Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda series do not, repeat, not belong to me. They rightfully belong to Miyamoto. (May he continue to make excellent games for the rest of his days.) What does belong to me are Cleo, Finn, Syrilla and Okam (sorta).

The strategy to beat Staltula doesn't belong to me either. lol!

Chapter 17

She walked part way around the tree. "How do I get in?" She came closer to it, she could almost touch it. "Jack, any ideas?"

"I was once taught that the plant life have a kind of spirit in them. We need to find out what it is feeling."

"How?"

"Let your mind be one with nature, with the tree itself. Try to feel its emotion, its pain."

That won't be easy, she'd never done this before. Maybe if she could just imagine what it might be like to feel so terribly sick she felt like she was dying. She reached out with this sympathetic thought and placed her hand on the bark. Focusing hard, she let her sense of touch discern the pain it was going through, really feel as if her hand was burning from that pain.

At once, a small knot on the trunk grew wide, opening like a mouth. Cleo peered into the dark entrance. "It has welcomed you," Jack said, sounding like he was smiling. "It knows you are here to help." Cleo was silent as she stood there for a moment and then calmly walked in.

Midna was lying in bed, looking relaxed with her eyes closed and her chest rising and falling gently. But she wasn't asleep, she was listening hard with her long ears, trying to pick up any kind of sound that was out of the ordinary. She heard movement coming from the hallway, someone was walking by and stopping right outside her closed door, it opened a crack. Midna carefully opened her eyes a millimeter so as to still appear sleeping yet be able to see what was happening. She could see someone peeking in through the crack, probably checking to see if she was awake. From the sound of the person's breathing, she was sure it was Okam. Then the door closed and the footsteps died away.

Midna got up quietly and tiptoed to her door to hear if Okam was still nearby, but the hallway sounded empty. She dissolved into a black mass of particles and went right through the door. After reappearing in the hall, she looked both ways to see where he'd gone and saw a shadow disappearing around a corner to her left. She quietly followed it. Okam looked around him and continued his nighttime stroll. Midna followed him carefully, trying not to get caught, turning into a shadow whenever he looked back. He was looking over his shoulder more often than necessary, which seemed suspicious. He clearly didn't want to be observed.

But the weirdest thing she noticed was not his strange behavior, it was his shadow. It... didn't look right, it didn't even look like him, it looked like something else, something tall and angular, with rows of chevron shaped extensions on the head, pointing upwards. Perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but Midna felt goose-bumps when she saw it. She tried to ignore it.

Okam stopped at his own door and too dissolved into a black mass and went through. Midna turned into a shadow again and quietly entered. She quickly fused into the shadow of a pot that he'd never had a chance to throw at Cleo. She saw him open the drawer and pull out the gossip stone. Then she heard a voice she instantly recognized, as the owner shared the same voice as herself.

"My forces are on their way to gain the Green Flash from the Drabokos now that they've weakened. And I've managed to put the blame on that stupid girl for the sickness I caused them and their tree. They may have already torn her apart in their anger by now." There was an edge of cruelty in the voice.

Midna quickly stifled her gasp. Okam glanced sideways at the pot for a moment, then turned back to the gossip stone, deciding it was nothing. "Maybe, but you forget Veran, Cleo is not an ordinary child, strong, clever."

"Oh bah! You know full well she cannot survive without that lost spirit."

"Yes, that's the problem. Jack is the reason she's still alive, which is why you should've taken him out first. He is a danger to my plan... as he always has been."

"...Are you saying you actually know him?"

"Let's just say Jack and I go way back."

"Now you've got me curious. Who is he exactly?"

"Never you mind, this is not important. There are still two essences left and I want you to go straight to the Blue Crater Volcano."

There was a scowl of disappointment "...Yes master."

Okam put away the stone and stretched his arms, yawning. He suddenly whipped around and shot lasers right out of his eyes, smashing the pot. Midna was thrown from the shadow, now exposed. "Isn't it past your bedtime, Princess Midna?" Midna ran out through the door, needing to get away from her betrayer. But to her great shock, her escape was thwarted by... giant insects. They had gotten in. Okam appeared before her looking triumphant. "Did you really think you were the one in charge, Sparkling Vampire Princess?"

"You will not get away with this, Okam! You will face justice, mark my words!"

"Haven't you figured it out by now? I have been the one in control all along... I have already won." Then he let out a terrible, demonic, echoing cackle that was unlike his own elderly voice. His appearance began to change before her very eyes and she looked horrified.

