Chapter Ten
A Family Crisis
There was a celebration at the manor that night but Link, Zelph nor Zane stayed to be a part of it, instead they made their way back to the cabin to discuss their next move.
A treck to Egypt.
"Look, we can't go in there and demand access to the Garudo Tomb, we're going to need someone with us from the tribe" Zane said
"We know someone" Link said, "Well, we don't know him, know him but he might agree to help us"
"Who?" Zelph and Zane asked at the same time
"That waiter from the hotel in Rome" Link said
"Ah!" Zane exclaimed.
With that they immediately took their leave and went back down to the where the portals were, taking the one that would lead to Goron City.
People got a shock when Link, Zelph and Zane just appeared from nowhere and were about to question them when the current Leader arrived.
"Has something happened?" He asked them
"Yes, we need to go to the Garudo Desert but we need a Garudo and there's one at the hotel in Rome, this was the quickest route" Link told him
"No, no, that's absolutely fine, if anyone ueses the portal without due cause from that area we usually stick them with a fine" The leader told him and with that he was gone, "Carry on" He said to the Goron'.
Link, Zelph and Zane made their way down Death Mountain, and through Kakoriko Village, then across a portion of Hyrule field, out onto the road leading to Pompii. They stopped to look out in that direction whistfully,
"We'll go some time" Link told Zelph before looking around, "Looks like we're walking" He added
"You know you can call Epona to you, she'll just travel between mirrors" Zane told Link
"What about you? I can't fit three people on one horse even if she is built like a Shyer" Link said
"Don't you worry about me" Zane said
Link smiled and then used his whistle to call Epona,
They soon heard her familiar neighing and she appeared right beside him and Zelph, nudging Link in the back. Link laughed and climbed up onto Epona, leaning down after to help Zelph up too. Zane smiled and waited for Link and Zelph to be a way ahead of him before shrinking down to Navi size and flying off after them.
When they arrived at the hotel the waiter knew what they wanted and made himself busy until his shift finished when Link, Zelph and Zane finally managed to corner him,
"No!" He said
"Shanklin is gaining power; we need this! We need you!" Link said loudly, "What're you scared of? You're not the one, who's going to be in that place, we are"
"Do you know what's in that tomb?" The waiter asked, flustered
"A mineral" Link said
"It's not a mineral, it's a piece of the Tri-Force" He said tears welling.
Link and Zelph were floored,
"This lobby is not the place for this conversation" Zane said, "Do you live far from here?"
"I'm right around the corner" He said
Link, Zelph and Zane followed the waiter out of the hotel and round the corner to a cute two up two down made of sandstone with pretty painted window sills and flowers. The waiter was nervous as he led them in, down a hallway and into a kitchen, where he stared out and shut the door quietly before looking at them,
"Well sit down?" He said, "My wife is upstairs, she has no idea what I really am"
"We're sorry" Link said honestly
"Ah come on, you're the ones doing all the hard work, we're just left to pray that you don't end up like your father" The waiter said honestly, "How could you not know about the forth Tri-Force piece?"
"What can I tell you? I've seen theories online" Link said
"Shanklin is my father, he's a direct descendent to Calamity Gannon, that monster Cannon was his own creation. I joined the fight last time and my cover was blown. I know what's in that Tomb, I'm the one that buried the last piece of the Tri-Force there, I couldn't let dad get to it. It's the only place Shanklin is afraid of but I can't guarantee he won't send his phantom"
"How is Shanklin gaining the power he has then?" Link asked
"Cannon has a piece of the Tri-Force, Shanklin used to have one but he thought that monster would be able to make better use of it. If you two call the fourth piece of the Tri-Force it's going to get messy because Shanklin could use either you or Zelph to break Cannon from his seal. However, that secret forth piece is the only thing that will guarantee you a win against Shanklin because it has the power of all three" The waiter told Link.
"I'm sorry to have to put this on you but we can't get into that tomb without you, there must be something you can do" Link pleaded
The waiter sat down and thought everything through for a while before standing and going to a draw to take out a phone book.
"This is dangerous but there's always this man here" The waiter said, passing the book to Zane
"Oh no!" Zane exclaimed
"You want my help or not?" The waiter asked
"He's going to have a price" Zane said
"What is it?" Link asked
"The Happy Mask Salesman" Zane told Link, "Tell him your requirments" He added to the waiter
The waiter nodded,
"Wait here" The waiter said
Zane looked down.
