A Link to the Past
Chapter Seventeen: The Temple of Hera
Although much brighter than the inside of the cave system, the world appeared to have been enveloped with a dark, thick fog that made it hard for Link to see any farther than a short distance ahead. Unlike the grassy fields below, the terrain here in the mountains was a base coat of solid rock, covered with a layer of dirt and loose gravel that made loosing one's footing easy even on the well worn trail. The older man followed close behind as the young man pushed forward, following the trail at his feet as it curved upward, and although it was still raining the fog had reduced it to more of a thick mist that soaked everything without actually forming any drops.
"So, what do you think happened to all those girls in the dungeon?" The older man asked, taking a moment to step around a large rock that somehow ended up in the middle of the trail. "And how exactly is coming all the way up here going to help thing?"
"I really don't know." Link admitted, wiping more water from his face. "Whatever Agahnim was doing to the missing girls, it was bad, and this is the last lead I have for a way to help Princess Zelda."
He couldn't help wondering what kind of test would be waiting for him inside the Temple of Hera, especially since it was a well-traveled spot, while the other two locations had been long forgotten ruins. To be fair, it was possible for the tunnels beneath the dunes and the old Lord's castle to have once been popular places in this province as well, and… wow, what would it have been like to face those statues inside of an intact building while the Lord and his family lived there? What would it have been like to have an audience watching through those holes as Link tried to outwit that creature in the sand? He was more worried that some of the people watching would get hurt during those tests, and… hey, the rain stopped.
Continuing up the trail where it came to its steepest point, the young man took one more step upward, and suddenly the sun was shining for the first time in what felt like forever. Turning around to help the older man up the last bit of the way, Link saw that the dark fog they had just walked through was actually a cloud cover that stretched out in all directions for as far as the eye could see. If this was where all the rain across the kingdom was coming from, then it explained how quickly the fog soaked him, and now off in the distance the young man could see crackles of lightning, followed by crashes of thunder. Nope, it didn't look like the storm was going to end any time soon, but that didn't stop him from taking a few moments to enjoy the warm rays of the sun.
Turning back toward the mountain, Link was able to see that only the highest peaks were able to escape the rain, and that the Temple of Hera was only a short distance away. Several stories high and carved from yellow and red stone hundreds of years ago, the temple was shaped like a stacked pyramid that had each level going up getting gradually smaller until the very top looked like a single large room, at least from down there on the ground. This construction got larger and larger as the two of them approached, and now the temple was gigantic when Link finally stood at the base of the stairs leading to its entrance. The doors at the top were open, which was expected in a public place, so the young man headed up to the entrance with his older companion following close behind.
Instead of torches, there were large metal fonts around the room, each one ablaze with fire that both illuminated the area and made shadows dance around the elaborately carved walls. It was nice to be inside of a well-kept place for once instead of ruins that were falling apart, but expect for the crackling flames and the sound of their own footsteps echoing, the whole place seemed to be deserted. Maybe everyone took that sign at the foot of the mountains seriously, with even the old sages that maintained the temple staying away, but judging how there were offerings of fresh fruit and other things left out on the different alters, the evacuation must've been pretty recent.
"Alters to Din, Nayru, and Farore." The older man observed, looking around at where the offerings had been placed. "Some say that these Goddesses breathed life into the world as we know it, each one working together to form the perfect balance of wisdom, courage, and power that is required for life to exist. Others say that's all hogwash used to explain the wonders of the three Triforces, their golden power locked away by the seven wisemen where only the bravest souls dare seek it. Which do you believe, young fellow?"
"I do know that the Triforces are real." Link replied. "The royal family had one, my grandfather got another one when he defeated Ganondorf, and then there was this whole ordeal to find the last one to break an ancient sleeping spell, and apparently that's how he met my grandmother. Then he said the Triforces just disappeared, so I don't know about any of the Goddesses or anything like that, but I guess it couldn't hurt to leave offerings now and then just in case."
