Chapter 12: The Best Way to Ruin a Date
There were only two words to describe what I was in as Zelda's lips met my own… Utter. Bliss. That is, until the water suddenly got cold.
"What's happening?" Zelda asked. She jumped out of the water as fast as she could, running behind the curtain behind which her clothing sat. I slowly got out of the water as well. As dried off and put my clothing back on, I noticed something strange in the air. Something I had experienced before…
"I don't know what's going on, but I think the Gorons are in danger…" I stated. Looking over at Zelda, who was still getting dressed behind the curtain. "You should stay here…"
Zelda seemed to move faster at my comment. Suddenly she was dressed and standinng in front of me, looking me in the eyes. "I'm not staying here…" She said. "I'm coming with you."
I sighed. Zelda can be very stubborn sometimes. "If you come with me, there's the risk that I might not be able to protect you, do you want that?" I asked.
Zelda smiled and did a sudden triple backflip over the hot spring. "I think I may be able to take care of myself if that were to happen." she stated. I stared at the Hylian Princess in total amazement.
"Where did you learn that?!" I shouted. Not knowing how loud I really was. Zelda merely smiled widely.
"Just ask Impa. All I had to do was tell her that I wanted to learn to fight, and she taught me." she replied. "Why? Do you think I was just staring at flowers whenever you weren't with me for the past two years?"
"No… I just didn't expect you to… Wow…" I replied. In truth, I knew she would learn to fight like a Sheikah eventually. We both knew that she would need to defend herself one day, and I had already had previous experiences with her alter-ego, Sheik. Granted, that was a different timeline, but I knew it would happen again.
Zelda and I rushed into the room of the Goron chief, Darunia. The room was completely empty, and the statue that Darunia usually stood in front of had been pulled away. I knew immediately where he was the moment I saw that, and headed down to the Goron Shop.
"What'll it be, goro?" the clerk asked. I immediately pointed to the red Goron Tunic, while simultaniously holding out two silver Rupees. The Goron took the Rupees somewhat greedily and handed me the tunic. Then I remembered that Zelda may need something to protect her from the heat, as well. I soon bought another Goron Tunic for her, and ran back to Zelda.
"What's that?" Zelda asked, obviously noticing the Goron Tunic that I had put on. I quickly handed her the tunic I had purchased in her size, and she looked at it questioningly.
"In case you're wondering, you'll need that tunic for the place we're going." I explained. Zelda put the tunic on, and a bright light surrounded it. She was obviously using some of the powers she had inherited through her blood. When the light cleared, the tunic she wore had become a dark red dress, with black lining on the sides of the skirt, and the symbol of the Gorons emblazoned on her chest.
"I thought it might help if I made it fit better." Zelda stated, smiling. I stared at the woman again, falling more and more in love with her with everything she had done that day.
I led her behind the large statue in Darunia's room, and we soon found our way into the Death Mountain Crater, where the Fire spirits are worshipped. I looked around and saw something I had never imagined before…
The crater was frozen.
Black, bird-like creatures flew everywhere inside the now frozen volcano. Making our way down towards the Fire Temple, I noticed something else that gave me chills like I'd never had before. There was a large block of ice, standing on a lonely rock. Inside, I saw the Goron leader reared back, bloody, and seemingly afraid. Zelda and I ran to the frozen Goron as fast as we could. I quickly pulled out my bow, nocked an arrow, and charged it with the Fire Arrow magic I had obtained in the mountainous region of Snowhead. Upon firing the arrow, the ice should've melted, but instead, nothing happened.
Meniacal laughter sounded behind us. "How entertaining…" the voice said. "To think you can even try to melt ice from my realm!"
I spun around, drawing my blade, shield held at the ready. Zelda stood beside me, fists raised, and glowing. Before us stood a figure with black armor, and a strange helmet. The person before us held up his right hand, and the Triforce of Power glowed fiercely. As I saw this, memories flooded back to me. This was the man that killeed Gauron…
I quickly charged at the man, blade forward, ready to kill this monster, but he merely stepped aside, and I fell. From above me, I heard more laughter. He was mocking me… I couldn't take it anymore! This man had to die! Getting up, I stood to face him. From his long sleeves, two swords came, ready to fight me one-on-one. I looked at the curved blades on his swords, and noticed a great deal of blood had stained them. The blood was not yet dry… This was the man that Darunia must hav fought.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked him. He merely laughed. In fact, his laughter seemed to distract him. I took advantage of the newly-formed opening and jumped. I leapt over his head, doing a flip, and slicing his large helmet in half. As I landed, the laughter stopped. He turned around, and what was left of his helm fell to the ground. I looked at his face, and it seemed familiar somehow… The man was tall, scrawny, with messy brown hair. He smiled as widely as was possible and started laughing uncontrollably once more. He began spinning faster than I could follow, and in response, I raised my shield. Before he could hit me, the path of his rampage turned. It turned in the direction of Zelda…
"NO!!" I screamed, leaping forward and taking the entirety of his hit. The swords he had were incredibly sharp, and sliced through my nearly rock-hard tunic like it was nothing. After five seconds of spinning, and slicing at me, he stopped.
"That was fun…" He stated. "But… I think that's enough playing for today…" He raised a single hand, causing the orange light to dissapear entirely. The black birds shattered into small pieces of strange black matter, and flew into the sky. "May name is Zantauri, just so that you know. I'll see you later!" The man dissapeared with a laugh of pure insanity. Watching him dissapear was all I could do as I lost conciousness…