A few hours later the waiter came back with a mask in hand,
"What was his price?" Zane asked
"I have to live out the rest of my days in Hyrule Castle Town, selling the mask of youth to the elderly" The waiter said, "You tell my wife I died bravely, this is perminant"
"Woe! Wait, what is?" Link asked, standing up
The waiter put the mask on his face and turned into Link' father.
"His spirit has been split, it lives in the mask now too, the waiter is no more...don't desert us now" He said
Link looked scared now.
"Link" Zelph said reaching out, "Link, it's not him"
"No it's not. I could cope when his spirit came to me via the sword but this is different, it's the eyes more so than the face. I've been telling myself I'm dreaming this whole time; now I couldn't be more awake" Link said, then to the one with his father' face he said, "We're not saying anything to your family because I am going to overturn the Happy Mask Salesman, just as soon as we've dealt with Shanklin"
The waiter nodded but he didn't believe Link at that moment in time.
A note was left explaining that there was a family crisis that needed the waiter' immediate attention. This wasn't too far from the truth, Shanklin was his father and his father wanted to rule the world or end it, either way he was happy, I'd call that a family crisis.
They got the first flight they could book to Egypt and prepared themselves for what was to come.
Link nor Zelph were looking forward to this one but they weren't going to let fear get in the way now. Not when they'd come so far.
As soon as they had landed the waiter took Link, Zelph and Zane a different route out of the airport and down into a tunnel system that seemed to go on forever,
"We're bypassing the city altogether, this leads to the mirror, after that we'll need horses. They trusted your father Link, so hopefully they'll trust me.
Link nodded his head and carried on walking with renewed determiation.
Out at the other end of this tunnel Link found something strange, there were two portions of Hyrule, one on the right and the Garudo settlement and desert on the left, with a black void between the two.
"What's happened here?" Link asked
"This is the clan that were banished, the Garudo were Sheikas, banished to the Twilight, these are the women that returned; full of scorn and outrage, ready to tare down anyone with a connection to Hyrule. Those of us that saw the stupidity of being angry with a generation that died out long ago, like me, left in the middle of the night and just never came back.
I came back but if it wasn't for your father I'd have never gotten away again, he warped me to the Cavern of Frost and from there I came to Rome and Rome is where I stayed" The waiter told him
"I appreciate what you're doing for us" Link told him
"Don't thank me yet" The Waiter replied.
Link called Epona to him and then to his shock the waiter called his father' Epona to him, for the mask he wore, it worked but though this upset Link, he realised it was needed.
Zelph climbed up onto the horse with Link and Zane got up onto the other horse with the waiter, though he was struggling to hide the fact that he was very uncomfortable about it.
They got many stares and whispers from Garudo women but they weren't stopped by any of them until they got to the gate to the desert and a Garudo blocked their path with a spear,
"Halt! You are not needed Link" She told the waiter
"I disagree" The waiter said
"The queen is there already, guarding it; with her life most probably" She told the waiter
"Who's side are you on?" The waiter questioned
"You know I'm on your side but she'll kill me if I let you through"
"Not if we get to her first, you can't let her take the last Tri-Force piece!" The waiter snapped
The Garudo woman sighed and let him, Link, Zelph and Zane through.
Link had to use his Wolf Link senses to see the path they needed to use,
With this vision he could see ghosts of Garudo, sad expressions, heads to the side, whining and turning slowly on the spot about three foot off the ground.
Link shook himself out of this sense for a second,
"You see them don't you?" The waiter said in question
"They're so..." Link began
"Dont!" Zelph cried, "Say it and they'll come after you"
"She's right, just keep going, don't let them touch you or it's over" Zane said warningly
Link went back to using his Wolf Link senses and tried his best to ignore the whining ghosts of the Garudo women.
The next thing they came across were spikey creatures that spun in the air and tried to take the horses, everyone could see these. Link and Zelph had to shoot arrows at them and hope Epona just knew where to walk without direction.
Once these were dealt with Link realised that they were way off course now and back through the whining ghosts they had to rome.