Moving around the first floor, which was one large chamber supported by elaborate stone columns, the only thing the two of them found were things that the young man had already seen before. Alters, pews for those who came to meditate or pray, and carvings along the walls in that same language he had seen underneath the dunes… maybe those ruins way out there had been another temple like this one at some point. Anyway, there wasn't much else to be found on the first floor, and the heavy wooden doors that went to the upper levels were shut and locked, just like they had always been. Those area had always been closed off from the public, but Link just thought they were private chambers for the sages or storage for important things.
"Maybe there's a key around here somewhere." The older man suggested, clearly needing a rest after the walk up there, sitting on the floor against a pillar. "You take a look around while I catch my breath."
That was about what Link expected from a man his age, so he allowed his companion to rest a bit while he continued to explore the area, eventually finding another closed doorway on the far side of the temple. This one was unlocked, even though it took the power of his glove to push the heavy wooden barrier open on its rusty metal hinges, clearly not having been open in a long time, and on the other side of the door was a staircase leading down. Like the hidden passage behind the throne at Hyrule Castle, there was dust and cobwebs, thankfully no spiders or other creatures in sight, though, and no bones on the stairs like there had been in the dunes. There weren't any torches or light holes either, so the young man had to go back and pull a piece of wood from a font in order to see.
Somehow this part of the temple felt even more empty, the damp, dusty stone stairs echoing with each step on the way down, and then just like at the dunes, the bottom of the stairs opened up into a larger chamber. More dust and cobwebs all over the floor and walls, leaving obvious footprints when Link walked across the square tiles, and so far the room was empty, like completely empty with no boxes or stored items anywhere… at least not until he got all the way across the room to the far end. There was a simple metal hook mounted on the wall, and on it hung a large metal key that was starting to rust, but it was what was on the floor around the key that made the young man hesitate.
Now this place was starting to remind him of the dunes, since the floor all around the key was littered with dust covered bones, pieces of rusting metal armor, and scraps of clothing that was rotting and falling apart. All along the far wall of the room to the left and right there were more than a dozen sets of bones, but no evidence of what killed them. Some of the armor was heavily dented inward as if something big had struck them, but after holding his torch up and looking all around the room, whatever had done this must've left a long time ago or died itself. So the young man waited, looking around several more times and examining everything he could to check for hidden creatures like those statues, but finding nothing.
"All right." Link whispered, preparing to grab the key and run. "One… two… three!"
As soon as he grabbed the key and removed it from the hook, the hook itself turned to the left and simply vanished into the wall, and the young man had just turned around when he heard a loud twang before something struck the edge of his ear hard enough to sting. Crash! Next there was a shattering sound behind him as whatever it was that just flew by had broken itself against the wall into a million pieces, and then the wind was knocked out of him when another loud twang sent something flying right into his stomach. Dropping to his knees from the pain as the wind was knocked out of him, Link was able to see that there was a dislodged floor tile laying in front of him, just before another flying tile knocked the torch from his hand.
The torch slid and bounced across the floor, still giving enough light for him to see the shapes and outline of this chamber but not much else, and it was only by pure luck that his shield arm was up to stop the next tile from crashing right into his face. Even with the glove giving him increased strength, the blow was hard enough to knock his arm back and leave it throbbing when the tile collided with the young man's shield, and now it was obvious what killed the owners of all those bones, since without the glove Link's arm probably would've broken from that hit. So he tried to run for it, only to take a hard hit to the leg, and now he lay there on the floor on his stomach with his small shield out in front of his head, crawling toward the other side of the room where the stairs to safety awaited.
Twang! Crash! Twang! Crash! Dust and debris were kicked up each time a floor tile was sent flying at him, some missing, others striking his shield, and others managing to get a lucky hit on his shoulder or foot so hard that Link couldn't help crying out with each one. What a horrible trap this was, he thought imagining all of the others who came before trying to protect themselves with armor and shields, but none of them would've had the glove for the extra strength that was letting the young man slowly crawl across the floor just as another tile hit directly against his shield that was now starting to dent.