, and the flame followed his thought; to the thread. It whipped around the thread, spinning around it and engulfing it in a blazing inferno.
Before long the thread was gone, and as the last bit burned away from the sphere, he saw a mall object fall from the thread, and onto the floor.
He closed the rod and hooked it back on his belt, and jumped through the hole, rolling on his healed shoulder as he landed. He walked over to the object. He bent over and scooped it up, inspecting it in his gloved hand.
It was a key, which he assumed was for the unlocked door that lay in his future. He looked up to the final thread with a confident glare, and headed for the locked door.
He pushed through the door to his left and climbed the stairs hurriedly, and rushed to the locked door. He pushed the key in, and was relieved to find that it fit. He twisted it, and pushed the door open, and found himself at the foot of a winding staircase. He walked up the stairs, a sense of déjà vu in head, and after the long flight of stairs he found another door at the direct top.
He pushed through it, and saw the last thread going through the floor, connecting with the ceiling of the dome room he was in. He walked forward, pulling the Fire Rod from his belt again, and extended it. He raised his arm as he walked to it, and flung his arm forward, shooting the flame forward.
It wrapped around the thread, and started eating away at it. The Thread burned away, and he could hear the Sphere falling down, and smashing the floor to bits, falling to wherever was below. He peered into the hole that was formed, and saw nothing but black in the hole.
He looked up, and saw a small grate that was concealed by the thread. He pulled out his clawshot, and fired it onto the grate. He pulled over to it, and lowered himself down with the chain, until he was hanging a small distance above the pit that the sphere broke through. He looked up, and found that his chain was extended to its full length.
He went to swing his legs and create momentum when the grate he was hooked to began to shift under the weight it was bearing. He felt the shift, and before he could try to swing forward, the grate ripped from its ceiling, and Link fell into the pit.
He landed in the dark roughly, fortunately, a bedding of web was underneath of him. He coiled the chain back into the clawshot, and slid the grate off of himself.
He lifted himself to his feet, and hooked his clawshot onto his belt. He looked around, and strangely, the room was dimly illuminated by the green moss that clung to the walls of the room.
Something was missing.
"Where in Din…" His voice drifted off as he saw that the sphere had disappeared.
He looked through the room, not finding anything, and he glanced to the ceiling, steeling himself for what he may see.
Clinging to the ceiling was the sphere, which had shed its metallic skin to reveal the skin of a massive Gohma. It had unfurled its many legs and was using them to crawl along the ceiling.
Link itched his hand to his sword, and took a deep breath as he drew it slowly.
He held his sword aloft as he waited for the Gohma to move.
It continued to crawl for a while, giving Link time to look for a weakness. The only thing he could find was a small chink in the armor on its back where the Gohma's eye lay.
Link grew tired after waiting, and sheathed his sword. He pulled his rifle from his back, and loaded it, keeping one eye on the Gohma. It stayed still mostly, and Link hoisted the butt of the rifle on his shoulder. He aimed his shot to the eye of the Gohma, and placed his finger on the trigger. He held his breath, and kept the rifle steady, then squeezed his finger.
The sequence of explosions rang out inside the gun, and the bullet spewed out and toward the Gohma.
It struck dead on, sinking straight through, and causing the Gohma to writhe momentarily, wailing as it fell from the ceiling, onto its back.
Link ran across the room to the Gohma, hooking the rifle on his back and drawing his sword as he ran.
The Gohma squirmed and struggled to flop over, and managed to flip Link end over end with one of its legs. He landed hard on his back. He pushed himself to his feet, dodging the Gohma's legs this time, and slashed his sword towards the nearest leg. It fell right off when the blade contacted it, the slice clean and easy.
Link grabbed ahold of the stump of the leg with his free arm, and leapt off of it onto the Gohma's stomach.
He steadied himself as thee Gohma wriggled again, and flipped his sword point to Gohma and raised it above his head, and pushed the blade down and into the Gohma's flesh.
He withdrew the blade as the Gohma shook, and balanced his footing, only-to his dismay-to lose it in a second and fall over the edge of the Gohma, and to the ground.
The Gohma righted itself up, and flicked Link across the room with its leg. His sword was flung from his hand as he crashed against the adjacent wall, and fell to the ground. The Gohma crawled towards him, bearing its fangs, and Link looked frantically for his sword as it neared.
He pulled his Fire Rod as he realized the Sword wasn't to be found before the Gohma got to him. He extended the Rod and fired a blast of flame at the Gohma. The Fire dissipated against the armor of the Gohma, and he fired another, this time to the mouth of the Gohma.
The flame flew through its mouth, and it kept scrambling to Link, not being fazed by the flame at all.
Link waved the Rod towards the Gohma again, and a flame shot from it, continuously spewing forth until a wall of blazing fire had put itself between Link and the Gohma.
The Gohma stopped at the flame, and poked the flame with one of its legs, withdrawing it quickly and hissing from the jet of pain. It stood, waiting as the flame continued to burn.
Link sighed in relief, and used the flame to search for his sword. He found it shortly, and swapped the Fire Rod to his right hand. He picked the sword up with his dominant left hand, and walked back to the Flame where the Gohma was.
The Gohma turned, and put its front legs on the wall, and began to climb slowly, until it was hanging over Link.
Link saw this too late, and the Gohma dropped from the ceiling, forcing Link to move.
He dove away from the impact area, and through the flame, scorching his clothes and catching him aflame.
He flicked his right hand, and the flame wall was sucked from the air into the Fire Rod, and Link's clothes were extinguished of their fire.