Cleo and Jack were now inside the tree. They could see spiderwebs stretched over nooks and crannies. There was a large hole in the floor in the middle of the main room, which was also covered in a web. Nowhere to go but up, she used Draconequus to walk up a wall that had a smooth surface. Up one floor, she found a wooden bridge mounted on a post topped with a fan. She activated Futen to blow the fan and turn the bridge for her to cross. In the next room, there was a mass of dead plants, blackened by poison and swarming with undead. Jack figured that whatever had spawned those zombies was the one poisoning everything. Cleo killed off the ravenous attackers and moved on to a turning bridge maze. After maneuvering around that, she found a chest containing the Rune of Viridi. It gave her the power to regrow the plantlife. She spent the rest of the trip, growing vines on walls allowing her to climb higher and bringing smaller trees back to life. She went through another maze with shadow babas in her way, requesting certain tree fruits to let her pass. After delivering the right fruit to each of them, she found the big key. Now that she was at the top, way above the web covered hole, she took a brave leap and fell hard and fast, breaking through the web and landing in strangely purple water. She quickly got out before the poison could do permanent damage to her, then unlocked the last doorway.

The two entered an underground corridor, right underneath the tree's roots. Ahead of them, across the soft patches of soil, was a pond the size of a swimming pool surrounded by streams flowing into small tunnels, the walls were strewn with webs. The water was murky and black and, as they approached, some splashes of more black droplets came cascading down into the pond. They looked up and saw a hole dug into the roof, with something stirring inside, making a horrid scratching sound. It finally sensed their presence and lowered itself just above the water. It looked like a skeletal spider, bone white and undead looking, with ribcage ridged markings on it's back. It's many blank white eyes were looking right at Cleo.

Necro Arachnid:
Staltula

It suddenly started spitting poison at her and she ran all the way back to the door, out of range. Then it began spewing gas on the bank of the pond. Undead bodies emerged and came after her. Jack said there were too many for her to handle with the Skribal Sword alone and she needed extra defenses. Looking at the soft soil, she tried the Rune of Viridi and grew some giant bell flowers. They started firing seeds at them and Cleo took care of the ones that made it to her. One of the seeds hit Staltula. While it was stunned, she rushed ahead, blew it onto the bank with Futen and slashed away. It pulled itself back up on its web and shot poison onto the flowers, killing them, then spawned more zombies that rose faster and bigger, with different defenses. Cleo grew a variety of plants to counter the army, some flowers provided magic for the Skribal Sword.

After Staltula was attacked again, it retreated onto the water, skittering across the surface. Cleo went after it, growing lily pads to stay out of the poisonous pond. She hopped between lilies to dodge its web shots, and went into offence after it exhausted itself. It suddenly shot one more web at her and pulled her in its front legs. Before it could bite, she wriggled out of its grip and jumped on its back. She stabbed down hard.

Cleo leapt onto a lily pad as Staltula rolled over, twitching violently, until it stilled and sunk down into the bottom.

She pulled out the package containing the medicine and dumped all of it into the contaminated spring. Within several minutes, the blackness faded away, leaving clear water. As though there was some magic in the spring, new plants began to grow across the soil from the bank. Grass, flowers, tree saplings, all were rapidly sprouting from the ground. "The forest is finally returning from the decay of evil," said Jack. "Now all we have to do is wait for the Essence of Light."

Cleo was able to relax in the fresh, clean flush of a healthy forest, feeling relieved after encountering such noxious hazards. She breathed in fresh air, smelled the fragrant flowers, and drank from the spring. As she drank, a bright light appeared over the water. Cleo didn't bother using Viridi, the lily pads just moved on their own as she walked forward to it. She reached out for the vivid, chartreuse light and it landed in her hand. A tiny emerald was resting on her palm, emitting the radiant glow.

She got the Green Flash. The first glimpse of verdant light shines upon the lost and awakens their soul!

So you are from the distant past, I see?

Yes... I was told that you alone know the secret location of a hidden portal through time.

You were told correctly.

I am in desperate need of it... The entire world is depending on me. I must get right back to that very battle I fought all those eons ago and finally finish what I started. Once I do, all the evil he has caused will vanish and history will change for the greater good.

I have been waiting my whole life for the warrior who had been lost through time. I warn you Jack, the path ahead will be dangerous.

I know... I am used to that...

Very well, I will point the way... it is time to fulfill your destiny.