Chapter Six
The Zoras and the Hylia Shrine
On they rode, across a stunning field with breath taking views of mountains and a river. They stopped for a moment so that Link could study his map and then following the river they eventually came across the next mirror, through which they would ride and find the path leading up to Zoras Domain.
Through the mirror Link and Zelph were stunned to find themselves on a two toned blue gravel path. Just ahead of them two huge statues of Zoras guarded a huge gate with the Hi-Range symbol on the lock.
"Your theme hasn't changed as it? Play it and see if the gate opens for us" Link said.
At that moment a Zora with a friendly expression on his face came up to the gate.
"Or I could just open it up for you but by all means Princess, play if you wish" He grinned
Link and Zelph got down from Epona as the Zora opened the gate, "I'm Aqua"
"We're still new to all this" Link told the Zora, shaking his hand
"You look like your father Link" Link gave him a look of surprise, "Yes I knew him, we Zora don't age the same way Hylians do, he loved to dive with me off our highest ledge here. Follow me, we've been expecting you...oh, your horse will have to stay here but don't worry she's safe, I'll have one of the other Zoras come out to watch her"
Link nodded and stroked Epona,
Epona nuzzled him and Link and Zelph followed the Zora along the gravel path. There were water arches of purple and blue running over them but they didn't get wet. It reminded him of a trip to a British Theme Park and something called; The Bubble Ride.
There were stunning flowers of purple and blue in the hedges that also lined the path they were walking on.
"The Deku Tree told me there was some unease here at Zora' Domain" Link remarked
"Sadly yes, Shanklin dropped an anti-mineral stone over the lake and whatever came of it has taken up residence in the Hylian Shrine. My younger brother trapped him and was hoping to drain the lake but the last mechinism that can do that has to be shot with a sharp object and if it's not done within a set time then he has to wait another day. He's been gone a week now" Aqua told them, "You'll need a gil tat and tunic if you're going to venture into the Shrine. We can't have the Hero of Time or the King' daughter drowning"
"That is something I'm sure both of us would wish to avoid too" Link said, "What does the gil tat do?"
"Oh, it helps a non Zora to breathe underwater, the tunic helps with movement, the gils on the tunic move with the water so you can move freely" Aqua replied
"I know a Zora decendant who would love a chance to dive with the Zoras" Zelph said
"Oh really?" Aqua asked, his interest peaked, "She any good? We might give her a little watch, when things calm down here of course"
"Her name is Ruler...oh my God" Zelph gushed
They had just reached the Domain itself and once again they were entranced. It was a complete mix of Ocorina of Time and Breath of the Wild,
"That's a funny name for a girl but OK" Aqua said, then ushering over a Zora he said to them, "Ruler Oh My God, look her up"
"Oh no, it's just Ruler!" Zelph called but the Zora Aqua spoke to was already gone,
"He knows" Link grinned, knowing full well Aqua was pulling her leg,
"We will watch out for this Ruler Zora though, we're always looking for teams, we have a great water event every year just for the Zora decendants" Aqua told Zelph and Link, "It got cancelled last minute this year thanks to Shanklin and his men, they're such buzz kills"
Link smiled.
At that moment the Zora Aqua spoke to came back,
"I'm going to need a sir name for that Zora"
"It's Mori" Zelph told the Zora after a gesture from Aqua.
After this Aqua led them up to the very top of the Domain where the Zora King was waiting for them. The path up was carlved into one of two large pink and white seashells. There were shops on the way up and three schools and a library that was actually underwater, they could see this through a cute little window on their right, quite near to the top.
After about ten minutes they finally reached the top and there by the doors to the Palace of the Zora the Zora King was standing to greet Link and Zelph.
"Ah, welcome Link, Princess" King Zora said, then to Zelph he added, "And how quaint that you wear our colours"
"Oh, Link picked this outfit out" She replied
"Link has a fine eye" The Zora King said with a smile, "I am sure Aqua has told you of our situation, it's most frustrating and alarming" He continued as he let them into the Palace and lead them through the main lobby, "Link, if you take that door on your right you will find all you need and feel free to wonder the shops or library before you head for Lake Hylia"
"I'll wait here for you Link" Zelph said, she didn't really know who to follow so she decided this would be best,
"I have arranged tea for us on the roof terrace Princess, a much nicer view than that of a door dear" The Zora King said
Zelph laughed a little with relief and followed the Zora King.
