Author's Note: Back again for the next installment! This is just over 4,000 words, but I hope that it doesn't seem rushed. The first part of the Temple really is, but that's mainly because I wanted to mainly focus on the fight at hand here so the Temple wasn't dragged out. Please tell me if it is rushed, though, because I'm a bit worried that it is. Either way, I have added a bit of backstory to Bongo Bongo, so hopefully that makes up for it! Please enjoy, because next time it will be the Sage of Spirit and I'm super excited!
"Monsters are real, ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win."
~Stephen King~
Shards of Time
An Ocarina of Time FanFiction
Chapter 26: Umbra
Link wakes up a few hours later, confused and disorientated over what happened back in Kakariko. I do my best to explain everything I could quickly so we could enter the Temple before Impa returned but not only does he have so many questions, he also notes after, "Impa will know the Temple the best if she is the Sage. The creature won't hurt Kaei for now, so we can't let our guards drop before we have even found him." I was annoyed that he was spouting out wisdom so quickly after waking up, though I reluctantly agreed with him and waited out the rest of the night until the Sheikah returned.
Although Link offers to keep watch while I slept, I soon give up on trying and sit beside him instead until he drifts off. My mind can't keep off what had happened to Kaei and how we have to sit here and do nothing because it is logically better. I have rarely cared for the concept, and even if I understand why we must stay it doesn't mean that I am fine with it. Navi tries to console me, but even her words fall on deaf ears.
Thankfully Impa returns from the Village soon enough, and the Guardian Fairy wakes up her partner in time for him to meet the Sheikah. She grins at him and holds out a hand for him to shake. "Last time I saw you, you were just a lad." Link shakes her hand with a smile, but says nothing. She gestures towards the Temple entrance. "Now the monsters will still be active in here, but nothing else should enter now that the sun has risen. Kakariko is safe, the people are at Lon Lon Ranch until I deem it safe, but that will not happen until we defeat the creature that has taken Kaei."
We nod in agreement, following suit after the Sheikah as she leads us through the circles of torches, leading us into the Shadow Temple. We are instantly greeted by the door slamming shut behind us, whatever lurks inside of Kaei making sure that we can't leave even with everything that lingers in the darkness around us. She leads us down a long winding corridor, stopping us when drops appear that only she could see with her Sheikah eyes. We soon emerge in a larger hallway, the floor dropping down slightly and allowing the murky water below us to lap against our ankles. Navi flies back into her partner's hat; disgusted by the smell.
Numerous heads are attached to the walls, their mouths open and releasing litres of thick water by the second, generating a horrid smell. Some light wades in from above, but it is blotted out so much that it is barely noticeable. "Welcome to the House of the Dead," says Impa.
As we make our way through the water, Link asks. "Impa, do you know what the spirit is that took Kaei? Has it been around before Ganondorf?"
"Yes, Link, unfortunately he has."
I raise my head. "He?"
The Sheikah nods. "Blayke is the spirit that was at the Bottom of the Well, though some scholars like to call him "Bongo Bongo" because of the spirit's love of music," she goes on to explain, "He was the Prophet of our time, foreseeing the Great War long before it happened even if he could do very little to stop it. But he wanted more out of life, and because he was so gifted he believed that he was entitled to it. His house once stood where the well does now, and he was desperate to take our heirloom, the Lens of Truth, that he tortured and killed people beneath his home for information. When he finally stole it, my ancestors cut off his hands for such a theft, and then executed him for murder when they found out what he'd done to so many people."
Link turns his gaze to me, and I don't bother to beat around the bush. "They cut his head off. A life for a life..." He is greatly disturbed, but nods in understanding; we can't judge the actions of those before us; we just have to make sure that their wishes are carried out when we eradicate his spirit.
But even before we can finish talking about Blayke and reach the end of the long corridor, a scream splits our ears. We spin around, my mind instantly knowing that we are going to see a ReDead, however my eyes widen when something else crawls out of the ground entirely. After Ganondorf took over the Sacred Realm, creatures known as ReDeads began crawling up from dark places once the moon rose into the sky. However, this creature is completely different. Its skin is hallow and deathly pale, bones poking out but not breaking the skin. Its body towers over us even from a few feet away
"What is that?" Navi cries.
"Another member of the dead that cannot rest. This may be a Dead Hand..." the Sheikah muses.
