Beyond the door was a circle room that had born up against the effects of time far better than the rest of the place, not just carved but painted too. A scattering of pots were placed around the edges of the room, but what caught my attention, and persuaded me to step lightly despite the loudly creaking doors, was the figure behind the opposite door.
It was an impressive door – all gold, with the stylized Loftwing engraved into it. It was a similarly interesting figure. He had pale, just off white skin, and very minimal clearly white clothing – except for a kind of cloak – golden on one side, red on the other, and tied up around his neck leaving the rest looking like a couple of tails streaming behind him. Just visible behind it was hair, also white.
He held a black sword in one hand, and gave off a kind of presence that clearly advertised he wasn't just not on my side, but so far on the other he was practically cuddled up to the leader of the enemy camp – which turned out to be fairly accurate, as it happened.
I crossed the floor warily, trying to avoid making any sound. He probably knew I was there from the sound of the Boss Door, but it was hard to tell with him facing this other door. Along the way he struck at the door with his sword, causing it to flash bright golden light that threatened to blind me.
And when it cleared, he was back to just being stood, looking at the door, the sword held negligently behind him.
It was raised again to strike, and I quickly moved to cover my eyes again, only this time he paused mid-strike, the sword dissolving away – in black diamond pieces. Was this the one I'd narrowly missed spotting outside?
"Well look who it is..." he murmured in a soft, nearly silken voice that was clearly heard anyway. After a pause, he turned to regard me – revealing a pale face, pointed ears and black eyes with what I swear was purple eye-shadow underneath.
"I thought that tornado I stirred up would have tossed and torn you apart... and yet here you are," he said, sounding close to appreciative. Close, but not quite – there was definitely an edge to his voice. "Not in pieces at all."
"It'll take more than a bit of wind to tear me up," I told him. Both fists were clenched ready now. He was the one responsible for what happened, and I was going to get him for it.
"It hardly has any consequence now," he sighed, looking back to the door. I resume steady, silent pace over the floor, trying to keep my own temper in check. I had a nagging feeling that flying off the handle at him too quickly wasn't going to end well, and that only riled me up even more.
He carried on without bothering to turn back to face me, "It's just the girl that matters now, and I can sense her here... just beyond this door..."
Almost there. He just had to keep talking a bit longer, and I'd be pummelling him into submission any moment. It wasn't easy to keep a level head, and it never occurred to me that he was playing me perfectly.
"Yes, we plucked Her Majesty," he said with a hint of contempt, "from her perch in the clouds, and now she's ours. Oh, but I'm being positively uncivil," he went on, still with his back to me! Did he not care he was a prone target? "Allow me to introduce myself – I am the Demon Lord who presides over this land you look upon, the land those above call the surface, and you... may call me Ghirahim."
Just a little more. He wouldn't even realise what hit him until too late. He still faced away, still completely oblivious to me. You should never waste time talking to your enemies. Mucking about doesn't have any place in a fight.
Ghirahim carried on heedless though. "In truth, I much prefer to be indulged with my full title – Lord Ghirahim, you know – but I'm not really fussy." He turned with a swiftness I never expected from him, caught my fist and threw me easily back across the room. "Really now Echidna, you must allow people their space," he admonished me. He'd known! All along, he'd known I was there, and he'd let me believe he hadn't noticed!
I ignored the renewed pains of hitting the floor, scrambled back to my feet and drew my sword all in one go, running for him. I crossed the gap quickly, raised the sword to strike – and he caught it, throwing it away with me still holding on!
"Foolish creature," Ghirahim chuckled, then went on with his monologue as if the entire incident hadn't happened. "By all rights, the girl should have fallen into our hands already," he told me. Reluctantly conceding that my hot-headedness wasn't going to help me here, I fought the urge to rush him again. It'd only end up in me being thrown around again. I did not, however, sheath my sword, or stay back. I was going to fight this so called Lord Ghirahim yet!
"She was nearly ours when that loathsome servant of the Goddess snatched her away from us!"
"Just as well too," I managed, barely keeping my temper under control. Ghirahim ignored me, but his frustration at his own remark caused the air around him to grow wan and dark as he exclaimed his next point.
"Do you have any idea how that made me feel inside?" he burst out.
"Like an idiot," I answered – which may have been a mistake, in hindsight. Ghirahim stopped mid-rant and gave me a flat, stare – and vanished in a puff of diamonds. The same ones I'd seen before. It was him alright!
"Furious!" his disembodied voice echoed through the chamber. "Outraged! Sick with anger!"
"Sounds like a normal day for you then," I retorted, making for the golden door now he no longer guarded it.