Link found himself in a beautiful wash room with brown marble floors, warm sun coloured walls with gold rimmed mirrors, which were actually waterfalls, within which you could see your reflection.
There was a gold rimmed, biscuit coloured upholstered chair in the corner and on which was a large box and inside this box was the blue tunic with gils on it, blue trousers with gold gils on them and blue boots with scales and fins on them. There was also a hookshot, which he expected to be weighty but actually wasn't.
Link changed into this outfit and then went off to find Zelph and the Zora King.
The view from up here was just as amazing and he could see the path they'd need to take in order to reach Lake Hylia.
"You look very fetching in that outfit Link" Zelph remarked
"Shush, not in front of my dad" He smiled, pointing at the sword.
"You'll have a bit of a wait I'm afraid but you could make your way down after this and get your barings, meet my other son while your there, he's called; Snork" The Zora King told them
Link nodded.
After they had spent a while chatting about Link' father, watched the Zora' diving and bought a bag jelly hearts, plus enough arrows for an entire army Link retrieved Epona and he and Zelph made their way to Lake Hylia.
Zelph wanted to ask Link what he had meant by his comment earlier but by the time she plucked up the courage to ask they were there and approaching Snork, who was trying to get across from one platform to another in the centre of the lake.
He stopped when he saw Link and Zelph on Epona,
"Oh hey traveller! Have you a bow?" Snork asked
"I'm Link, this is Zelda" Link said, Snorked bowed in shock, which shocked Link and embrarrassed Zelph "I just activated the portal by the Deku Tree and was told of some discord at Zora' Domain. You're brother and your father filled us in and sent us down here to assist you"
"Oh thank you, there's a switch that comes up out of the water and if we hit it with an arrow the water will drain enough for you to get into the Shrine. If you could get rid of that Octopus thing and restore our Shrine and Portals too we will be forever in your debt.
You'll need to be centred to the lake, I need to stay this side so I can see if the Shrine is blocked or not" Snork explained.
Link nodded in undestanding and he and Zelph made their way across the vast lake and then across two bridges to an island, where they saw a stone identicle to the one on the island Snork was on,
"Hey Snork! These stones are facing the wrong way, we need to turn them so the light of the setting sun arches the switch!" He called
Snork gave Link a look of surprise as he realised he was right and with some effort they turned the stones so that the two yellow gems they could now see either side would catch the light at the right time and arch the switch.
After that it was a waiting game.
Snork took to some fishing while Link and Zelph sat back to back and enjoyed their surroundings.
It was here that Zelph took her chance to question Link,
"Link, what did you mean by your remark earlier, when I offered you that compliment?"
"Oh it wasn't anything personal. We had strict rules at my old school in Japan, we're not aloud to date until we complete our education, we're not seen to be mature enough to handle in depth emotions that come with the L word. Boys have to have their hair in a certain style, girls can either have their hair tied up on wear it down but they can't style it. We want to do our best, we want to be repsectful of ourselves and to others. It's very important there, respect. My father would not approve of flirting even if he did have hopes of a union of a romanic nature or even marriage down the line. I may give in to looking sometimes so you know I'm here but will always keep myself in check and obey those rules" Link told her openly
"Wow" Zelph said, "Do you have opinions, with reguards to me?"
"Ask me when I'm 21" Link smiled
Zelph' heart pounded
Finally the sun started to set, the light hit the gems on the stones and Link was up on his feet, bow at the ready. As the switch rose and the light arched over it he fired an arrow and the water in the lake drained away to nothing.
"Link! The gate is opening but I'm not sure how you're getting down there!" Snork called, "I can't stay out here long without any water, I'm going to have to head back to the Domain, I'm sorry!"
Link had seen some grooves in the wall of the Shrine, which was in the shape of a giant turtle.
"It's OK Snork, we'll find a way down!" Link reasured Snork
Snork nodded and left,
"How're we getting down there?" Zelph asked
"Do you see those grooves in the walls?" Link asked her, pointing them out before showing her his hook shot, "Well, I found this in with my water tunic and it's surprisingly lighter than I had expected" He poisitoned himself and used the laser on it to point in the right direction, "Hold on to me tightly Zelda, just not so tight that I can't breathe"
Zelph nodded, wrapped her arms around Link' middle and braced herself as he let the hook go and they flew across the lake at an angle. They landed on a ledge just above the entrance to the Shrine. Link then shot the hook into the grove in the middle and then lowered himself down but before retracting the hook he had Zelph lower herself down to him.