"Why is it called Dead—?" Link begins, only for numerous pale hands to dig up from the ground and instantly reach out for us. We jump away, and Impa brings a plan forwards. She sheathes her knives and brings her fingers to her lips, singing a sweet three note tune twice. Whilst we find it confusing but somewhat calming, the creature cries out and tugs its tiny hands up to its head, teeth protruding from its gums as it freezes up. Impa shoots forwards, leaving us behind in a stunned state until I can snap myself out of it.
Whatever she did doesn't last long, and I manage to pull Impa back in time. Before we can even begin to ask her what it is, she answers it for us. "It is the Sun's Song; a song created by two deceased songwriters for the Royal Family, and gives peaceful rest to the living dead. It freezes up all creatures of the dead army and is vital for the fight against—"
As we listen to her, we assume that the creature won't reach us for a minute at least due to how it drags its disgusting body through the sewer, and in turn listen to her instead. But Navi cries out just in time for Link and I to dodge, however Impa is too focused on building up another spell that we cannot pull her away before Dead Hand's fingers wrap around her neck, and time slows down as Link sends an arrow in its direction, freeing the Sheikah before it can bite into her jugular.
Impa tumbles into the waste, and Link and I push the creature back with our blades before it can attack her again. We force it away, dodging around and ducking beneath the hands that reach out to grab our clothing and appendages.
But then Impa calls out.
"You two must go on without me! I will fight this Dead Hand whilst you go after Blayke!"
I spin around, knocking away a hand that grabs onto Link's tunic. "You're the Sage! You and Link must go on and do your duties!"
Then Link turns on me. "No, you are coming with us! Can't we outrun this...?"
The Sheikah shakes her head. "I am sorry, but this creature will not stop and can transform between mortal and immortal forms, meaning that it will not be stopped by brick and mortar. The influence on this place will never let is cease its attack on us... You two must go. I can handle this battle alone."
I go to make her recall what just happened, but I hold back. Instead, I say, "Please, Impa. We can fight with you and go on together. You're the Sage, and—"
"Go!" Impa cries, and the tone she takes on is one similar to Nabooru the last time that I saw her. We start to move away, but it isn't fast enough for the Sheikah to have. Without hesitation, she hurls a magical attack forwards and it collides into the both of us. We instinctively hang onto our weapons as the weight of the world falls away from beneath us. I shut my eyes as we transport through the darkness, staggering slightly when the floor rushes up to meet our feet. The air is thicker and clumped together here, creating a thick mist at our feet. Impa is gone, still fighting the deformed creature floors above us without anything other than her Sheikah defenses and blood.
For a moment, I pray for her.
I raise my head, seeing nothing more than choking darkness that clings to the floor around the pale platform that we stand on. The walls, from what little I can see of them, are made up of thousands of skills; human and otherwise. My gut twists at the idea of displaying remains of beings like this, innocent or not. I think to the Gerudo Marchita, realising that my tribe can say nothing about displaying their traitors, but at least our Temple is a homage to Din and not made up of skulls. I shudder at the thought, but keep a tight hold on my weapons.
"Ciren," Link whispers. "Look..."
A cloud of shadows falls away and reveals Kaei's form. He has his back to us, but it is clear that it's him. "You've been restless for far too long, Blayke," I call out to him, however does nor says anything. I continue, "We know everything about you. How you killed people to find the Lens of Truth, and then stole it away, Now your spirit cannot rest, but we can let you pass on without any regrets. You can't keep claiming over what isn't yours, let alone killing people for it. The Sheikah have a violent, bloody past, but now the Sheikah are coming to extinction and you don't want that; this has to change."
For a while, he says nothing in response. I glance over to Link and nod, and we both know what we have to do; drive the spirit out and try our hardest to not let Kaei go with it.
But as we take that fateful step forwards, Kaei finally turns around and produces a small sliver of silver; his knife. We both stand our ground, only dodging slightly when he flings it forward with incredible speed, and we barely slip out of its way. "I believe that you know much more about death and a bloody past than I, you hypocrite."
I set my jaw but say nothing. Link speaks instead, unable to hold back. "Everyone has a past that they regret, but unlike you we have moved on from them. You can't let your darkness go because you have let it define you. Your other side has won, and now whatever light you had is gone. And now we don't have a choice to stop you. Your darkness is spreading and trying to claim the light of those near you because you can't stand to see another have a fate better than you own." I snap my gaze over to him, both surprised and annoyed that I didn't spot this bubbling inside of him earlier.
