A Link to the Past

Chapter Forty Two: Misery Mire

Getting to his feet was a little harder than usual since the muck underneath the shallow water was a few inches deep, but Link still got up as fast as he could. His hand was shaking a little as he drew the Master Sword, the young man keeping his newly acquired shield up defensively while another flash of lightning and thunder split the sky above. Yes, he was nervous to face the wizard again, since their last couple fights hadn't exactly gone well for him, but maybe that would change with a quick movement of Link's arm so that the blue diamond on top of his freezing rod was aimed right at his enemy with the silvery mist released as soon as that movement was finished.

Reacting just as quickly, Agahnim tossed a fireball from his hand, the orange flames dying out in less than a second, but cancelling out just enough of the freezing mist so that he had enough time to vanish while the rest of the silvery cloud froze a small section of the swamp water. Instinctively remembering that his enemy was fond of reappearing behind his opponents, the young man spun around so that the wizard's kick struck the surface of his shield, knocking Link's arm out of the way as he stumbled back, but a wild swing of the blue blade forced Agahnim to lean back to avoid it instead of attacking again. Not wanting to give the wizard any more time to do, well… anything at all, a pulse of strength from the glove allowed the young man to charge forward before he completely regained his balance.

Link's hope was to be able to stab his enemy with the Master Sword, or at least bash him with the shield in a move that left him on his feet while Agahnim went down, but instead the young man was rocketed forward in a kind of awkward flailing stumble that did manage to hit the wizard while he was still leaning back… but ended with both of them falling down into the murky water. Again swinging the Master Sword over to where Agahnim had fallen, the blue blade hit nothing but shallow water when he vanished, and then… and then except for the storm, the whole swamp got oddly quiet for a few seconds while Link got up to his hands and knees, but then the wizard reappeared standing on top of one of the larger plants sticking out of the water a short distance away.

"You shouldn't stand in the water during a storm, boy!" Agahnim laughed as energy crackled between his hands. "Trueno!"

If his shield hadn't already been raised the spell would've probably killed him, but instead Link experienced extreme heat and blinding light as the bolt struck the red and gold surface, disbursing in all directions including the water around him. The force of the spell had been reduced significantly, but there was still enough to actually lift the young man out of the water, and then everything was spinning for a few seconds before he landed hard on something that felt like wet stone. Now struggling to sit up while his burned clothes were smoldering, with the blue undershirt probably having taken most of the force, there was no time to react before the wizard vanished from the plant, reappearing right in front of him with a kick to Link's mouth.

The young man's head slammed backwards into the stone as he went down, and he shot out the freezing mist from the rod without having any idea whether or not it hit anything, just trying to give himself enough time to roll over onto his stomach. The mist must not have hit the wizard, because Link had just gotten to his hands and knees when Agahnim kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him as he dropped back down. Out of desperation he used the glove's power again, receiving a boost of power that was enough to let the young man push off the stone to his feet, and then he attacked the wizard with everything he had. Alternating between swinging the Master Sword and bashing at him with the shield, Agahnim continued to step backwards while leaning and ducking to avoid each attack, at least until Link shot the freezing mist out of the rod… straight down.

He wasn't sure how exactly that happened, since the young man hadn't meant to use the rod at that moment, but clearly his enemy hadn't seen that coming, either, since both of them lost their footing as a layer of ice spread out across the wet stone. Falling down again was worth it just to see the wizard go down as well, and this time when he thrust the blue blade, Link got the satisfaction of hearing Agahnim cry out in pain when the tip of the Master Sword sunk into his torso. Because of how far they were away from each other, the wound wasn't as deep as he would have liked, so the young man tried again, making the wizard groan when the blue blade was pulled out, but he vanished just before the second thrust found its mark… reappearing well outside of the frozen area.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." The wizard groaned, clutching his chest as he got to his feet. "After all, dumb luck runs in your family."