Link smiled and then gupled at how far down they were,
"Don't" Zelph said
"If the water came crashing back in around us" Link began
"He said it" Zelph commented,
"Even with these suits on I would freak out!" Link said before retracting the hook from the hookshot, "You ready for this?"
Without waiting for a response they entered the Hylian Shrine.
Link and Zelph walked along a corridor with two tone blue and yellow tiled floor. There were some weird yellow critters running around but that didn't worry them too much. They could hear this octopus creature screeching from somewhere within the Shrine and this chilled them a little. This corridor went on for ages until it curved round two ways, making them feel unstable.
"Which way do we go? We should have brought Zane with us" Link remarked
"Use the whistle Link" Came the voice of the sword.
Link tried this and the whistle wanted to leave Link' hand, Link let got and it floated before him and glowed,
"Link...Link can you hear me?" Came Zane' voice
"I can hear you" Link said
"You can go either way but there are traps both sides you need to locate, navigate through them and you'll eventually come to the main area, I can't see what these traps are from here though Link as I can only see the space you're in, when you get to the main room, I'll tell you more there" Came Zane' voice
The whistle dropped and Link grabbed it.
"I can't decide" He said
"I can't decide, traps both sides he said and we have to go that way, we can't go up" Zelph said
"Can't we?" Link asked looking up
"You could if you had a water bomb" Came a familiar voice,
They turned in surprise to find Aqua behind them with a shower cloud above his head.
"Aqua...how are you doing that?" Link asked
"Oh, it's one of the good minerals, I'm of age so I can use it, a future ruler, Snork was worried about you and asked me to come help you out"
"Do you know anything about these traps?" Zelph asked
"It could have been to prevent toom raders you know, like the Pyramids...oh, I hope you don't have to go there, those Garudo guards aren't at all friendly, the Garudo Shrines weren't built for anyone to get into, they were built to stop the undead from getting out...whether or not you'll have a need of that power isn't down to me" Aqua told them
"We know there isn't a way around" Link said with thought
"But Link, even if there's a way up there's no ladder; that ceiling is really high" Zelph said
"Not necessarily" Aqua said
He took out a bomb with fins and placed it on the floor,
Once they had all stepped back the bomb rolled across the floor, up the wall and onto the ceiling. It scanned it and then blew up and in place of the debris was a door. Link was stunned.
Zelph grinned.
Link used the hookshot to get a grip on the door and then retracted the chain to get the door to open. As it did some steps rolled down.
Link, Zelph and Aqua climbed up into the secret passage above and followed it to a light at the far end. Some stiars led down from the end of this passage to the main room.
There were more stairs winding up to the ceiling, and doors.
"Not all of these doors are real" Aqua told them, "And if it wasn't for that octopus or whatever that thing is I could show you something really cool"
"Link!" This was Zane' voice, coming from the whistle and it made everyone jump.
"What is that?" Aqua asked
"My version of Navi but he can speak through this whistle and see the rooms we're in when we're in these Shrines" Link explained
Aqua nodded,
"Got it"
"OK Link, the mechanism is broken in places, you need to fix it to open the bottom of the observatory at the very top of the Shine. Doing that will covince that thing to raise the water level, it will come after you three. If you want to defeat him you're going to have to dry him out, remember that"
At that moment there was a rumble and spiked creatures rolled out of vents in the walls, then released tiny bombs that blasted the stairs in places all the way up. Link, Aqua and Zelph screamed as these portions of stairs fell and cracked the floor beneath them.
Link used his arrows on them, Zelph used her arrrows on them and Aqua used his fingers, which turned into whips to get multiples of them at once for Link to slice through. Once all of them had blown up into clouds of purple smoke a key shaped like a seahorse floated down to Link. Link grinned at it before grabbing it and looking at Aqua,
"You're very handy" He said
"Did you really just say that?" Zelph groaned
Aqua bowed and lead them striaght across the centre of the room. They had to climb over broken stairs but eventually they came to a seahorse shaped door.
"Oh this is how we'll know which room to go in, they're all different shapes!" Link realised
"Correct"
With a little trepidation Link unlocked the seahorse shaped door and they ventured into the first room. It appeared to be empty but there were pipe connections on the walls and a lawn in the centre. There were yellow wheels all over the place and faces.
Aqua looked concerned and this worried Link and Zelph.