Next they came across a number of quicksand whirpools but only Link could see these,
"OK, we have a number of quicksand whirpools, I need you to follow my exact path" Link told the waiter,
The waiter nodded and with some tricky steps forward and to the side they made it across this patch of desert.
Next they came across a sign and on it, it read that there were three paths they could follow, one would take them to the past but Zane argued they didn't know which era it was in and if it was before the waiter' last visit it was usless to them. The second would take them back to the start of the desert which they really didn't want and the last would lead them to the Garudo Tomb.
"This is so unfair" Link complained
"This wasn't here last time" Zane said
"No, it wasn't" The waiter added
"I have an idea, if we toss an object onto the path we can go back in time to see if it's there and if it is, it's not the right path, that'll eliminate one of them, I say one of us goes back to the entrance of the desert while we toss another object into the path and if it appears there at the entrance we know which path is the right one" Zelph suggested
Everyone loved this idea,
"Who's going back?" Zane asked dreading the answer
"I will" the waiter said, "I can't go back in there"
"You did what we asked of you I think it fair" Link said with a nod,
Zane sighed with relief.
It was decided, an arrow was fired onto the blue lit path, another was fired into the green lit path and then a third was fired into the red lit path.
While they waited for the waiter to find his way back to the desert entrance Link went back in time to find out which path he would be met by. He soon discovered that it was the green path.
The waiter found a better route back thanks to the mask he was wearing and there he found an arrow surrounded by blue light.
He took out his phone and sent a blue square to Zane.
"It's the red path" Zane told them
Link and Zelph nodded and walked Epona along the red lit path. Zane followed on the other horse and soon they found themselves at the entrance to the Garudo Tomb.
Sword at the ready Link lead the way into the tomb, determined to finish the job and save not just Hyrule' people but the entire world it had secretly lived alongside for a millenia.
The tomb was shaped like a serpent with two yellow glowing eyes at the very top. It was intimidating to look at but Link wasn't going to let that sway him.
Into the tomb they stepped and the first thing they noticed was the sound of an instrument being played and the sound of drums and chanting,
"That's the song of awakening, I won't tell you what she needs, she's not going to get it" Zane said
"Spirit Tracks" Link and Zelph said at the same time.
"The games have been a guide to all Hero' of Time, each time we come across anew we know there's trouble brewing" Zane said seriously
They made their way through the only door that wasn't locked and found a very strange sight indeed, the same room was below them but upside down and this floor was not a mirror. There were switches in different places, Link had no idea what he had to do here.
"Uh...a little help here?" He said in question to Zane
"One of you needs to be below us, whichever switch you stand on will be a guide to the switch we need to stand on here" Zane told him
"How do we get down there without breaking something?" He asked
"Link between worlds" Zelph said, realising, "Link, stand by the wall and see what happens"
Link looked confused but did this anyway and sure enough he became a flat, movable piece of wall art that had Zelph in a fit of giggles,
"Hey!" Came Link' muffled voice, "This isn't funny, what if I can't get out again?"
Zelph couldn't take him seriously at all and him trying to shake his head in this state only made her laugh even more.
Even Zane started laughing in the end.
"Work your way down to that room" He told Link
Link treated the brickwork like steps and worked his way around to the first of four platforms and one switch,
"Oh! Zelph, these aren't switches, there are eye switches on the walls; you need to be down here! The lit square will take you down here then when you've hit the switch we swap back again so I can get you to the next platform up!" Link called
"That's brilliant" Zelph said.
In this room there were ladders to get to the switches. There weren't any in the room below.
Zelph reached the first glowing square and stood on it, immediately swapping places with Link. Once there she used the light arrows to shoot the switch, then stepped off and stepped back onto the switch so that Link could use the wall to reach the next one.
Once all the switches had been activated a door appeared at the other end of the room above,
Link rejoined Zelph and Zane and into the next room they went.
Here they found narrow paths and three chests, plus three stone mummies floating around, blocking their path at every turn.
"We need to walk him into the fire but we have to walk together, if we go off in different directions they won't move at all" Zane told them.
Link, Zelph and Zane had to side step along a dead end path to destroy the first one and then back to the centre, across to the far end, then along the left path, forcing the stone mummy on the other side to go the other way with every touch of the wall, and into the fire.