Kaei leaps forwards, eyes a blaze of anger and darkness. "I see why he respects you so," is all he says at first as we parry him away, yet the blackness is so thick that it is harder for us to navigate than it is for him. "But the pity that he harbours for you drips from his Soul like mud. They always pity the Hero, the one we are supposed to pave the way for like a King. He pities your past, pities the idea of the Hero having to hold such heavy burdens and losses from the past that it torments him with each passing sun and moon." My eyes widen, a thought coming to me. "Why should we have to live as mere shadows whilst you bask in the light of glory when you have done nothing."
"I have done something!" Link cries back as Kaei slides out a second blade to even out the playing field. "Three Sages are heeding their call because of us, people are safe because—"
"Because of us," Kaei mocks. "Such a selfless Hero gives him all the more reason to be glorified by the Goddesses, but what will happen when he has no one else to rely on but himself? When the breath of the Gerudo King bores down onto your broken body?" Kaei takes a full swing at me, but I am more than ready for it; his words were clearly leading up to an attack on me. I duck beneath the knife and wrap my arms around his waist, knocking him to the ground with ease due to his sheer surprise. As soon as we hit the ground he instantly begins to struggle, but I straddle his form and hold my blades to his neck; he merely laughs. "You cannot release me unless I will it. His death will warrant nothing, Gerudo."
I resist rolling my eyes. "This I know all to well, Sheikah. All I ask is that you stop leeching off the Life Force of others and act with valour once in your afterlife. Don't claim strength when you possess others for power and fight us in your true form."
"And submit to you?" He grins, but as he talks I summon my magical abilities and pass a telepathic thought to Navi. He needs to play the Sun's Song. He needs to play it now! "I can see it in your eyes, Gerudo. You have taken what I said to you about him to heart. After growing up to live with courage and nothing more, you cling to the Hero and Sheikah like friends, like siblings. They have changed you, altered your very existence, and to know that they hate you for different reasons. The Sheikah for your heritage, and the Hero for what you are going to do after this is over."
I swallow thickly. How does it know what I'm going to do?
"My heritage I can get, but if they hated me enough then they would have acted on it by now," is all I can say, both stalling and trying to lure him off track from seeing my true reaction. He laughs and goes to say something, but the familiar sound of the Sun's Song suddenly slices through the fog. Kaei rears up and instantly starts to struggle under my weight, however I quickly press my blades to his sides and send a tiny shock of electricity through him to still his movements. He screams in pain as the melody causes him to seize up. I push my swords against his neck. "Release him and fight like the gifted man you once were."
He growls and spits in my face, but after a moment his eyes flutter dramatically, his entire body shuddering through a seizure. I step off of Kaei and back away to Link's side, keeping ourselves in battle stances in case Blayke's spirit goes to try anything. Kaei's form is lifted into the air by strings that we can't see, his frame still quaking from his attack. We watch in anticipation as darkness clumps together around his form and is driven skyward, causing Kaei's skin to pale and his body to slump to the floor, crashing against the platform limply. Navi surges forwards to check him over, nodding at us with a sigh of relief.
He's fine.
For now.
The spirit materialises high above us, pale appendages snapping into existence alongside two disembodied hands and a stump where his face used to be; now nothing more than a blood red eye and skin peeling off from the edge of the stump. He slams his hands into the platform, causing us to jump numerous feet in the air, and it's only then that I realise we are standing on a gigantic bongo.
Now I see why the scholars called it "Bongo Bongo."
Goddesses, Hylians are stupid with their naming systems.
Noting where Blayke's gigantic hand is heading, I race forwards and place a shield around Kaei, kneeling down and holding up my blades to fortify our protection. The hands rear back and disappear into the blackness around us, and I instantly realise what he has done. I whip my head around to my partner, rising into a stance. "He's cloaking himself into the darkness. He could be—!" Without warning, although I curse myself for not being more alert, a bout of darkness slams into my senses, and it takes a moment for me to break from my shock and realise that my weapons have slipped from my grasp and Blayke's large hand is wrapped around me.
And when I realise that Link is in his other hand, it dawns on me how screwed we are.
A part of me wants to struggle, yet not only would his grip tighten but it would do nothing to help us. I glance over at my companion as Navi flies around him, but he can't seem to see anything; his eyes are glassy as if the darkness around us is greatly affecting him. My eyes widen and I call out to him in concern, but he doesn't seem to hear me. "He's seeing what you're going to do to him," an oh so familiar voice enters my mind. "And he's realising that all of his attempts to prepare himself for your betrayal was all but futile."