"What is it?" Link asked
"We need to be really careful in here. This is the lock for the door into Engine Room 1 and the wrong combination could kill us" He told them
"So what's the combination?" Zelph asked
"I don't know I didn't build this Shrine, I told you, think Pyramid, it was full of traps to stop toom raiders or if you were Garudo to stop the undead getting out again" Aqua said
"So what're we going to do?" Zelph asked
"We go back in time" Link smiled
Aqua grinned,
"Do you remember the tune of times past?"
Link thought back and the tune Zane played came to his mind, after that it was a case of trying to play that same tune on his whistle, moving his fingers over the grooves in the wood. Aqua and Zelph pulled a few faces until he got it right. Once he had got it right, a lovely tune was played all around them. They all felt dizzy until three Zoras appeared in the same space.
"Right, now..." One Zora began, then he saw Link, Zelph and Aqua standing there, "Where did you three come from? Princess, if your mother finds out you sneaked out of the castle again she'll have my head"
They realised that this Zora thought Zelph was an ancestor and suddenly Link realised the story began way back in the 80's with the Legend of Zelda,
"Oh woe" Link gasped
"These people are my guards, I was most curious about this lock of yours, I'm interested in mechanics" Zelph blagged
"Oh we know" The second Zora sighed,
"Won't you show me? Please? For my book" Zelph asked
"Oh who'd believe her anyway and the guards are silent, you may as well?" The third Zora said
"That one's not silent!" The first Zora complained
"Please!" Zelph pleaded
"Oh very well it's..." He proceeded to tell them the code "Got that?"
Link nodded and blew the tune of time backwards into his whistle until they were back in their own time.
"Let me see that" Aqua said, Link gave him the notebook, "That's a tune with two instruments"
"You think he lied to us?" Link asked
"Soon find out"
They each stood where the Zoras' they'd just met stood and as they turned the wheels as they were instructed to Aqua sang the combination to them. It was the tune from the Ocorina of Time and to their great surprise it worked.
Water poured into the room as one of the walls rose up. The force knocked Link, Zelph and Aqua down and it took a bit of effort to get back up but once they had they got into Engine room 1.
It was a massive space.
There was a giant cog in the centre and large pipes snaking the round walls. They could see from the platform they were on which part of the mechanism was missing and it wasn't long before the wall lowered behind them and a blue lizard with a sword jumped down, holding the piece in it's hand and a snail shaped key. The lizard swallowed the piece whole and the key and then jumped into the air and landed between Link and Aqua, and Zelph.
Link had to back up and soon found himself on the mechanism. This was a very dangerous place to be, it was partly under water and there were many places Link could trap a foot.
Zelph soon realised this lizard was invulnerable to attack but Link couldn't get at him either because he kept jumping about the place. The only thing Link could do right now was defend or get hurt.
Aqua used his hand whip attack to hold the lizard still so that Link could get a shot in with the sword. The lizard made Aqua' fingers burn and forced him to retreat. After a jelly heart he took hold of the lizard again and this time the shot Link got in was leathal and the lizard exploded into purple smoke, leaving behind the piece the mechanism was missing and the key.
Link picked them up and looked at the mechanism with worry.
"Pass it here" Aqua said
Link made his way back to the platform and Aqua used his whip attack to place the missing piece back. The cog turned, the Shrine rumbled and a screech was heard as water poured into the room. Link, Zelph and Aqua swam up to the next floor of the Shrine and exited through a door that took them to a room similar to the first.
"Maybe we have to use that combiation in reverse to get out of here and back into the main room" Zelph suggested.
They did this and a door appeared but when Link went to open it the door came to life and batted him across the room.
Zelph shot an arrow at it but it just wobbled and batted her across the room. Aqua was also batted across the room. He frowned at the fake door and released a water bomb. It rolled across the room and blew up centre of the fake door, revealing the real door.
After a few jelly hearts Link, Zelph and Aqua made their way back out into the main room.
As the stairs were broken they had to swim across to the next door on the other side of the room. There were two fake ones either side and in the process of trying to eliminate them Link and Aqua were batted back into the water a few times and Zelph was knocked down a few of the broken steps. The light arrows set the fake doors ablaze but that only made them more dangerous. In the end Link came up with the solution,
"Why didn't we think of this sooner? These bombs only go off on impact with something, we've got pleanty of arrows, why don't we tie bombs to some of them?"
Aqua was up for this and after a while of faffing about, trying to find a way to secure the bombs to the arrows they had it and after shooting two of them at the fake doors Link, Zelph and Aqua finally got into the next room.