For the third one they met it in the centre, circled it with difficulty and then walked long the left path off from the centre, forcing the stone mummy down the right path off from the centre and into the fire.
The fire was deactivated, affording them the chance to get to the chests.
There was a huge pit between the end of the path on the left off the centre and the door they needed to go through but for now they ignored this.
The chest Zelph opened had a key in it, the one Zane opened had some treasure he didn't need but the one Link opened was a trap and he was flung.
Zelph turned quickly and grabbed Link' hand before he could fall into a black hole. Then she frowned as he helped himself back onto the central path. They realised that not all of the black pits were real.
"I wonder" Link said, "Thank you by the way" He added to Zelph
She smiled and they took careful steps to the end of the path left off the central one and stared at the pit. Zelph shot it with a light arrow and they realised they could walk across to the door.
Beyond this door they found some winding stairs, and they climbed and climbed and climbed.
Every now and then they came across a landing with a trap on it. The first were timed arrows that came out the walls. The second were Beamos, these were trickier to deal with and Link, Zelph and Zane got a few burns to the legs. The third were Knuckle Masters and ghost rats, Link used the spin attack on the rats and the side step tecnique to remove the Knuckle Master' armour. The forth were falling stalictites and Re-Deads.
Finally they found a new door.
They were at the very top of this tomb now and waiting to take them down were four amoured Skelfoes and three Whizrobes, that also summoned bats, Fire Keets, Ice Keets and more Re-Deads.
The battle was intense and went on for quite a while. It nearly killed the three of them and would take a jar each of hot spring water to render them fit enough to just stand again.
"We need stronger armour" Link said.
"I know where we can get one" Zane said, nodding, "It's right through that door" He said with a nod, "But taking it will alert Shanklin' Phantom"
"Will it help?" Link asked
"It'll prevent damage for a time and if I'm right the Light Shield will be with it" Zane told him
So, Link stepped through the door and found the armour and the sheild he'd need. Now he had to deal with the waiter' mother.
The drumming and the chanting stopped the second Link was wearing it.
The whole place shook and Link fell off the edge, straight down to the main entrance, where he was met by the waiter' mother.
To her shock Link just stood up and grinned at her.
She screamed in his face.
Meanwhile Zelph and Zane had gone through a door on the right of the door they had ventured through and down they went, round the winding stairs,
There were no monsters or traps here, it confused Zelph but she was grateful.
When they got to the bottom and ventured through the door here they found a room with a light barrier around it, blocking them from Link and the waiter' mother.
With a look Zelph knew what she had to do,
While the waiter' mother was circling Link, Zane targeted the switches above, that Zelph then shot with light arrows, creating beams of light that hurt the woman' eyes. Link stood in a beam and used the new sheild to burn her until she spun in a circle, putting out the lights.
This plunged them into darkness but Link used his ears to shoot her down, a light shone as she fell, telling Link where to slash part of the Tri-Force symbol.
The second time the waiter' mother spun around she shot spikes at them. Link, Zelph and Zane ducked for cover, Link then took a hit that he didn't feel and again, used his ears to shoot her down.
The third time she summoned Fire Keets but the armour was still working so the light they gave out was her downfall and they finally got her.
She crashed to the floor and cried before being picked up by nothing and banished into a purple fog.
The barrier faded and Zelph and Zane met Link in the middle of the room.
At the far end they found a statue, holding a piece of the Tri-Force,
Link and Zelph' marks shone and Link played the song of discovery.
The forth piece of the Tri-Force was summoned and floated into Link' hand, completing the mark and making the whole thing glow,
"Oh woe" He said
"How?! How could you? A child! Defeat every beast I put in your way!?" This was Shanklin' Phantom,
"When someone threatens your life or the lives of those they care about or even takes the lives of those they love you'll be surprised by what they can do" Link said cooly
"This is where your battle ends Hero of Time, I now have the power I need to bring Cannon back!"
With a secret look at Zelph he allowed Shanklin' Phantom to snatch her.
"You knew he was going to do that" Zane said.
Link and Zane found their way out of the tomb and the desert, then back to Japan and to where the ruins of Hyrule Castle stood.
The very fact that he would be fighting Shanklin on home ground, combined with the complete Tri-Force made him more powerful than Shanklin could ever realise.