The Gohma crashed to the floor, and pushed itself up. The Gohma walked forward a few steps, and charged forward, crashing through the cavern towards Link.
He ran toward the Gohma, and Link dodged through the legs off the Gohma as it ran, slashing his sword up into the Gohma's gut.
The Gohma lost its balance as it ran forward, blood spilling from the open wound Link had created, and crashed to the floor.
Link whipped around, and ran to the fallen Gohma. Before it could stand back up, he slashed his sword through the first leg he got to, cutting through it cleanly. He flicked his blade around again, slicing another leg off, leaving the Gohma unable to walk.
The Gohma used its remaining legs to flip itself over, and Link climbed up onto its stomach. He ripped the wound in the Gohma further with his sword, and plunged the Fire Rod into the wound.
His footing was unbalanced as the Gohma squirmed under the gusts of flame that filled it, charring its innards. Link pulled the Fire Rod from the wound after the Gohma stilled.
He hopped down to the floor of the cavern, and compacted the Rod. He put it in his belt, and walked to the head of the Gohma as it curled its legs up, leaving it's back exposed. He raised his sword to its still head, and thrust his sword through the eye. He twisted the blade hard, and withdrew it.
The eye shriveled up, and began to disintegrate. The ash sifted itself around inside of the eyes socket, and revealed a small jade emerald that was laced with gold.
Link sighed in relief. He reached his hand into the socket, and picked up the Emerald. It was definitely the Forest Emerald. He pocketed the gem, and stepped back.
Now that he had the Emerald…where was he to go?
He looked around, and, to his dismay, the only exit from the cavernous room was the hole the Gohma had crashed through.
He sheathed his sword, and walked to the center of the room. He stared straight up into the room above him, and wondered how long he would be here before he made it out…or died of thirst.
He pulled his clawshot from his belt, and fit it on his hand, hoping the chain would reach. He fired it up, and it fell short by a few meters.
He stepped back as the chain fell to the ground, and coiled it back into the glove.
He put it back on his belt, and swore loudly. He began to pace around the room, kicking the Gohma's furled-up corpse a few times as he went.
The answer hit him when he hit the wall. He looked over to the Gohma, and back to the wall. He backed up a few meters, and pulled his clawshot out again. He fired it up diagonally as far as it would go, and it latched onto the wall. His body was lurched up, and he slammed into the mossy surface.
He used his free hand to dig his fingers into the moss, and kicked his boots in hard.
'This would be easier with the other clawshot'. He thought, and quickly unlatched the claws from the wall, and as his body began to rip away the small amount of moss his fingers were dug into, he angled the clawshot to the hole in the ceiling. He fired it, moments before he would have fallen, and was carried to the opening.
He swung his arm up, over the edge, and unlatched the clawshot before pushing himself up. He sat for a second, legs dangling into the pit, while he caught his breath. He turned his body, and stood up. He put the clawshot onto his belt, and headed for the entrance.
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Thirteen hours earlier…
Impa and Sheik walked through the wood, keeping their thoughts to themselves. They had been walking for a couple hours, and taken only few breaks to stop and rest for a minute or so.
Sheik was wanting to stop again when Impa spoke up.
"Let's break for a few minutes, you look like you need it," Impa said, and Sheik realized she was breathing heavily and sweating quite profusely.
"Uh, sure," Sheik said, and she sat down on a large stone that was jutting out from the ground. Impa sat down alike, and glanced over at Sheik while she pulled her rations pouch out.
Sheik had her hands on her knees, and was clenching her stomach hard.
"I can't do it any longer," Sheik cried out, "Ah, dammit Impa, I have to do it now!"
Impa stood back up, nodding.
"I'll take you out of the woods, Faron Port is not far from where we are."
Sheik groaned, "What…about Link? Who…will go into the…Temple of, ohhh…Courage with him?"
"I will leave you once you are in capable hands," Impa said, "and search for Link, and the Temple."
"Fine…just…let's go," Sheik's knees buckled, and she tumbled head forward into Impa's arms.
"Can you try to cast another small extension spell?" Impa asked, and Sheik nodded. She waved her fingers and muttered something, and her pain alleviated slightly.
She stood up, and began to fall over again.
Impa caught her, and hefted her up over her shoulder.
Impa shifted her shoulder a little, and set off at a brisk jog to the south, and hopefully, Faron Port.
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Link slashed his sword down, cutting through a bit of brush, and stepped out of the woods.
He was on a Cliffside, and, after he walked to its edge, he realized that at the bottom of the cliff lay Port Faron. He looked to the small trail, and saw a set of footprints in the grass that led down to the Port.
He grinned as he saw a figure walking back up the trail-Impa.
She continued walking up, and Link's grin faded when she reached the top.
"Where is Sheik?" He asked, as he noticed that the mysterious woman was gone.
"She is resting in the Port, she will be with us shortly."
"Oh, um, is she hurt?"
"No, but she is exhausted. She needed care, and I couldn't provide it in the Forest."
Link looked around, and out to Faron Sea, which sprawled forth throughout the land. The sun was setting, and the light was glinting off of the water. It was a moment before he noticed the monstrous Stone building at the Cliff edge.
"I would assume that that is the Temple of Courage," Link said, and Impa nodded.
"At least the entrance," Impa said, and Link nodded. "I think you should go down to the village and rest for a while."
"Yeah," He said, and he started walking down the trail. Impa followed him.
"Want to fill me in on what happened?" Impa asked, "You did get the stone…right?"
"Yeah…" Link said, and delved into his tale…
Thanks for reading, and sorry for the late update, as previously mentioned, I had exams, and, well, Christmas break…
Please Review and come back for more!