Here they found cubes with ladders on all sides and pictures at the top of them. Link climbed one of the ladders and stood on a cube.
He looked down at the image,
"OK, so, we have images on these cubes of the wheels that unlocked the door to Engine Room 1, I think we have to move these cubes until they're in the order of the combination"
"Oh what?!" Zelph complained, "Have you seen how many there are in here? How can we see which is which or what goes where?"
"We need to see it complete" Aqua remarked.
Using Link' whistle they went back in time and climbed up and down the completed tiles, making marks with coloured pens on each block, while hiding from the Zoras in Engine Room 2. Once they had it they went back to the present and sure enough the marks they had placed on the cubes were still there and with some effort Link, Zelph and Aqua were able to piece the blocks together in the right order to reveal Engine Room 2.
Once they were in this room they were faced with Wizrobes that conjured up the bomb critters they had encountered at the beginning. While Aqua and Zelph dealt with them, using a combination of whip hands and arrows Link used a combiation of his mark and the whistle to target the Wizrobes so he could fire arrows at them. After two shots at each the Wizrobes conjured up a lizard with a sword, forcing Link to cease going after the Wizrobes. Zelph however used her mark and the Whistle to deal with the Wizrobes and once they blew up into purple smoke with a hidious scream Link could take care of the lizard. Upon the lizard blowing up into purple smoke the next missing piece of the mechanism appeared.
Aqua placed it, the cogs turned and the water rose.
This time they didn't have to worry about the puzzle awaiting them as the octopus was so mad it had smashed through the seal and was thrashing it's tenticles about, the walls were smashed in until he could find Link, Zelph and Aqua.
Aqua was snatched and taken.
The water rose higher and higher. Link and Zelph were stuck because of the tenticles. Link' sword wouldn't work underwater.
Link used the hookshot to make the tenticles retract so that he and Zelph could give chase. There was a strong current in the main room and Link and Zelph had to take the stairs, using the hookshot where necessary to keep up with the octopus as he rose with Aqua in his grip, Aqua was now out cold.
Finally they were up on the observatory roof with a glass dome and as the octopus joined them something strange happened, the water froze under them so some of the octopus was still underwater.
Link and Zelph would need Aqua but they had to get him out of the octopus' grip first.
"Link! Listen" Came Zane' voice, "Do you see the sensors on his head?"
"Yes!" Link called,
"They're controlling his tenticles, you need to blast them with your bomb arrows until he lets Aqua go! Daze the creature until Aqua comes back around and slash away with your sword, make sure you create the Tri-Force symbol when attacking a mineral main guard! When Aqua comes round get him to use the whip hands to remove the tenticles still underwater. This will create a flood that you need to freeze by using the hookshot while standing on the ice itself. This will dry the octopus out for a time"
Link and Zelph stood at either end of the room on a reasonably sized ledge, where they used their bomb arrows to blast sensors. Once the octopus had dropped Aqua, Zelph dragged Aqua to the ledge while Link slashed the Tri-Force symbol into the body of the octopus. As instructed, once Aqua was on his feet he used his hand whip attack to pull the other tenticles out of the water. As predicted water shot up through the holes left behind. Link had to be careful but quick in standing on the ice and using the hookshot to freeze the water. This dried the octopus out for three seconds and the battle got harder for there were now frozen pillars of ice to navigate around as well as creating more in the process to dry out the octopus.
This time the octopus exploded into purple smoke, the ice shattered and the water drained away.
The dome above them shattered but the glass evaporated so it didn't hurt them. The stars above were brilliant and breathtaking.
"That's what I wanted to show you guys" Aqua laughed
Link saw the mineral he needed and like before he used it to power up his sword.
They were then teleported to a platform high up in the mountains and came face to face with a giant fish,
"Lord Juba, Juba" Zelph gushed
"You have gained great strength in a short time, the both of you, be proud" Juba, Juba said grandly
"We couldn't have done it without Aqua and Zane" Link said modestly
"Humble, just what I expect of the Hero of Time" Juba, Juba said, "And you Aqua, your efforts shall not go unnoticed, nor shall Snork', the Zoras are very proud of you too!" Then to Link he added, "Activate the portals Link, I will send word to the King. It is time for you to leave this place and this country" There was a pause, "Don't look so sad you two, you may have a need to return to this place again in the future but until then may the Gods shine upon you"