"Such remarks only heighten the result of this turn of events," his voice said with a kind of furious calm. "A strong appetite for bloodshed. Still... it hardly seems fair," he told me, now right behind me, leaning over my shoulder to talk right into my ear. "Being of my position, to take all of my anger out on you..."
I didn't bother to say anything. My sword was in my right hand, but my left was still curled into a fist. Which snapped back at about groin height. Ghirahim stumbled back with a howl, clutching at that region with fury in his eyes.
"If that had been permanent, I'd have been very upset!" he snarled at me.
"I promise to do better next time then!" I retorted. Again I went for him, but this time he just vanished into diamonds again. This time I heard him re-form, quickly turning to face him.
"I'm going to take out my anger on you, Echidna," he told me in a low, cold voice. "But I promise not to murder you – just beat you within an inch of your life!"
His cloak dissolved into his signature diamonds, revealing a golden band on his right arm, but more than that I didn't pay any attention to. If I had been, I'd have noticed that hand start to glow red as he stalked toward me.
I wasn't going to wait for him and headed for him, not rushing this time, that hadn't done me any good before. Ghirahim showed no sign of responding to my clearly obvious intentions, just giving me a cruel smirk as we closed.
The sword swung, and he caught it with an amused touch to his smirk. Rather than let him throw me away I made to punch again, aiming exactly where I had before, and he quickly drew back – removing his hand from my sword in the process! I struck back with both sword and fist, each blow making him reel back. I barely noticed his skin turn black every time I hit him, or that I hadn't done any visible damage. After a few blows he again vanished, and I quickly cast about for him. Behind me, naturally.
My usual attitude re-emerged and despite knowing it wasn't going work I charged him again, and again he caught the sword before it struck. This time, he stood in such a way he wasn't presenting such an easy target for my free hand.
I dropped the sword and punched with my right fist instead, startling him twice in quick succession, catching my sword in my left hand and repeating. I never was as good with my left as I was with my right, but Pipit had trained me well, and that stuck with me even in the heat of the moment. Again Ghirahim teleported away to safety, and at last he summoned his own sword.
This time he charged me, running with an unnatural turn of speed that didn't leave me enough time to respond. I was knocked back, another new gash in my tunic, and only rolling quickly aside avoided making me a pincushion. I snatched up my sword in my right hand and struck, only to meet his blade, several times as I kept trying to attack. He may have seen my own anger driving me, he may have thought I was running entirely off it, but enough of my mind was still thinking straight to have a plan, however vague. He continued to block my strikes, and then when the opportunity presented itself and his sword moved to block where no sword was, he realised his mistake – just as my fist connected again. He snapped something in a tongue I don't understand, and I strongly suspect it wasn't a compliment.
As before, he teleported away. This time I was ready for him. He always appeared behind me, whether close by or far, and I'd learned. This time he appeared right behind me. I quickly reversed my grip on the Goddess Sword and stabbed back at the same place I'd been punching. I got another snarled remark for my trouble, and once I turned and got my grip back to normal, a temporarily prone target to beat up until he again vanished.
Further away this time. I was starting to tell the distance by the sound of his appearance. Ghirahim charged again as I turned, and I waited until the last moment to duck under the horizontal strike he'd been poised to make, rising up immediately after his sword, my own aimed for his neck. It didn't cut him, of course – that odd black flare occurred to protect him – but he did flinch back from it violently.
After several more blows he teleported back, panting from the exertion, watching me carefully, but no longer threatening.
"You put up more of a fight than I thought possible from a monster," he told me. I was breathing heavily myself, but I wasn't about to let that pass. This time Ghirahim just vanished in advance, clearly not interested in fighting any more.
"Don't clap for yourself just yet, Echidna. That sword of yours is the only reason you came out on top this time." He paused, shook himself and said, "I've spent too long teasing and toying with you... the girl's presence is gone from here. There's no reason to linger here any longer. I'll be seeing you again, monster. Run and play this time, but get in my way again... and you're dead."
And he vanished completely this time – for good.
I waited for a time to be sure, catching my breath. The room brightened with his departure, and a brief flash at the peak dropped a completely full heart container as a reward. After what the earlier one had done for me, I didn't hesitate to pick that one up to restore my strength.
Another flash came from the golden door, the Loftwing etching lighting up green, then gold, then fading almost completely out. It was still there, but had faded to let me pass through.
I paused at the door, glancing back to where I'd fought.
"Speak for yourself, Demon Lord," I told the empty room. "You'll have to do better than that to get the better of this monster."