Link tried to get up, but since he was in the middle of the frozen spot, all the young man could do was flop around helplessly, with his only option being to use the freezing rod one more time before Agahnim could fully recover. Managing to roll onto his side while his enemy was getting up, he aimed the rod and… nothing happened… leaving him with a sinking feeling after realizing that the rod's magic must've been all used up. Again flailing around like a fish out of water, Link had made no progress at all by the time Agahnim was standing right over him, a ball of flame appearing in each of his hands while the young man held up his shield in front of himself, his only hope to attack again with the Master sword before…

His thoughts were interrupted by the searing pain of a fireball striking his sword arm, and then another one striking his stomach when he moved the shield to defend his burned arm. Pretty much everywhere the red and gold shield wasn't, that was where the wizard sent flame, hitting Link with them again and again as the fireballs kept forming in Agahnim's hands until the ice on the wet stone was melted, and a majority of the young man's green clothes were covered with black burn marks. The magic undershirt and the storm probably kept him from being burned to a crisp, but now the wizard was pushing his knee down into the back of Link's neck, holding his sword arm down by the forearm when he made a feeble attempt to fight back, and now his enemy was going through his pockets.

"Seriously?!" Agahnim exclaimed when he found the crystals. "You seriously kept them all with you?! Oh well, easier for me, then."

The young man tried to get free, but the wizard just pressed his knee down harder while taking the crystals from Link's pocket and storing them in his own, explaining that he never trusted Ganondorf's servants to watch over the trapped girls in the first place, and that he just had to intervene after hearing about what happened to Hinox and Stalfos. Nope, all five of those crystals were going to stay right there with him, where they should have been from the start, and as for the young man, well… Agahnim had something special planned for him. Not bothering to disarm him or even hit him again, the wizard stood up and walked back the way they came while more magical energy gathered between his hands.

"That old mine is where you came in, right?" He asked as the energy glowed brighter. "Bombos!"

Link had seen this spell before, remembering how the massive ball of flame left a trail of smoke as it flew into the temple and nearly collapsed the whole building after the loyal Sage was killed. This time was no different, except this time the only thing that was destroyed in the explosion was the entrance to the old mine when the stone surface above it was blasted apart, burying the location of the crack between worlds underneath several tons of rock and debris. When the smoke cleared there was no way that the young man could ever dig his way through that mess, but what was the point of doing that? There were plenty of those cracks hidden around the Dark World, so what did it matter destroying one of them?

"Welcome to Misery Mire, boy." Agahnim said with a much happier tone. "I know what you're thinking; if you've seen one swamp, you've seen them all, right? Wrong! See those tall, smooth cliffs? They go all the way around the swamp, meaning that except for the way you came in… there's no way out."

"Agahnim… you need to stop this." Link coughed while a perfectly timed rumble of thunder accented his enemy's words. "If Ganondorf goes through into Hyrule… then the whole world is doomed. You think he… you think he'll wish for Koholint island? He's probably going to kill you… as soon as he doesn't need you anymore."

He expected the wizard to have some kind of reaction to this, but instead he just shrugged, commenting that while it might be true, the dim hope of that monster keeping his word was all that Agahnim had left. The only thing that kept the wizard from completely losing his mind throughout the decades he had been imprisoned in the Dark World was the dim hope of being able to see Tracy and his children again… that, and getting revenge on Link's uncle, which he had already gotten. Anyway, now it was time for the young man's punishment for trying to prevent him from getting his family back, the start of which was just for him to listen to the world around them.

"There are no monsters to fight here." The wizard explained after only the storm was heard. "There's a crystal; Ganondorf tossed it into the water, but I couldn't find it, so you'll probably wander around this swamp for a hundred years with no success, or you might have if Ganondorf wasn't eventually going to come here to collect you for his own revenge. Enjoy your new home."

With that, Agahnim vanished, and this time he did not reappear, leaving Link all alone in the giant swamp. Watching for movement all around himself while trying to get up, the young man realized that the wizard appeared to be right, there weren't any monsters around, with the only noise or movement coming from himself and the storm. There were only those large plants sticking up from the water along with a few spots where the stone terrain was high enough to do the same. If there was a way out, he would have to find it on his own, since Agahnim took the crystals from him, but it was the fact that his enemy hadn't taken the weapons from him that made Link feel uneasy?

Why would the wizard have left him armed if there was a way out?