"That's not true!"
But as I bite back a reaction when his hands pops a rib, a bright light captures my eyes. I snap my head up, realising that the source of the holy light is coming from within Blayke's hands, only moments later are we dropped to the ground. I hack the air back into my system, flinching when it puts a strain onto my ribs. I cast my gaze over to Link to see how he is, but he's already on his feet; Triforce piece ablaze. I straighten, realising that I have never visibly seen it before; I always assumed that it wouldn't work unless the other Bearers were nearby; but it has somehow been activated by his reaction to whatever Blayke showed him.
"No," the spirit can't help but whisper. "The power I wanted... the Goddesses decided to bless you with it after all?!" Link says nothing, merely raising his arm as if he knows how to use it.
And he does so flawlessly.
Its power wraps around his core and rushes at the gigantic spirit in thousands of vines. I watch in awe as the spirit screams in pain, the vines of golden light swirling around him, causing him to thrash about as he curses all of us for what we have done. He throws us about, causing all three of our forms to be tossed about like rag dolls. He seizes up in pain, his skin darkening drastically as his hands still, and out of nowhere his voice whispers, "Your blood tarnishes the future. Your paths are drenched in crimson..."
Then he disperses into nothingness, and the shadows are lifted.
Blayke is gone from the world.
But I won't forget what he said.
Impa appears moment later as I ease Link onto one knee, his energy sapped as the Sheikah tends to her follower. Kaei was unhurt due to my shield that has now dropped, but before Impa can turn to us in congratulations or even to take us out of here, Link's eyes find mine. "You were always going to go without me, weren't you?" he asks quietly, his gratefulness of winning or awe of using something he didn't know about all but gone. I stiffen and go to reply, but he simply shakes his head. "I always knew, Ciren. They are your Sisters, and you have a duty to them, but I wanted to think that you would let me come with you. Can... can I come with you?"
"We can talk about this once we get back to Kakariko. Then we can—"
"Tell me!" he shouts, and I raise a brow at his volume; I'm not surprised since I acted like a Hylian, but I am surprised at how quickly he let his composure go. "Why do you always insist in going alone?"
I ignore Impa as she purposely stands away from us, sighing deeply. "Ever since they were cursed, I ran like a coward and stayed away for seven years. Your seven years asleep were probably just as hard, but I had to go to sleep every night questioning when I could finally do something or they would come to me. I've slaved night after night over books that may have helped, and they all lead to the same thing; the death of those who cursed them in the first place. The Witches did it, and now make their home in the Spirit Temple, but they won't let you through. I can't sneak you around with the Gerudo watching, so I am going to go on ahead and act as the distraction."
He shies away, realising how quick he was to yell, before saying, "What about your Mother? Can't we find her?" I narrow my eyes, confused. He shrugs. "Navi told me, but can't we find her?"
"As much as I trust the Sprout, she doesn't want to be found. Otherwise she would have come earlier," I clarify, then, "But it's okay. As a Sage, Impa could probably help us in locating the final Sage and they can help you and—"
He suddenly embraces me, cutting me off without warning. I hold my arms out, unsure of what to do as he buries his head into my shoulder. "But I don't want you to go. You've been with us through it all, and I can help. I promise that I can help you; I'm not weak!"
I push him away to arm's length, shaking my head. "Of course I know that, but you have a job too, remember? If you defeat the Witches then the Sage will be either freed from the influence, or will be able to return to the fight against Ganondorf. I'll distract them whilst someone guides you through, and then I'll meet up with you when I can." Seeing the reluctant look in his eyes sends pain through my ribs for more than just one reason. I know fully well that I won't be able to distract them and then leave, and I hope that Link doesn't realise this before this plan settles into motion. I don't care what happens to me now; it was never supposed to be me who defeated the Witches or Ganondorf.
When I was younger, my pride got in the way of that. I refused to believe that it was Link's duty to do just that when I had just reason to kill them both. But not only is it impossible to kill Ganondorf without the Master Sword, but it was my duty to be there fore my Sisters and aid the Hero of Time; my duty is half done now, and all I can do is help him reach the final Sage with ease, and then do whatever it takes to free my Sisters and Nisah.
He nods, and I sigh with relief as Impa guides out from the Temple.
But I can't get my mind off of the lie burning on my tongue.
I'm sorry I have to do this, Link. Maybe you can find it in your heart to forgive me for being such a coward... one day...
